PHOTO PROVIDED Three 4-Hers from Lycoming County participate in a regional arts retreat.

Three 4-H members from Lycoming County participated in the Northeast Regional Art Retreat. This event was open to 4-H members ages 8 to 18 years old in Bradford, Carbon, Clinton, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Pike, Potter, Snyder, Susquehanna, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Wayne, and Wyoming counties. The Northeast Regional Art Retreat took place in mid-January at the Montour County Extension office in Danville.

According to a news release, throughout the day 22 4-H members attended various expressive arts workshops. The workshops consisted of sewing, theater, fine arts and crafts. These workshops were on a rotational basis, sewing and fine arts were held in the morning and theater and crafts were held in the afternoon.

In the sewing workshop members learned basic sewing techniques like sewing a straight line, threading the machine, and what to do if your machine becomes unthreaded. Teaching basics were very important for the group because most participants had never used a sewing machine before, the news release said. The goal was to complete a finished tote bag. The bags were the hardest part of the day, but at the end of the day everyone was able to take home a completed bag.

The second morning workshop was fine arts. In this workshop members learned the proper techniques to complete a night scenery painting. The participants got to learn about shading with the paint to make the background and moon for the paintings. Then learned how to create trees.

In the afternoon the craft workshop provided members with 2 craft projects. By using socks, felt, and rice members created sock hedgehogs. The second project members got to paint a block of wood and sanded it down to make it look worn. They took fabric to make birds and added a button eye to their wooden block to make a unique decoration.

The last workshop was theater. In this workshop, the 4-Hers got to be creative by picking a fairy tale to perform. The participants made costumes for the performance out of wrapping paper and other items provided, the news release said. Once they worked out their costumes and characters, they performed their fairy tale.

Participants from Lycoming County included: Addison Cundiff (On the Fence), Landon Cundiff (On the Fence), and Ella Reicks (On the Fence).

For additional information on 4-H programs in Pennsylvania, contact the Lycoming county Penn State Cooperative Extension office at 570-433-3040 or visit the Pennsylvania 4-H Program web site at extension.psu.edu/programs/4-h.

Administered in Pennsylvania by Penn State Extension, 4-H is a community of more than 6 million young people across America learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills. Penn State Extension 4-H youth development educators in all 67 counties throughout the commonwealth administer local 4-H programs through non-formal education and outreach. To find your local program, visit the Penn State Extension website at https://extension.psu.edu/programs/4-h.