Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Meet Chester County Painter and Teaching Artist Rhona Candeloro

Rhona Candeloro, a Chester County painter and teaching artist, recently completed a five-day residency pilot program called “Playing with Colors” with the PA Department of Aging and the PA Council on the Arts at the Kennett Area Senior Center. The 12 seniors in her group met for two hours per class for a total of five days, over a three week period.

Candeloro hopes to improve the mental, physical and emotional health of seniors by getting them engaged in creative self-expression in a group atmosphere based on trust, caring and new friendships. Thanks to a Project Stream grant, Candeloro will run the “Playing With Colors” program again at Simpson Meadows, Simpson Mid-Town, and return to Kennett to work with a new group of participants next spring.

In addition, as a PA Council on the Arts Artist-in-Residency, Candeloro will also be working with students from grades 6, 7 and 8 in the Chester Community Charter School system. She’ll work to support the students’ studies in literature and history, strengthen their creative thinking skills, and give them the opportunity to explore their creative strengths as well as their sense of themselves as responsible members of a larger community.

The theme for the project is “Dreams for the Future.” Each student will be asked to be part of a team in talking about what their dreams, as the leaders of tomorrow, are for themselves and the world. Their ideas will be used to design large canvas paintings with teams of four to five students working on each panel, with four panels for each class. At the end of the project, there will be an art show where parents and other members of the school community will be invited to view the artwork.

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Want to learn more about Candeloro’s work? You can contact her at rhonacande@aol.com for more information.

 

Rhona Candeloro, a Chester County painter and teaching artist, recently completed a five-day residency pilot program called “Playing with Colors” with the PA Department of Aging and the PA Council on the Arts at the Kennett Area Senior Center.