Terri Takacs of Naugatuck in her creates crazy quilts in her studio. - LARAINE WESCHLER

NAUGATUCK — Terri Takacs’ studio is crammed with color-coded thread, hand-dyed ribbon, and beads, all arranged in neat little holders along the wall, drawers, and cubby-holes.

Takacs uses the materials to stitch together scraps of fabric with intricate designs into pillows, purses, and quilts.

This style of “crazy quilting” with irregular shapes and embellishments has been around since the late 1800s. Takacs’ pieces feature “silkies,” replicas of turn of the century photos printed on fabric that cigarette companies used to include in packages to entice women. She said women used to use scraps of clothing and cover rips in the fabric and seams with pretty stitches.

Takacs said not many people in Naugatuck have heard of crazy quilting, but it’s very popular online. Takacs’ studio includes a magazine rack full of volumes devoted to the subject. She has even contributed articles to her friend’s magazine, “Crazy Quilt Gatherings.”

Takacs’ work has earned her first place at the Big E for needlework, since there wasn’t a category for any “crazy quilting.”

“They don’t really know what to do with me,” she said.

Takacs’ passion for quilting started over a decade ago when her mother bought her a book on stitching. Soon after, she took a quilting class at Naugatuck High School.

“I’ve just been doing it on my own ever since,” Takacs said.

For Takacs, each quilt has a special meaning. Some are for friends going through hard times. Some include pictures of lost loved ones and pets. Twice, Takacs said she was inspired by an obituary picture and made a piece which she sent to a complete stranger.
Takacs said she would like to make money with her hobby, but it’s hard. She recently sold a change purse that took her three long nights to create for $32.

“So far it’s been more of a way to give,” Takacs said.

While she gives most of her work away, Takacs is keeping one piece for herself. Each month, she is creating a block, which will eventually become a quilt to hang in her home, and posting it on her blog.

Takacs said she was almost embarrassed to admit how much time she spends on her projects, which averages about four hours per day.

Terri Takacs created this 'crazy quilt' clutch from scraps of silk and fine threads. -LARAINE WESCHLER

“It’s pretty much my life, besides my family,” she said. Besides her husband, Takacs has four children and two dogs to keep her busy.

When it comes to making her crazy quilts, Takacs said she likes to sit down with a Red Bull and some music and let her creative side take over.

“It creates itself, really,” she said.

With crazy quilting, there are no rules.

“You have to be comfortable with your creativity and confident in yourself that you’re going to creating something beautiful,” Takacs said.

She said everyone should have something they are passionate about.

“It’s like a spiritual thing to me. … It’s a great feeling,” Takacs said.

Local Creations is a series that will highlight the creative side of a local resident.

Terri’s Thread Art

Artist: Terri Takacs

Medium: crazy quilts

Website: www.etsy.com/shop/TerrisThreadArt

www.lavenderbetweenthecracks.blogspot.com

Branford artist JoAnn Moran, right, leads Long River Middle School students Jesse Burns and Taran Myers in painting a mural for the school’s cafeteria Oct. 6. - LARAINE WESCHLER

PROSPECT – Tiny dots of pink, red, blue, green and yellow popped from two nearly-finished community murals at Long River Middle School on Tuesday.

Students, staff and parents are using this dotting technique, called pointillism, to create the works of art expected to be installed on one wall of the school’s cafeteria on Friday.

Assistant Principal Kristin Reichelt-Bernier said 580 sixth- through eighth-graders are participating in the project, plus 50 staff members and parents. Even Superintendent James C. Agostine has stopped by to chip in.

“The point of it is a real community effort,” Reichelt-Bernier said.

Led by visiting artist JoAnn Moran of Branford, the project originally called for one mural revolving around one quote, but staff and students wound up selecting two quotes that resonated with them, Reichelt-Bernier said.

They are Aesop’s: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted,” and Gandhi’s: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

The students were asked to draw on a piece of white paper what they visualized for each quote.

Transparencies were made of the drawings and an overhead projector was used to help facilitate drawing the pictures onto large white panels for the murals. Each mural has six panels.

“It’s all kid drawings and kid graphics,” Reichelt-Bernier said.

Long River Middle School students, from left, Shane Rosenberry, Matt Covello, Aria Benevedes, and Erin Mascoli use q-tips to paint a mural last week. - LARAINE WESCHLER

Using the dot technique allows everyone to participate, as it takes a longer time to paint, she said.

Pictures of hands, hearts, a rainbow, two smiling turtles saying “thank you” and more help illustrate Aesop’s kindness quote. And images of two large hands cupping a world, words of “wish” and “peace” and two young adults holding up a sign that reads “No War” and other drawings depict Gandhi’s message.

Eighth-grader Donovan White, 14, said the murals are a great idea, and believes the two quotes selected represent what they are as a school.

Bianca Poehailos, 13, also an eighth-grader, said Gandhi’s quote is her favorite.

Long River Middle School student McKayla DeBrizzi, teacher Cathy Barone, and students Lisa Thrasher and Heather Bernier work on the mural Oct. 6. - LARAINE WESCHLER

“If we all work together, we can change anything,” Bianca said.

Around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, a few staff and students diligently applied dots of green, blue and other vivid hues to the large plastic panels. One measures 9 feet high and about 20 feet wide; the other, 9 feet high and about 24 feet wide, Moran said.

Moran has accomplished about 200 community projects in the state, and has worked in Utah, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida as well, she said. She mostly works on these projects with schools, she said.

Erica Liberatore, an art teacher who was painting on a panel Tuesday, said, “I think it’s a great collaborative project.”

Moccia attended Paier School of Art in Hamden where she majored in book illustration and commercial art. Moccia works as a freelance artist and regularly works in a comic strip or cartoon format, submitting her work to “Renaissance Magazine.”

Her work appears in the comic strip “‘tis but to laugh.” When not working in this medium, she enjoys baking and designing and decorating cakes, writing children’s stories and making custom paper dolls.

This month’s exhibit of Moccia’s acrylic artwork can be viewed on the Whittemore Gallery Wall during regular library hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Whittemore Library is located at 243 Church St.For directions call (203) 729-4591.

Click here to read more about this event

Nadia Zani, originally from Bangladesh, draws henna designs on Abbey Crouse during the Naugatuck Cultural Heritage Fair March 24.

Kiki Michalek at her new studio

Michalek will be holding open studios, artist meets and giving demonstrations periodically. She also offers lessons and “creative space”.

Michalek invited the public to her annual holiday open house on Dec. 11 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Join the artist for warm cider and refreshments to kick off the holidays.

Finished pieces and works in progress are on display at the studio. Christmas ornaments and holiday decor, original paintings and many hand painted gift items are available for sale.

Donations and supplies will be accepted at the studio to help feline rescue get through the cold months ahead. Information on feline adoption will be available as well as information on care for our feline friends.

Michalek has worked as a freelance artist for over 25 years, and specializes in pet portraits.

For more information or to make an appointment, call 203-913-3883 or visit airbornecreations.com

The North Main Street café hosted an art exhibition Sunday to preview a larger exhibition scheduled for Sept. 11 at the Naugatuck Historical Society.

“It was literally thrown together in two or three weeks,” Bellemare said of the preview art show, which also included wine and cheese as well as live music. “I didn’t expect much. We’re trying to really get people to see how nice this area is. We’re trying to get some more people to rent down here—I’m the only one here. It’s a nice little block. It’s just like art—it needs to be dressed up a little and given some color and attitude, that’s all.”

The exhibition was organized by Bellemare and artist Lewis Dube, who is also putting together next weekend’s show at the historical society.

“When Lewis came walking in, he presented me with one of his paintings and it was pretty cool,” Bellemare said. “So I said I would display one or two of them around the restaurant, and we kept talking, and it evolved into its own little world. I’m excited to look around and see the art, people, and energy. That’s what it’s all about for me.”

“People love art,” Dube explained. “People are here because there’s wine and food and music and art. They come and see it’s fantastic and don’t want to leave. I’m an artist and love to have my work shown. There’s a void that needs to be filled in the community, so I’m trying to do that and I’m taking some other people with me.”

Dozens of people turned out to the café to enjoy the atmosphere, art by about a dozen artists, and live music, including the jazz group Marcel and Beyond the Sun.

“It’s been pretty much a packed house—young, old, and in between,” said Andy Kulmann, a regular patron of Reynold’s Café. “I think it’s absolutely terrific—it’s like blue-collar artwork. Who would think an art exhibit in Union City would attract people to little old Reynold’s Café?”

Many people were attracted, something that is encouraging to borough officials who want to see Union City make a comeback.

“I think it’s fantastic for Union City,” Naugatuck Mayor Bob Mezzo said. “It’s a fantastic display of our artistic community. It’s an opportunity for a great longtime business like Reynold’s Café to showcase its new space. The renovations in this facility are great.”

“There are a lot of people who have thought this part of town would never come back,” said Mike Ciacciarella, second deputy mayor and chairman of the Union City Revitalization Committee. “We need a good draw in this area, and we’re hoping something like this can be it. You need a good draw for a good revitalization so people will come out. Hopefully we can draw people from not only Naugatuck but surrounding towns. It’s been a little struggle with the economy, but we’ve made progress.”

Organizers of the art exhibition hope the success of Sunday’s event translates into a good turnout at the larger show on Sept. 11. That exhibit will showcase more art in addition to food and live music, including a performance by opera singer Marianna Vagnini.

“We asked her to perform for us and she’s so excited about it,” Dube said. “It’s like this stuff wants to happen. Everything’s going so well.”

“This is the kind of attraction that draws people,” Mezzo said. “People are looking for entertainment. Events like this can help spur other economic activity in the area. I think that the challenge is to translate a single event into ongoing activities. I think we take for granted the fabulous artistic contributions of our community.”

The area is one that is special to Bellemare, even though she’s not from the borough.

“My grandmother, Harriet Rosa, ran this restaurant for over 60 years, and it’s been in my family for over 100 years,” Bellemare said. “It survived the Flood of ‘55, so it’s really long-term family history. When [Rosa] passed away a few years ago, it was left to me to keep this place running.”

The place is running, and well at that.”

Bellemare hopes Reynold’s Café can be a cornerstone to the revitalization of the Union City subdivision.

“We’re trying to revitalize the entire area,” Bellemare said. “There has been a lot of help from the community. The area isn’t run down, but it hasn’t gotten a lot of love. We’re trying to make this place feel like it’s more than just a hole in the wall with a bunch of drunk people. It’s really like our own little Cheers.”

NAUGATUCK — Exploratory education took center stage at Naugatuck High School recently, as educators reminded the community that a cash-strapped school district does not equate to a talent-strapped student body.

Displays of various special programs graced the media center and adjoining hallways, student films were screened, and an hour-long presentation of music, dancing and culinary arts capped the high school’s first-ever Greyhound Pride Night last Wednesday.

“This was a way to showcase some of the many programs and courses that give an assortment of students many opportunities to develop some skills,” NHS Principal Fran Serratore said. “We wanted to show the variety of opportunities for students. There are so many kids—we have 1,400 students here; we’re a large high school—and they all have different talents, they all have different skills, and they’re all looking for where they’re going to fit in. A lot of these programs provide that for students, and many become career pathways.”

In several cases, the school system’s financial woes were reflected by the presentations. But students and teachers proved they’ve found creative ways to contend with reduced budgets and make do with fewer resources.

Three-dimensional arts instructor Steven Kobylenski said his ceramics students have been using more “reclaimed” clay—essentially the scrap material from previous projects, which can be gathered for reuse later. Students held a raffle recently to raise money to buy new, white clay.

Antonio Martins, the student who potted at a kiln in a second-floor hallway to display the process, was working with a mixture of reclaimed, adobe-colored clay and the now-precious white material.

“We try to be as self-sufficient as possible,” Kobylenski said. “In 3D art and design, we use a lot of natural materials, you know, twigs, sticks, whatever we can find, because we only have so much.”
Kobylenski’s ceramics students, like construction and manufacturing students Andrew Curtiss and Tom Kaminski, who were stationed down the hall, sell their wares to fund their respective programs. Curtiss and Kaminski lounged proudly in two handmade, wooden patio chairs, which were the fruit of a semester’s work.

In the media center, the fine arts, cooking, business and other departments displayed posters, artwork and videography, as parents and residents explored all the specials the school has to offer.

In one corner, Jessalyn Rodriguez explained that the NHS Greyhound, the school’s newspaper, has ceased production of its print edition to cut costs. But in its place, journalism students and volunteers have harnessed the power of new media to craft a Web-only “newspaper,” where a video blog about safe driving, a podcast called “The Comfy Couch,” featuring roundtable discussion—and, of course, the ever-trusty written word—keep visitors up-to-date on school and community news.

Rodriguez said the Greyhound had covered the ongoing Board of Education budget crisis by interviewing students and feeling out their thoughts about the issue.

“I think we got students knowing about it,” she said. The paper went completely online “to keep people going.”

Serratore probably didn’t need reminding that just these programs were on the line, as school administrators tried to cut costs in a few very tight budget years.

“In these tough economic times, when education is getting cut, this is the stuff that’s threatened, and, you know, it’s important,” he said. “I know it’s numbers and it’s money and so on, but these are students we’re talking about. We’re not talking about car parts here; we’re talking about kids. They go though this once; this way once, these four years. And these four years, for many of them, creates a path to where they end up. Those unskilled jobs aren’t around like they used to be, where you could train somebody in a half an hour and they could stay in the same job for 40 years and make good money. There’s a lot of competition out there, so you want to provide all the opportunities, and education is the key.”

After an hour of open-house exploration, Air Force Jr. ROTC members, who were posted throughout the school to direct foot traffic, began to usher visitors into the gymnasium, where they were treated to musical performances, compliments of band instructor Bob Kogut and Mahlon Peterson, who directs the NHS Chamber Singers; performances of the winter color guard and dance team, the Houndettes; a competition drill by the ROTC; a hands-on culinary presentation by Diane Doherty’s students; and a recognition of outstanding NHS sportsmen and women, led by Athletic Director Tom Pompei.

“With all the craziness that’s been going on, we hear so many negative things about what’s happening in the district, so much, you know, publicity for all the wrong things,” Pompei said. “All the kids you see here tonight … are what’s great about our school and our district.”

Board of Ed. member Michelle Kalogrides said of the evening, “I think it’s great. It showcases all [the students’] hard work and dedication.”

CHMS art instructor Andrea Jakiela uses multiculturalism as a lens through which to filter elementary concepts of artistic design, process and theory.

If music, as the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once famously wrote, is the “universal language of mankind,” visual art is probably not far behind.

At least that seems to be Andrea Jakiela’s philosophy. The City Hill Middle School art instructor tries to impart a sense of multiculturalism to her students by including in the curriculum art projects reflecting various world cultures and styles, in addition to traditional Western art instruction. Here are some of her students’ wares.

African Kente cloths:

Kente cloths are native to Ghana and common throughout other West African nations such as Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) and Togo. Natively they are cloth-woven; Jakiela's students printed representations on paper.

Known locally as nwentoma, the kente cloth is a type of decorative silk fabric native to Ghana. Jakiela’s students produced representations of kente cloths on paper using a reduction printmaking process. They cut “plates” out of Styrofoam and used them to produce the repeating geometric patterns.

Each color used in the kente project represents something, Jakiela said.

Red represents life and blood, blue is innocence, green is “mother Africa,” black means unity and people, and gold represents wealth and fortune.

Exploring the Japanese concept of Notan:

Students made the cut-paper collages to represent Notan, a Japanese design concept concerned with stark contrast between light and dark.

Students produced these cut-paper black and white collages to represent the Japanese concept of Notan, which Jakiela said is the idea of two opposites coming together to complete one another.

With this project, Jakiela said, students are “learning about another culture, dexterity, and balance—not just in their art but in themselves.”
She said she’s used a sports analogy to communicate the idea to students: A team’s offense and defense may play entirely opposite roles, but without one or the other, a team would be incomplete.

Buddhist/Hindu mandalas:

Students crafted their own Mandalas on paper; in one branch of Buddhism, they are painstakingly sandpainted.

These circular, concentric diagrams have ritual and spiritual significance in both the Buddhist and Hindu traditions.

Jakiela said they represent “wholeness,” and the project teaches students how to incorporate both geometric and organic shapes into one work.

Carl Jung, the psychoanalyst, saw the mandala as “a representation of the unconscious self.”

In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, the mandala form has evolved into intricate sandpainting. Monks may spend days or weeks creating complex mandala designs, but they then brush the sand together and pass it into a body of water as a meditation on the transience and impermanence of all things.

Puerto Rican vejigante masks:

These masks represent the confluence of African, Hispanic and indigenous cultures in the Caribbean.

They are worn during the Carnaval to celebrate the victory of St. James the Apostle, a patron saint.

According to Jakiela, the frightening facades are thought to scare away evil spirits as well.

Natively, the masks are made with coconut shells and, more recently, papier-mâché.

BEACON FALLS  — The ten artists  whose work is featured in the above slideshow are Woodland High School’s AP Two-Dimensional Design and AP Drawing and Painting  students.

Rather than taking a comprehensive written exam subsequent to their completion of the courses, these students will submit portfolios of their work for grading by the AP board.

These portfolios must comprise 29 pieces of work: the quality section, in which a student showcases five pieces of his of her best work; the breadth section, where the student must show their versatility in a variety of media; and the concentration section, in which the artist must demonstrate his or her proficiency in dealing with a certain subject, be it cars, flowers, human portraits, etc.

Kristen Lengyel, their instructor, has taught art at Woodland for five years and started out at Long River Middle School. She holds a B.F.A. in Photography and a B.S. in Special Education from Green Moutain College and an M.F.A. in photography from the University of Hartford.

Three of the AP students, Englund, Albright, and Park focus on drawing and painting while the remaining seven deal chiefly with photography. Woodland Art Department head Susan Lewis said this mixed atmosphere is a healthy environment for an artist — “…they have a lot to learn from each other in terms of composition, light and shadow,” and other basic elements of artistic design and execution, she said.

Following are brief profiles on each of Lengyel’s ten AP students.

Lindsay Walsh

Age/Class: 16/Senior

Future plans: Lindsay plans to attend college with a major in business.

Inspiration: She is inspired by “rare, simple, and colorful photography.” She first got interested in the form when she took the Photo 1 class.

Favorite medium: Digital photography, graphic design

Artistic style: “I take a lot of leading lines and short-depth photos. I also like playing around with colorizing in Photoshop. I love taking pictures of things in nature and outdoors like flowers, trees, etc.”

Kelly Smith

Age/Class: 17/Senior

Future plans: Kelly plans to attend college with majors in education and psychology.

Inspiration: She is inspired by “the photography, art, and printmaking of Andy Warhol.”

Favorite medium: Conventional photography

Artistic style: “I love nature photography and shooting outside — I’m also starting to experiment with models”

Olivia Zlamany

Age/Class: 17/Senior

Future plans: Olivia is applying early to Brown University and hopes to also study at the Rhode Island School if Design.

Inspiration: She is inspired by her aunt Brenda Zlamany, a Brooklyn painter and Emily Thorne and Joey Comeau, the photographer and writer, respectively, of the webcomic “A Softer World”

Favorite medium: Photography, collage, multimedia

Artistic style: “I love colors and flowing lines, but also bold, defined work. It really depends on the subject and the image or idea that I’m trying to portray.”

Jason Woodin

Age/Class: 18/Senior

Future plans: Jason plans to go to college but isn’t sure yet where or what he wants to study.

Inspiration: He is inspired by “many different musical artists” as well as portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Favorite medium: Digital and conventional photography

Artistic style: Not indicated

Rachel Englund

Age/Class: 17/Senior

Future plans: Rachel plans to attend Central Connecticut State University on a track to become an art teacher.

Inspiration: “I’ve always liked to draw. If I see something that I think would be a cool drawing I’ll take a picture and then draw it.”

Favorite medium: Pastels, graphite

Artistic style: “I like to draw still life. Another favorite thing to draw is animals.”

Rachel Finke

Age/Class: 17/Senior

Future plans: Rachel plans to go to college and wants to be a second-grade teacher.

Inspiration: She is inspired by her three- and five-year-old cousins — “I love the innocence in children and how they make everything worthwhile,” she said.

Favorite medium: Photopraphy

Artistic style: “I am a photographer who enjoys taking short depth-of-field photos.”

Brittany Albright

Age/Class: 18/Senior

Future plans: Rachel plans to go to college to major in environmental studies and minor in art.

Inspiration: “I really love to paint landscapes, so if I see a sunset or a reall great view of an area I really want to paint it. I really love  van Gogh’s texture. I love to add texture and make things stand out and look real.”

Favorite medium: Paint (acrylic)

Artistic style: “My style would be very abstract at times as well as dramatic and realistic. I like to paint real places or people in many different ways. I also love to put myself into my painting, put my own style on everything.”

Daniel Park

Age/Class: 18/Senior

Future plans: Daniel plans to go to college. He is undecided on his major but is interested in the medical field.

Inspiration: He is also inspired by van Gogh and realism.

Favorite medium: Graphite, pen and ink

Artistic style: Daniel describes his work as “precise, accurate, patient, detailed and realistic.”

Ariel Dowski

Age/Class: 17/Senior

Future plans: Rachel will be attending UConn and possibly majoring in Communication Design and/or Actuarial Science.

Inspiration: She is inspired by M.C. Escher, Andy Warhol, and Photoshop magazines.

Favorite medium: Graphite, colored pencils, photography, Photoshop

Artistic style: She describes her work as “patient, creative, edgy, dramatic and varied.”

Taylor Byrne

Age/Class: Not indicated/Senior

Future plans: Taylor plans to go to college for Education with a minor in photography. She’d eventually like to pursue a career in education administration.

Inspiration: “My artistic inspiration is the world around me.  I love photography because you are able to capture one moment in time with the click of a button; no other medium can do this the way a camera can.”

Favorite medium: Conventional photopraphy

Artistic style: Not indicated