Art in the Community

Thursday was the opening reception for the Annual 2012 Regional Exhibition at the Center for Creative Arts in Yorkly, DE.  It was also the Lights On After School Community event for the Kennett After-School Association's After the Bell Program.  Both events are a reminder how the arts play a vital part in creating and enriching a community.  

Kathy Hrenko, Executive Director of After the Bell on right
with middle school students, and me on the left.

Kennett After-School Association's After the Bell Program is an award winning program that offers free after school activities for middle school students in the Kennett Consolidated School District.

It is an amazing collaboration between community organizations, volunteers and the school district.  Students are able to choose from a wide variety of activities that include sports, cooking, games, science, knitting, and skill building for young teens.  There are three 6 week cycles that are offered during the year.  Over the past couple of weeks, we had the students ink up their "kicks" to create a rainbow of footprints to make up this banner that was presented at Lights On After School where community leaders and board members recognized the accomplishments and value of this program.

 

Mixed media piece on left by Carla Pastore,
artist and Executive Director of
the Center for Creative Arts.
next to my Kaleidoscope on right
Love how they play off of each other!

Later that evening I attended the opening of the 2012 Annual Regional Exhibition at the Center for Creative Arts.  Danielle Rice, executive director of the Delaware Art Museum was this year's juror who was gracious and attended the reception. My painting Koi #6 received an Honorable Mention. Met some new artists and saw some friends who stopped by to say hello and see my work.  A big thank you  to all!

Koi #6
Acrylic on cradled board
14" x 14"
©2012NanciHersh

In her Juror's statement, Dr. Rice said "Artists put themselves on the line when they create something from nothing and they open themselves up to criticism again when they exhibit their work. ...Without your courage and creativity, the world would be a dull place indeed."

Here's to working together to helping our communities shine through art.

Kids + Art = Empowerment

Since we moved here just over a year ago, two non profit organizations that empower children through the arts have come to my attention.

This past Friday I spent the afternoon with my new friend Kathy Hrenko, an art therapist by profession, a compassionate and tireless community worker and now the Executive Director of After the Bell - http://www.afterthebell.org/ which is a supervised after school program for Kennett Middle School students that offer a wide variety of free after school activities that include art and recreational activities. On Friday, Kathy first took me to meet Barbara DesJardins this incredible visionary of what is possible for children. Barbara, an educator started Peaceworks in 1985. This is taken from their website- a colorful powerhouse of what they do: http://www.peaceworkltd.org/index.html

PeaceWork provides abused, neglected, and homeless children with the tools to create art within a safe and nurturing environment. Their artistic creations are then beautifully framed and displayed in public venues.

Meeting Barbara was inspiring to begin with, but later Kathy took me an exhibition of work created from one of their workshops. The Spirit Dolls were on display at The Three Little Pigs, a cafe in West Chester, PA. The dolls and info about PeaceWork were beautifully hung throughout the restaurant. Barbara truly lives the Ghandian (?!) quote, "Be the Change You want to see in the World."