Category: Sue Silverstein

I’m honored to offer the opportunity to do excellent, meaningful, and inexpensive good.

I’m asking you to review the Amazon Bishop Gibbons Sue Silverstein Art Supply Wish List and work small miracles by purchasing some very inexpensive art supplies.

Many of you may remember Sue Silverstein, the superb teacher at Bishop Maginn School, for whom the Army of Good raised thousands of dollars to provide refugee kids with clothes, food, and scholarships to some of the best colleges around. We were a kinder country then.

We did some excellent work with Sue, and she offered us an opportunity to do some more.

Sue is an angel; she has helped hundreds of children in her career. Now she teaches at Bishop Gibbons in Schenectady, New York, and has created one of the most exciting and widely praised art programs anywhere, one that has drawn dozens of her kids (she teaches eighty)  away from TikTok and their cellphones.

She has won every award a teacher can get. She is one of my closest friends.

As most of you know, teachers and schools have been hit as hard as food pantries, and they are just as important. Sue assigns all of her art from used and discarded objects that are sent to her and transformed into fantastic pieces.

What she needs is art supplies, and this is the fifth or sixth Wish List I’ve done with her. She has short lists of inexpensive supplies, but everyone has sold out quickly. I’m looking for help to do that again.

Here is the link to the Amazon Bishop Gibbons Art Supply program. Amazon Wish Lists are simple; you buy an item or two, and Amazon will ask if the pre-programmed address is Bishop Gibbons. You will be prompted to go to the school address; click ‘Yes,’ and it will be sent to Sue at the school. It could not be easier. No middleman, no bureaucrats. The money goes right to the people who need it.

There were 21 items there when it opened quietly this afternoon (I had been shooting for next Tuesday, this is a sneak preview), and five or six of them are already gone. Here is a link to another opportunity to do good for a school with limited financial resources; this embodies the idea of small acts of great kindness.

As always, I will mention the list daily until it’s gone. Thank you for considering this; it’s a very worthwhile cause. In the age of social media, Sue is making artists. How often do you hear that?

The link.

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My assistants today are sitting in for Zip, who sailed off into the marsh in search of a mouse or rat (I couldn’t tell). Fortunately, Bud and Zinnia were only too glad to step in.

Up at the sky a prayer.

Day stars.

Deep thinking and prayer.

Brighten up.

A flower with a deep soul.

Calla is in meditation.

Asking dogs to sit and stop eating apples.

Art teacher Sue Silverstein’s amazing art program is now a regular part of this blog. Sue teaches 80 art students at Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, New York, and the art her students produce is amazing, thanks to the Bedlam Farm Army Of Good donations and discarded or forgotten objects. It’s creating some buzz in schools all over the country.  She now has a weekly column here to talk about what the donations of discarded objects are inspiring and the stunning work of her students. This is the second one; they’ll be posted once a week, according to Sue’s choice of the day.

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So much is happening in the art room this week…always something new. Sometimes, it’s like an orchestra, everyone doing different things in different ways yet working together. The go-big or go-home cake sculptures keep growing.

It’s always great when the first group to finish sets the bar high. Thanks to everyone who sent treasures this week. Lynn, who describes herself as a proud soldier in the Army of Good, took the time to send a note with a quote from Mary Oliver: “Maybe the desire to make something beautiful is the piece of God that is inside each of us.”

We will be adding that to the art room wall. I’m excited that Rick dropped off a box of trophies and medals, the minds of the kids were instantly designing when they saw them. We will keep you posted. A couple of finally rain-free and warm afternoons allowed us to get outdoors for photography class. Cyanotypes (sun prints) are always a sign of spring in the art program.

The most fun by far was the bubble photo shoot. You never know. During grocery shopping last weekend, I passed a row of beautifully colorful bubble wands. It was the colors, like a new box of crayons. I grabbed a couple of packs; no one in my life questions what I come home with anymore; they are used to me. I took the class outside, and we talked about capturing moments that would otherwise be fleeting. Also, about light and filters, using reflections in the photos.

They produced amazing images, and we had fun. Nothing like watching kids twirl and jump like they are 5 again. They have enough time for pressure and grown-up concerns. There is not a day that creativity does not happen because of your help. I sometimes tell the kids that we have no business having the number of materials that we do. The best part is finding a new purpose for them. We can always use paints, canvas, foam, and anything else that we think we can turn into art. A huge thank you to everyone for your constant support.

See you next week, Sue. My e-mail is:  [email protected]

Sue sent me this striking Pop-Cake Art piece from a boy in the 10th grade at Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, New York. Her class creates the most unique and individualist art. This one is from Zion, a school athlete.

“Look at this cake!” she said. “I love it. Believe it or not, the boys in the class are all basketball stars. They are very physical, and if I give them a great big physical project, they are all over it. It needs a fork on it. We took a hammer and pounded that in there. Zion is Kareem’s little brother. The thing has foam, plaster, house paint, beads, fabric, and hot glue!”

Sue is a genius for reaching the creative center of her students and drawing it out.

Like all of her art, Zion’s pop cake was made from materials donated by the Army Of Good. You can send old or discarded art possibilities to Sue Silverstein, Bishop Gibbons High School, 2600 Albany Street,  Schenectady, New York, 12304. She will find a way to turn them into art. She asks for discarded objects, rarely for money.

Sue’s ability to inspire her students to find their creative spark is fantastic.  You can read her column in this blog once a week; she chooses the days and likes Friday, but it may vary. I’m excited to have her write her on the blog every week.

Sue is a magician. Above the big boy in their grandma’s housecoats making Pop Art cakes and loving. They are all basketball stars.