Kids who love creating art, or who would like to give it a try, are encouraged to register for the second Children’s Day of Art, scheduled for May 11 at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on South Street in Morristown.
Youngsters ages 6 to 13 will participate in a full day of workshops led by professional artists. They will rotate through six hands-on classes, where they will learn about and experience the arts of drama, mural painting, music, poetry, pottery and sculpture with found objects.
The day marks the culmination of St. Peter’s Spring Arts Festival, a weeklong community program that includes two MorristownGreen.com-sponsored events – the third annual MG Kids Art Show from May 3-12 and WordPlay III, a night of poetry and other fun with words, on May 7 – as well as a jazz coffeehouse featuring the Peter Moffitt Medicine Show at the art show opening May 3.
Advance registration is required for the Children’s Day of Art, which begins with sign-ins at 8:30 a.m., includes lunch and concludes with a 4 p.m. reception for participants, parents and the artists. Cost is $25 ($20 for siblings), and scholarships are available. The registration form can be found here.
Participation in the art show is free and open to all preschool through high school artists, working in any media. Artwork may be dropped off at St. Peter’s from April 8-26 and retrieved the week of May 13. It is helpful but not required if art submissions arrive mounted for hanging or display. Individuals and organizations, including schools and houses of worship, are invited to submit entries.
Children and adults also can register to read poetry (their own or others’ poetry they love) or present other “word play” on May 7 by contacting Morristowngreen@gmail.com.
This year’s arts workshop leaders on May 11 will be:
Drama: Solange De Santis holds a master’s degree from New York University in educational theater and writes about theater for several publications, including her blog, Solange on Theater. She is a judge in the N.J. Governor’s Awards in Theater Excellence (high school students) and the N.J. Thespians festival. She has directed, stage managed and developed plays and designed sound for community and school productions.
Eco-Sculpture: Myndi Smithers, who will lead a workshop recycling “trash” into art, is artist-in-residence at Fairleigh Dickinson University and a teaching assistant to Professor Judy Moonelis in the ceramics studio. Previously, she headed the ceramics studio during summers at Camp Horizons at Newark Academy. She exhibits paintings and ceramics at juried and invitational art shows in New York and New Jersey.
Mural Painting: The artwork of Dan Fenelon, who will lead participants in painting murals, has been featured in a mural exhibit at Montclair Art Museum, at Major League Baseball’s Fancave in New York and in 17 one-man shows. In 2010, he was commissioned to create a large-scale mural to welcome the Dalai Lama to the Newark Peace Summit. In 2012, he designed the ornaments for New Jersey’s tree at the National Christmas Tree Display in Washington, D.C.
Music: The author of “The Sacred Art of Chant,” Ana Hernández is a composer, arranger and performer of sacred music. She is also a member of the recording group HARC. For more than a decade, she has conducted workshops that encourage people to explore the effects of rhythm and chant on their bodies. Samples of her music can be found here.
Poetry: Festival coordinator Sharon Sheridan is a lifelong poet, an award-winning journalist and author of “Pages of Faith: The Art of Spiritual Scrapbooking.” In 2011 and 2012, she was among the featured poets in MorristownGreen.com’s “Wordplay: Fun with Words.” She edits Morristown Green’s “MG Kids” department, which showcases children and youth’s writing and artwork.
Pottery: The Rev. Janet Broderick, St. Peter’s rector, ran her own pottery shop in the East Village of New York before becoming a priest. Broderick Pottery sold to businesses including Tiffany & Co., Barneys and Neiman Marcus. She has taught pottery classes for children and adults and periodically demonstrates pottery during sermons.
Donations to support the Children’s Day of Art, including scholarships, artist fees and supplies, and food, can be made out to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church with “day of art” in the memo line and mailed to Sharon Sheridan, c/o St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 70 Maple Ave., Morristown, NJ 07960.
For more information about the day of art or the festival, contact Sharon Sheridan or St. Peter’s Assistant Rector Melissa Hall at MGKids@sharonsheridan.com.
Funding has been made possible in part by funds from the Arts Council of the Morris Area (now Morris Arts) through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
what a grand time was had by all last year …….I will be there with my healthy layered vegetable salad to add to the lunch…..chef Melody