Students in the Talbot Mentors program have enjoyed a unique opportunity to explore their artistic potential through the help of local artists. The mentoring organization’s Partners in Art project debuted as a pilot program last year, matching artists with mentees and their mentors.
Fourteen artists participated in the project. Working with the mentees were Joan Bennett, Nancy Cook, Polly Cox, Myra Orme Frost, Jeremy Joseph, Jan Kirsh, Lin Layton, Fay Jean Hooker Lippincott, Katie Cassidy McGarry, Wallace McGarry, Margot Miller, Shirley Sallet, Nancy Thomas and Paul Winters.
Under the artists’ guidance, children created their own original pieces of art in a variety of media. The art forms ranged from oil and watercolor painting to decoupage, from paper, metal and soft sculpture to clay monoprinting and pottery. The wide range of talent in the area’s artists was shared with youths who might otherwise not have such opportunities to discover their own abilities.
Mentors participated by coordinating the sessions with the artists and providing transportation.
The artwork created through the Partners in Art project will be on display at the Chesapeake Bay Heritage Gallery on North Harrison Street in Easton during the First Friday Gallery Walk on March 6, from 5 to 9 p.m. There will be a special presentation on the project at 7 p.m. Caffe Scossa is helping to sponsor the evening for the organization.
Some of the children’s art will be offered for sale at the event, with proceeds to benefit Talbot Mentors. In addition, Chesapeake Bay Heritage Gallery owner Bill Lippincott has offered to donate a portion of the gallery’s sales that evening to the mentoring organization.
Talbot Mentors Vice President Marykay Powell emphasized that it is the children who are benefiting most from the project. “Our mentees report back to us that not only did they have fun creating their art works,” she said, “but some feel they want to continue to study and practice the particular medium to which they have now been introduced by these generous volunteer artists.”
Powell plans to repeat the Partners in Art project in 2009. “The kids and artists had a great experience,” she said, “and most of the artists have said they will participate again.”
She hopes to expand the program this year, with more artists taking part and more students discovering artistic talents they never knew they had.
For more information, to make a contribution, or to volunteer as a mentor, call Talbot Mentors at 410-770-5999 or visit www.talbotmentors.org.