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Sip ‘n’ paint
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photos by Victoria Espinoza
above left, participants focus on their paintings during splashes of Hope’s paint night at the castle event on Wednesday, March 23. Below, Eileen sleckman paints some trees onto her hospital ceiling tile. By Victoria Espinoza
‘Deserves no mercy’
Huntington Station man sentenced to more than half a century in jail
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Huntington residents are painting it forward. Splashes of Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides murals for patients in medical and social service facilities, hosted a Paint Night at the Castle event at Coindre Hall in Huntington last Wednesday night that was modeled much like contemporary wine and paint nights, where guests are taught how to paint while sipping wine. But this event was different because guests were not painting on ordinary canvases. “What we are painting tonight are ceiling tiles,” founder and Executive Director Heather Buggee said at the event. “Every hospital has these removable acoustic ceiling tiles in the examination rooms. So they [the participants] are going to be painting ceiling tiles that are going to be installed in hospitals throughout Suffolk County above the examination table.” Buggee said the ceiling tiles would be installed above hospital
beds, “where a child lies down and is either being examined or treated with medical procedures.” The plan, she said, was to see them installed at various North Shore hospitals, including Huntington Hospital, St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, Stony Brook University Hospital and Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center. “The ceiling tiles are a way of distraction for the children during the examinations,” she said. Buggee said this event was a bit more meaningful than usual paint and wine nights because, “instead of bringing your painting home, you’re donating your masterpiece for a sick child to look at.” Participants painted while drinking wine and listening to live music. “It’s a very uplifting atmosphere,” said Eileen Sleckman, one of the 15 painters that night. “It sounded like fun, and it’s such a nice opportunity to give back to the community to such a worthy cause.” This was the second Paint Night at the Castle she attended.
The first one was held on Jan. 20. Brentwood-based artist Maria Pontillo was the lead instructor and said she encouraged everyone to get as creative as possible. “This is different from a regular paint night [that Splashes of Hope hosts] because they’re not
contributing to the same scene… so they get to be creative with it,” she said. “They also get to think about what they would like to see if they needed a distraction.” The next two installments of Paint Night at the Castle are scheduled for May 25 and July 20.