Home
Subscription Services
List your event
Sample of Upcoming events
Show Review Form
News
Archives
Resources and Information
About Us
Advertising Information
LARISSA LYTWYN, Editor April 20, 2006
When Dan DeCamillo graduates from Joel Barlow High School in June he will be leaving something hanging behind.
That something is a 120-pound stainless steel and copper mobile suspended from the ceiling of the Barlow lobby.
Dan, 18, made the piece, inspired by the work of renowned sculptor Alex Calder, with his teacher and mentor, Lee Skalkos Baldyga.
"She's more than a teacher to me," Dan, an Easton resident, said. "I've learned that art is about life. It's been an amazing process."
The idea came at the end of last semester.
"[Dan] had written me the most beautiful thank you note," Baldyga said. "It said some pretty wonderful and powerful things to me as a teacher, particularly how much I had helped him."
She decided to continue working with him to offer more of what she knew.
"This sculpture was like a parting gift for both of us," she said. Baldyga was a long-term substitute art teacher for Deb Taubner this year. Taubner started maternity leave last fall and returns this coming September.
Baldyga, a jewelry-maker with more than 20 years of professional experience said she was nervous about entering the classroom the first time.
"When I received that phone call last summer asking me if I would consider filling in, I didn't know where it would lead," Baldyga said.
It lead to a previously undiscovered passion for teaching.
"I can't imagine having had an experience like this," she said.
The longtime Easton resident and 1982 Barlow graduate now is in an accelerated teaching program and expects to earn her full certification within a few months.
"I love teaching, especially at the high school level," Baldyga said. "I can't imagine teaching any other grade level."
Last fall Dan took Baldyga's jewelry making class.
"His talent was astounding," she said.
Dan said he had never explored his artistic side until his junior year of high school.
"You know, as a freshman you're really just discovering what kind of art you're good at," Dan said. "I knew I liked art, but I didn't know where to go with it."
Taking the jewelry-making class was a life-changing decision. "I discovered that I really loved working with metal," Dan said. Earlier this year seven students in the jewelry-making class, including Dan, brought home 11 major awards from the annual Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards, a show Baldyga described as "highly competitive." It was the first time Barlow students had won awards in the competition. Three of the seven students have gone on to the contest's national level. The results are expected in May.
Dan won an honorable mention for a colorful silver bracelet he made. Since that time Baldyga has helped him sell a handcrafted ring.
"He has three more on order," she said.
"This entire experience has been incredible," Dan said. "Before this class I didn't know anything about welding or anything else."
The process of getting the mobile sculpture made for the school lobby often was an arduous one.
"Our original design involved cloth, which was rejected because it could be a fire hazard," Dan said.
Added Baldyga, "We were constantly having to evolve our vision and our design. It had to be structurally, as well as visually, balanced."
The celestial shapes that compose the structure came out of weeks of drawing, Dan said. "It was the shape that just worked best."
School Principal Ross Calabro said the sculpture was "extraordinary," a wonderful, "lasting legacy" for the students. "It's great how [Dan] has been able to achieve this level of experience at such a young age," he said.
Calabro was impressed by the way the sculpture visually worked with the lobby's subdued rust and silver shades. "It's aesthetically very pleasing," he said.
After graduating Dan plans to take art classes at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport.
"I'll get my associate's degree to start and keep pursuing my art full time," he said.
Baldyga said her student has the potential to go far. BR>
©Easton Courier 2006