A 1989 Pottsville Area High School graduate shared his talent with about 1,000 students Thursday at Martz Hall.
Former Pottsville native Lewis Achenbach, Wheatland, Illinois, painted to music by the Paul Miller Jazz Ensemble. He also spoke to the fifth-grade students about art and answered questions from the audience.
“I want them to think about music and art in a different way,” Achenbach said.
For about an hour, he painted using acrylic paint on three canvases, letting the music inspire him.
“I really don’t know what I am going to paint until the music starts,” he said.
The artist was invited to perform at the school as part of an outreach program by the Walk In Art Center, Schuylkill Haven to bring arts to the county. He has painted in schools in the Chicago area. Superintendent Jeffrey Zwiebel said the district was proud to welcome Achenbach back.
“This is a lot of fun for me. I want to capture that music,” he told the students.
With the beat of the music, the colors of yellow, red, blue and green were painted on a canvas. He said he was trying to paint the “frequency” in the room.
He told the students that improvisation is important to life. When his easel was not working as it should, he placed his white canvas on the floor.
After his three works of art were finished, he took questions from the students. Lisa Robinson, executive director of the Walk In Art Center, said students from fifth grade in every school district were invited to attend.
The students are at an age where imagination is ripe with possibilities, Achenbach and Robinson said. Students from Blue Mountain, Saint Clair Area, Tamaqua, North Schuylkill, Mahanoy Area, Pottsville Area, Shenandoah Valley and Schuylkill Haven school districts attended as did students from St. Jerome Regional School in Tamaqua, St. Joseph Center for Special Learning and Gillingham Charter School, both in Pottsville.
Kintay Moore, 11, of Pottsville, said the event was “awesome.”
Achenbach and the Paul Miller Jazz Ensemble will be at the Walk In Art Center from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. today for the opening night of the Lewis Achenbach Exhibition and Jazz Occurrence. Light refreshments will be available during the free event, which is the kickoff to the March 4 to April 29 exhibit at the main gallery at the art center. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday.