Locals channel their inner artist at popular library class
September 4, 2025 | By Claire Pomer | Correspondent The Waterbury Public Library’s watercolor class meets in the Steele Community Room at the municipal building. Photo by Claire Pomer
It shouldn’t come as a surprise on a weekday morning to see a large group of people gathered in the community room inside the Waterbury municipal building. But on Tuesday mornings, the crowd in the Steele Room isn’t there for a professional training class or a meeting about town business.
The tables are set up in rows, draped with colorful plastic tablecloths, and decorated with painting supplies galore: paint palettes, brushes, pill bottles filled with vibrant water, and kitchen items being put to creative use. On a recent Tuesday morning, some 15 artists were working on their latest watercolor pieces, led by teacher Pauline Chiew Nolte.
Library instructor, artist Pauline Chiew Nolte, holds her portrait painted by a watercolor class student last year. Nolte also leads an exercise class and a Mahjong game group. File photo
Soon after moving to Waterbury during the pandemic, Chiew Nolte said she looked to start the classes as a way to establish community. “I painted a lot in Chicago, before I moved here, and then the pandemic hit, and I didn’t know anyone, so I thought, let’s get to know people,” she said.
She reached out to the Waterbury Public Library, where staff agreed to host her class. The library provides basic painting supplies – brushes, paper, paints – and Chiew Nolte provides other supplies, such as paint pencils and scissors.
The free class features a rotating curriculum, with classes focusing on landscapes, people, buildings, and abstract paintings. “They learn little things,” Chiew Nolte said.
Currently, students are learning new ways to create texture in their paintings, using materials such as rice, rubbing alcohol, salt, and plastic wrap.
If rice or salt is placed over wet paint and the paint is allowed to dry, it absorbs the paint and leaves imprints on the canvas. Rubbing alcohol separates the paint, causing it to spread out and create bubbles. Water has a similar effect, but it causes the paint to spread even further, creating what the class members call “amoebas.” When plastic wrap is placed over wet paint and left there to dry, it leaves light markings where it wrinkles. All of these techniques add interest and class members are encouraged to experiment with them in their pieces.
The class is open to everyone regardless of skill level or prior experience with watercolors. “The class has a lot of total newbies and some people who are very accomplished,” Chiew Nolte said.
Classes average about 20 people, but can sometimes have as many as 40. “It’s hugely popular,” remarked Library Director Rachel Muse, who has overseen the class since it began. “People at so many different levels of experience and comfort can go to this welcoming place where they can be creative.”
Examples of work by a watercolor class student. Photo by Claire Pomer
Many of the students report that they had had very little experience with art since they were in school prior to joining the library class. Some had painted using other mediums, such as oil or acrylic paint. Everyone had joined the class because they had some interest in watercolor.
One student said she had joined because she wanted to “master” watercolor. “It has a mind of its own,” she quipped.
Students often return to the class; many said that they had been attending regularly for months or even years. One newcomer, who had only been attending for about two months, shared that the atmosphere is welcoming and not at all judgmental. “It feels like a safe environment,” said Sara Hanson.
The students agreed that Chiew Nolte’s easily understandable teaching style contributes to the reason they keep returning, one calling her a “natural-born teacher.”
The current session of classes runs through the end of September. It meets every Tuesday morning for two hours, starting at 10:30 in the Steele Community Room between the library and the town offices. Anyone who has attended the class before is welcome to sign up for the remaining classes on the Adult Programs section of the library’s website. Registration is currently closed to new students for this session, but it will open up when the class starts up again in March.
Watercolor paintings by members of the class are also currently hung in the library on both floors. Click the images below to enlarge.
Claire Pomer is a senior at Harwood Union High School from Waterbury.