Cats, Cats, Everywhere!

Every Thursday volunteer extraordinaire Cat Timermanis comes to the Cook Library Center to lead arts and craft activities with the students. Last week, "Ms. Cat", as the students lovingly call her, taught the group how to draw cats. Here are some shots of the students holding up their creations. Library Director Sue Garza looks forward to Ms. Cat's weekly visits because they are always sure to be a treat!

Fun with Clay at the Cook Arts Center!

Check out these fun projects made by the Tuesday afternoon pottery class at the Cook Arts Center.  Under the
direction of Pottery Studio Manager Madeline Kaczmarczyk, each student made a slab vase in terra cotta clay
which they then covered in white slip. Then they "drew" through the slip with a pin tool. After a second firing they  
painted the vases with colored and clear coats of glaze.

After School Arts Studio Gets Painting

Every Wednesday afternoon at the Cook Arts Center 17 children ages 5 to 10 have been participating in a weekly After School Art Studio class. Each week has had the children working with a new medium including clay and paper mache. This week the kids all pitched in and helped to give a fresh coat of paint to a couple of large bowls that we had paper mached a few weeks ago. After the paint dries the children will help to add some decorative touches to these colorful bowls!

Young Authors Get Creative

About 15 children participated in a creative writing workshop at the Cook Arts Center on Thursday, January 28. Ideas and creative juices were flowing as several instructors, including Cook Arts Center contract artist Lori Knorr, led the students in the writing exercise. One instructor recorded the story as the children "wrote" it through collaboratively expressing ideas and building off each other's sentences and plot sequences. As the story progressed it was projected on one of the art studio's walls so that the children could follow along. Another instructor began creating illustrations, which will accompany the final story, based on the children's descriptions of the characters. Check out these photos that were taken during the creative work session. We'll post the final story once it is completed!

Tolly Time at the Cook Library Center

Every third Thursday of the month students at the Cook Library Center gather after school for their favorite story telling
time.   This month's event featured long-time arts educator and advocate Cat Timmermanis  as she read the book called
"Too Many Toys".   In the story, the young boy, Spencer, finally agrees that he has too many toys and needs to give some of  them
away, however, there is one toy, a box, that Spencer absolutely cannot part with.  After Cat read the story to the  children she led them in an art activity in which they created a picture of a toy that they would give away.  Each child
attending the Tolly Time storytime this month received a free book!