John Heller, Post-Gazette photos Christine Frechard-Harbison holds a banner in her home studio in Highland Park, the base for her new Institute of International Art & Languages. Small groups of students will learn foreign languages while enjoying another art, such as music.

By Bob Batz Jr.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The new Institute of International Art & Languages is offering a different and fun approach to teaching foreign languages called "art immersion."

Small classes of children and adults will be immersed in conversation in different languages -- Spanish, French, Italian, German and Chinese -- while enjoying another art, such as visual arts and gilding, music, even cooking. There are no textbooks, no manuals.

"I have two passions: language and art. So I combined them together," says Christine Frechard-Harbison with the lovely accent of the French she grew up speaking in France.

	Christine Frechard-Harbison at her studio. Click photo for larger image.

She's lived for the past six years in Pittsburgh. She runs the europ'ART art gallery, which she started in 2000 in Lawrenceville, from her home in Highland Park. She's taught French in various places, including Slippery Rock University, for which she still hosts visiting artists. She's close to finishing her doctorate in linguistics, on how music helps facilitate language pronunciation.

She says the idea for the institute came to her almost supernaturally -- like "How do you say it, a revelation?" -- during a visit to a gorgeous mansion in Highland Park.

The mission statement reads: "We believe in Languages as a factor to keep the collective memory alive, to open our eyes toward other cultures.

"We believe in Art as a powerful and essential element to raise above the mass culture and to ascend to a better world perceptiveness."

The mission "is to provide to the population of greater Pittsburgh and more, the best quality of Language Education and Entertainment, and to foster International Cultural Exchanges. We want to give a chance to everyone to become a citizen of the world."

She initially planned to launch the institute as a nonprofit, but, "I didn't want to spend 80 percent of my time on my knees begging for grants." And so it aims to be self-supporting.

Several people have signed on to be instructors, including French-born vice president Youssef Kadri, a Squirrel Hill gilder (a craftsman who applies gold leaf), and other native speakers such as Luis Montano, vice president of the Latin American Cultural Union. The institute also has a board of directors.

"It's really a project where a lot of people are putting in time," says Ms. Frechard-Harbison. "I'm very blessed that a lot of people are working for free now because we don't have a very big budget."

For now, classes are to be held at various locations, ranging from Mendelson Gallery in Shadyside to St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Highland Park to Fern Hollow Nature Center in Sewickley. But she envisions it someday having its own building, and hosting exchanges of artists from Europe and elsewhere.

She says four weeklong children's classes held this summer in Highland Park and Sewickley were a success, with almost no advertising.

Registration is open for the first full "semester" of programs that begins Sept. 18. Classes run for up to two hours, once a week, through Dec. 14. Cost for the 12 weeks ranges from $270 for music, visual art and craft classes to $360 for dance to $360 or $480 (including materials) for cooking and gilding.

The institute also is planning two spring programs abroad, one in a castle in her native Champagne, France, and one to Venice and nearby mountains in Italy.

To get details or to register, visit www.instituteial.com or call 412-661-0177.