Wednesday, October 7, 2026
The patrons and staff of the Oceanside Library were encouraged to “go crazy with creativity” this summer, in a miniature art collection that will be on display until the end of September.
With no prompt or theme to follow, patrons were given 4x4-inch canvases to craft their artwork using any media they wanted to delve into. The artwork was supposed to be on display only until Aug. 31, but will stay on exhibit for an extra month.
Event organizer and technology librarian Carlo Mastrandrea said he got the idea from social media.
“It’s ironic that this came from social media, but we get away from social media to do this,” Mastrandrea said.
The library distributed more than 130 blank canvases, and over 80 were returned with artwork on them. Mastrandrea organized the same project when he worked at Oyster Bay library a few years ago, but that project was received with far less interest.
The pieces are personal or general, realistic or abstract, or somewhere in between, and several relate to the artists’ lives in Oceanside.
“They relate it to what they’re feeling,” Mastrandrea said. “People love the library. They do a book, the ocean. Someone did the logo of our library. Someone did their pet. These are all things our community members are familiar with.”
Organizing the display case for the artwork was a conscious effort, he said.
“Every piece tells a different story,” he said. “There are a few pieces that are very similar, and I try to keep them away from each other.”
The pieces include a close-up of an eye made from charcoal, a piece based on pointillism, a Neo-Impressionist painting technique that uses small dots or points of pure, unmixed color to create an image. It also includes a couple of paper mosaics, a few collages, and several using found pieces from the beach or souvenirs.
One piece was uniquely created on the back, inset side of the canvas, between the wrapped and stapled edges.
“This piece over here was sort of our mistake,” Mastrandrea said. “On the back of every piece is their name and phone number (of the artist), so we can return it to them. That piece, for some reason, the name and phone number was on the front. So they thought they were supposed to use the other side. But it’s one of the most interesting pieces, because it’s done differently.”
Several people who are involved with the library also participated, including Kathy Schirrmacher, president of the Friends of the Oceanside Library Board, who created a detailed piece with lavender flowers.
The board’s vice president, Meryl Pearlstein, created a copper wire tree with false pearl bird’s nest that rested on a blue and purple ombre background on the canvas.
Chris Marra, the library’s director, crafted a piece with a blue background using shells and sea glass glued to the bottom to represent the shore.
“It was very cute how she said, ‘It’s not to scale,’” Mastrandrea said. “Of course it’s not to scale. It’s a small piece, but art is subjective. You do how you feel, whatever inspires you.”
Bea Musto, a senior at Oceanside High School, created a painting of an African American woman with counterintuitive colors, which are combinations that go against typical color intuition
Some of the artists who submitted their work, however, wanted to remain anonymous.
“Some patrons were like, ‘I don’t want anyone to know what I did,’” Mastrandrea said.
Some observers of the artwork asked if they could get the names of the artists, because they wanted to buy their creations.
“What’s very interesting is, people come in to see the show, and they realize they forgot they never did theirs,” he said. “So we let them hand it in.”
For Mastrandrea, the mini-art project is also an opportunity to get more acquainted with the rather large Oceanside community.
“As soon as we put stuff out on the calendar, it’s funny to see who clamors to it,” he said. “Then you get to know that person a little bit more, when they come in and drop it off and you engage with them right here.”
Bad Art Saturdays is another art program, without any prompts, coming to the library this month.
“You say you have no talent, here’s your opportunity,” Mastrandrea tells patrons,
Reassuring them that those pieces wouldn’t be on display too long.
“We’ll give it back eventually because, really, we don’t want it,” he joked.
For Mastrandrea, these projects offer a deeper reason to create art.
“It’s also a way to be mindful,” he said, “a way to decompress from the outside world.”
