Two West Windsor women, Anu Bhat and Barbara Debaylo, have turned their love of art and individual skills into a new company presenting art classes for children, Smudges and Strokes. Classes will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck, South Mill Road, in West Windsor. The first session for ages 4 to 6 is Saturday, February 9, at 9:30 a.m., and the first session for ages 7 to 11, is Tuesday, February 12, at 4:30 p.m. Six classes costs $120.
Bhat has dabbled in wheel thrown pottery for years. Schooled in England, she graduated from college in India with a degree in commerce. Her passion was public relations and she joined Zee TV, one of India’s television channels. She met her husband, Sandeep, in 1994, married, and moved to Hong Kong, where she worked for Murdoch’s Star TV in public relations.
The couple came to the United States in 1996 and she worked for Masala Communications in Manhattan doing public relations and marketing. Sandeep now works for Goldman Sachs. Their children are Neel, 6, a first grade student at Dutch Neck School, and Riya, 2 1/2.
Bhat started making cards from children’s art. “It encourages parents to send out cards created by their children, and helps to promote art,” she says. Although her first art workshop was held in her garage, she has since conducted workshops and benefits in area schools including WW-P extended day program at Dutch Neck, Millstone River, Wicoff, and Town Center; Princeton’s Riverside and Community Park schools; Montessori Corner, Country Meadows, Children’s House, New Horizons, Montessori Preschool Academy, and Children’s House in Dayton.
Princeton Art Council hosted her card workshop and she had a booth at Communiversity for the last two years. She works closely with the West Windsor Art Council and participated in the Autumn Art Festival at Nassau Pavilion last October.
“Many of the parents who placed orders for cards encouraged me to start art classes,” she says. “That’s when I began the hunt for an art teacher to draw up an interesting curriculum that would be different from most current art classes.”
Bhat and Debaylo met at a West Windsor Art Council meeting. Their ideas jelled, and Smudges and Strokes was born.
Debaylo was born and raised in Queens, New York. A graduate of Queens College with a major in art and minor in education, she has been an art educator for 38 years. She taught art fundamentals, design, crafts, printmaking, painting, sculpture, drawing, humanities, art of our culture, and art of other cultures, in grades 7 through 12, for 28 years in the Highland Park schools. She is currently teaching art and yearbook design to grades 9 through 12 in the New Brunswick School system.
“To enhance my knowledge as an artist and educator I continued to be a student myself,” she says. “The scope of my studies have ranged from art forms such as Byzantine icon painting, fresco, and mosaics to computer graphics.”
She has been chosen as Teacher of the Year, nominated for district Teacher of the Year, twice nominated to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and was a nominee for Princeton University’s Distinguished Educator’s Award. She is married to Paul DeBaylo, an independent management consultant in process management specializing in Six Sigma training.
“The curriculum will focus on enhancing drawing skills by using basic shapes and forms and introducing students to art works by famous artists and various world cultures,” says Debaylo. “Students will learn to draw the human figure using basic geometric forms and will also learn about the meaning of proportion. They will also enjoy the challenge of experimenting with unusual media and materials.”
Bhat and Debaylo have the perfect fit — Debaylo will handle the curriculum and teaching, while Bhat will take care of the marketing aspect of the business and assist Debaylo in teaching the classes. — Lynn Miller
Art Classes, Smudges and Strokes, First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck, South Mill Road, West Windsor, 609-273-5475. Saturday, February 9, 9:30 a.m. and Tuesday, February 12, 4:30 p.m.
