North Shore Valentine’s Party 2016

If there’s one thing the artists at The Arts of Life North Shore enjoy, it’s a party. So it was no surprise that “Valentine’s Day Party” wound up on the agenda for our January studio meeting.Studio meetings are an opportunity for as many of us as possible get together to discuss studio life and brainstorm ideas to develop our program. Artists frequently put social gatherings on the meeting agenda and they’re especially keen on inviting new people into the studio to experience The Arts of Life. In the words of artist Ted Gram Boarini, “It’s important to have visitors so they can see what we’re doing here.”The group assembled for the January studio meeting made it clear they wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a big way this year and they decided to invite folks from Center for Enriched Living (CEL) to join us. We’ve partied with CEL before and always really enjoyed ourselves, so we were excited to invite them back into the studio.A committee of five artists – Marcelo Añón, Daniel Frownfelter, Nikole Heusman, Jack O’Sullivan and Montell Payne – worked together to plan the event. They developed a timeline for the party, decided on activities and food, created decorations, etc. When the big day rolled around, they were well prepared.The party included lunch (complete with desserts provided by CEL), karaoke, making Valentine’s cards and mingling. According to artist Russell Copenharve, “ Everybody had fun, all together with lots of people. We had a good time.” Check out the image gallery below for some photographic evidence!Karaoke seemed to be the favorite activity, with at least two renditions of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” by the end of the afternoon. There were as many different Valentine’s made as there were people making them, each card as unique and colorful as it’s maker. As the party drew to a close, there was talk of a round of Freeze Dance (a CEL favorite and new to tAofL folks), but we ran out of time. Guess we’ll just have to save that for our next party together!Reflecting on the party afterwards, Planning Committee member Nikole Heusman had this to say: “It make me feel good when we get to mingle with other people and make new friends. [We] hosted a good party!” BIG thanks to CEL for spending time with us. We’re looking forward to more collaborations and social opportunities.