Art at the Senior Center
Laurie Schaefer, program coordinator for the Rocky River Senior Center, says that when it comes to the center, “the hardest is getting people to come in the door. Once they come in the door and they see this isn’t what their idea of a senior center was, that’s it.” They’re hooked. A major draw for the Senior Center is the impressive variety of opportunities for art and expression, thanks to the classes offered in its numerous classrooms and auditorium. Plans are underway to build a gymnasium and more classrooms.
The center offers classes in eight types of art, including ceramics, watercolor, pen and ink and acrylic painting. “It’s such a nice facility, and what we do is enthusiastically supported,” says Patty Tobin, who teaches ceramics at the center. “And if we need something within reason, it’s provided.”
Schaefer attributes much of that support to the mayor. “We have the backing of the mayor [Pamela Bobst], who is very supportive of the Senior Center and our services and classes,” she says. “Mayor Pam has our back in providing all these classes.”
Each year, the public is invited to see the art that’s created at the center. This year's Senior Center Art Show runs through June 3 and is now in its 32nd year.
“It’s a way for people to sell some artwork and a way for them to display what they have learned and let people see what’s happening,” Schaefer says.
Artists don’t have to be enrolled in a Senior Center class to enter their artwork; it’s open to anyone in the area 55 years and older. The cost to enter is $4 per item, with the money going to the Art Show opening event.
There are opportunities for much more than visual art at the Rocky River Senior Center. Music classes and even a ukulele club (which has been so popular that three more classes were added), as well as dance classes including ballet, tap, line, theater, Irish, jazz and Zumba, are all on offer.
The center’s 300-seat auditorium presents approximately 12 professional performances a year in partnership with Local 4 Music Fund, and the Senior Theater (comprising seniors from the center) performs three days of shows twice a year with over 800 people in attendance.
In addition to learning something new or pursuing a passion, local seniors get a lot more out of spending time at the Senior Center, says Schaefer. “A big part of the value [here] is the socialization. That’s huge,” she says. “A lot of people think that when they retire, that’s it, and this is a whole new beginning. Being active and being social as you get older is so important.”
“Every classroom is full of creative people doing creative things,” adds Tobin. “There’s a lot of laughter.”
Art at the Library
The Rocky River Public Library, like most public libraries today, houses a lot more than books. But in addition to the various forms of media, the children’s programming and the many services offered, the Rocky River Public Library is a place of art, which is apparent immediately. There’s a community art case that showcases local artists (including library staff members) as well as nonprofits and other organizations, a staircase that features a mural, and art in the teen room created by Rocky River teens. The library also is home to the Cowan Pottery Museum, which holds a collection of roughly 1,300 pieces from Cowan Pottery Studio, where artists created pottery in Rocky River between 1920 and 1931.
“Now that the house [where Cowan Pottery was made] is no longer there, the museum is the main place. We are the hub of that art deco ceramics knowledge,” says Rob Isom, the library’s marketing manager.
Greg Hatch is a historian and the curator of the Cowan Pottery Museum. He points out that the museum is open for private tours, requesting that those who wish to visit call ahead to make sure someone is there to take them around.
Visitors also are invited to take part in the Crafting with the Curator program, which happens three times a year.
“It’s an art activity responding to a piece in our collection, specifically a piece on display,” Hatch explains. “All the activities this year are in response to our exhibit, Let There Be Light. Folks look at a candlestick design, and then we have a beeswax candle making craft to respond to that. Another activity will be where folks can make their own ceramic candlestick.”
During each activity, Hatch offers background and historical information.
“So many items were designed to have an everyday use,” he explains. “So the artist working on the design had to think not only of aesthetics but how it would be handled. I like to give the history and kind of the marketing, the use, what the artist might have been thinking. It allows for a better conversation between visitors and the actual pieces.”
Every year, a Cowan Featured Artist is named, a working artist specializing in ceramics. Hatch chooses a prompt that relates to Cowan Pottery, like “things meant to be used,” or “experimenting with glazes.” He collects all the entries, then displays them anonymously, and the entire library staff votes on the featured artist, whose work is displayed during the month of August. The entire collection is online so every piece can be viewed at any time.
Rocky River Public Library patrons have even more ways to try their hand at art.
“Now we have a craft corner, like a take-and-make, where people can bring and take items,” says Dori Olivos, who works in the Adult Services department. “People donate and take high-quality fabric, paper, stamps, markers, unused craft kits and crepe paper.”
Library Director Jessica Breslin notes that other available items include ribbon and even driftwood.
“What’s there is super useful,” she says. “Libraries are the ultimate recyclers to begin with, and this is a way of extending that. People can find new hobbies without breaking the bank.”
In addition, the library has a collection of craft kits people can check out, including weaving kits, quilling kits, a punch-needle kit and a weaving loom, each of which comes with a list of resources to help them learn about the kits they’re using.
Art at Home
A few years ago, Seattle resident Jennifer Simonic had a life-changing experience. Her friend Patty’s mother passed away before finishing blankets for her two sons. “I have slept on Patty’s couch under the blanket her mother made,” she says. “I knew she’d want to finish blankets for all her children.”
While Simonic herself does crochet, these blankets were too large for her to take on at the time. But her friend Masey Kaplan said, “What if we could find someone to finish this for Patty’s mom?” A “finisher,” if you will.
Identifying a need, Simonic and Kaplan, who is also a fiber artist, started Loose Ends with a simple website. Now, not even two years later, there are 24,000 registered “finishers,” as they are known, in 64 countries. The site details each available finisher’s location, talent and skill level.
The number of finishers has grown faster than the number of projects submitted, and Simonic is trying to get the word out via funeral homes and estate sales agents.
Two Loose Ends finishers are based in Rocky River, and both are awaiting their first project. One is Becki Algeri, who picked up hand embroidery and Swedish weave (similar to cross-stitch) during the pandemic and heard about the Loose Ends project via social media.
“My mom had a friend who passed away a year ago and gave her unfinished project to my mom and said, ‘Do with this as you see fit.’ [My mom and I] teamed up, quilting and hand-embroidering, finished it up and sent it to her friend’s daughter as a remembrance of her mom. I saw this and thought, ‘I want to do this for someone else.’ What a cool way to honor somebody.”
Another Rocky River resident who is awaiting a project to finish is multimedia artist Linda McConaughy. Though she works in many forms, she chose to sign up as a quilter for the Loose Ends project. When asked how she’ll approach an unfinished quilt, she says, “I have a design wall in my studio. I would probably hang it up, look at what’s there first — patterns, color story — then see what’s available — what they had, or match, to the best of my ability, similar colors and shapes, maybe doing some sketches to figure out their direction.
“When I went away to college, my mom made a quilt for me,” she adds. “I still have it, and I’ll never get rid of it. Sometimes people start projects like that for friends or family and can’t finish it. I want to help them finish that so [those friends and family] will have something they can keep forever.”
