Photo by Isabell Macrina
Everyone shows off their unique pieces to take home
By Isabell Macrina
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Needham Free Public Library’s community room became an artist studio through their program Painting with Chelsea. Chelsea Brown, who used to work at NFPL, led a teen program through a painting walkthrough to create a fun, nature inspired piece they could enjoy: a mushroom and snail.
Though it was a smaller group today, the energy Chelsea brought to the room was no less engaging. She engaged with the teens and indulged in their banter, dishing out some of her own that had the room in stitches.
The class was also educational. Chelsea surprised the group with art trivia, armed with candy to keep track of points and the ultimate prize for the winner; a Vincent Van Gogh Funko Pop. The thought of a prize brought forth a competitive edge to the event and the teens were not going down without a fight. There was a fun coincidence; the class happened on the anniversary of the Mona Lisa Louvre heist.
Chelsea started running classes like this over five years ago and continued with them through Covid on Zoom calls. Her joy with doing these programs, aside from being her own boss, comes down to the people. “I love seeing the variety of artwork that comes out of it. Seeing everyone’s secret creativity makes it worth it.” She encouraged the variety. While she used the painting to teach techniques and how to create the piece, Chelsea let everyone take their own approach to creating the painting. Whether that meant the color of the mushroom changing, the snail, or anything in between. Everything came down to the freedom of painting
The class felt like being a kid again, encouraged to express yourself with art regardless of others’ opinions. People ended up with pain splattering their arms, but they never stopped smiling. It was a fun afternoon with lots of laughs, an impromptu Cha Cha Slide dance party, and a lot of candy, and everyone went home with an art piece they made themselves.
