Bethlehem Township resident Dave Jacoby has put his creative juices to work during the 2020 pandemic, creating artwork for his outdoor gallery and backyard retreat among a stand of evergreens he and his wife, Carol, planted 45 years ago as seedlings. They call it “The Woods.”

Jacoby, whose career in human services involved stints at the one time South Bethlehem Neighborhood Center and United Way, says his interests in the arts goes back to elementary school when a teacher gave him a box of colored chalk and three blackboards to express himself. As a teen he took art lessons. He says his mother, an oil painter, recognized his talent and provided encouragement.

His creative juices have ebbed and flowed throughout his life and in retirement he says they have really kicked in. He has tried different art forms, working with the texture of molten beeswax and now a more three-dimensional colorful and textured form with movement.

“It has been the ultimate diversion during the pandemic,” Jacoby says. “Life is ephemeral, it’s short.”

Other family members have already contributed, and he has issued invitations to others who may be in a creative mood and are thinking about the pandemic and want to express themselves though the various stages of misery, joy and recovery.

“Everything I did in my career was to make the Lehigh Valley a better, safer and healthier place to live,” Jacoby says. Now he hopes to take a similar approach through his own artwork and with his desire to ask friends and family to join in contributing to this project.