COTS hosts Children's Art Exhibit buy Air Jordan

COTS hosts Children's Art Exhibit

Alicia Pacelli, COTS AmeriCorps Children Specialist, speaks to the media about her work on the COTS Children Art Exhibit at the opening reception at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in South Burlington on April 5. (LYNN MONTY, Free Press)

Works of art modeled after various masters from Picasso to Cassatt are displayed at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in South Burlington this month. The art exhibit was created by children staying in COTS Family Shelters.

Alicia Pacelli, COTS AmeriCorps Children's Specialist, recently held several workshops with the children staying in COTS family shelters, where she introduced them to different artists' greatest works. They discussed styles, and how to create their own works.

"This has been an incredible experience," Pacelli said.

When she first started in the AmeriCorps position at the COTS Family Shelters last September, one of her goals was to hold a children's art show. When Barnes and Noble reached out to COTS with this opportunity, Pacelli was ecstatic.

COTS Executive Director Rita Markley pointed at one piece of artwork above the fireplace in the caf. She said the painted image was remarkable because the house was high up in the sky, among the clouds, like a far away dream.

"That picture says more than a thousand words I could ever relay to you here," Markley said. "For some kids, that's how far away home feels. What we are doing is celebrating the buy Air Jordan extraordinary talent and creativity of all of the children in our shelters. We are also trying to raise awareness that so many children are without a home."

Markley said in the fall of 2010 there were 63 children getting ready for school in local shelters. Last fall the number jumped to 141 children.

"When you are out in the community you don't see homeless children, because with their back packs and lunch boxes, they look like every other kid. What this event does is make them visible. Air Jordan 2013 There are all of these unseen children, who are living precariously, who don't have a chance to enjoy being kids because their families have been uprooted. This is a way to make them visible, and to do it through their talent, and not their faces."

The exhibit features paintings that capture hopes, dreams, and the challenges of homelessness in the Burlington community.

Children staying in shelters, who participated in the project, ranged in age from preschool to teen. COTS operates three family shelters, with a capacity to serve ten families at one time.

"Nearly every child who stayed at the shelters in the past month and a half is represented," Pacelli said. "While I did offer guidance to the children, the painting workshops became more and more open ended. I wanted the children to have fun; to express themselves; to make a mess with the paint, and they did."

Markley said COTS is fortunate to have Pacelli on board. "It's her talent, sense of humor, and her willingness to try anything that's going to give them a better experience at COTS, and give them a better chance at life. She's just amazing. She makes me feel so hopeful about the world that she would dedicate a year of her life doing the AmeriCorps program just to help our kids on bad days that's the kind of thing I think about."

COTS was founded in 1982 to provide emergency shelter, and prevention services to families and individuals who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless. COTS also offers case management, and referral services to those who are homeless, or marginally housed, and permanent housing to low income families and individuals. Peanut collectingJerry Russin on A passion for Mr. Peanut collectingAviation and Aerospace Careers Class mvu after school on Highgate center provides kids options in aviationnike free run 3 on Milton teen swims across the lakeArchives