Around Williamsburg

By Owen Boss
Staff Writer

Art Center relocates, gears up

ArtStar, a creative art lounge formerly housed in the Brassworks building in Haydenville has found a new home in the center of town and workshops for residents of all ages kick off this week.

Marie Westburg, the local artist who opened the business in October 2007, said she hopes the lounge’s new Williams Street location will make it more accessible to residents who live closer to the center of the town.

“We offer programming for after-school and home-school students as well as sessions for adults, seniors and women’s creativity classes,” Westburg said. “We try to keep the groups small because we want to offer a high-quality experience and use good quality materials.”

Westburg, who said she started ArtStar to help people discover, recharge and celebrate their creativity, offers workshops that expose participants to a variety of artistic mediums, including clay, silk-screening, sculpture, fiber arts, drawing, printmaking and painting.

“I want them to use art to facilitate insight and help them work through personal stuff,” Westburg said. “My slogan has been, ‘you’ll make things that you’ll want to keep forever.’ ”

The lounge is housed in Westburg’s home. Classes start this week and the price is generally $10 per hour per person.

ArtStar’s Web site is artstarlounge.com.

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Barbecue for former Chief

Selectmen are inviting town residents to attend a send-off barbecue and concert this weekend in recognition of the town’s former part-time police chief, John Cotton.

The barbecue, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, will be held at the Snowmobile Club at 12 Laurel Road, and will feature speeches from police officers and town officials commemorating Cotton’s accomplishments during his four-year tenure as part-time chief.

“It’s our way of saying goodbye to him and commemorating his time spent on the force,” said event organizer and Select Board member Denise Banister.

The cost to attend the retirement party will be $20 for adults and $5 for children and will include dinner and live performances by four local bands; the Bad Daddies, Three Blind Moose, Mourning Fair and The Lonesome Brothers.

Cotton worked the majority of his 35-year career in law enforcement as a member of the Northampton Police Department, reaching the rank of senior lieutenant before becoming Williamsburg’s interim chief in July 2005.

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Teen, tween activities

Meekins Library is offering a new line up this fall of activities geared to teens and tweens.

Assistant Director Rochelle Wildfong said students in both the tween and teen groups have begun meeting to discuss what they would like to study or create at the library this fall.

“We are doing a whole new series of programming from what we did this summer and what that will be is going to be decided when we start having meetings with the kids,” Wildfong said.

The program, which is supported through a $20,000 grant, provides area teens the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of groups, parties and activities at the library; including movie nights, video games, card games, art, woodcarving and college prep workshops.

“We are really hoping to pull in kids who wouldn’t normally have come to the library and to let those of that age group know that they are very welcome here,” Wildfong said.

TeenTween meetings are held on the first Monday of the month. Tweens meet at the library at 3 p.m. and teens meet at 6 p.m. The first official meeting is Oct. 5.

For more information, check out the program’s Web site, www.meekins-library.org/teens.html.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.