PWEF Education Support Center Pursues the Artist Within

This winter, the  invited two guests to share their artistic passion and highlight the importance of the arts in our lives. Local author, , and artist and , Seth Ehrlich, shared an afternoon with the support center’s 40 third-graders talking art and encouraging each to pursue their artist within. 

Paisner’s visit was timely, as the PWEF Support Center students are writing their own stories and crafting hand-made books. Paisner has co-authored or ghostwritten more than 50 books with well-known politicians, entertainers, athletes and business leaders as well as not-as-famous people who have very interesting stories too. He revealed the biggest secret about writing, noting it isn’t difficult – “Iit’s just telling stories and you tell stories every day.”  The children were inspired and promised to follow his instructions to think about what their readers would like to read, interview each other about their stories and, most importantly, when you are done writing, rewrite. 

On another visit, artist Seth Ehrlich showed a slide presentation spotlighting his playful and sophisticated art - an art form that he created. Serendipitously, his artwork was on display at the where the support center meets each week. The students were treated to a guided “art walk” with the artist. As they toured the artwork, he explained that he had used items from everyday life to create his art. His sculptures may look like stone, concrete or metal, but amazingly, they are all made from paper – which he used because it’s good for the environment.  Ehrlich explained some of his techniques: making paper “look” like concrete by adding a little concrete powder, using grass to give his art an “earthy” feel and using glitter for…sparkle.
 
The PWEF Education Support Center provides a weekly after-school program for 40+ third graders who need a little extra help or for whom English is a second language. The center, which began in 2004 and is housed at the Port Library, focuses on improving literacy skills. Offering individual attention and a variety of creative enrichment activities including music, art, problem solving, homework help and writing exercises. Guest speakers round out the experience. The intergenerational volunteer staff is comprised of retired Port Washington educators, talented Port residents and current Port high school students. For more information, please log onto www.PWEF.org.