Nearly 80 residents filled Village Hall on Friday, Feb. 27, for a two-hour community dance party organizers hope will become a recurring event.
The gathering, dubbed “Club Friendly,” transformed Village Hall into a lively dance space with colorful décor, upbeat lighting and a steady mix of tracks spun by local DJ Christopher James. Serving as emcee, James kept the energy high and encouraged dancers of all ages to take to the floor.
Young children also got into the spirit, tossing countless balloons that were scattered throughout the hall.
Young dancers surveyed the scene at Club Friendly, a community dance at Village Hall on Friday, Feb. 27.Leila Hawken
Pizza and light refreshments were served in the Village Hall meeting room, offering a place for attendees to recharge between songs.
The event was organized by the Millbrook Library and the Millbrook Arts Group, and was used as a pilot program to gauge interest in hosting future community dance nights.
“It could continue with different themes,” said library director Courtney Tsahalis, adding that participation by other sponsoring organizations would be welcome.
Tsahalis said the turnout shows there’s interest in holding more dances.
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Artist Janet Andre Block in her studio in Salisbury.
Block speaks warmly of her printmaking teacher, the well-known artist Kiki Smith.
“She was incredibly kind and generous,” Block said. “What I learned in art school is what I want to do.”
During the pandemic, she painted in a world of swirling colors that suggest another world just within this one.
Block’s work will be on display at “Catching Light, 75,” at David M. Hunt Library from May 23-June 19. The opening reception will be Saturday, May 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. and she will give an artist talk Thursday, June 4, at 5:30 p.m.
The exhibit features 75 small paintings representing her varied painting modes.
“I’m offering these as a gift to the library,” she said. “Each donor who gives $75 can choose a painting.”
The paintings are 2-inch squares.
Janet Block discusses painting.L. Tomaino
Block has worked with nonprofit groups in the Northwest Corner for many years. She has been a volunteer for Project SAGE, the Lakeville-based organization committed to ending relationship violence, for many years. She has also served on Trade Secrets Underwriting Committee — the annual garden event that serves as Project SAGE’s largest fundraiser — for 25 years and remembers the first meeting around her dining room table. She served on the board of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation from 1991 to 2000 and was chair of the Fund for the Northwest Corner.
She has stepped back from her work with nonprofits to devote more time to painting, though she still helps where she can.
“I enjoy the early starts of anything. That’s why I like art, where I can start with a blank palette.”
“There is something about picking colors,” she said, describing it as “really a kind of creation — just the pleasure of mixing up a color, finding the next purple,” along with the immediacy of “the feeling of the brush on canvas.”
Block commends Hunt Library’s Art Wall team: Garth Kobal and Sergei and Zoe Fedorjaczenko.
“I think so highly of them,” she said. “I can’t say no to Garth, who is such a sincere, talented and generous person.”
Block is guided by the thought, “You are what you focus on,” and says this, along with the natural world and music, helps her bring herself to “light and beauty” through painting.
For more information about Block and the exhibit, visit huntlibrary.org and janetandreblock.com
An earlier version of this article stated that Janet Block studied at the Boston Museum School that was affiliated with Tufts University but the program was not affiliated at the time.
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