Winter 2025 Newsletter
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show.
Welcome to the Winter 2025 Newsletter of the Westfield Art Association (WAA). We have been busy since the Fall 2024 Newsletter was released and we want to celebrate our achievements with you. We also have a number of events planned for our members during 2025 and want to highlight those in this Newsletter. Please feel free to share a link to this Newsletter with your friends.
Highlights of our Fall 2024 Events
Artist in Residence Program – Second Residency from November 2024 to January 2025
Our 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. Kiyanna Lawrence was selected by a committee as the second Artist in Residence and her residency has been a wonderful success. Kiyanna has been sharing her colorful and joyful art with patrons of the library by working on projects at the library, displaying her work in the library, by being interviewed about her career in art. Kiyanna also led a session with a portable splatter room on December 14th at the library. The library has extended her residency through February 28, 2025. Please come see Kiyanna and her artwork at the Westfield Memorial Library before her residency ends.
Limited Edition Library Card
The library recently released a limited edition library card with artwork created by our first artist in residence, Jennifer Wilner. Go to the library and get your own colorful limited edition pop art card. (See image at left)
William G. Connolly, Jr. Memorial Art Show and Sale
We had a wonderful art show and sale at South Avenue Arts with still life artwork prepared by WAA artists. The show featured 76 pieces prepared and submitted by 18 different artists. The reception was well attended, with awards presented to six of the artists in the show. Laurie Hart’s watercolor on paper work “Kay’s Pearls” was awarded first prize in the judging. (See image at right.) Many pieces were sold.
Union County Commissioners’ Gallery Show
We just concluded a show at the Commissioners Gallery in Elizabeth featuring 16 works prepared by 5 of our member artists. The show was well received and appreciated by the Union County Cultural Heritage Affairs committee, the group responsible for hanging and promoting the show. The image at left, “Amsterdam” by Sung Gross, was one of the pieces in the show.
Upcoming Events in 2025
Artist Meet Up
Kiyanna Lawrence is hosting an artist meet up at Galeria in Westfield on February 1 starting at 6:00 pm. Come out and meet your fellow artists. Bring a small piece of artwork and you may win a prize. You can sign up online. We sent an email about this earlier, please let us know if you have any questions or need help signing up.
New Artist Residencies at the Westfield Memorial Library
We are incredibly lucky that the Westfield Memorial Library has authorized another Artist in Residence program for March 1 to June 30, 2025. We will be sending out a call for artists interested in the residency shortly. Keep watching your email and the website for more details. We also hope to have another residency from August 1 to November 30, 2025. We will send out a call for artists interested in this residency this summer.
Plein Air at Brightwood Park
We are partnering with The Friends of Brightwood Park for the fourth consecutive year to hold a plein air painting event on Saturday, May 17. We will send out more detail with information on how to sign up in late March.
Scholarship Sale
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 will once again feature 5” x 7” works by our artists with no specific theme. All items were on display at South Avenue Arts and will be available for sale for $60.
We are hoping that our artists can donate artwork again this year. The sale will again take in April and May. Please look for more details about this in March and start working on some 5” x 7” pieces that you would be willing to sell to raise money for the scholarship.
Donald B. Palmer Museum at Springfield Library
We will have another show at the Donald B. Palmer Museum at Springfield Library in either June or July. We are finalizing the details with the library director currently and will send out a call for art when we know more details.
Overlook Hospital Art Show
We are booked for a show at Overlook Hospital from August 3 to November 2, 2025. We are in the process of reviewing the space to determine what sizes and how many pieces of artwork will be displayed. We will send out a call for art for this in the early summer.
Plein Air Event at Deserted Village in Watchung Reservation
We are collaborating with the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs to host a new plein air painting event on Saturday, September 27, 2025. We also have access to Masker’s Barn at the deserted village on Friday night, September 26 and hope to have an event that night in the beautiful space that will be open to the public.
Lord Stirling Park Environmental Education Center – September 2024
We will have our fourth annual exhibition at the Lord Stirling Park Environmental Education Center in September 2025. We will send out a call for art in the summer.
Website Update
We updated the design of our website and added a members’ gallery to display works of art by our member artists. We already have six artists featured on the website. You too can be featured on the website!
To submit your artist bio, statement and digital images of your artwork please see the how to guide on how to write your artist statement and biography under the HOW TO GUIDES dropdown on the ABOUT WAA tab.
We will continue expanding the capabilities of our website over this year. We are planning to update the way we receive submissions for shows so that members can submit artwork through the website. We also hope to add a feature where artists can list their artwork for sale on the WAA website. More information to come.
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. Watch your email for dates.
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.
What a wonderful Newsletter!
I will try send my bio and some artwork for website. Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much for everything!