By Nathan Duke
Staff Writer

Charles and Brenda Wilbert have made one of Candia's historic sites a center of learning again.

READY TO SHOW HOW IT's DONE - Brenda Wilbert displays her work station in Schoolhouse No. 9, where she makes her acrylic watercolors with ink. (Nathan Duke Photo)

The Wilberts moved to 60 Old Deerfield Road three years ago from Melrose, Mass., and purchased property that included a house and a former schoolhouse that was then being used as a garage.

The small building that was formerly Candia Schoolhouse No. 9 has been converted into the Wilbert Art Studio, where Brenda Wilbert will begin offering art classes in April and Charles Wilbert will offer screen and playwriting courses in the summer.

Brenda Wilbert said she and her husband saved the historic building from certain doom, as it was not in great condition when they purchased it.

"It was really going downhill," she said. "It was becoming decrepit until we turned it into an art studio."

The schoolhouse was established in 1826 and served as a school until 1935, when the last class attended.

When Brenda Wilbert begins offering Saturday art classes in April, the building will be put to use as a center of learning for the first time in 70 years.

Though this will be her first experience teaching art to a class, Wilbert's experiences with art are many and varied.

"I was trained as a psychiatric nurse practitioner and helped people with medical problems cope through art," she said. "Once, I was a jewelry designer and now I am a contemporary artist."

Art classes will be aimed primarily at adults, though Wilbert is thinking of designing ones for children as well.

Charles Wilbert has written nearly 30 plays and several screenplays, many of which are about historical figures, such as Gertrude Stein, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson's family. He is also an English professor at Southern New Hampshire University. In the summer, he will teach screenwriting and playwriting classes on the second floor of the Wilbert Art Studio, though no dates have been set yet. Brenda Wilbert's classes will feature a variety of different styles, most of which she dabbles in herself. Acrylic water colors and ink, painting, printmaking and collages are among the various styles that she practices and will be featured in the classes. She said working with a variety of styles gives her different perspectives on art.

"I love colors and interesting shapes and my work comes from a lot of different spiritual feelings," she said. "I start out working on something and I just explore it as I go along."

Unfortunately, she said, the creative side of her work is only 50 percent of being an artist.

"I'm trying to work as a fulltime artist, so I always have to do the marketing stuff with my Web site - www.wilbertartstudio.com, setting up gallery shows and framing," she said. "It is half of what you do as an artist."

Wilbert has already been recognized as an artist, having won several awards in local art competitions, including a first place prize in her category- mixed media - at Manchester's Art in the Park and at the Snow Show in Derry.

She thinks the classes that she will be offering will provide a service currently lacking in Candia.

"This is a great opportunity for people to learn about art because it is local and there is no art community in Candia," she said.

Wilbert is currently looking for teachers with art experience to teach or assist with the classes, which currently have an undecided kickoff date. However, Wilbert said two Saturday classes will be offered in April and May and a similar schedule will continue into later months.

"I am interviewing people now and looking for fine arts teachers if anyone wants to contact me," she said.