Summer is still young, and our youth are, most likely, still reveling in their newfound freedom. But as the days roll on, parents may hear their youngsters wail, “What’s there to do?” Well, no worries. It turns out there’s a lot to do at Durham Middlefield Youth and Family Services (DMYFS). “Kids leave happy and positive, and I just love that,” says Jane Moen, the program director. “We provide healthy activities and positive role models for teens, which means there’s less chance of them being involved in risk-taking activities.” Marci LaBella, of Durham, is one of those positive role models.
She’s a freelance art instructor whose creativity has found a home in several venues. A member of the Wesleyan Potters Art Guild, she teaches jewelry-making to teens and a variety of crafts to children at Wesleyan Potters. She’s the art instructor for the after-school program at the YMCA in Middletown, teaching painting, clay, beading, crafts and art projects. In the summer she teaches a one-week clay class for youth at Middlesex Community College. The school year of 2010 saw her teaching beading and the making of wire jewelry at Berlin Adult Ed, along with Reiki. (She’s a Reiki Master.) And this summer she will be teaching jewelry-making and mixed media to teens at DMYFS.
She also plays guitar and helps write the music for the all-female band that she’s in.
She comes by all this naturally. “I’ve always done art,” she says, “since I was very little. I was always drawing or painting or working with clay. I started drawing when I was old enough to hold a crayon.” She studied art for a couple of years at Southern CT State University, learned jewelry-making at Wesleyan Potters and says her strongest background is in figure drawing and water media painting.
“I learned art by doing it,” she tells us, “and having it become a part of my life. And I learned from my friends. I never sit down with any kind of expectations. I allow the creative process to flow in its own way. When I sit down to create something, it usually goes in a different direction, and I’m always surprised at the results.
“There’s this feeling that makes me want to create. This is something I feel compelled to do,” she shared.
And she’s happy to do it seated on her porch, looking out over the bucolic three acres she shares with her husband, Peter, and two horses, two goats, three dogs, a cat and chickens. A dog groomer for 25 years — eight of which she owned her own grooming salon — she is enjoying doing her art full-time. She sells her handcrafted jewelry and ceramics at Wesleyan Potters and her jewelry at a well-known boutique in New York City.
She’s excited, she says, about the classes she will be teaching to teens this summer at DMYFS. “When they’re done with the jewelry-making class, they will be able to make professional-looking jewelry from materials they can buy at a local craft store. Their jewelry will look like they bought it in a boutique. I tell the kids that they will never have to buy a gift again. They can make earrings for less than $2, whereas in a store they might have to pay $20.
Her mixed media class will consist of painting, drawing and collage work. “The collages will have beautiful decorative paper with words, lyrics, poetry, quotes of their choice, photos, etc. They can draw or paint over the top of it, thereby making it a two-dimensional art project. They will also be able to make a card out of a collage,” she explained. And they will be able to make a memory box — an empty box to which they glue paper and then add beautiful pictures, poetry, stamps, stickers, quotes or anything to their liking. LaBella’s love of collages, she tells us, is rooted in her childhood when, having no money for cards, she would make them and then mail them to people, with the cut-out pictures and words on one side and the person’s address on the blank side. “I think outside the box,” she says.
She enjoys teaching crafts to young people because “a lot of art programs are being cut in the schools, and so kids are not getting as much as they need. Art time is when they can think freely and creatively. There’s no incorrect way to do art. It gives youth permission to relax and tap into their own self-expression.
“I want the kids to have fun, and I love sitting there and talking to them when they’re making their stuff,” she said. “This is a low-stress time for them. I think, growing up in today’s world, they’re under a lot of stress. This is a time for them to relax, take a breather and enjoy the beautiful colors.”
LaBella’s jewelry-making class will be at DMYFS from July 25-28; 9:30 a.m. to noon; grades 5-9; cost: $75. Her mixed media class will be at DMYFS from July 25-28; 1 to 3:30 p.m.; grades 5-9; cost: $75.
On July 28, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., there will be an art show in the newly-remodeled space at DMYFS. Says Moen, “We are doing an extreme makeover of the Community Room the week of July 11 and have asked the community for inspiring quotes to put on the walls.” For more information, call 860-349-0258.