While many people associate the December holidays with gift-giving, over the December 8-9 weekend children learned that they do not always have to buy a soon-forgotten “thing” for someone – they can create a heartfelt present instead.
“Crafting means a lot more than going to the store and buying,” said New Art Center (NAC) teacher Rasheeda Brown. “It’s your creativity coming to life.”
Brown and guest artist Shira Weiss on Saturday led the NAC’s Find Your Light: Celebrating Kwanzaa and Chanukah Through Art event, which introduced attendees to the holidays through fun, imaginative art projects.
Alex Star helps her son Levi, 8, create a bookmark at the New Art Center’s Kwanzaa and Chanukah craft event. (photo: Julie M. Cohen) 
Jason Jackson helps his son Kion Brown, 5, color in a kinara, a type of candleholder used during Kwanzaa, at the New Art Center’s Kwanzaa and Chanukah craft event. (photo: Julie M. Cohen) 
New Art Center teacher Rasheeda Brown helps Charlotte, 7, pick a scent for a candle at the nonprofit’s Kwanzaa and Chanukah craft event. (photo: Julie M. Cohen) 
New Art Center teacher Rasheeda Brown helps sisters Aria, 5, and Kiara, 8, create suncatchers using dried flowers at the NAC’s Kwanzaa and Chanukah craft event. (photo: Julie M. Cohen) 
Mara Weisman and her daughter Ava, 3½, create suncatchers using dried flowers at the New Art Center’s Kwanzaa and Chanukah craft event. (photo: Julie M. Cohen) 
New Art Center education manager Sarah Moriarty helps Aria, 5, create a suncatcher using dried flowers at the nonprofit’s Kwanzaa and Chanukah craft event. (photo: Julie M. Cohen)
Sarah Moriarty, NAC’s education manager, said it was not the first time the organization celebrated more than one holiday at a time by offering accessible activities for all to enjoy.
In one room, Brown set up an impressive seven activities since she said gifts are given on each of the seven days of Kwanzaa. Kids – and their parents – created suncatchers with dried herbs and flowers; picked their own scents and colors for individual candles; decorated cards; designed bookmarks; strung beaded bracelets; sculpted with clay; and/or colored in their own kinara or candleholder used during the holiday.
Attendees could also go to another large studio in NAC where Weiss (who uses they/them pronouns) ran a Chanukah-themed multimedia project.
They said they hoped children would “feel joy in the creation of art … and to feel a sense of community.”
Visitors could take a photo of themselves, print it out, and make a collage using various papers, shapes, and writing implements.
Later, Weiss said the goal was for crafters to come together to brainstorm and create a poem using the theme of light.
Through the project, they said they hoped attendees would find “a connection to Jewish joy and celebration.”
The emphasis of the event was more on using one’s creativity, rather than giving an in-depth presentation about the two holidays. However, Brown did offer some explanation sheets about Kwanzaa, its origins and how it is celebrated, and Weiss said they would also spend some time discussing Chanukah.
The overall goal of the event, said Moriarty, was to “make sure that everyone can see themselves … within the art world.”
