Here’s good news for people afraid of art.

Janette Benroth Reineke, Bluffton artist, wrote a book about it.

Titled, “Fear No Art,” with a subtitle, “You can do it!” the book is a manual of ideas, lesson plans and creative skills for teaching art.

Reineke should know. After a career teaching pre-school, kindergarten, first grade, elementary and junior high art in public schools she spent the most recent 14 years providing art classes in area retirement communities including Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio.

She calls her retirement art classes “Young at H’art,” because as she puts it, “People are never too old to be creative in the arts.”

At first, Reineke said that it was difficult getting retirees to attend her classes.

“When they hear the words ‘art class’ they were immediately intimidated,” she said, adding some told her, “I can’t even draw a straight line.”

Reineke says once persons began attending her classes “they found a side of themselves that they didn’t know existed.”

Her book includes:
• Preparation rules and class procedures
• Sources for art supplies
• General supplies needed
… and next offers projects that focus on 12 different famous artists from Claude Monet all the way to Andy Warhol.

Reineke created a short chapter on each of the artists listed. Chapters include a project to create, based on the artist, supplies needed and a lesson plan.

Chapters also include patterns for each art project and a bulletin board header, briefly describing each artist.

In addition, the book includes several helpful sections ranging from how to create clay pinch pots and mosaics, to a primer on primary and secondary colors. There is also a three-page glossary of art terms.

A lifelong Bluffton resident, Reineke is a Bluffton High School and Bluffton College grad. She and her husband, Sam, live on South Main Street.

Copies of the book are available from Reineke at $24.99 each. Books are also available to order online from www.workplaypublishing.com

Copies are also available to check out from the Musselman Library and Bluffton Public Library. Reineke will introduce her book during the Friday morning Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

Alison King, a Bluffton graphic artist, designed the book cover.

Title: Fear No Art
Subtitle: You Can Do It!
Pages: 154
By Janette Benroth Reineke
ISBN 0-9905545-3-8
$24.99