J. Neil Bittner is a local Sandy Hook resident with an eye for design. Currently, Bittner has a few prints on display at Newtown Senior Center through October.

While Bittner’s prints are on display, there are a lot of other, bigger, artworks that were left at home. Stained glass and canvases several feet tall would not fit on the glass shelves at the senior center.

“My mindset is stained glass,” Bittner said at the time of his interview back in July. “When a feeling or an emotion or something comes over me, it could be doing something with a collage, oil painting collage, or it could be doing something in an oil painting, or silk screen.”

Bittner shared that there is a big difference in mediums, specifically that oil painting is with “a pigment” and working with stained glass is “painting with light.” Bittner has been honing his craft for about 62 years. His first art “assignment,” in a sense, was being put in charge of decorating bulletin boards around his school when he was in sixth grade.

“I had some kind of ‘art talent,’ I guess, that he saw. In the late 50’s, I was part of a group … that got involved in rocketry,” Bittner said. Bittner was really into science when he was younger, but one of his math teachers encouraged him to pursue art instead.

Bittner then discovered the world of “industrial design,” and decided that is what he wanted to do. He went to University of Bridgeport, but ultimately went into education and fine art.

While studying art, a professor asked Bittner and his fellow classmates, “What is art?” Bittner explained he handed in three pages, while his classmates handed in 50 plus page essays.

“I had a cover page with the question,” Bittner started. “Next page, answered the question. ‘Art is love,’ three words. Next page, my name. I was the only one to get an A in the course.”

Bittner said that to this day, he still believes the same thing. Not only does he believe the same thing, but he is still creating every day. There is still so much to see, so much to hear, and so much to turn into art.

Bittner also mentioned that composition is important to him; “What I try to do is look at society and comment on it.” His comments form into art that leaves people to wonder and think about what it means. He noted that he uses a lot of religious imagery in his work, using photos and stories from others to create pieces that certainly evoke all kinds of emotions.

While Bittner’s work was not yet on display at the time of his interview, he said he was “excited” to see what senior center members thought of his work.

“I think it’s going to be interesting because some of the silk screens that I want to put in are from Block Island. I did a series on Block Island … in the summer, then I went back in the winter and I did five prints from the same place, but from a different vantage point,” Bittner explained.

He shared that he is similar to the famous TV show American Pickers because the host is always interested in the story behind the pieces, not just the item. Bittner said the story behind it is what “makes it valuable, the history of it.

“That’s what I do,” Bittner added. “I paint for the history books.”

Bittner also has work on display at Newtown Municipal Center right now. Both showcases are open to the public when the buildings are open. Some of Bittner’s work is also available to browse online at bittnerstudios.com.

He hopes people will come and view the work in person between the two buildings.

“A lot of the people that live in Newtown are people that think,” Bittner said. “My work is thought-provoking, so if they get to the show and they want to be challenged, I think my work will do it.”

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.