Meet Our Team
How We Began
Art Adventures is a family-owned Art studio. In 1981, Suzanne Barr began teaching small painting classes in the basement of her home. Quickly, her zest for teaching and love for children drew in dozens of neighborhood kids. Thirty years later, she and her daughter, Amy Barr, combined their teaching expertise and founded Art Adventures. Now offering a full array of Art classes, the studio still embodies the feeling of family. “We teach every child like one of our own.
Amy Barr
Owner and Director
“It is my dream to build a cultural center where families come to experience all of the Visual and Performing Arts.” Art Adventures is the first step towards that dream. Amy Barr graduated from Radford University with a BS in Art Education. While beginning her career as an Art teacher in Chesterfield County, she entered the master’s program at VCU. Amy spent a decade teaching Art in the public schools of Virginia. In 1998, she won art teacher of the year for her region. “I believe that students should be able to create anything they want. I try to facilitate each student’s inspirations and show them new ways to create Artwork.” Art Adventures students have won many art competitions and scholarships. However, “It is not about the merit you receive for your work. It is about the fun you have creating it!”
Amy teaches beginner to advanced students. She has worked with deaf, blind, autistic, and disabled children. She has worked with pre-schools and retirement communities. Outside of the studio, Amy teaches Art in local businesses, private residences, educational organizations, and community spaces (like schools, daycares, sleep-over camps, church events, and scouts)
Amy loves to travel and combines that joy with her love of Art and teaching. She organized and led 250 middle school students to New York for a three-day art and language experience. She was the Art educator on a student mountaineering/kayaking trip to Colorado and Utah. Amy taught at-risk students how to make art from found objects and create an Art journal in a wilderness setting. She took ten students to Maui for a 10-day Art and photography excursion, later returning to Hawaii to teach at the Kauai Cultural Art Center and run Art retreats for teens and adults.
A proud mother, Amy’s children are her pride and joy. Primarily an oil painter, she enjoys water skiing, snowboarding, and backpacking.
“I am lucky to have such a wonderful family. Together, we have built Art Adventures for all to enjoy. Thank you to all the members of Art Adventures for their endless support. They, too, are like family to me. I keep busy, but I LOVE what I do. Every day is different and always full of fun!”
-Amy Barr
Stephanie Garr
Photojournalist
Stephanie Garr is a Certified Professional Photographer specializing in creating environmental portraiture. “Taking photos of “beautiful, timeless images” helps to “capture the feeling of the places around us.” Her clients are local and international. Proficient with both traditional and digital cameras, darkroom work, and computer technologies, she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Art Adventures. Stephanie says, “Photography brings us closer to one another and love and happiness to our hearts”. Please visit her website at www.stephaniegarr.com