Hooked on art from birth

Kew Gardens Hills resident Jami Taback became an artist when she was just a little girl, and now she is getting other children involved in art.
“I’m an artist my whole life. I was brought up in an arty family,” said Taback, who studied at the Victor D’Amico School of Arts starting at five years old. “My mother saw that I had some talents and was interested and she fostered it.”
From the very beginning, Taback said she knew she was an artist and that it was something she was good at. She said she never considered pursuing any other type of career. The main mediums that Taback works in are painting and printmaking
“I get hooked on a subject matter and over the years I’ve covered everything from dancers to still lifes to commissioned portraits,” said Taback, who also has given workshops.
For the last five years, Taback has been focusing her work on pyrotechnic displays and fireworks. This is also the subject matter that she is using to reach children at risk, saying that “everyone at some point has had a positive experience with” it.
A few years ago, Taback met a former golden gloves boxer who worked with children with problems. Taback met those kids and soon decided to create the program Kids at Risk: Adventures in Printmaking.
“I came to realize that this was what I needed to do, that from now on I was going to give all my time to these kids with problems,” she said.
To date, Taback has worked with about 200 students who have social or behavioral challenges. Once she has found a school to work in, a customized program is created based on the needs of those particular students. They learn how to do mono-printing.
At the end of the program, the works created by the student are put together and a large mural is created. The mural is then put up for public display at the school.
“It’s a mentoring relationship,” Taback said. “I’m trying to ignite a spark in them.”
Throughout the course of the program, Taback said that one of the biggest improvements she has seen in the students is their attentiveness. She has also noticed more smiles and eye contact.
“It changes them and I feel that they take with them this wonderful experience long after the class ends,” Taback said. “That’s when I feel I’ve touched them.”
While working with the students, Taback still works on her own artwork on a regular basis. She recently displayed her pieces in SoHo and has exhibited in Europe.
Taback is also working on bring her Kids at Risk: Adventures in Printmaking program to other schools.
“My biggest challenge is to get this program to all these kids and meet as many kids as I can,” she said. “That’s what I think about all the time - how to get them.”
For more information on Taback and her work, visit www.jamitaback.com. She can also be reached by e-mailing jtaback@nyc.rr.com.