Special Needs Artists Put Work On Display At Katz JCC

CHERRY HILL, NJ — The Appel Art Gallery at the Betty and Milton Katz Jewish Community Center (Katz JCC) will showcase original artwork by members of the Katz JCC ACHaD and Samost TOPS Program of JFCS's Special Needs Department this week.

The artwork, which was created over the course of several months, will be on display through the end of February. Artists will be on hand to share their artwork and talk about their creations during an art gallery reception that will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 6 p.m. in Cherry Hill.

“In the ACHaD All About Art class, participants explored art revolving around color and its different forms and styles,” the Katz JCC said. “Various mediums and colors are found in every piece of art, creating a vibrant, creative and unique art pieces.”

This year’s projects that will be on display from the ACHaD participants were inspired by various color techniques and styles from numerous famous artists. A few of the many artists include Vincent Van Gogh, who has inspired the ACHaD artists to use swirls and dashes of color used to create colorful landscapes, as well as Romero Britto, who has influenced the style of bold colors, simplified forms and black outlines to form a modern painting.

In the JFCS TOPS program, participants experienced diverse modalities in the mini-courses, as exemplified by their scrap wood sculptures. In conjunction with the Soups and Sweets program, their clay work expanded to large, textured serving platters, which will be on display.

Some of the projects celebrate a particular holiday, such as their Jazz compositions and African masks for Black History month and the earthy Mexican Bark paintings for Cinco de Mayo. Traditional ink and acrylic pieces are also displayed for your enjoyment.

The gallery is among the stunning, eye-catching artwork of various styles and mediums that are presented throughout the year, according to Katz JCC.

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