Splatter art is, by its nature, pretty unique stuff. Abstract painters can be given a dozen canvases and challenged to paint them similarly, but like snowflakes, no two will ever be identical. Dave Brooker has in recent years been building his oeuvre, covering canvas, wood, and even yoga mats with paint that has been splattered using myriad approaches. Large brushes, small brushes, sticks, fingers, even sponges have all been used by Mr Brooker to apply paint.

The Ben's Bells Project is counting on Mr Brooker's approach for the second year. Mr Brooker has been given 110 ceramic pendants to paint and turned into Ben's Bells be kind necklaces, and sold during the organization's upcoming Celebration of Kindness.

("They're going to sell 100 of them," Mr Brooker said last week. "There's an extra ten here to accommodate for breaks or repaints.")

Each pendant measures about 1 inch wide, with the words "be kind" stamped into them, and a hole for the leather cord for each necklace. Each has gone through their initial firing, but had not yet been painted - that is up to Mr Brooker. Once he has finished painting them, they will be glazed and then receive their final firing.

The necklaces will then be available to purchase by ticket holders at the 2018 Celebration of Kindness, planned for Thursday, May 24, at Michael's at the Grove in Bethel.

This is the second time Mr Brooker has created necklaces for the nonprofit organization. He also painted pendants for last year's Celebration of Kindness, but on a much larger scale. He also decorated two cornhole game stands that were auctioned at the 2017 event.

It is far from the first time the local artist has donated his time and talents to local nonprofits.

Last year Mr Brooker painted yoga mats for Newtown Yoga Center, which were used for an event that raised funds for the Resiliency Center of Newtown (RCN). In 2015 he collaborated with Newtown Cultural Arts Commission to design a public art project that resulted in the installation (with help from Beeline Woodworking) of a huge flower on the side of a barn at Newtown Forest Association's Holcombe Memorial Trails property. He has also done a number of projects to raise funds for RCN as well as led workshops and sessions for the South Main Street center, among other offerings.

Mr Brooker has seen some of the 2017 Celebration of Kindness necklaces in the past year. Sometime he will recognize them being worn in public, other times the wearer will recognize him and introduce themselves.

"It's pretty wild," he said. A number of people have asked to take selfies with him, he said. "It's hilarious," he added. "And it's cool. It's very interesting to walk around town and see these, and to hear where they end up."

Cody Foss, the regional manager for Ben's Bells Project Connection, said this week he feels Mr Brooker's art speaks for itself.

"The really cool thing about the necklaces he made last year was the buzz that was generated, and the number of people who came looking for them," Mr Foss said May 2. "We sold out of the necklaces last year."

This year's offering, he confirmed, "is a little more limited."

Mr Brooker believes last year's celebration of kindness was the first time Ben's Bells Founder and Executive Director Jeannette Maré allowed any diversion from the traditional single/solid color of the necklaces.

"It's been a very collaborative process," he said April 27. "I deviated from the norm. I worked within their parameters, but still had creative freedom."

When he was contacted to create necklaces for a second Celebration of Kindness, Mr Brooker was not directed to repeat the presentation of last year, he said.

"They've not really given me a restriction," he added. "They didn't say 'Do this again,' they said 'Here's the colors and here's the pendants, let us know when they're done.'"

It was Mr Brooker's decision, he said, to stick to the artistic style for which he is so well known.

"I like to call it 'energy painting,'" he said April 27, laughing. "Online, people are referring to them as 'the splatter paint necklaces.'"

Looking over the group of pendants laid out on a (paint covered, naturally) table within his studio, Mr Brooker considered the pendants. Holding one in the palm of his hand, he said, "Forget about all this..." - he said, waving at the group on the table - "... don't even think about that any more. Just look at this, just this, it's own little canvas, right?"

Each pendant needed its own personality, he said.

"If I throw big giant stripes of paint, I'm not going to leave a lot of open space," he said. "The other thing is, the glaze has a big of thickness to it. If you dumped it on there, and then fired it, I don't know that it would look that great."

Instead, Mr Brooker had taken the time to get paint onto each pendant, without drowning any of them with the medium.

"I had to think about each one," he said, "and how it will look on its own in the end."

A full-time artist and the caretaker for Newtown Forest Association, Mr Brooker continues to be drawn to the special projects for local nonprofits for a few reasons.

"It seems to me, when we get into these discussions about Sandy Hook, there's two ways people go: they go the gun route or they go the brain health route," he said. "In my mind, the brain health stuff is really where it's at, and where we're going to get something done."

While he "very much deeply respects" the opinions of those who feel their gun rights are threatened, he would rather not get into discussions about it, he said.

"Zero judgment, but I would rather not discuss it," he said. Looking again toward the collection of be kind necklaces he said, "This is my way, that I can discuss it.

"Look what these people talk about: kindness," he continued. "Ben's is about being kind. Resiliency Center talks about bouncing back. And The Avielle Foundation looks at the very root of what makes people have these problems in their head in the first place."

Mr Brooker has picked up part-time work with The Avielle Foundation, doing set and stage work for that group's Brainstorm Experience series.

"To me those things are pretty effective and have a chance to make change," he said. "They're all benign, and loving, and kind.

"You're probably not going to get into an argument with anyone while discussing kindness," the artist pointed out. "This just seems to be a gentler, kinder way to support organizations I want to help."

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Celebration Of Kindness Details

Tickets for Celebration of Kindness are $75 each, and include live entertainment by Traveling Danburys, food (including cake from Varano Bakery, and hors d'oeuvres), beer, wine and vodka tastings (provided by Litchfield Distillery, Two Roads Brewery, and Tito's Vodka; a cash bar will also be available), and a photo booth.

Live and silent auctions will feature local art, exclusive services and experiences, and "the hottest and most exclusive items of the evening: Ben's Bells mosaic benches - available only at the Celebration of Kindness each year," according to a press release for the event. Returning to the auction, according to organizers, will be mosaic stepping stones designed by local school children and made by Ben's Bells.

A special Shop Kind pop-up shop will also be open that evening. The pop-up show is where Mr Brooker's necklaces will be found.

Michael's at the Grove is at 42 Vail Road in Bethel. For tickets and additional information, visit bensbells.org/celebrate.

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Newtown resident Dave Brooker has been tasked with hand painting 100 ceramic pendants for the 2018 Ben's Bells Celebration of Kindness. In recent years the artist has been drawn to special projects for local nonprofits.

-Bee Photos, Hicks

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A small segment of the ceramic pendants that will become be kind necklaces. Dave Brooker applied the paint using his traditional approach.

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