Imagination Art Series: Painter puts pandemic productivity on display at Monroeville Public Library

In a decades-long series of business ventures, the one scheduled for a 2020 launch looked to be the most fun of all.

Monroeville native Sheldon Klasfeld was going to open a bar.

“Then on March 15, everything shut down,” he said. “So that never happened.”

Neither did many of the activities in which Klassy —the nickname is a natural — usually would participate. So to help fill what otherwise would have been busy hours, he revisited a pursuit that first interested him as a youngster.

He painted and painted, and painted some more, to the eventual tune of nearly 2,000 acrylics and watercolors.

“I wanted to show, to myself, that I made something productive out of the pandemic,” he said, “so that whenever it was going to end, I could say: Well, look at this!”

Visitors to Monroeville Public Library can have a look throughout April, with a selection of Klasfeld’s work on display for his Imagination Art Series show.

The name comes from his objective of inviting viewers to draw their own interpretations about what he has created. He also takes suggestions and, in fact, will have a signup sheet at the library for the exchange of ideas.

Klasfeld splits time between his hometown — he’s a 1970 Gateway High School graduate — and Boca Raton, Fla., where he founded Academic Magnet High School, through which nontraditional students can earn their diplomas. Between the two locales, he has found wall space for his artistic endeavors of the past two years.

“I probably have a thousand in each city hanging on my walls,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of nail holes.”

After he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, Klasfeld opened the Starving Artist Gallery in McKeesport, selling original oil paintings from other artists.

“My original idea was, oh, I’m going to start an art gallery and I’m going to be able to paint,” he said. “I wasn’t particularly an artist, but I admired art. I liked it.”

Then came a reality check:

“I read an article that said, it’s business. So for the next 20 years, I basically ran a business. I never really got to paint, at all. I may have tried one time to do something, but nah. When you have your own business, you work seven days, 24 hours.”

Eventually, he shifted gears to do what he originally had intended while earning his bachelor’s degree in English: At about age 40, he became a teacher. And from there, he opted for his own educational institution.

Regarding local institutions, he’s happy to help support Monroeville Public Library as its offerings continue to emerge from covid-related restrictions.

He also is grateful for being given the opportunity to put his work on display.

“I love that line from ‘Hamilton’: I’m not going to miss my shot.”

For more information, visit klassyart.com.