Camp Venture Brings Art Show to Pearl River Library

Each month, the Pearl River Public Library hosts an artist or group of artists to decorate and enhance the walls and computer stations.

Camp Venture, a not-for-profit dedicated to improving the quality of life for the developmentally disabled of Rockland County, is the selected group this month, bringing insightful and thoughtful pieces to the library.

"This month is very special," said Kathy Rose, the director of the Pearl River Library. "The artwork is impressive. Camp Venture is such a wonderful group."

Among the pieces is Fred Drachman's bright painting about love, which was selected to be the cover of Camp Venture's greeting cards this year. The cards are used for everything from birthday cards to thank you notes.

Krista Bilodeau, director of the creative arts at Camp Venture, explained one piece, a painting with bright colors and a mask, was created by a woman named Maria.

Aside from being beautiful, the piece is especially extraordinary because Maria uses her head to paint. The staff at Venture invented a sort of hat with a paintbrush on it, which Maria uses since she has trouble moving the rest of her body.

Maria also is active in Camp Venture's music department, playing harmonica while Drachman drums.

"It's the story behind the painting," said Jeff Spindel, painting specialist at Camp Venture. "It's about who that guy is. It's not really about the artwork."

Spindel works with the artists, figuring out what their speciality is and helping them create what they envision, once or twice a week. Each painting could take anywhere from two minutes to three hours.

Marcus, new at Camp Venture, worked with Spindel and, at first, didn't enjoy the art class.

"It wasn't until I saw that he liked peeling paint that I realized he didn't like art class because we were putting stuff on the canvas, and he enjoys taking stuff off," Spindel explained.

They worked together, placing paper on a blank canvas and painting over the paper. Once it dried, Marcus peeled the paper off, revealing the blank spots left behind.

After finishing with a bit of yellow for contrast, the painting looks museum ready.

"It looks great but that's really not what its about. It was relaxing and therapeutic for him. To have that outlet is very important," Spindel added.

In addition to art shows, the Creative Arts Department at Camp Venture puts on two shows a year. The winter show is a variety act, featuring different talents, and the spring show is more of a production.

Two years ago, the spring show was "We Love the Beatles." The show was a great success. Sid Bernstein was in attendance and Yoko Ono herself helped give permission to use the Beatles music.

The Camp Venture art will continue to be featured at the Pearl River Library until early September.

Download the movie