Children, adults happy for return of 'hands-on' Community Day at The Westmoreland

Seven-year-old Escher Beldham of Plum was eager to have his quilt artwork, designed and cut from colorful construction paper, added to the art masterpieces already displayed on the walls of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg.

Beldham and his brother, Aven, 4, worked feverishly Sunday with scissors, construction paper, glue sticks and markers under the helpful and watchful eyes of museum volunteer Nancy Statler to make their colorful artworks in an art studio in the museum.

The artwork soon would be added to a community quilt collage project that dozens of children made as part of the museum’s family-friendly Community Day event.

“You know, I’m named after a famous artist,” Escher proudly told Statler as he worked on his piece.

Escher’s reference to well-known Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher brought smiles to the faces of his parents, Brittany and Trevor Beldham.

“We were so excited when we heard they were restarting these Community Day events again. I still have a Christmas sweater Escher created here hanging in our home dating to before the pandemic began,” Brittany Beldham said.

“We’ve found the children really pay close attention and follow instructions better when someone else besides their parents are instructing them. And the museum staff and volunteers are so patient and helpful with the children. We just can’t say enough about all of these hands-on activities here.”

Michael Carsone, the museum studio manager who was involved in the collage project, said the Community Day events are for all ages.

“We’ve had quite a few teenagers take part and then come back later and help us out,” Carsone said.

He said more than 150 people participated in a community event in early February.

Sophia Martin of Jeannette said she was looking for “something interesting and fun” to do with her son, Jordan, 11.

“We recently moved here from Brooklyn, and I’ve been wanting to come and see what this (museum) is like,” Martin said. “We were going to come Saturday, but I looked online and saw this children-friendly event today and it was perfect with the activities.”

During the morning, Jordan, a fifth grader at Jeannette McKee Elementary School, sat in on a storytelling event sponsored in conjunction with the Greensburg Hempfield Library. He also took part in a scavenger hunt, where students located artwork throughout the museum and matched it with the artists.

“Every single one of these events … the children just love coming here, and they actually learn hands-on about art. I just can’t say enough about these Community Day events,” said Kim Acito of Greensburg, who brought her grandchildren, Freya Prettiman, 4, and Freya’s brother, Silas, 3.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Freya said as she pointed to her artwork already posted on the wall by Carsone.

More information on museum events is available at thewestmoreland.org.