It is Tuesday night, SPHERE-It Creations night. I entered the Maple Room at Ridgefield’s Park and Recreation Center at 6:30 P.M. The first member to greet me was Jocelyn who proudly displayed her handsome nephew’s sports card: “Read the stats on that guy.” Wendy Lionetti, head volunteer and organizer of SPHERE-It Creations was busy placing materials on folding tables. Betsy another volunteer was setting up an elaborate array of plastic containers, opened and filled with treasures at the bead table.
Each SPHERE member who participates in this beehive of creativity has a clear plastic box with their name taped to its top. Inside the box are works not yet completed but neatly stored in wee plastic bags: bracelets; earrings; necklaces of varying lengths. To add to their works or to create new ones, members come up to Betsy’s table and gaze, search and poke around at the dazzling candy store-like assortment of pearls, crystals, little golden orbs, ceramic or glass beads that makes your mouth water as well as your eyes bug out. I am gobsmacked. I love jewelry and the sheer intensity of stones saturated in reds, blues, magentas, orange, purple, yellow, green and all the subtle shades in between, knocked my socks off.
I watched the members stroll in, Marianne attentively taking attendance. Members seem so at ease in the SPHERE world. Some were fresh off the SPHERE bus whose driver Sharon is full of spunk and sparkle herself, playfully pulling out nicknames for her passengers. “Sneezy” she called Gracie that night. “We counted forty sneezes on the way over.” The room was populated mostly by the “gentler sex.” Ladies galore. But there were several men, Tom (an accomplished painter of oils,) Kris (who stated he was just there to observe) and Dillon. Dillon was hard at work on a necklace while seated across the table from him were Bayne and Juliette, all three of them chuckling as they strung their beads on wire, plucking them out of their design board (each member has a design board) which organizes the beads according to length of necklace, bracelet or earring desired. They receive ample help and creative collaboration if requested from a bevy of lovely teen and adult volunteers including Phillipa, Gillian and Lilly. Jura knows the members well and informs me that Cindy’s outstanding collection of turquoise crystals and stones was a gift from her brother – a bead kit.
Jura also is a nickname creator: Fancy Pants is Cindy’s monika (there are three Cindys so a nickname must help sort them out;) Ms. Sparkle Butt is the attribution for Maya who has a penchant for creating firework sparkles to her designs. There’s Salty Sue and Chilly Dilly.
Jessica loves to work with teeny seed pearls; Cindy Mann has alternated emerald green stones with gold orbs, which brought to mind Cleopatra on the Nile. Julianna likes texture, shape and earth colors. Jocelyn was working on painting on tulip flower cookies, part of another component of SPHERE’s creations which includes making heart garlands and decorating bags for Meals On Wheels.
Surprises are around every interpersonal corner when you are in the SPHERE world. While member Emily and I were chatting about jewelry she said “I read your book. My mom has it. I don’t think she read it. Its pretty good.” Emily was referring to a book that I published last year, This Crazy Quilt: Parenting Adult Special Needs One Day At a Time which tracks our family’s journey to launch our daughter into a safe and fulfilling adult hood. What a compliment. What a reader. It is a long book. And what a review, “pretty good” isn’t bad.
The skills of the SPHERE-It Creations group extend beyond artistic creativity. Jessica who loves teeny seed pearls is helping Wendy put attendance records into a spreadsheet format and Emily the reader has made flyers for upcoming events. These are skills that translate well into a work environment.
There are many more layers of this industrious and talented group that will remain for another post. Just know this: if I didn’t have to take notes on my yellow legal pad, I would have submerged myself in the swirl and world of jewels and gems that night, so bedazzled was I. But in fact, it is the members who are true jewels of the evening; they compete against their very creations in sparkle and shine. And all their creations are sold at various SPHERE and town events to raise money for SPHERE activities. Donations of recycled jewelry are welcomed. I came with a bag full of “stuff” and can’t wait to see where my crystals, beads and pearls end up. I wonder if I will be able to identify them at the next SPHERE Jewelry sale.
Thanks SPHERE-It Creations for a great night out.
Written by Jill Edelman Barberie, Juliette’s Mom