By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Seniors of the Westwood Council on Aging (COA) gathered at the Patricia Carty-Larkin Center this past Wednesday, March 20th to partake in a fascinating craft of Pebble Art. Local Artist Kerry Consentino-Vilorio guided seniors throughout the class to help them create beautiful custom pebble art pieces that they were either able to keep for themselves or gift to loved ones.
During this two hour class, seniors used a variety of styles of beach stones, driftwood, and shells that were personally hand-picked by Consentino-Vilorio across an array of New England beaches. She went on to further state that she does not buy any of these materials, but rather picks them up from around the area. Most of the pebble art supplies that she brought with her were actually from Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts.
While Consentino-Vilorio went over the simple directions at the beginning of this class, seniors really had full free range with their designs and how they wanted to incorporate each element. The theme for this class was designed around making family and/or pet members using the supplies provided.
At each seat, the instructor set up a rustic gray wooden and glass frame, a pair of scissors, a pencil, E6000 glue, and a glue spreader. To start off, everyone was asked to pick out a piece of colored card stock they wanted to glue their items too. Consentino-Vilorio had a spread of options including two different kinds of pink and white, yellow, blue, and purple.
Once everyone had chosen their card-stock, it was then time to take apart the frame by taking off the back, removing the paper inside and grabbing the wooden frame inside. Using this wooden frame, attendees would trace the outline on the paper and cut out the correct size on their card-stock.
They would then take the frame and the backing up to the table that was filled with bins of pebbles, shells, and driftwood. Including the frame in this step was vastly important to make sure that the pieces of driftwood would fit in their glass frame when finished.
Upon gathering all their supplies, seniors would return to their seats and transfer their pebbles directly onto their card-stock. Before gluing down any pieces, Consentino-Vilorio provided a short demonstration on how much glue to use, where to put it, and how to use the glue spreader.
Seniors ultimately had an amazing time doing this craft with one another. Many of them included family members (as many as nine altogether) and even some pets like cats, dogs, bunnies, and more. If they got stuck at any point or had any questions, like how to make a pet, the local artist stepped right in and helped them along the way. She even offered some helpful tips like using the shells as skirts for the females in the artwork.
In the end, everyone left with a smile on their face and beautifully crafted pebble art pieces that would look lovely in their homes.
