What is the Jax? The Jacksonville Center is a community arts center in Floyd, Virginia, just miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. We celebrate and facilitate regional arts through classes, exhibits, community receptions and more.
What are you waiting for? Get Jaxed!
Turn every dollar of donation into $5.75 of creative services!
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On Saturday, April 14 from 4-6pm, The Jacksonville Center will host the 8th Annual Education Kick-off and Instructor’s Exhibit Reception, which highlights The Jax 2012 class schedule and features a selection of art by some of the center’s instructors, including Ed Gowen, Gretchen St. Lawrence, Jean Poythress Koon, Karen Sewell, Sharon Hall and more.
Activities during the reception will include demonstrations from local art instructors such as blacksmith John Riddle and ceramics artist Sidra Kaluszka. Glenda George will demonstrate her felted soaps course and give attendees a chance to try it out for themselves. There will also be kids’ activities with Afternoon Arts teacher, Sarah Greene and assistant Rebekah Bordeaux and a talk/demonstration from Japanese Woodworker and Jax instructor, Yann Giguere. Yann will give a one hour talk/demonstration from 4-5pm introducing his love of the art and the goal of the classes he will be teaching in June. Yann is owner and founder of Mokuchi Woodworking and will be teaching a 4-day series of classes on knife sharpening, planing, and small stool making. Registrations for classes made during the event will receive a 10% discount on class tuition.
“I’m really excited about this year’s reception. We have some great demonstrations and activities planned and, of course, great people leading them. I hope we can give people a taste of how fun it can be to participate in our educational programming here at The Jax,” said Amy Avery-Grubel, Director of Educational Programming. The community is encouraged to attend. The exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.
For more information about these exhibits and more, visit www.jacksonvillecenter.com, email info@jacksonvillecenter.com or call (540) 745-2784.
What I liked most about my After school art program: “I get to be myself, I got to learn about different artists, and I got to make new friends” ~4th Grader Chloe Beardslee
The class helped me: “Improve my painting skill[s], improve my drawing skill[s], and made me less shy” ~4th Grader Cassay Marion
 "Bitter Sweet" by Sidra Kaluszka In March 2011, The Jacksonville Center welcomed Sidra Kaluszka into the family as a studio artist, instructor, and as manager of the pottery studio. After graduating from Floyd County High School, Sidra studied painting and ceramics at Virginia Tech before going on to earn a double MFA in both ceramics and watercolors at Radford University. Sidra cites Asian and Zen Buddhist art as well as an awe of nature and found objects as her influence and inspiration, and she favors simple, elegant forms and flowing lines in her work. You can find Sidra’s artwork on display at the Jax as well as many other venues and galleries throughout the region.
For more than six years Sidra has been an art instructor for Virginia Tech’s Upward Bound program, designed to help encourage high-school students to pursue a college education, and she also teaches art at the YMCA in Blacksburg. Earlier this year Sidra began facilitating Afternoon Arts at The Jacksonville Center in March, and she also joined the center’s Floyd Art Reach (FAR) program to foster creativity in our local schools.
 "Lidded Orchid" by Sidra Kaluszka During her time at the Jax, Sidra has helped to reorganize the center’s pottery studio and transform it into a safe, efficient, and welcoming place for students and seasoned potters to work, learn, and play. She is also working to improve and expand the studio’s supply of glazes so the center has more to offer for classes and studio rentals.
“I feel very fortunate to have had such supportive, generous mentors along the way,” Sidra said. “The Jax has allowed me to continue to do what I love by using their equipment and their space to create and display my work. I just want to give some of that back.”
To find out more about Sidra and her work, visit her flickr photostream or stop by her studio at The Jacksonville Center. And to learn more about our extremely affordable pottery studio rentals (prices start at less than $5 per day!) visit the Jax pottery studio rental page or contact the center at (540) 745-2784.
 Suncatcher from the Kids Creativity Jubilee The Kids Creativity Jubilee will be held at The Jacksonville Center on Saturday, June 18 with affordable two-hour classes for kids ages 5 to 14, running from 9am – 4pm. Kids can come down to make crafts (and even Father’s Day presents) such as pop-up books, fused glass sun-catchers, ceramic sculptures, printmaking, and ornamental metals. We’ll provide healthy snacks throughout the day, and the kids will have plenty of time to stretch their legs and run off some steam between class sessions.
Parents are welcome to stay and play, or use the center’s parking and shuttle location to spend time at the Floyd Town Jubilee happening the same day. Walk-ins are welcome, but any classes that have not met their minimum enrollments by June 17 will be cancelled so parents are advised to register early to ensure their desired classes go.
For more information or to register for Kids’ Creativity Jubilee class sessions, head on over to the Kids Creativity Jubilee page,call (540) 745-2784 or email info@jacksonvillecenter.org.
School is out, which means that our children have about two glorious weeks of backyard picnics, chasing lightning bugs, and lounging under trees with a great book until the novelty wears off and the daily chorus of “I’m booooooooored” begins. Enter the Kids Creativity Jubilee and the Kids Art Camp at The Jacksonville Center, for the type of creative fun that’ll knock their socks off.
 Continue reading Kids Creativity Jubilee at the Jax
This just in: Santa will be making hourly visits to the 16th Annual Winterfest Arts and Crafts Festival! On Saturday, December 4, on the hour from noon to 4 pm, little ones can come with  gift lists in hand to visit with Saint Nick himself! While they’re waiting, we’ll have kids’ creative activities in the pottery studio – chaperoned so that mom and dad can head into Winterfest proper, where we’ll have artisan vendors, live music and all sorts of treats at the Jax Cafe!
Want to know who’s playing and when?
We can do that!
Continue reading Winterfest Vendors, Musicians and More!
That’s right! The 16th Annual Winterfest is right around the corner!
You know – the 16th annual community festival featuring:
 The Jax community room fills with vendors and guests in 2008.
- Local artisan vendors selling handcrafted goods perfect for everyone on your gift list
- Live, local music setting the tone
- Free, creative learning activities for kids
- Yummy foods made by local folks, often using local ingredients
- Christmas trees, cut and ready to be bought, taken home and decked-out with your holiday finest
- And tell the kids to get their wish lists ready because Santa will be in the house on Saturday!
Continue reading Save the Date: 16th Annual Winterfest
It was only by the skin of our teeth – and, more importantly, the generous last-minute donations of those who believe in the importance of childhood creativity as we do – that The Jacksonville Center was able to partner with Floyd County Elementary School to provide at-risk kids with an after-school reading and arts program. These kids are eager to learn and eager to create, providing ample enthusiasm for our team of artisan-instructors to build on during their twice-weekly lessons.
 Continue reading Jax at Floyd County Elementary School
Looking for a chance to shake your stuff? On Sunday, November 14, you’ll get a chance at the Jax in our World Dance Fusion Workshop!
Katherine Wendelsdorf will be guiding the class. From San Francisco, CA, Katherine has studied various forms of African and Latino-African dance at the Rhythm and Motion Dance Studio for six years. She has also gathered inspiration from the wider world of dance that she experienced while living abroad in Morocco and Brazil.
Continue reading World Dance Fusion Workshop at the Jax
Little ghouls and goblins and big lovers of fun, the Halloween KidsFest is almost here!
On Sunday, October 31, the Jax will welcome Halloween lovers of all ages to an afternoon of pumpkin painting, face painting, a haunted house, fortune telling, music, fun and more!
Continue reading Spooktacular Fun at Halloween KidsFest
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