Why Community Matters in Danbury: Meet Joanne Hunter

Why Community Matters

Local creativity is overflowing in communities as moms, dads, small business owners, nonprofit leaders and volunteers are finding new ways to communicate in this new world of social isolation. Their coping strategies and ingenuity is beyond inspiring! 

We are proud to introduce you to these innovators in “Why CommunityMatters”, a series made possible by LIFEWTR.

Meet questions with Joanne Hunter, owner of The Art Spot in Danbury.

With the new norm of practicing social distancing, how are you finding creative ways to connect with family and friends?

In this new and challenging time, we have tasked ourselves to rely on what we do best, for our surrounding communities.  And that is to bring the joy and stress relief of art to as many as we can! We have been posting activities for families to do with regard to art projects on our Facebook, theartspotct.  As well, we are posting artwork sent to us by our students, or anyone wishing to do so! It's fun to see what others are doing, and maybe get new ideas for what to do with your kids at home. This time of self-quarantine should and can be creative, fun, educational and dynamic.

It's been so lovely to see people try new things, take a deep breath and find comfort in each other, lend a hand.  It's not easy all the time, but it is heartwarming to see everyone pulling together in their communities to offer assistance and help, form new bonds, keep their creativity alive and all responsibly wait this out until we can interact with each other in person.  We look forward to that!

Do you know of any local businesses or nonprofits innovating to serve communities during this difficult time? How?

The Art Spot is offering individual development to our portfolio students, who are still working at home to pull portfolio work together. We're in the process of setting up a Facebook group for students so we can offer art projects to them.  And of course, while taking into account easily available materials at home, there is so much we can still do! So look for our regular Facebook posts about cool things to look at with art, as well as lessons. Feel free to join our private Facebook group.  

Can you tell us if you or any of your colleagues are doing creative things at home to find joy and inspiration?

As far as what we are doing at home to keep creative, we are never very far from art. Bruce and I have been learning about videography for our online projects and I've discovered I love editing!  We're also gardening, it's like composing and painting with nature. With a few Public Art Mosaic Murals coming up we are also designing. And, I'm very excited to report we are finally working on a very intricate mosaic top for our dining room table. 

If you are a parent, have you found creative ways to engage kids at home?

Our own very artistic kids are grown up; our daughter in NYC, our son in Los Angeles. It's been a great stress relief to keep in touch with a group text and Facetime.  Our son is a chef but we all love to cook so we send recipes, share food pictures, have cooking contests, watch the same movies together and generally goof around. Our daughter works in the entertainment industry so she is always sharing new music content, as well as her truly stupendous photographs.  

It's been so lovely to see people try new things, take a deep breath and find comfort in each other, lend a hand.  It's not easy all the time, but it is heartwarming to see everyone pulling together in their communities to offer assistance and help, form new bonds, keep their creativity alive and all responsibly wait this out until we can interact with each other in person.  We look forward to that!

Learn more about local creative Joanne Hunter and The Art Spot here.

Community matters - now more than ever. We are thankful to LIFEWTR for helping us to connect and stay strong.

The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of HamletHub or LIFEWTR. 

D
Submitted by Danbury, CT

Become a Local Voice in Your Community!

HamletHub invites you to contribute stories, events, and more to keep your neighbors informed and connected.

Read Next