By Jenny Rehkugler, Communications Specialist 

Nino Hernandez is Crane Lake’s newest art director this summer and plans to bring a fresh perspective to how our campers express themselves through art.

Nino lives in the Philippines and works as an artist, musician and teacher. He paints by day, and spends his nights practicing music, playing all different instruments like percussion, flute and guitar.

“I wake up really early, drink my coffee and paint,” Nino said. “And when my paint dries, I play music.”

On some days he works at two different schools teaching both art and sports to children ages 5-16. Nino says he is “not an office person” so he fills his life with the joys of art and expression. Nino’s exposure to fine arts stemmed from his father who was also a musician.

“I was forced to play trombone and trumpet as a child,” Nino recalled. “I saw art and music as a punishment.”

It wasn’t until his high school years that Nino realized he might be interested in turning his skills into a professional career. When Nino was a teenager, his father grew ill. When his father was bedridden, Nino promised him he would become a painter and a musician.

He went to his father’s side and vowed that after one week he would learn how to play trombone without his fathers help. One week later, he returned and played the trombone for him.

“I knew my father was happy the moment when I told him I wanted to take up music and fine arts,” Nino said. “He died one week later.”

After high school, Nino put himself through college and studied fine arts at the Philippine Women’s University where his love for arts and music continued to grow.

“It’s a funny name for a university, I know.” Nino remarked. “But not many women chose to study fine arts so they accepted men into the program.”

After his studies, Nino developed his own style of art and expression. Nino says he is inspired by crack and leaks. Ever since he was a young child, cracks, leaks, corrosion and broken things have always caught his eye.

“These are the things that not many people see,” Nino said. “Whenever I see corrosion or old wood that’s really cracking, I want to turn it into art.”

He also said that what inspires him ties into the way he relates with other people.

“Some people see the bad sides in others,” Nino said. “I tend to look at the prettier sides.”

This summer Nino is looking forward to bringing excitement into the art room for both the kids and staff. He wants everyone to enjoy the freedom of expression by encouraging campers to express their Jewish culture through art.

Nino and the art staff want to introduce different creative projects throughout the summer like Jackson Pollack inspired paintings, landscape drawings from around camp and many more.

“Our goal is to interest the kids this summer,” Nino said. “We want to enable more expression in any way that we can.”

Nino and the whole art staff are experienced, diverse and work off each other’s strengths to make the program the best it can be.

To view more of Nino’s professional work, please visit his website at http://ninohernandezart.weebly.com/