Art Shows at Coleman Library

Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library is the public library a few blocks from my studio, the home of Mindy Flexer Art School. Like Germantown itself, Coleman is a special place where many different kinds of people learn and grow together. Since 2017, I have showcased the work of my students in art exhibits in Coleman’s children’s department. Each exhibit is accompanied by a make-in, to celebrate the artists and to give their guests a chance to make some artwork themselves.

In 2019, Blooming and Thriving celebrated the natural world. After seeing the way artists from different times and places used flowers for inspiration, young artists used both observation and imagination to create their own flower paintings. They moved into three dimensions by transforming once-use plastics into sculptures.

In 2020, Water, Water, Everywhere! was about water on our changing planet. Children made paintings of water in its many forms, and created structures people could live in if their homeland flooded. This show was coordinated with a Rain Check Workshop presented by the Philadelphia Water Department. People who attended the workshop were eligible to get their own water barrel from the Water Department to manage their own \stormwater, as part of Philadelphia’s overall stormwater management program.