Dunmore Activity Hub or Dunmore Senior Center has seen a resurgence in interest in its painting class. Each month, The Dunmorean will introduce you to these talented artists and their artwork.
By Dolly Michalczyk
For over 32 years, the extremely talented and very patient Jill Swersie has served as the art teacher at the Dunmore Senior Center.
As a child, Jill could always be found dabbling in the arts – drawing, painting and creating. She has been painting most of her adult life, taking many classes and workshops through the years, and adding an art studio to her Pocono Mountains home, where she even held youth classes for a while. Jill has done shows and displays in galleries in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Thirty-two years ago, the former Dunmore instructor was leaving and asked Jill to continue the program, to which she reluctantly agreed. She grew to love the students and nurturing their talent. Occasionally, Jill will hold formal painting and drawing classes, teaching various techniques and allowing her students to practice them. Her usual approach is more hands-on, sitting with each individual student, demonstrating, and offering tips and suggestions for them to improve their work. Her students are mostly oil painters, although a few prefer to work in acrylics and watercolors. Jill enthusiastically shares, “We have a really great group of students, with some of them coming to the class for years. Everyone is very supportive of each other.”
Jill exhibits in several galleries in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and has done many solo and group shows. Recently she participated in “Just Jills,” an unlikely event where seven artists named Jill displayed their works. For three months this spring, beginning May 1, she will be having a solo exhibit at the Hughes Monroe County Library where she will display and rotate 15 paintings.
An active volunteer, Jill curates the Gallery at 530 Main, in Stroudsburg, and the Dutot Museum, in Delaware Water Gap.
Her local class meets every Monday from noon – 4:00. The Dunmore Senior Center charges $5 a session, paying only when one attends, and students supply their own materials. The group accepts donations of used painting supplies- paint, brushes, canvases, easels, etc. and has donated new supplies to the NEPA Youth Shelter.
Our sunny Jill shared this positive philosophy: “Art is what makes the world a better place.”
