Artists show students their craft

NEWTON — Four artists from Peters Valley Craft Center recently demonstrated their expertise to students at Kittatinny Regional High School for an all-day learning and appreciation of the art of fine crafts. Several areas were sectioned off in the school auditorium where the artists could display their work and spend an entire school day showing students how they create their art pieces.

There were four distinct art forms being presented and the four artists demonstrating were Fran Collier Singh (weaving), Preston Jones (fine metals), Bonnie Hull (ceramics), and Jim Whitman (wood carving). Each period, student classes were divided into groups, with each group rotating to the four sections so that all students could see the unique demonstrations and have enough time to ask some questions of each artist.

The Peters Valley Craft Center is located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. It was formed in 1970 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and education of fine craft. There are currently eight different studios: blacksmithing, fiber/surface design, ceramics, fine metals, photography, weaving, woodworking and special topics.

Peters Valley has an educational outreach program called Craftsmen at Work and its objective is to bring contemporary and traditional crafts to area schools in an effort to introduce, educate and increase the students’ awareness of crafts.

The artists who participate are all professional, working artists with at least a Bachelors Degree in Art. The majority of artists have master’s degrees and are handpicked, not only for their artistic ability, but also their ability to interact with students. They demonstrate their craft and bring completed work of their own to show the participants.

Coordinating the event at Kittatinny was creative arts teacher Heather Anderson who said it was, “an amazing opportunity for our students, a truly inspirational and incredible learning experience.” Anderson said that the demonstration was made possible by a charitable fund and she was thankful that Kittatinny had been chosen to receive this generous donation.

One of Anderson’s students, Kim Gibbs, recently won a scholarship to the Peters Valley workshop for her outstanding sculpture of a wishing well entitled, “Blue Bird.” Kim is a resident of Sandyston and is looking forward to attending one of the center’s workshop, ranging from acoustic guitar-building to Raku-pottery firing.

Anyone interested in finding out more information about the Peters Valley Craftsmen at Work Program can contact their administrative office at 973-948-5200 or by email at info@petersvalley.org.