Author: atwiford

As part of its summer reading program, the township library has held events centered around art, befitting its theme of “Color Our World.”

Among them is the Little Artists series, which held three sessions earlier this month. Each one focused on a famous artist – including examples of their work – and children created their own pieces in the style of that artist.

Sharon Clarke is a youth supervisor librarian. 

“I thought it’d be fun to show a little bit, learn basic things about the artist and then have them make the art first hand and in their style,” she said.

In the first session, participants learned about George Seurat and created art with his technique, known as pointillism, in which dots of color applied to blank paper or canvas are used to create an image, with the viewer’s eye blending the dots from a distance. The children used Q-tips to create the dots. 

The second event focused on Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese contemporary artist who works mostly in sculpture and installations.

“She’s known for her polka dots,” Clarke explained, “known as the princess of polka dots … We made paper pumpkins, because she’s known for pumpkin sculptures with polka dots.”

The last of the program series focused on Henri Matisse, a French artist known for the use of color in his paintings and collages with painted paper. The session began with Clarke – wearing a T-shirt that featured Matisse’s “Icarus” – showing the kids examples of the artist’s works, how they were created and common themes like plants and birds.

She also showed examples of his collages, explaining how Matisse referred to them as “drawing with scissors.” Clarke then read a children’s book based on his life, “Colorful Dreamer.” It explored how the artist grew up in a dreary French village and thought of joining the circus as a child, an idea his parents discouraged. He had turned to studying law when he became ill.

During his recovery, Matisse discovered painting and began to heal. “Colorful Dreamer” features dull images to represent his time in law school, then colorful ones to represent his art career.

After Clarke finished story time, she transitioned the children into craft time, where they used colored construction paper, scissors and glue to create collages like Matisse’s, helped by two teen volunteers.

Gina Winters was in attendance with her son, Ben, both of whom attended all three sessions of the “Little Artists” series.

“Every week it’s a different artist and a different project,” she noted. “It’s just a really nice moment for grown-ups to connect with their kids and make some art together.”

Winters and her son both created collages, with Ben explaining to his mother his plan for making a turtle.

The session ended with children and parents taking home their finished pieces, holding them up to show them off.

Among ways to boost the morale of active-duty military members are messages of support and gratitude in letters or cards. To help township library patrons do that, Healing Art For a Hero’s Heart hosted a card-making session on July 23.

Amy Bash, an artist and military spouse herself, created the organization in 2019 as a self-proclaimed passion project. Her husband, Dan, is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves who was deployed to Kuwait in December 2019. She decided she wanted to learn how to send him packages.

“It’s important,” Bash noted, “especially with the world in such turmoil.”

The card-making session was designed for all ages. Bash herself sketched out several of the cards, leaving others blank for anyone who wanted to create their own image. All supplies were provided by Bash and Healing Art For a Hero’s Heart.

Designs included Christmas trees and ornaments – for holiday messages – bald eagles in Santa hats, flags, hearts, doves, stars and soldiers saluting. Maria Dybalski found painting her own card rewarding.

“It was gratifying to be able to do something as meaningful as recognizing their efforts …” she said of deployed military members. “And if it were me receiving it, I would appreciate it.”

Library participants were provided with brushes, palettes, pens, pencils, markers and watercolor paints, with Bash giving the attendees a demonstration of different water color techniques, including wet on wet and wet on dry.

Jim Gardner is a friend of Bash who helped her set up the card-making session.

“It’s a good organization to be part of, to help the military,” he noted, “because they’re forgotten about sometimes during the holidays, and it’s always nice to make things for them.”

Completed greeting cards will be sent to deployed personnel who have ties to South Jersey families in time for the winter holidays and will be distributed to all branches of the military.

Place settings were set up at the library with a flyer that offered examples of phrases and messages for the cards.

“I provide copy to help folks figure out what they want to say or how to say things,” Bash explained. “We don’t know if they’re men or women. We don’t know if they could be the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guards. We don’t know which branch eventually they’re getting to.”

Sorymar Soto was also at the card-making session.

“I think of them (the military) being away from their families and loved ones,” she related. “So it kind of makes me feel, if it was me, it would maybe be a very sad situation. So just receiving a message, even from a stranger, makes it more impactful, because it shows that people care far away.”

Cards were signed by creators, including first names and their towns of residence, so recipients can see how far their creations traveled to get to their destinations. They will also have a star from a decommissioned flag placed in them as a small gift and token of service.

Besides creating cards to raise the spirits of the actively deployed, Bash also emphasized the event as a social activity, a chance to get out and engage with others in the community.

“I love seeing all the different generations,” she said. “You’ll see grandparents with grandchildren come out. You’ll see friends. You’ll see neighbors, people didn’t even know they knew each other.”