Brief Program Updates:

We have no classes on July 4.

We now offer a wide range of art classes for adults, children and youth, morning, afternoon and evening, many of which are one-shot, come as you, are classes that need no preregistration. For details and a brochure, call 884-7525 and leave a message or scroll down to earlier blog notices below.

For example, Saturday, July 1, Plein Air Oil Painting Classes are at Cape May Point State Park at 9:30 am, 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm. Meet in the outer parking area just outside the gate, on your left. Come as you are, all supplies are provided for only $20.

Plein Air Soft Pastels meet Wednesdays at 7pm at the same place.

Monday and Wednesday morning workshops for ages 16 to 96 meet 9 am at Cape May City Elementary School, 921 Lafayette Street. On Mondays there is also a stand-alone workshop for kids ages 6-9 in the adjacent room.

We still have room in each of week of our YAP Youth Arts Program summer camps in Cape May, Lower Township and Wildwood, and in the Kids Camp for ages 6-9 in Cape May, as well as each night of Camp Congress Hall. Cape May and Lower Township programs meet next week Monday July 3, skip the 4th and resume on the 5th. In Wildwood there is no program on the 3rd or the 4th. To receive detailed brochures, please leave your contact information and which program interests you.

Art at the Library, for ages 6-10, at the Cape May City Public Library will resume Thursday afternoons from 1-2 pm beginning June 29.

Our intergenerational dance and stretch class meets Mondays, 7 pm at the Franklin St. School Civic Center (gym).

Our African American Heritage Walking Tour is offered now through September at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Our Community History Program’s new exhibit, A Feeling of Community: Segregation and Education on Cape Island, 1860-1954 is at West Cape May Borough Hall and will remain on view through Labor Day.

If you have photos or memories to share about the Franklin Street Church or any other aspect of Cape May’s African American heritage, leave a message and we will contact you about participating in our archive and oral history projects.

Our intergenerational poetry workshop is taking a break until September.

PAPERMAKING -- Dorit Silver Cohen and Morgan Maslow are among the youths enjoying the Center for Community Arts YAP (Youth Arts Program) morning Summer Camp in Cape May, for ages 10-14. The program is also offered in Lower Township and Wildwood, now through August 25. Other CCA offerings include a morning arts camp for ages 6-9, an evening program for ages 6-12 at the Congress Hall Hotel, and a variety of one-shot and in-depth art classes for adults. For information call 884-7525.

Scroll down for details on all CCA programs.

NJN reporter Marie DeNoia spoke with Center for Community Arts Board Chair Shirley “Becki” Wilson recently as part of the “History Hunters” segment on NJN News. DeNoia also interviewed fellow CCA founder Emily Dempsey, Executive Director Steve Bacher and Curator/Archivist Rachel Rodgers. The segment is scheduled to air Monday, July 10, on the NJN News at 6:00 p.m., 7:30 and 11:00 p.m.

Franklin Street School Featured on NJN “History Hunters” Series

Every Monday evening for the next few months, NJN News will air a story about a historic site from each of the state’s twenty-one counties. Cape May County’s story, scheduled to air on July 10 as part of the evening news at 6:00 p.m., 7:30 and 11 p.m., will be on Franklin Street School. Once Cape May City’s segregated elementary school for African American children, Franklin Street School is now being rehabilitated by the Center for Community Arts (CCA) and will be transformed into a community cultural center.

The stories will take viewers back in time. Some will offer a glimpse into life in New Jersey hundreds of years ago. Others will trace historic events that occurred in the state. Some of the other places NJN will visit include the Hunter-Lawrence-Jessup House in Gloucester County, the Renault Winery in Atlantic County and Mount Tabor in Morris County.

Franklin Street School was built in 1927 as a segregated elementary school for Cape May’s African American children. When segregation was outlawed in New Jersey in 1948, the school's use changed, and it was later allowed to deteriorate. Advocacy efforts by the Center for Community Arts led to the State of New Jersey designating the neglected school an African American Historic Site. In January 2002, CCA acquired a 25-year lease of the School from the City of Cape May and is now working to rehabilitate the School as a community cultural center. It's one of the few such schools in New Jersey still standing.

The History Hunters segment will also include footage from CCA’s exhibit, “A Feeling of Community: Segregation and Education on Cape Island, 1860-1954,” on display at the West Cape May Borough Hall now through September.

The Franklin Street School Rehabilitation Project has received funding to date from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the New Jersey Historic Trust, the Black United Fund of New Jersey, Sturdy Bank, and many other generous businesses and individuals. Fundraising is ongoing; Phase II of IV is scheduled for later this summer.

West Cape May artist Susan Ross has designed a mosaic mural that will adorn the revitalized School’s entrance hallway. This summer, Ross will lead a series of free workshops in which community members will create tiles to be used in the mosaic.

For further information call 884-7525.

CAPE MAY ART CAMP FOR AGES 6-9

Center for Community Arts announces its second year of Kids Art Camp, for ages 6-9, Mondays – Fridays at Cape May City Elementary School, now through August 11. This year campers can participate in a stand-alone one-day art project every Monday, join in Tuesday – Friday, or do all five days, 9 a.m. – noon.

Each week there is a new theme, led by Judy Ballinger:

Fabric Fun (June 26 – 30) (Room remains for walk-ins!)

Make it From Nature (July 3, 5-7),

Paper Mache (July 10-14),

Invention Convention: Making Magic with Recycled Junk (July 17-21),

The 3 P’s: Pencils, Pens and Pastels (July 24-28),

Puppet Play (July 31-4), and

Photography with Tina Giaimo (August 7-11).

Registration is limited to 20. Mondays only cost $18, Tues-Fri are $67, or $85 per week. Any combination of four weeks is $300.

CCA is also offering Seascape Art Studio with Jody Swope for adults in an adjacent room each Monday. Come celebrate Cape May’s gifts from the sea. This workshop provides the inspiration to create objects of art incorporating shells, driftwood, seaweed, and beach glass into mobiles, frames, garden art, mosaics and sea-adorned furnishings. Complete a one-day project or work in more depth over several weeks. Each Monday workshop is only $20 general, $10 for seniors, with $5 off for CCA members.

For further information on these and other CCA summer arts offerings, call 884-7525 or see http://www.centerforcommunityarts.org/.

Center for Community Arts received a Citation for Excellence from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and receives funding from the Council, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Lower Cape Alliance, and many generous businesses and individuals.

# # #

Below are Flyers for Summer Art Classes for Families and Adults in Cape May in various media, at various times and places, including free tile making and glazing workshops offered by Susan Ross as part of the Cape Island Community Mosaic Mural Project.

Please note CCA also offers camps for children that are not represented here. Scroll down for further info or call our office and we will be happy to send detailed brochures and registration forms.

Judy Ballinger is one of several local artists who will teach one-shot “come as you are” visual arts workshops this summer at various locations through the Center for Community Arts in Cape May. You, too, can paint a silk suncatcher any Thursday from 7 – 8:30 p.m. under her tutelage at the Cape May Nature Center, 1600 Delaware Avenue, June 29 – August 31. For more info and to register call CCA at 884-7525, or just walk in.

CAPE MAY SUMMER ART FOR ADULTS

Center for Community Arts announces a variety of weekly summer art classes and workshops for ages 16 – 96, beginning June 26 and continuing through the summer. With the theme of “Come As You Are,” most of the classes require no previous experience, include all supplies, and are self-contained in a single session. Walk-ins are welcome, but pre-registration is appreciated. For a detailed brochure call 884-7525, email info@centerforcommunityarts.org, or stop by 712 Lafayette Street.

Single-session offerings include Seascape Art Studio (Monday mornings), Dance and Stretch (Monday evenings), Sunset Plein Air Oil Pastels (Tuesday evenings), Quotable Art – combine a favorite quote with mixed media (Wednesday mornings), Sunset Plein Air Soft Pastels (Wednesday evenings), Silk Painting (Thursday evenings), Photography (Saturday mornings), and Plein Air Oil Painting (Saturday mornings, afternoons and evenings). Cost is $20 each, $10 for ages 65+, with $5 off for CCA members.

In-depth study is available with Watercolor Painting, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, eight classes, Session I begins July 12, Session II begins August 9; and Watercolor Illustration, four classes the same week, M-Th, Session I begins July 10, Session II begins August 7.

Teachers include Judy Ballinger, Deborah Burow, Cheryl Crews, Tina Giaimo, Jennifer Kilfara, Shannon Sterner, Jody Swope, and Rebecca Davis and other members of Community Outreach Dance Network.

In addition, Susan Ross will offer Tile Making and Tile Glazing Workshops throughout the summer, free, for all ages, as part of the Cape Island Community Mural Project.

These classes are offered at various locations in partnership with Cape May City Elementary School, the City of Cape May Department of Community Affairs, the Cape May Nature Center, and Cape May Point State Park. Most are accessible to users of wheelchairs.

These Center for Community Arts programs are made possible in part by grants from the Lower Cape Alliance, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and many generous businesses and individuals.

Center for Community Arts is a multicultural educational nonprofit organization whose arts and humanities programs foster creativity, community building, and appreciation for the rich diversity of our world. CCA’s programs serve year-round residents, including low-income families and seniors, as well as visitors to the area. Its artist-in-residence programs employ artists to help engage the community’s collective imagination for community healing, problem solving and visioning. CCA’s arts programs serve ages 6-96 in Cape May, Wildwood and Lower Township. Its Community History Program is dedicated to preserving, interpreting and celebrating Cape May’s African American heritage through exhibits, tours, and its John and Janet Nash African American History Archive. The Center is currently rehabilitating the Franklin Street School, a Cape May African American Historic Site, to house a community cultural center. For further information, call (609) 884-7525 or access CCA’s web site at www.CenterforCommunityArts.org.

ART IN THE GARDEN TOUR FEATURES LOCAL ARTISTS

CAPE ISLAND (CAPE MAY, CAPE MAY POINT, LOWER TOWNSHIP, WEST CAPE MAY) —On Saturday, June 17, from noon – 4 p.m., over 20 local artists and fine craftspeople will exhibit their work amidst the spring splendor of eight Cape Island gardens for the Center for Community Arts self-guided “Art in the Garden” Tour. Admission is $15, ages 6-12 are $8, and children under 6 are free. Tickets may be purchased in advance or same day at CCA, 712 Lafayette Street, Whale’s Tale, 312 Washington Mall, and Cape May Nature Center, 1600 Delaware Avenue, or with Visa or Master Card by calling 884-7525. CCA will open at 9 a.m. on June 17 for ticket sales. Rain date is June 18.

The tour benefits the art, community history and historic preservation activities of the Center for Community Arts. The work of Anna Marie Zabielski and the West Cape May garden she tends with Art Joblin, are included.

There will be no poetry workshop on June 7, 2006. The poetry workshop will be on hiatus from now through September.