Students
creating mosaic with resident artist ... Colin Coots asks
students to stretch their imaginations.
"My
name is Coots and it rhymes with boots," resident artist
Colin Coots says, introducing himself to students while
playing a hand saw like a guitar.
Students
watch in awe as he then pulls a large, black magic marker
out of his pocket, presses the cap to his lips and "plays"
it like a recorder. The sound, however, is a lot like that
of a crying baby.
How
does he do it? He isn't telling.
"You
have to use your imagination," he says. "That's
one of the things that the arts do, help you to become a
problem solver."
Coots,
who travels the northeast working with school children,
is doing a six-day residency at Yates magnet school with
teacher Ava Scott's art classes. He has set up shop in the
back of the Yates art room with bags and boxes filled with
bells and whistles - literally. Observation, communication,
cooperation and imagination - these are the four keys to
Coot's message to Scott's students as he asks them to think
outside the box.
"Art
is communication. The arts train your senses," he says,
walking around the room throwing "imaginary friends"
into a paper bag - with each pretend toss he gives a slight
pull on the side of the paper bag, which makes it sound
like a large rock is hitting the bottom.
"A
single sound can put an idea right in your head," he
says.
During
his stay, Coots will be working with every student at Yates
to create a "monumental cooperative" project.
All 381 students will create a clay tile based on a food
theme. This spring, the tiles will be put together in a
mosaic to hang in the school's cafeteria.
He
says his goal is to teach students basic skills that they
can apply to the arts - but also to other areas of their
lives. In creating the clay tiles, he talks about texture,
line and shape. He also talks about form and how a three-dimensional
object looks and feels different than lines on a paper.
He reminds students to use their observation skills every
day of their lives.
But
he also talks about working together to create a final product.
"The
most important thing we can learn is how to get along with
other people," Coots says. "If you learn how to
get along with other people, you'll do fine in your life."
ARTFUL
TREATMENT
New
Haven Register - New Haven Connecticut
Sandi Kahn Shelton, Register Staff
11/14/2005
NEW
HAVEN - For a short time last Wednesday afternoon,
there was a small miracle at the Children’s Hospital
at Yale-New Haven. A group of nine hospitalized kids forgot
their fear, their upcoming medical procedures and their
homesickness and concentrated instead on a guy drawing
a horse while he made squirrel noises.
The
guy was Colin Coots of LeRoy, N.Y., and he came to the
hospital as part of the Child Life Arts and Enrichment
program, which is designed to help children express their
feelings through art as they deal with their illnesses.
Coots, a soft-spoken grandfatherly man, sketched portraits
while keeping up a gentle patter of conversation, and
then handed out materials and encouraged the children
to make their own pictures. After a few moments, most
of the kids were drawing and quietly talking to each other
about their experiences in the hospital.
Meanwhile,
elsewhere in the pediatrics unit, poet Aaron Jafferis
of New Haven was visiting the bedsides of teens and inviting
them to write with him.
"There
are lots of different ways I work with teenagers,"
says Jafferis, who’s been coming to the hospital
every Wednesday afternoon for over a year. "They
can just listen, or I can help them write down their own
feelings. I play music for them. We talk.
"I
have a whole range of activities and prompts to help them
get started. What surprises me sometimes is that kids
who may at first be fearful of expressing themselves just
open up to the experience. It helps them get out what
they’re feeling."
Jafferis
is one of 15 artists who come to the hospital on a regular
basis, says Life Arts and Enrichment coordinator Janice
Pasquale Baker, who started the program two years ago,
knowing that kids who are hospitalized need not only the
attention to their physical selves, but to their emotional
and spiritual well-being, too.
By
bringing artists right to the bedsides of the patients,
she says, the Child Life Arts and Enrichment Program helps
children cope with the range of feelings they’re
experiencing and gives them a sense of control of their
own lives. They’re given the freedom to express their
sense of fun, as well as their fears of loss and separation,
she says.
The
program offers music therapy, storytelling, as well as
hands-on art activities in woodworking, puppetry, jewelry-making,
clay sculpture as well as poetry and drawing. Baker provides
training for artists who are interested in working in
this setting.
"It
takes just the right kind of person," she says. "Not
only must the artist be sensitive to kids, but it’s
important to be able to tolerate a certain level of chaos
and emotional involvement, too. We have some wonderful
people who give quite a bit."
Jafferis
says the experience of working with children has been
very moving. "Poetry provides adolescents with a
direct and personal way to process and understand their
experience and also gives them a bridge that helps them
remain connected to their lives outside of illness."
Christine
Clyde of Madison, whose 12-year-old daughter Elizabeth
attended the workshop with Coots, says she’s been
so impressed with the programs offered by the Child Life
program. "They never forget here that they’re
dealing with kids," she says, "and that everything
needs to be fun and interesting for them. They do everything
to help the children make the best of their time here.
Everyone has been so kind."
Traveling artist brings to pupils opportunities he missed
as a child
by Gary Duchane, The Hartford Courant
Artist
Colin Coots travels around the Northeast like Johnny
Appleseed, planting seeds he hopes will sprout future
artists.
Coots
spent Wednesday at Staffordville Elementary School drawing
and talking with pupils about his work and the importance
of art.
A Class Favorite - Colin Coots,
an artist and entertainer from
LeRoy, New York, has kindergartners at Staffordville
School in stitches
with his demonstration of "magic sticks" which
appear to jump by themselves.
"Art
is a form of communication," he told 50 third-graders.
"It is the most important subject, not only in
school, but in our culture."
The
daylong visit was paid for by the school's PTO. Principal
Carol Rommel said the visit was especially important
in light of layoffs this year of elementary school art,
music and physical education teachers.
The
artist urges pupils to approach drawing, painting, music
or any art form with enthusiasm and relaxation.
"Most
people worry about hitting the bull's eye," he
said. "Don't worry about whether it is a nice drawing
or not. The (individual) drawing is not as important
as the process of drawing."
The
pupils pondered the advice for a few seconds, and then
one offered a personal note.
"I'm
pretty good at drawing myself," said third-grader
Thomas Langan.
Coots
sat down to draw portraits, surrounded by pupils who
watched before commenting like art critics.
"You
look cool, Paul. A little chubby, but cool," said
Thomas, 8, as a profile of Paul Arietti emerged from
Coot's rapid strokes with pen and watercolors.
Paul
tried to ignore his peers while he modeled for Coots.
In the end, he and his classmates were impressed by
the likeness.
"I
like art, but I can't draw that good," Paul said.
He
does enjoy drawing, however. "I draw a picture
of a guy with an arm that has three claws and a jet
pack who wears a hockey mask, sort of, and is real strong
with weapons," Paul said.
Coots
travels from his home in New York to schools throughout
the Northeast at least 10 times a month. He has taught
art, and his work has been exhibited at the Cleveland
Museum of Art.
"I
like to go to the small schools," Coots said. "I'm
drawn to teaching art because I learn about art from
teaching art."
Coots
said coming from a small school in western New York,
the opportunities for exposure to art were few.
"This
is kind of revenge because I didn't have a lot of opportunities
to learn about art," he said. "I'm trying
to give these kids the opportunities I didn't have."
In
Canton, a Wall Full of History
by Mitchell Flagg, Watertown Daily Times
Something
that took 150 years to create has been condensed
onto two walls in only about two weeks.
Artist Colin Coots' historic
mural covers the walls of
the Gray Lanes bowling alley in Canton.
This
old mill town has come to life on the formerly blank
maroon canvas of the Gray Lanes bowling alley, as
LeRoy mural artist Colin Coots has created a detailed
but whimsical portrait of Canton's past on two of
the bowling alley's massive walls.
Half
of the mural overlooks the Grasse River and the
other half faces busy Main Street along the southern
approach to the village.
"What
I tried to do was make the building disappear, so
people don't even remember that big wall,"
he said. "That's what art is all about. It's
kind of magic."
It
is perhaps the most visual reminder of the village's
150th birthday celebrations this year, and an example
of teamwork and community spirit that the project's
planners hope will rub off throughout the downtown.
Mr.
Coots travels from his home in LeRoy to schools
throughout upstate New York, doing sculpture and
painting demonstrations. He also has painted murals
at dozens of schools, including Canton's middle
school, and he planned the layout of the massive
work of art with the help of Canton Historian Linda
A. Casserly.
"We
sat down to try and make the mural an authentic
representation of Canton's history," Mrs. Casserly
said. "It runs from the old Eagle Mills of
the 1840s and clearing the land, to farming with
oxen and maple sugaring, to the modern village.
We also wanted to include some of the famous people,
and Colin has done a wonderful job in bringing that
all together."
Although
it was once thought the project would take a month
to complete because of the scale - the Main Street
wall is about 100 feet long and 35 feet high - Mr.
Coots and a crew of six student volunteers completed
the mural in less than two weeks.
The
final product includes an idyllic Adirondack skyline
and images of the village's most famous residents,
such as canoe maker Henry Rushton and artist Frederic
Remington, as well as the deer, horses, gristmills
and countless other items that have come to symbolize
life in Canton and in the north country.
"This
is definitely the biggest space I've ever worked
on," Mr. Coots said. "But I think the
mural will become a real focal point for pride in
the village, and maybe it will even spin off t other
artwork on other buildings. People have really responded
to it so far. Even some of the truckers driving
by have tooted their horns at us while we're out
here working on it. That's really encouraging."
A
distant relative of Canton's Max Coots, the poet
and former Unitarian minister, Mr. Coots attended
the Cleveland Institute of Art, and he splits his
time during the year between school programs and
his other passion, painting thoroughbred horses.
"I
make my living painting horses," he said. "I
grew up around thoroughbreds and I love that life.
It's fast. Fast money, fast people, fast horses."
The
mural was the brainchild of Peter H. VanDeWater,
chairman of the village's downtown revitalization
committee. And because he convinced a coalition
of downtown businesses to assist in the project,
it will cost the village less than $5,000 for the
new outdoor display.
If
people get out of their cars to look at the mural,
even for a few minutes, they're more likely to stay
in Canton to shop or to eat, Mr. VanDeWater said.
"I
think the whole project gives a real sense of civic
pride," he said. "It certainly catches
your eye as you're driving into town, and we hope
it has a bit of a spinoff effect in encouraging
people to stop on their way through the village.
I think someone walking or driving by it will be
pretty impressed."
Mrs.
Casserly hopes the mural will spur other building
owners to follow suit. "This village has a
tremendously rich history," she said. "It
could be very exciting to have more and more of
it displayed outside on the walls. Hopefully, this
is the beginning of something that will spread."
A
Touch With Light
The Blood-Horse of April, 1987
Colin
Coots' art reflects his lifelong association with
animals as well as formal study...
During
March and early April, the Thoroughbred Hall of
Fame at Aiken, SC, displayed a room full of the
colorful art of Colin Coots. The artist some time
earlier had come to the attention of Dr. Joe O'Dea,
a breeder, owner, veterinarian, and former racing
commissioner who also has studied and written extensively
on sporting art.
In his study of jockey Jorge
Velasquez, Coots illuminated
the central figure while merely sketchng other elements.
O'Dea,
who is now retired from his position as veterinarian
to the US Olympic Equestrian team, regards Coots
as "a unique and ascending talent who bears
watching" in an era when interest in equine
art so often centers on works of artists long deceased.
"The
present popularity and affluence of racing and the
horse sports have spawned a real interest in the
paintings, prints, and sculpture of yesteryear,
as the records of the auction houses and major galleries
will attest," wrote Dr. O'Dea. "Unfortunately,
no comparable interest has been sparked in the art
community by the work of contemporary horse painters,
even though there is a huge mass of work being produced
... Much of the present work is predicated on the
production of a likeness acceptable to the potential
buyer, and frequently acceptance is tied to the
popularity of the subject or the pictured event."
Coots
has set out to avoid the pattern Dr. O'Dea described.
Coming from a family who bred Hackney ponies, Angus
cattle, and Irish Terriers in the Genesee Valley
of New York, Coots combined an artistic bent with
practical knowledge of animals. He studied at the
Cleveland Institute of Art.
As
a VISTA volunteer, he developed an appreciation
for light no classroom could provide. Dr. O'Dea
continued. He was posted in the Eskimo village of
Stebbins on Norton Sound, Alaska, where an "altered
winter light is crated by the low declination of
the sun."
Coots
took to the outdoor life, hunting with bow and arrow
and fishing with enough proficiency to develop a
rapport with the Eskimos. Upon his return to the
mainland, he taught at Rochester Institute of Technology
and later joined the Strong Museum staff at Rochester,
but sporting pursuits again entered his life, and
his art. The interest of his daughter, Heather,
in equestrian competition drew Coots to the show
ring, rekindling his own boyhood interest in fox
hunting and racing.
Eventually,
Coots resigned his post at the Strong Museum and
began devoting his full professional time to his
art.
"Coots
taught himself to work quickly using oil with the
same facile technique with which he uses water color,
creating a kind of modified impressionism in his
search for realism," Dr. O'Dea continued. "It
is interesting to watch Coots work in oil. He eyeballs
his subject and goes right at it, without resorting
to a guideline sketch, and when he uses water color,
he uses only minimal sketching. In some works, he
leaves parts of the basic sketch unadorned and,
with great finesse, illuminates other parts of the
sketch with water color, producing a subtle, mixed-media
effect."
