Mission Statement
Our mission is to develop the artistic and social skills of children in a safe, supportive environment.
Who We Are
We offer coeducational group after-school classes and summer day camps for school-aged children K through sixth grade in Underhill, Vermont. We also offer custom tailored private instruction, home school classes, birthday parties, adult classes and art parties.
A Typical Day at Poker Hill Arts...
After school on Monday and Tuesdays, a group of energetic, artful kids, ages 5-12, arrive at the studio for an afternoon of camaraderie, art and crafts. Students from 3 schools: UCS, JES and BRMS can take the bus to Poker Hill Arts which arrives at about 2:45. Students from other districts can be dropped off. We start the afternoon with some outdoor time and a snack. We then do our project of the day. We draw, paint, sculpt, engineer and craft. This can include sand mandalas, fairy houses, paper-making, gourd craft and much more. We also study several artists throughout the school year and then do work inspired by that artist. When the weather allows we do some of our art outdoors: collecting materials from the nearby woods and streams
and using those materials in our artwork.
We believe that training in the arts is essential to innovative thinking. By exposing our students to a wide variety of artistic materials and techniques they explore many ways to express themselves and to problem solve.
Our daily project is usually finished at about 4:45 but the children can stay as late as 5:30. Before being picked up they have the opportunity to draw in their sketchbooks or to have creative playtime with their friends and the many artistic toys and activities that are here for them.
About The Founder
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Chris Gluck is the founder and owner of Poker Hill Arts. Thanks to her desire to create an artful
job for herself that allowed her to work from home while raising her children, Poker Hill Arts
has developed into a thriving and much loved program.
Chris studied art and design at Parsons School Design in New York City and has attended a wide range of
art and craft classes and workshops throughout the US. She enjoys working with kids and has spent much of
her career focused on children's interaction with art, both through Poker Hill Arts and through her
entrepreneurial endeavors. She enjoys music, dance, biking, hiking,
making art and, most of all, spending time with her two daughters and her granddaughter.
Much of the art and craft work that we do here at Poker Hill Arts is influenced by nature....
"Nature" is what we see
The Hill--the Afternoon-
Squirrel--Eclipse--the Bumble bee-
Nay--Nature is Heaven
Nature is what we hear
The Bobolink--the Sea-
Thunder--the Cricket-
Nay-- Nature is Harmony
Nature is what we know
Yet have no art to say
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.
~ Emily Dickinson
