Victoria Makes The News A Splash of Color at 'Come Join the Rainbow' This interactive performance was hosted at the Phoenixville Public Library Monday. By Barry Taglieber and Lynn Jusinski | August 9, 2011 Artist Victoria O'Neill calls on the red rainbow. Credit: Barry Taglieber Local artist Victoria O'Neill brought her colorful performance, "Come Join the Rainbow," to the Phoenixville Public Library on Monday. More than four dozen kids signed up, and they were split up into groups, with each group donning a different color of the rainbow. Each group argued why its color was best, and in the end, the performance dealt with the importance of diversity and understanding. O'Neill carefully sewed each of the brightly colored costumes for the children, and she made props for the show, as well. "Come Join the Rainbow" was made possible at the Phoenixville Public Library thanks to the help of Phoenixville Sunday Soup. One Sunday a month, people gather to eat and help fund a local creative project. O'Neill's performance was chosen for a grant a few months ago as part of Sunday Soup. In The Studio With ... Victoria O’Neill   Posted by: Liz Massey | March 11, 2011 Artist Victoria O'Neill I’m pleased today to present my recent e-interview with Victoria O’Neill, an artist who works in multiple mediums and is owner of ArtyPantz Productions LLC. She has been sharing her creativity with people of all ages for many years, and a trip to her online store will show everything for sale from acrylic paintings and collage art mermaid paper dolls to her Golden Rule Coloring Book and Intuition Kits. She is also the inventor of the WrapADoodle Swaddle Blanket, a product that made its debut in January. Tell us about your creative pursuits, paid and unpaid. I have been making things with my hands for as long as I can remember. My mother taught me how to sew my own clothes when I was in the third grade. She was way ahead of her time and into collage back in the 1950s. Our family was large, six kids. We collaged a refrigerator box and filled it with costumes and played for hours. We would shove a mattress out the second story window on top of a tree, and use it as a slide, then drag it back through the window when it was time to go to bed. Our family played charades for as long as I can remember. We started and published an alternative newspaper and built and operated a live theater. We also had a used clothing store called Refried Jeans. Imagination, critical thinking and the questioning of authority was highly encouraged in our family. My father, who referred to himself as Captain Splendid, was among many other things, a painter, and it was always understood that his paintings were the only material things of value that our family owned. An avid reader, I just loved writing stories and it was always assumed that I’d be a writer. At 16 I picked up a pen one day, started drawing and knew how. Drawing led to painting. I had a pretty good run with the paintings, but stopped to raise my kids. I made all their clothes, toys, puppets, mobiles, blankets, dolls, etc. then created cloth doll sculptures that sold off the living room walls. I took a class in surface design and learned how to make fabric. All of these things have been in galleries here and there over the years. I’ve taught art over the years to all ages in various settings. When our kids got older and all were in school, I created ArtyPantz Productions, which has become an umbrella for various endeavors, including creating traveling interactive theatrical storytelling events for kids and adults, using beautiful handmade puppets, props costumes, etc. Everyone participates and then makes something to keep at the end. Do you have any formal training in your creative discipline(s)? Do you feel training is important in creative development? Why/why not? I attended The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in the early ‘80s to learn how to add more depth and dimension to my paintings. The painting teacher emphatically advised dropping out because I already had my style. He said the act of wanting to make the paintings better would make me look closer at what I was painting, and then I’d automatically make it happen. I took his advice, left, and the paintings did evolve. I have taken and taught art classes along the way, learning just as much by teaching as by taking. The advantage to taking a class is that you may save some time and money learning how to do something. One of the images I’ve sent for this post is my first crack out of the gate in a recent stained glass mosaic class. If I had tried to learn this on my own, my fingers would have been cut to pieces, I would have wasted a lot of glass, and it would have taken more than one attempt to be successful. What habits do you cultivate to facilitate your creative “flow”? I literally cannot turn it off the creative flow while awake and/or while asleep – as evidenced by these owl puppets I recently made in a dream first, then completed in the real world upon awakening. I’m 56, and, at this stage of the game, have an abundance of creative confidence to try anything, just knowing it will turn out well, because I am an artist! I’ve earned that title. I was recently invited to join a group of accomplished painters in a plein air event for charity. Having never painted from nature in my life, I was so honored to be invited. To my happy surprise my painting was one of the first sold at the exhibit. What advice would you give to a “blocked” artist in your discipline to free up their creative energies? 1. Open wide. The biggest component of creativity is receptivity. If you’re not receptive, nothing can come to or through you. Being open is probably the most important aspect of being an artist. The challenge then will be to pick what you want to bring to fruition and focus on it. And that is a serious challenge that I grapple with on a daily basis. 2. Don’t be afraid to fail. Failure exists to egg you along, pushing you in whatever direction you need to go to get it right. And also don’t be afraid to let go. I’ve abandoned many ideas when they made themselves known to be duds. But when something does take hold, you can’t be blocked if you stay in motion. Maybe it’s like climbing a mountain – making your way over hill and over dale, knowing without a doubt that you will eventually reach the top and experience that oh-so-amazing view. Which artistic project that you are working on excites you the most right now? Designing fabrics for the WrapADoodle Swaddle Blankets! There are six different fabrics in the works …The screens have been made and I’m now just waiting for samples to be printed and sent for approval. It was so exciting to draw the pictures for these fabrics and I just can’t wait to see what they look like! How do you select your creative projects? What elements of a potential project tend to intrigue you the most? Basically I get an idea from seemingly out of nowhere. The idea captures my attention. I absorb it, go for it, and then it just blows through and eventually comes out the other side, realized. I’m intrigued and my interest maintained by the challenge and process of bringing an idea into some kind of reality. Basically figuring it all out and making it happen, and relishing the final “Ta Da!” moments. Any other advice to artists to help them make their creative activity more satisfying? Know and respect the value of creativity. Creativity is a gift to be grateful for. Share your creativity with others. Imagination is the cornerstone for all worthy human endeavors and creativity is the manifestation of imagination. We need creativity to uplift both ourselves and the people around us – all to move civilization forward, one step at a time. Program has kids say ‘Hooray for Bugs’ by Laurie Perini, The Phoenixville News, August 22, 2007 Children act out their parts during the "Hooray for Bugs" program at the Colonial Theatre Children's Summer Series on Tuesday morning. Staff photo by Barry TaglieberPHOENIXVILLE — Children from Phoenixville and the surrounding areas got together in an attempt to make it rain inside the Colonial Theatre on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. They participated in an interactive play called “Hooray for Bugs” that was hosted by Victoria O’Neill and was part of the Colonial Theatre’s Children’s Summer Series. The show, designed for a small audience so all children could participate, sold out 120 tickets. The show was put on for children ages 2 to 6. “We’re going to try to make it rain together,” O’Neill told the children at the beginning of the play. She then explained all the different bugs they could be, including fire ants who had firefighter hats, butterflies with wings, stink bugs that sprayed water, and fireflies who held flashlights. There were also drums and tambourines for children who wanted to make music. Each child was allowed to decide which creature they wanted to be and got to put on the handmade costumes. They then took the stage in groups and attempted to make it rain by stomping, dancing, or shining lights. In the end, when all the children were on stage, they were able to make it “rain.” “See what happened when everyone worked together? We made it rain!” exclaimed O’Neill. O’Neill also hosted “Mermaid Tales,” targeted at an older audience, at the Colonial Theatre earlier in the summer. She mostly goes to different schools to perform with the students where they act and then also create their own crafts. “I try to have stories that have meaning,” said O’Neill. She said she created stories that dealt with virtues and taught children a lesson. “I love to work with kids. They really are fantastic,” she said. She was an art teacher, and still teaches art at a summer camp. Kirsten Van Vlandren, assistant director at Colonial Theatre said that the theatre got the idea for their children’s summer series from the success of the library children’s summer series. “There’s obviously a need here,” said Van Vlandren, explaining that the series is geared towards families whose children may not be ready for summer camps or who have an off-week from camps. “We’ve been getting larger audiences than we hoped for,” she said. “Hers (O’Neill’s play) is great because it’s interactive,” she, explaining that this is why ticket sales were limited. Fran Crotty, from Paoli, met up with two friends and they brought their three children to the show. “I thought the costumes and props were very creative,” she said. “The excitement builds as you wait for your child to go up (on stage). It’s great to have an interactive show. Even the children in the audience have something to do like play drums.” From Section 2 of the Sandpaper Aug. 9, 2006 Firefly Gallery Presents “Mermaid Tales” In two weeks, professional artist Victoria O’Neill of Philadelphia will make her debut appearance on Long Beach Island to deliver an interactive, theatrical puppet show of her own design at the Firefly Gallery in Surf City. “I’m excited about coming down there because I have always wanted to come work in New Jersey.” She will get the chance she has been waiting for not once but thrice: on Tuesday, Aug. 22 and Thursday Aug. 24 at 10:00 a.m. and Friday, Aug. 25 at 7:00 when she presents “Mermaid Tales” Admission is $8 at the door, but space is limited to 40 participants per show. To reserve a part in the fun contact the gallery at 361-7700. O’Neill explains the premise of her act: “Instead of people just sitting and watching a show, they come in, and I have all these beautiful handmade puppets and props and costumes. And what I do is, I tell them, “We’re going to tell a story together, and everyone’s going to be in it!”. Then every audience member chooses his or her own role and corresponding get-up. They can be giant, medium sized, or baby sharks, they can wear mermaid tails, tied like aprons and made of fabrics from around the world, with beaded necklaces and hold baby mermaid dolls, they can be seahorses, they can command fish puppets, they can be an octopus, a starfish, etc., or even the most exotic creatures of all - humans. The volunteers to play the parts of the humans read a “very simple, really funny, easy to understand script and they kind of guide the story along with their dialogue. “I have things for all different ages and abilities so that, you know, somebody who can’t do this can do that.” she said “Then I also have tons of drums and percussion instruments which is the whole band section and they all wear pirate hats.” Because everyone in the audience can participate in the performance, the same basic story unfolds each time - a story of virtue, a story of generosity overcoming greed for example - but with slight modifications based on the given “cast”. What keeps the show fresh and makes it fun for O’Neill is, she said, is how it takes on a dramatically different form each time it is performed, and the overall dynamic changes depending upon the people at each show.   “For instance, she said “ sometimes maybe only five people want to be a mermaid and everyone’s a shark, and I have no fish and only one drummer.” The really sweet thing that sometimes happens, she said, is a child who lacks confidence or who is a struggling reader is met with a loving supporting audience of their parents and newfound friends. The show not only exposes young children to the performing arts at a very young age but also makes a more lasting impression by drawing them right into the center of the action. It also gives more introverted kids the opportunity to open up in a setting that is comfortable for them. “And there is no stage involved, so everybody’s on the same wavelength, pardon the pun -but nobody feels like everybody is looking at them,” she said “Everybody’s looking at everybody!” A performance typically lasts 45 to 60 minutes, followed by about 30 minutes of puppet making for everyone. O’Neill provides the patterns, and the participants color and cut out the designs, join them together, attach them to sticks, and the result is a cute mer-creature with a tail that moves back and forth. The most appropriate age group is 4 and up, she said, but older kids, parents and grandparents are welcome to come and take part. “It’s really playful”, she said “There’s really no place for people to play outside their own living rooms. And just to play, and just be silly - it’s ridiculous!” O’Neill estimated that she has performed the show 100-200 times since she first dreamed it up and began doing it in 2003, in her parent’s community in Cape Cod. “Mermaid Tales” grew out of her experience in conducting multi-generational art activities at local libraries - “creative ways of bringing people together who normally might not function well together.” Little by little, she developed these ideas related to mermaids and undersea adventures. Then she rented a space in Cape Cod in the summers to hold the events, and eventually began to work in her own part of the country, the Greater Philadelphia area, where she maintains a consistent following and demand for her shows. O’Neill is a professional painter, illustrator, writer and multimedia artist. Examples of her work and information about her ongoing projects can be found on her website www.ArtyPantz.com -Victoria Ford Fish Scales And "Mermaid Tales" From Section Two of the Sandpaper August 30, 2006 Home Page | ArtyPantz Art For Sale