OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City Arts Center is home to monthly exhibitions in its gallery, extensive classes in visual and performing arts in its multiple studios and popular — and energetic — youth camps in the summertime.
The Arts Center, or OCAC, sponsors bus trips to arts destinations, hosts speakers and performers and has receptions the second Friday of every month for artists displaying their work.
I see all of the exhibitions, whether paintings, photography, fiber arts, sculpture, ceramic, woodworking or other media, that are in the gallery at the center, which is on the second floor of the Ocean City Community Center. (Just look for the steps in the atrium between the Historical Museum and Free Public Library.)
A number of years ago I taught the occasional photography class at the center. In May I became a student via a one-morning course in tie-dying.
My late father, Irvin, was an artist. My mother, Pauline, is an artist long retired from teaching. Growing up, art was always on the home agenda. My mother had various art projects for my brother, sister and me to keep us busy as we grew up. My sister Jennifer grew up to be an artist and art-teacher as well.
My mother decided we were going to tie-dye T-shirts. After all, it was the late 1960s.
She got out the rubber bands to tie up the T-shirts to create patterns and hauled out the biggest cooking pot she had, one that she mainly used to make spaghetti. Into the pot went the Rit dyes as we made the T-shirts.
I can’t remember exactly how the T-shirts came out, but I do remember that I really liked them. The next time my mother made spaghetti it had an interesting color when it landed on our plates. We laughed about that for years. Still do.
I’ve bought and made tie-dyed T-shirts since then. I have one that features guitarist Santana from a concert he performed years ago at the Borgata, and another from Uncle Bill’s Pancake House after a nice breakfast.
A few years ago, when my wife and I visited our daughter Kelsey where she lives in Japan, we made tie-dyed T-shirts with traditional blue inks. In the Arimatsu neighborhood of Nagoya, craftspeople take their version, Shibori, to gorgeous heights.
Ours weren’t impressive, but made a nice home-made souvenir of the trip to Japan. We also brought home a few Shibori items we purchased in Arimatsu as well.
When I heard the Arts Center was offering a tie-dye course in May, I couldn’t resist.
An engaging couple, Peggy Guy and her husband, George Melvin Guy Jr., ran the show, providing everything including the dyes, rubber bands, T-shirts, drawstring backpacks, plastic gloves, plastic smocks and containers. They were prepared with shirts ranged from toddler size to triple-X.
George meticulously put down coverings to ensure the dyes would not be a lasting reminder on the tables or floor.
“You just can’t get these (shirts) anywhere and the kids really enjoy it,” he said. “And when that next kid says, ‘Ooh, I like your shirt,’ it’s something they did. When they ask, ‘Where’d you get it?,’ they say, “Oh, I made it.”
The couple is from Philadelphia, but they travel into South Jersey to put on tye-dying (their spelling) for everything from birthday parties to corporate events. George manages the logistics. Peggy handles the instruction as George assists.
They got into the colorful business after Peggy took part in a team-building exercise with tie-dying where she worked at a Whole Foods supermarket in Jenkintown, Pa. She really enjoyed it, so she and George talked about the idea of making a business out of it. They had a family gathering to gauge the support, found that support and decided to move forward.
“We just started collaborating with other small businesses to have events at their stores to see if it would work. That’s how we got started,” Peggy said.
They would like their own brick and mortar location for classes some day, but now take it on the road. That includes bringing chairs and tables if needed.
Peggy said she isn’t artistic, unlike her parents and sisters, but she has an engaging personality and helps guide participants step by step through their tye-dying process with lots of positive encouragement.
She instructed the class members on different ways to tie up the T-shirts to get different types of colorful patterns, provided a wide range of colorful dyes, offered support and suggestions on adding a lot of dye and how to contrast colors.
It was a lot of fun and in less than two hours each of the participants came away with a wet T-shirt and small cloth backpack. Peggy and Guy quickly bundled them into a sealed plastic bag with instructions on letting the dyes soak in for hours or overnight and then how to rinse them and then put them in a washing machine.
“I get enjoyment out of watching everybody get to do their own artistic expression,” Peggy said. “I want to provide that to everybody.
“Don’t keep things bottled up inside, let it out through your colors,” she said. “Unleash your innermost colors through tie-dye.”
Schedule a tye-dye party or team-building exercise by contacting Peggy and Guy at tyedyewiththeguys.com.
While you’re at it, go to oceancityartscenter.org and see all the classes you can take — music lessons, ballroom dancing, tai chi, fitness, drawing, painting, pottery, jewelry-making and more — at the non-profit organization and check out the special events that are coming up.
As for me, I smiled throughout the entire Saturday morning course and came away with a new tie-dyed T-shirt to add to my collection. The class cost me only $30 — more than I paid for my Uncle Bill’s tie-dyed shirt but less than the one at the Santana concert.
The Arts Center is in the Ocean City Community Center, 1735 Simpson Ave.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
Editor’s note: David Nahan, editor of the Sentinel, is the longtime volunteer treasurer at the Ocean City Arts Center. In May he took advantage of a special tie-dying class.
