Norwalk Housing Authority After-School Program Celebrates Exhibition of Photography and Poetry

Parents, teachers, program directors and friends joined Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling and Silvermine Arts Center staff members on Friday night, January 16, to celebrate an exhibition of photography and poetry by students in the Norwalk Housing Authority’s after-school program.

The work produced for the new exhibit is part of a multi-layered art project coordinated by the Art Partners program at the Silvermine Arts Center.

The artists are all from the Norwalk Housing Authority’s after-school program. The student artists include Andreya Stokes, 7th grade; Angeline Moresca, 8th grade; Joshua Garcia, 7th grade; Kimberly Castillo, 6th grade; Sanaiah Dickson; Samira Velez, 6th grade; and Samantha Velez, also 6th grade.

NHA students visited the Silvermine Arts Center in 2014 to study the creative graphic style of artist James Flora with Silvermine’s Educational Outreach Director Sophia Gevas.

The students attended a docent-led tour of the exhibitions of work by Flora, Leslie Giuliani and Kristina Kuester-Witt. They returned to Silvermine the following day to photograph the performances at ArtsFest on September 20.

The young photographers arrived with cameras provided by their after-school program as well as some prior instruction about photojournalistic styles and abstract ones. Each student was issued a press badge as well as an assignment: to photograph one of the ArtsFest performance events in a style that reflected the playful aspects of Flora’s work.

As a complimentary project, they also studied poetry with Teaching Artist Page McBrier, a poet and author of numerous books for young readers. She taught them two styles of poetry, which they used to write poems to accompany the photographs.

“They were inspired by artist Jim Flora” said Lillie Fortino, who teaches photography in the NHA after-school program. “He had a lot of repeated patterns in his work. We also talked about his use of bright colors.” Students learned how to work with layers in Adobe Photoshop.

Kimberly Castillo described how she “moved the picture over” in “Silks Drip,” her photograph and poem on one of the aerialists who performed at ArtsFest. Fortino explained “They were playing with different ways of balancing the composition. They learned about the rule of thirds--a composition method. You imagine the work broken up into thirds so you can see where you want pieces of your image to land.”

“Sometimes they don’t understand the reason for creating art,” said Fortino, who selected the best photographs “but when they come to this exhibit, it makes them feel very fulfilled.” The NHA produced a photo book on the project as well as a video of writer and poet Page McBrier leading a creative workshop for the students.

Since 1992, Silvermine Arts Center’s Art Partners Program has been providing free-or-subsidized professional Teaching Artists to design and execute exciting arts classes to under-resourced students in Stamford and Norwalk public schools. The distinctiveness of Art Partners centers on the quality of the Teaching Artists and their close collaboration with classroom teachers or program directors to augment student academic achievement. The program teaches the 21st-century skills of critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and communication, while expanding a student’s world-view. For more information, see the Silvermine Arts Center website under education/outreach.

Silvermine Arts Center is one of the oldest artist communities in the United States. Its five­acre campus in New Canaan, Connecticut, consists of a nationally renowned artist guild, an award-­winning school of art offering classes for all ages, an arts and fine crafts shop, and a gallery offering over twenty contemporary and historic exhibitions annually. Silvermine is a non-­profit organization that also offers an educational outreach program, Art Partners, and hosts lectures, performances, film screenings, and special events.

Gallery Hours: Silvermine Galleries are open Wednesday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (203) 966-­9700 ext. 20 or visit the website: www.silvermineart.org.