From empty showroom to art gallery: A Project Sketchbook installation in photos Photos by Pete Mazzaccaro
Leah Koontz, 18, says that she has been painting for 3 years and that if not for Wiener, she would have never pcked up a brush. “I’m glad he’s my teacher,” she says. “Before I took his class, I didn’t know I wanted to go to art school.”
On having her paintings hung on the Avenue she says: “I’m really excited. As an artist, this is what you want.”
Crefeld visual arts teacher, Aaron Wiener, brings in one of Koontz’s paintings. Weiner, who has taught art at Crefeld for 20 years is excited about the opportunity for Koontz and the Avenue. “In 20 years [Koontz] is one of the best students I’ve ever had,” Wiener says, noting that Koontz paintings are palatable to the general public, but also very powerful and personal. Of Project Sketchbook, he says: “This is spectacular. It’s an opportunity to create new culture instead of a sense of emptiness. The public should request that this project continue and that this be kept live and not stale.”
The interior of the old Magarity Ford show room — an empty shell on Germantown Avenue as of the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 3. On that afternoon, volunteers from Crefeld School and Project Sketchbook plan to convert the window into a display for three large painted canvases by Crefeld student and Mt. Airy artist, Leah Koontz. It’s part of Project Sketchbook, a plan that emerged from the Chestnut Hill Community Association, in partneshipr with Bowman Properties, that has converted a number of currently vacant properties into art galleries for local schools.
The empty store window has been successfully converted into a gallery display for Koontz’s work.
