Fall 2024 Newsletter
As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.
Welcome to the Fall 2024 Newsletter of the Westfield Art Association (WAA). We have been busy since the Spring 2024 Newsletter was released and we want to celebrate our achievements with you. We also have a number of events planned for our members this Fall and Winter and want to highlight those in this Newsletter. Please feel free to print
this and share it with your friends.
Highlights of our 2024 Events
Scholarship Benefit Sale – April to May 2024
Every year the Westfield Art Association gives a scholarship to a high school senior student, selected by the Westfield High School art department teachers, who plans to study art after high school. Each year we ask our artists to prepare and donate artwork for a benefit art sale with the proceeds going to the student selected.
This year’s scholarship sale featured 5” x 7” works by our artists with no specific theme. All items were on display at South Avenue Arts and were available for sale for $60.
We are so proud that this was our most successful scholarship benefit art sale yet! We raised $1,000 and awarded $500 scholarships to two wonderful artists and graduating seniors, Nalyssa Reyes and Chloe Pinkowski.
You can see one of Nalyssa’s artworks above.
Artist Meet Up – April 13
On Saturday, April 13, Casa by Cherry Home Designs hosted an artist meet up from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm with food, drinks, and artwork to enjoy. Over 25 local artists enjoyed conversations and shared their passion for art. This event was coordinated by one of our members, Kiyanna Lawrence.
Springfield Library’s Donald B. Palmer Museum – May 2024
Our member show “Pink” was featured in the Donald B. Palmer museum at the Springfield Free Public Library during the month of May 2024. This wonderful show featured 27 member artists and 59 pieces of art!
Visual Arts for Seniors – Throughout 2024
Another collaboration with the Westfield Memorial Library is the Visual Arts for Seniors program. Our member artists teach four sessions on alternate Sundays for two months
to seniors who enroll in the classes at the library. Thus far, Mariya Kovalyov, Alicia Flynn Cotter, and Joy Lara have taught classes, while Margaret Smith will teach this Fall.
Artist in Residence Program – First Residency from May to July 2024
Our new collaboration with the Westfield Memorial Library established an Artist in Residence program for a Westfield Art Association member to lead at least three workshops open to the general public, teaching about their art process, motivation, and vision. Jennifer Wilner was selected by a committee as the first Artist in Residence and her residency was a sparkling success. Jenn shared her pop art with patrons of the library by working on projects at the library, displaying her work in the library, and by teaching a workshop for kids, another for adults, and being interviewed about her career in art. She also led a discussion about her artistic process that was open to the public.
Jenn also was asked to paint the windows of the library to highlight the joy of summer reading and her artwork will be featured on a special edition library card! Please join us in thanking Jennifer for her fine residency and representing the WAA so well.
The next Artist in Residence is Kiyanna Lawrence. Her residency is scheduled for November 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025. We will send out details about her residency and events that you can attend.
Brightwood Park Plein Air Painting – May 18
For the third year we partnered with the Friends of Brightwood Park to host a plein air painting event on Saturday, May 18. Nine artists participated in the plein air event with three lucky artists winning prizes for their creations.
Lord Stirling Park Environmental Education Center – September 2024
Our third annual exhibition at the Lord Stirling Park Environmental Education Center iscurrently on display in Basking Ridge throughout the month of September. We have 13 of our member artists displaying 33 pieces of art.
Upcoming Events
Artist Meet Up
Kiyanna Lawrence has arranged for another artist meetup, this time at Galeria, “The Art Venue” located at 111 Quimby Street in Westfield. This event will take place on Saturday, September 21. We will send an email with more information about this event.
Commissioners’ Gallery at the Union County Administrative Office – November 2024
We are scheduled to exhibit a small number of pieces (12 to 15) at the Commissioners’ Gallery at the Union County Administrative Office in Elizabeth starting on November 22. A call for art will be sent out shortly giving you the opportunity to submit pieces for selection in this limited show.
We are also exploring additional shows at the Westfield town hall, Overlook hospital, the Summit Medical Group pavilions in Berkeley Heights, the Cranford Community Center, and libraries in the area.
Please let us know if you have any ideas of places where our members can show their work or if you want to help us coordinate or find additional show places.
What’s next?
Enhancing the WAA Website
We have added access to online copies of artwork displayed at our member shows. We plan to continue this practice with each show in the future to allow people who cannot attend the shows in person to view the artwork.
We plan to expand the WAA website to show a member gallery for each artist who provides information about themselves and artwork to share online. Look for an email this Fall asking you for an artist bio, an artist statement, and digital examples of your work.
If any of you have experience in website maintenance or want to learn how to create webpages and at the same time help out the WAA please let us know!
Member Meetings
We will continue to have member meetings at the library where members can hear about the latest happenings in the Association, share their artwork with other artists, seek feedback on art processes and works in progress and learn from other artists.
Grow the WAA!
Renew your membership! Invite new artists and those who appreciate great art!
The fees for membership in the WAA remain very inexpensive compared to other associations and are a bargain given all the benefits of being a member. The annual fees are currently $60 for a family (two adults in the same household), $45 for an individual, $35 for a senior (age 65 and up), and $15 for a student in high school grades 9-12 or a full-time college student.
Membership benefits include no application fees for member shows, free member educational programs, free admission to plein air events, online promotion of artwork, and membership in a community of great artists.
We would love for our association to continue to grow. Please invite other artists you meet, and feel free to invite anyone who is interested in art in general. We would love to expand our program offerings to include people who love art but who may not be motivated to produce their own artwork.
The Westfield Art Association is a non-profit organization that has been supporting local artists since 1922. The Association is run totally by volunteers on the Board of Directors and the Officers of the Association. Here is a list of the current Board of Directors: Francesca Azzara, Kay Bhasin, Mariya Kovalyov, Sam Mooney, Darrin Owens, Sharon Reed, and Barbara Uhr.
We are seeking more volunteers to help direct the Association for the future!
There are many committees that need help and would love to have more members join and provide ideas and assistance.
If you have any questions or are interested in helping out fellow artists, contact us!
