Bethpage-Tribune_1971-06-17

              ID t T R8
Island Trees
Vol. 5 No. 32
Serving Beth page - Plainview — Island Trees — Plainedge — Seaford
Thursday, June 1 7 , 1 9 71
Jj^lf Tribune Feature
Old Bethpage
10c per copy
Youth And The Fine Arts,
A Good Mix—
(I DIDN'T PROMISE YOU A ROSE GARDEN) - but
the effect was all "Art and Flowers" at the Beau
SeJour Restaurant in Bethpage a s local artist Mildred
Landau presented a one-woman showing of paintings,
collages and sculpture. Bethpage Councilman Sal
Mosca views " S e a s c a p e Stuay**r*;lt«Wvy p a l e t t e knife
painting. Over 100 persons attended the "patio party"
as guests of Mrs. Landau who is also the directress of
the "Art Gallery At The Top of the Stairs" in this
famous landmark resturant.
JOB Senior Citizen
Project Recreation
Program Planned
Senior citizens residing in the
Bethpage and Plainedge areas
will be able to utilize the com­munity
recreation rooms at the
Town of Oyster Bay housing
projects for older residents now
under construction in those
communities.
Town Councilman Salvatore
Mosca, a Bethpage resident, said
he has met with officials of the
Town Housing Authority and the
Town Department of Recreation
and Community Activities to
develop plans for full utilization
of the community center room
that will be included in each of .
the housing complexes.
The Plainedge location, which
will provide 36 dwelling units, is
scheduled to be occupied in July.
The Bethpage site, located on
Burkhart Avenue, will provide
for 37 senior citizen apartment
units and is expected to open in
January, 1972.
Mosca said the Town's
Recreation Department plans to
sponsor a senior citizens club at
each location and to open
membership to area residents
who meet eligibility
requirements.
"We expect to organize a
number of activities that will
enable this Town to provide
leisure-time activities for a wider
amount of residents at a minimal
cost. It will also enable the
residents of the senior citizen
complex to increase and
establish neighborhood contacts
and friendships," Mosca ex­plained.
Mosca said that in addition to
recreation activities such as card
playing, films, arts and crafts,
etc., community service
programs would be brought into
the facility. The Councilman said
these services would include
lectures by guest speakers,
assistance with various ap­plications
and forms for medical
service and services such as the
providing of food stamps for
senior citizens who may qualify
Mosca said a similar program
is now underway at the Town's
senior citizen housing project in
Oyster Bay and programs will
also be conducted in Hicksville,
Massapequa and Syosset when
housing complexes planned for.
those locations are opened.
Town Councilman Warren M.
Doolittle has been selected by his
fellow board members to serve as
Chairman of the Town Board's
Standing Committee on Nar­cotics
as well as'to head com­mittees
on Parking and
Recreation.
Doolittle, who gained first-hand
(Continuation Page 3)
Much has been said, much has
been written about today's
younger generation. It;s- against
discipline; it's against authority;
it believes in unbridled freedom,
license to do as it pleases.
Is this actually the situation? If
it is, there are exceptions on Long
Island; students dedicated to the
virtues of what some say are of
the past but others declare firmly
are still the mores of our times.
The students attended Our
Lady of Mercy Academy in
Syosset girls high school smack
in the middle, not of America but
Long Island. Like middle
America, the art students at the
school believe in discipline and
strong training in the basics in
order to become better artists,
better sculptors, better future
citizens.
The art students and their
talented teacher, Sister
Stephanie Manning of the Order
of Sisters of Mercy, invited
Nassau County Clerk Harold W.
McConnell to their Spring
Festival, the public exhibition of
their accomplishments in
painting design and sculpture.
Accompanied by Supervisor John
W. Burke of the Town of Oyster
Bay, Mr. McConnell visited the
exhibit of the art department
students. Both were amazed, but
pleasantly, at the excellence of
the works of art performed by the
senior, junior and sophomore
girls.
"It is unbelievable that those so
young could produce such fine
and extraordinary works of art,"
enthused the county clerk, an
appraisal readily echoed by
Supervisor Burke. The two public
officials complimented the
students on the superiority of
their works; the students,
however, unhesitatingly gave all
credit to their teacher, Sister
Stephanie. The sister has her
M.A. in Art from Notre Dame
University and is a candidate
toward a Ph.D. in Art. She is
chairman of the Department of
Art at Our Lady of Mercy
Academy and chairman of the
Art Council of the Diocese of
Rockville Centre. In addition, she
is an international educational
consultant and will bevaluating
in Western Europe this summer.
The painting course covers -
eastern and western water color,
Chinese brushwork and fashion
drawing from live model. The
sculpture course ranges from
basic sculpture in the round,
advanced and advanced abstract
sculpture, with all works life-size.
A no-nonsense teacher, Sister
Stephanie is proud of the
achievements of her young
students, two of whom won $6,000
and $4,000 college scholarships
this Spring.
"I am tremendously pleased
and gratified that the girls won
various awards and scholar­ships,"
Sister Stephanie said.
" ^
Sculpture exhibit is explained by Sister Stephanie
Manning of our Lady of Mercy Academy to Supervisor
John W. Burke (2nd from left) Town of Oyster Bay and
Nassau County Clerk Harold W. McConnell, as
sculpture students Frances Kenny, senior of Syosset,
and Geraldine Malone, senior of Old Bethpage, are
interested onlookers. Geraldine has won a $6,000
scholarship.
"because it means so much to
them." What this remarkable
nun fails to mention is that her
students can't draw a straight
line when they enter her class as
sophomores. A number of them
are now college graduates and
preparing to become art teachers
in various high schools.
What is the key to her success
as an art teacher, Sister
Stephanie was asked by County
Clerk McConnell. She let her
students answer the question.
And they did! They brushed aside
any suggestion that they be
allowed to be free to express
themselves as they pleased, have
no rules, no basics, no
techniques. "Imagine our need to
use perspective and have no
knowledge as to how to ac­complish
it," they chorused.
They all agreed they were real
scared when they first entered
the art class as sophomores
because "we could not draw and
that we would not have taken art
if we had not been programmed
for it."
Said Geraldine Malone,"
senior, and winner of a $6,000
scholarship, "I feel that if a
person is to learn something, he
or she first has to learn the
basics. I knqw in regard to
winning a scholarship, I could
have never done it without the
basic knowledge."
Commented Mary Camacho,
junior, "There is no one (no
matter how creative) who can
grow without direction and in­struction."
Jody Goetz, senior, added, "I
don't think I myself would have
benefited from a 'free approach'
art class. I feel it's very im­portant
to know basics,
techniques, and rules first in
order to be creative. If you don't
know how to do and work with
different media, it can stifle you
and not really give you freedom."
Pointedly Nancy Dussel,
junior, observed, "No, I certainly
could'ndt or would not feel more
free, or pleased, or more
progressive, if I was no longer
taught that art originates with
discipline and develops through
knowledge."
Perhaps the sharpest answer of
all was that of Deborah Mcintosh
senior, who declared, "If I
wanted to be free under this basis
(without basics and discipline), I
think I would be lost in
ignorance."
Sister Stephanie expressed her
views on her students to County
Clerk McConnell and Supervisor
Burke. She commented: "I
believe the art students who sit
before me each day are the hope
of the future. I believe that the
future is in safe hands. They want
to learn. They want to create.
They want teachers who say that
true art originates .with
discipline, and develops through
knowledge. They feel students
must be taught why to do it as
well as how to do it in order to
produce creative stimulation."
After what they had seen,
neither public official could
disagree.