SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – As Sandra Fioramonte-Sabene, owner and teacher of the Liverpool Arts Center, prepares for a 75-minute speech on the importance of art, community and recovery she is still teaching her regular Wednesday adult drawing and painting class.
The class that takes place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Wednesday is one of the many Fioramonte-Sabene offers at her center. From painting and drawing with adults, to kids and tween workshops and drumming classes she has a full course load to offer eager art students. Her mission is to create a community where people can come together, support each other, destress grow and heal.
In order to stay true to her mission Fioramonte-Sabene decided to stop the types of classes she was offering on the weekends. They were called “Sip and Paint” classes, where groups of 21 and over students would come and bring their own alcohol and could drink while they painted. The cancelation of these classes were caused by the conflict they had on Fioramonte-Sabene and the Liverpool Art Center’s mission.
“I felt like I was really supporting the idea that you need a substance to be creative, you need a substance to relax,” said Fioramonte- Sabene. “And that’s just not what I’m about that’s not what the business is about.”
After years of trying to create a community where people felt safe and supported in a place they could express themselves, Fioramonte-Sabene took this idea to another level. With the cancellation of the weekend classes she had free time to attend some substance abuse meetings within the community.
This is when she realized there was a complete lack of a community support system where these recovering addicts could turn to grow and heal. So she decided to create one. Fioramonte-Sabene began to offer mediation and painting classes that she has instructed up and down the east coast.
She didn’t stop there. The art teacher created a website that people with substance abuse problems can access for free. Fioramonte-Sabene pays for the website and maintains it on her own. It includes crisis help and listings of local meetings.
She has given a TedX talk about the art of letting go and encourages the same ideals in her classes. Fioramonte-Sabene explained it’s not about the product of the art, it’s about the process for the student — and how connecting with others and oneself can help one heal and grow.
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Terry Hobbs has been a student at the LAC for 8 years.
© 2019 Karyssa Dagostino -
The adult drawing class is held on Wednesdays from 10am to 12pm.
© 2019 Karyssa Dagostino -
Fiortamonte-Sabene has traveled all throughout the east coast teaching her mediation painting classes.
© 2019 Karyssa Dagostino -
The students can choose the subject of their art and the medium it is made on.
© 2019 Karyssa Dagostino
Her original art center started in 2002 and she has students that have continued to come to her classes for the last 17 years. Terry Hobbs has been a student of Fioramonte-Sabene’s for eight years.
She again emphasized the community aspect of the Liverpool Art Center and that the kindness and support she feels from her teacher and fellow art students is what keeps her coming back and wishing Fioramonte-Sabene would let her come everyday.
“Everybody seems to grow when they come here and it, it does start at the top with sandy,” said Hobbs. ” It um, it’s the mood and the, the tone that she sets and encourages daily.”
Fioramonte – Sabene welcomes all people of varying life and art backgrounds to give it a try. The classes are organized to have an individual focus that allows students to pick the type of art or art medium they would like to create and their own subjects.
Fioramonte- Sabene says people will often leave their product behind because the process and connects they create while making the art is the real product.
