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HANDS ON Kathleen Crocetti carefully peels away plastic backing on the mosaic.

Kathleen Crocetti continues work on community art project

By JOHANNA MILLER

Photos by Tarmo Hannula

Local artist Kathleen Crocetti is no stranger to working from home. Having her own art studio at home, she is used to working there, creating pieces and developing community art projects.

But Crocetti admits that shelter-inplace has taken a bit of a toll.

“Honestly, it’s been really lonely,” she said. “I’m a very social artist. I miss [my studio partner] Susanne and all the high school students who have been coming to the Muzzio to make mosaics.”

Last year Crocetti opened the Muzzio Mosaic Arts Center, an after-school arts program for youth in Watsonville. In addition, Crocetti is a teacher—which she says has been a challenge during the current school closures. She has been teaching her Mission Hill Middle School students through Long Distance Learning.

“Long story short, my teaching hours are no longer part-time,” she said. “It has been a huge challenge… to keep a schedule, to turn of the computer and not answer any more student questions for the day so I can get out to the studio.”

Recently her studio has been home to an in-progress mosaic that will adorn the skylight at the entrance of ➝ 6

BEAUTY IN SIMPLICITY These royal coconut cookies are easy to make.

Tarmo Hannula

Royal cookies

This is my favorite cookie recipe by far. In my opinion, they are all that a cookie should be. They are sweet and rich, but also contain oatmeal and surprisingly not as much butter as most cookies do. It is the almond flavoring and coconut, I think, that earns them the name, Royal Coconut Cookies.

They are also easy to make. There is no refrigeration or rolling out required, and you can use just one bowl. It would also be a good recipe to make with kids. I featured this recipe back in 2012, but it seems like a good time to bring it back. I must have made three batches myself in the last six weeks, I confess.

The recipe comes from the 1963 Wisconsin Gas Light Company cookbook called “Festive Foods” that my grandmother used to send to my mom from Milwaukee. I inherited about six of these books and I can tell from the drips and splatters that my mom used them a lot. Every year, since 1933, the company would compile, according to Mrs. Ella Liner Lambert, “interesting recipes for holiday use.” I particularly love the adjective “interesting.” I have also heard this descriptor applied to my recipes and embrace the tag with its ambiguousness wholeheartedly.

I use electrical assistance in most of my baking and cooking these days. I used to pride myself on my ability to beat, knead and stir by hand but the asymmetry it caused in my body became evident when I started taking Zumba classes. One side was like a leaded weight while the other flew around uncontrollably. I’m getting better thanks to the electric beater and the stand mixer.

If you have kids around the house, this is an excellent time to teach them to cook. Have them read and follow the recipe with you. Younger kids can learn to measure, whisk dry ingredients and shape the cookies. Creaming the butter, sugar and egg takes a machine or muscle so would be better for older children.

Also, this is a great time to impart to your kids any skills or talents that you may have, be it gardening, music, woodworking, storytelling, handiwork, etc. The emphasis in the last ten years or so on testing and tests, have narrowed the range of what is education. There is not a more positive experience than working with your children and teaching them your personal areas of expertise.

ROYAL COCONUT COOKIES 1 1/4 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter, room temperature 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon almond flavoring 1 cup oats 1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk or sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended. ➝ 6

Ramsay Park’s Community Center. The piece, designed by local artist Jaime Sanchez, will feature a flock of birds in the shape of a heart.

Sanchez’s work was selected in February by the Watsonville Parks and Recreation Commission, along with three other pieces by local middle and high school students, for installation at the park.

The week before shelter-inplace went into efect, Crocetti and her husband Bill Evans took down the metal lattice that was over the front door of the Community Center, so they could have the exact size of the frame for the mural. Then they began to modify the frame, removing the lattice crosses, designing and fabricating the frame to eventually hold glass.

“Thankfully, glass is an essential product for the building of houses,” Crocetti said, “so I was able to order what we needed.”

After enlarging Sanchez’s design, Crocetti printed it on overhead plastic and projected it to paper. The design was then placed under the tempered glass, and ART 4

colored glass was cut into pieces and glued onto it.

“When the mosaic is complete… [we will] glue it into the frames,” she said. “We still need to get the frames powder coated, though our local powder coating company is closed, so that may be a problem.”

Crocetti is now working on the mural at the Muzzio Mosaic Arts Center. She said that it will be installed at Ramsay Park sometime after shelter-in-place has been lifted.

The fabrication of Sanchez’s mural might be a job for Crocetti, but the artist was quick to highlight the importance of art during shelter-in-place. She encourages everyone to start a project of their own.

“Pick up a pencil and draw what you see outside your window,” she said. “…sing a song, or just let go and dance, no one needs to watch or see, just do it for yourself.

“The arts have the ability to convey meaning and emotion… Somewhere, right now someone is creating a piece of art that will become the iconic image of this period of time and that work will be a touchstone for all of us.”

Visítenos en Rebecas’s Bakery, muéstrenos que nos sigue en Instagram y reciba una concha gratis!

Visit us at Rebeca’s Bakery, show us you follow us on Instagram and receive a free concha!

BY DESIGN Watsonville artist Jaime Sanchez created the art for the mosaic, which will eventually be installed at Ramsay Park.

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In a larger bowl, cream the room temperature butter. Add the two sugars and beat some more until smooth. The grains of sugar should dissolve. Add the egg and beat until completely combined and creamy.

Pour in the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Add the oatmeal and coconut and mix until completely blended.

Scoop up about a teaspoon of dough and form into a ball about 1 inch in diameter. Allow about 1 ½ inches between cookies. They double in size. Bake for 10 minutes.

After five minutes, turn the cookie sheet around so that the cookies are evenly baked. They are done when some of the cookies are only slightly brown along the edges. Add a few minutes if necessary or remove cookies from the oven a let bake a little longer on the pan removing ones that are more done to a cooling rack. Makes about 4 dozen. MIXING BOWL 5