Students wishing to bring out their creative side may be interested in what the Creative Arts Center in NIU’s Recreation Center has to offer.

Beginning the week of Oct. 18, the rec center will begin offering a new “Mini Series” of three different introductory courses which each will last five weeks.

“Basically we offer short classes so people can get the feel for the medium and the particular type of art,” said Shelly Kulp, Creative Arts Center coordinator.

A stained glass class will be offered on Monday nights. Students will be able to make their own design or get one from a book. This has been the only class out of the three which has previously been offered at the rec center and has been very successful in the past.

A new class to be offered is a woodcut print-making class on Tuesday nights. Instead of using the usual carving of a sketch in metal and then printing it, this class has students carve into pine, which is a soft wood.

A papermaking class will be offered on Thursday nights. Kulp said those enrolled use the paper to make art pieces such as picture frames, bookmarks and Christmas ornaments.

Kulp said this selection of classes was offered because she wanted a wider variety of classes than what’s being offered now and these are classes which interest her as an artist.

Kulp hopes students will come out and give the classes a try. “I think any new experience is a good experience and anything to broaden your horizons and take stress off of school purely for fun is good,” she said.

Kulp said the print-making and papermaking class is something that can be done easily at home and that she would love to offer an advanced level of these classes in the spring.

There is a limited number of spaces in each class—six in woodcutting and 10 in papermaking and stained glass, so students need to enroll soon.

The classes run from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on their respective evenings and there is a $20 fee for students and members ($25 for non-members).

To enroll, call the Office of Campus Recreation at 753-0231. For more information, call Kulp at 753-9424.