Art classes are hitting the road this summer.

Riverland Community College, area libraries and the Austin Area Commission for the Arts will soon put together an artistic opportunity for area children.

For five weeks starting in mid-June, the ArtWorks Center will host traveling art studio classes at libraries throughout Mower County.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” said Jennie Knoebel, executive director of the AACA. “We’re looking at this as kind of a pilot, and we could be extending it to all summer long and hitting other communities as well.”

The program will host two classes each week for students ages 6-8 and 9-11, respectively, at libraries in Brownsdale, Grand Meadow, Austin and LeRoy.

The group will set schedules at the end of this month and area libraries will notify residents when the Traveling Art Studio will begin. Riverland donated a trailer which volunteer teachers will use to store art supplies.

“We were really excited to come up with this idea with Jennie,” said Courtney Wyant, an adult services librarian at Austin Public Library.

The Austin library was recently awarded a grant from the Southeastern Libraries Cooperating organization for the classes.