LUSK - Barbra Orr has brought a touch of art into Niobrara County, hosting adult painting classes and now, for the first time, a children’s painting class.

Since Orr was a child growing up in Messa, Arizona, she loved creating art, from paintings to arts and crafts. Orr’s first passion was teaching as a special education teacher.

For 16 years, Orr came to Niobrara County to spend her summers. Orr would stay with her good friend of over 40-years, Carla Stroh, in the summers. Orr and Stroh had lived in the same town in Colorado.

Eight-and-a-half years ago, Orr and her husband moved to Niobrara County permanently.

 “I really like smalls towns and I really like it here,” Orr said. “I would come up here [Niobrara County] and that is really where it started. I wanted a place to stay and that is when I bought a little house in town and, later, we found a little ranch that suited our needs.”

Once Orr and her husband were ready to retire, they began their search for a small ranch. They eventually found a ranch with a house, barn and silo. They have been residents of Niobrara County ever since.  

“Finding something like that was impossible,” Orr said. “We looked for years and years. We finally found a place that we bought the year before I retired from teaching.”

Orr explained she had always loved art and it wasn’t until she moved to Niobrara County that she began to paint more.

“Art was something I always liked to do. Since I was a child, I liked to do arts and crafts,” Orr said. “I didn’t really pick up a paint brush until I was close to 60 years old. That’s when I started to work with acrylics and I’m self-taught.”

Debbie Sturman, the Niobrara County Library Director, first asked Orr if she could help out with the afterschool program. Later, Sturman offered a job to Orr. Orr began offering adult painting classes at the Library.

“I first started out at the Library because Debbie [Sturman] needed someone to help with the afterschool program for the children,” Orr said. “I started out as a volunteer and then she [Sturman] asked me if I’d like a job. So, I took that.”

Orr began integrating her self-taught painting abilities with her teaching skills. The combination of these two resulted in an adult painting class at the Library.

“We have painting for adults and it is usually a four month deal,” Orr said. “The class is for a couple of hours once a week. We try to expose adults to painting with the understanding that it doesn’t have to be perfect when they first start off.”

“It is a process and then we work on some different techniques,” Orr said. “I try to teach them something instead of just showing them what we’re going to paint. I try to give them some tools and I try to encourage them. They don’t have to spend a lot of money to paint.”

If the students enjoy painting and want to paint more often, they can purchase reasonably priced art supplies to do so. If the students know they are invested in painting, they can purchase higher quality paints and paint brushes.

“Acrylic paint is my favorite medium,” Orr said. “I also do pencil and oil pastels. I did oils once, but I found that I didn’t have a lot of luck with them. With acrylics, it doesn’t take a lot of time and you can go over what you’ve painted.”

Orr has always enjoyed painting as a hobby. Nevertheless, she allows herself some time away from a painting. Orr told the Herald she will paint a painting, set it on a wall and walk away from it for a while. When she looks at it again, she might want to change or add something to it.

“I like to paint something and I like to be able to leave it. Then, I can come back to it later and maybe do something different with the painting or add something to it,” Orr said. “Maybe I want to add some tones to it. I tell my students to do that because we only have two hours to paint. Telling them to take it home, set it up and just look at it.”

Orr has had up to 15 adult students at a time in her class and has been teaching adult painting for over eight years now. The classes are held throughout the winter months. Orr usually teaches three to four times. Throughout the years, she has had eight to nine regular students attending her class faithfully.

The painting classes are free to the community and art supplies are provided for the class through the Library.

“What I do is go ahead and make a painting that we’re going to do,” Orr said. “And then, I bring it in and that is what we’re going to work with.”

For the first time, Orr held a painting class for younger children, ages 10 and up. The first class she held she had nine children in attendance. Orr’s young artists are excited to show their artwork in the upcoming art show at the Library.

“I like to see when people actually get to see something that they really like,” Orr said. “When they go ‘Oh yeah this is really working for me.’ They have a moment when they are successful with something they like. I like to see it when they start to like it. Unfortunately, adults are too hard on themselves and don’t recognize that painting is a process.”

Orr told the Herald she does her best to encourage adult students to relax and remember that, while painting, they do not have to be perfect.

“When you are a little kid, you don’t come out running a marathon. You have to learn to crawl and then walk,” Orr said. “You have learned to enjoy the steps and that is what I like to try to do for them [adult students]. Even if they only learn one technique in a painting, that is what I enjoy.”

“Children do not have the inhibitions that adults do,” Orr said. “I really like the fact that they get really excited about it. The kids are totally open.”

Orr is planning on continuing to teach painting classes for both children and adults. She explained how much she has been enjoying it throughout the years.

Orr has always loved teaching. Orr spent 22 years teaching special education and holds a master’s degree.

“We had some special needs in my family,” Orr said. “I always recognized that those kids needed something extra, but the expectations needed to be just as high for special kids. My expectation is ‘Yes, you can learn.’”

Although Orr has been retired from teaching, she has been enjoying her time as an employee at the Library.

“My expectations are that the kids have a good time. They need to be able to express themselves through art, not through behavior,” Orr said. “The art show is all month and their art is on the wall. We’ll have an open house for the kids. We’ll have the kids there to explain their artwork.”

Orr has been enjoying teaching and will continue to teach her painting classes.

“Come and enjoy,” Orr said. “It’s a learning process and it takes time when painting. Art should be that place where you can go outside of your mind. Enjoy the process.”

Orr’s next class will be held on April 14. It will be the last class until this Fall. Those who want to sign up for the class will be able to do so at the Library.

The open house for the art show with the children will be on March 20 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.  at the Niobrara County Library. Refreshments will be available for attendees.