Children’s Art Brightens Fall Gardens
Claire Cielo with a face planter she made from a milk jug. Photo: Kim Scott
Colorful works of art are popping up in Swarthmore’s public gardens. These totems, scarecrows, and other folk-art pieces are the work of the young children at Swarthmore Friends Nursery School. Adjusting to changes required by COVID-19, the school launched an outdoor-only program for the fall. “We began to think outside of conventional norms to bring our community back to in-person learning,” says director Kim Bernaus. “It was a labor of love.”
Art teacher Kim Scott knew she wanted to introduce the children to folk art. “I love that you’re using things that you already have,” she says. “You may take, say, a fork you used to eat with, but instead you make it into something else. You really have to use your imagination.”
Making art outside required rain-proof materials, which Scott had in abundance. “I’ve been collecting bottle caps for too long,” she says. “And all my neighbors are constantly dropping off milk jugs and produce netting for me.”
Each classroom brought the materials to life in different ways. Milk jugs became faces, bamboo was painted, ribbon and pipe cleaners were wound around twigs to make mobiles, and bottle caps were placed in patterns on metal poles she picked up at Home Depot. “I sorted everything into warm and cool colors, which they’d learned about last year,” Scott recalls. “We started talking about patterns, and all the different kinds we could make with bottle caps.”
Since the community contributed to the materials, Scott — who volunteers with the Swarthmore Horticultural Society — wanted to display them where the community could enjoy them. She liked, too, the idea that “the children and their parents can walk through town on a Saturday afternoon and see everything they’ve been doing.”
In partnership with the horticultural society, four gardens were chosen to display the children’s art. “SHS is pleased to add beauty throughout the town and serve as a resource for gardeners of all levels and ages,” says board president Jennifer Pennington.
Like everyone else, the horticultural society has been working to adapt to the pandemic. They collaborated with Swarthmore Town Center to design and install temporary parklets for outdoor restaurant dining and helped with a fall clean-up day.
The collaboration between the nursery school and the horticultural society was another way to “brighten our town, in gardening season and beyond,” Scott says. Pennington agrees, adding, “Gardening has become a source of healing and inspiration for many during this unique year.”
The children’s artwork can be viewed in the following gardens:
Borough Hall Raised Bed, managed by volunteer Mimi Nenno
Co-op Garden, managed by volunteer Judy Penny
Lincoln Way Garden, managed by volunteers Sharon Mester and Grace Evangelista
Clock Tower Plaza Garden, managed by volunteers Kim Scott and Karen Peichel
