“Keep calm and color on,” states the welcome message on the website for the Adult Coloring Program at the Port Washington Public Library (PWPL). An innovative new effort to combat loneliness, boredom, and isolation in the pandemic, the library is encouraging adults from all walks of life to sign up to be paired with a PWPL staff buddy and “color your cares away” with a collaborative art project.
Participants are given the option for home delivery or curbside pick-up and receive a half-completed coloring page which typically includes a personalized note from the staff member who completed the other half of the work.
Rachel Fox, Director of Children’s Services, who came up with the idea and had previously run the in-house coloring program pre-pandemic states, “It is a way of being together yet apart. One day we hope that our patrons and our staff who are participating will be able to meet each other and perhaps even host an exhibit in the community gallery.”
During the sign-up process, patrons may select their preferred coloring page image (animals, geometric/mandala, nature, words/quotes or surprise) and level of difficulty (easy/medium, challenging) as well as opt for a complimentary new pack of colored pencils.
Though the program is tentatively scheduled to run through April, Fox hints it may be extended depending on the response rate from the community.
Any adult age 18 and over interested in participating may sign up by contacting the Port Washington Public Library at 516-767-7235 or emailing foxr@PWPL.org or visiting www.PWPL.org/adultcoloring.
—Submitted by the PWPL
