Starlight and Fourth and Faith form art partnership
Group photo of the artists who delivered paintings to Fourth and Faith.
Starlight Enterprises Inc. in New Philadelphia has partnered with Fourth and Faith for the display and sale of their art. Fourth and Faith, at the corner of Wooster Avenue and Fourth Street, is part of St. John’s UCC church in Dover.
“We’re just excited that they wanted to bring their pictures here and hang them up,” said Belinda Lentz, the director of Christian education at St. John’s.
Fourth and Faith also displays art work from other groups and organizations. “We just love to have all kinds of different art in here. The more that we can get in here, the better,” Lentz said.
After renovations of the former motorcycle shop that was once a Ford dealership, the new space opened last spring.
“We decided that we should use it for a community space and also a worship space in the hopes that we would draw more people to the church,” Lentz said.
Fourth and Faith offers two main spaces: one with tables and chairs for events and a sanctuary that has been used for activities like yoga in addition to worship services. The church has used the space for arts and crafts projects and meals, and others can rent it for graduation parties, baby showers, wedding showers or a family Christmas party.
“Every Sunday about nine o’clock, we have a little worship and Bible study back there,” Lentz said, adding there is usually something going on at Fourth and Faith in addition to the Sunday service. “We’re here all the time, which is really, really cool.”
For those who missed the annual Starlight art show usually held at the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts, it was not on the schedule this year. The SEI Art Department already has so much of their artwork in the community they wouldn’t have been able to prepare for a show, according to Cassie Elvin of SEI.
SEI, which provides services for people with developmental disabilities, has an art studio and store at New Towne Mall. Its art also is on display at other locations in the community including the Tuscarawas County Courthouse, Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital, Alley Cats Marketplace and All Paws on Deck in West Lafayette.
The artists make a commission from every painting they sell, and the rest of the funds go back into the art program.
If you see something you’d like to take home or give as a gift, don’t wait to make a purchase. The artists go out every week or two to their sales locations to add new pieces and swap out other pieces to a different location to keep their displays fresh.
SEI artist Chris Gonter-Dray was excited to see his work at Fourth and Faith. He works on art two days a week, although other SEI artists have made the New Towne Mall studio their base and work five days per week.
“I do all different kinds of paintings,” Gonter-Dray said. “I like to mix it up every so often. I’m working on a cowboy gnome.”
Gonter-Dray doesn’t have a favorite type of art or subject but decides what he is going to work on each day with the SEI instructors. On his other days in the SEI program, he spends time working on a curriculum that includes personal skills, social skills including money and relationship skills, among others.
Paintings are the top seller for SEI, but they also sell a lot of decorative porch boards. Recently, they produced a spring-themed porch board with peeps and Easter bunnies. In addition to the artists working at the New Towne Mall studio, SEI woodworkers are putting together the unfinished porch boards at SEI’s wood shop off East High Avenue in New Philadelphia.
SEI does take custom orders, but because they have so many venues, they cannot guarantee timelines.
SEI has numerous other programs in place to help the people they serve including residential and homemaker personal care.
“We can provide assistance to the person in their home or in the community, whatever their needs are. Some people are shy; they need to go out and meet friends. Some people need help in the home; they might need help with showering, personal care, things like that. They might need help learning how to cook,” Tonya Thomas of SEI said. “We can help them in the community, go grocery shopping, do their laundry and go to events.”
Community respite is another service that allows individuals the opportunity to get out with a group and do something fun like bowling, movies or Christmas shopping.
“It just depends on the month and what’s going on locally,” Thomas said. “Some people like it for a parent or a caregiver to have a day off.”
It’s a day for individuals to do what they want.
“You might make breakfast in the morning and then go out in the community in the afternoon,” Thomas said. “We’ve done all kinds of things. We’ve made crafts, went to the Akron Zoo and The Wilds. Everybody loved The Wilds; they just had a wonderful day.”
Individuals at SEI also have the opportunity to work on a subcontract job at one of the SEI locations and get paid an hourly rate. They also have the opportunity to volunteer at various places including the Tuscarawas County Humane Society to learn job skills.
Visit https://thinksei.org/ or call 330-339-2020.