Following a call for artists issued in September, Newtown Forest Association, in partnership with local artist Annette Womack, is preparing the formal opening for “The Great Art-doors,” a trail exhibition being planned for Nettleton Preserve.

NFA and Womack invited local artists to display their work along the scenic trails in a temporary outdoor exhibit. The resulting collection will be on view from June 27 until September 11.

An opening reception is planned for Saturday, June 27, from 2 to 4 pm. Many artists plan to be in attendance and light refreshments will be served.

While access to the preserve is encouraged from Old Castle Hill Road, Womack said Newtown Congregational Church — whose western parking lot has a trail connecting directly to the preserve — has granted permission for use of its 14 West Street lot during the reception.

Initially planned for Cherry Grove Preserve, “The Great Art-doors” is instead being installed within one of Newtown’s most scenic locations. Nettleton Preserve is a 26-acre property acquired by NFA through Arthur T. Nettleton’s estate in 1973. The property lines run adjacent to parts of Old Castle Drive, Castle Drive, and West Street. An iron bench provides seating over one of the most photographed scenes in town: the view toward the Main Street flagpole, the steeples of Newtown Congregational Church, Newtown Meeting House and Trinity Episcopal Church, and rolling hills beyond.

Those who follow the trails from the top of that hill this summer will be surprised with ten installations. Artists have promised mixed media works, wood and acrylic, metal, wires, clay, cement, repurposed materials, and more. The artists with work accepted into the exhibition are Paula Brinkman, Patrick Dunne, R.T. Eckenrode, Alexia “Lexi” Gonzalez, Lucia Romano, Daisy Sorenson and Darryl Sorenson, and Tracy Van Buskirk.

Organizer-curator Annette Womack, 41, will also have a piece included in “The Great Art-Doors.” A ceramics and sculpture teacher at Newtown High School who grew up in Newtown, Womack returned to town after her marriage and is now raising her daughter here. Willow “Bean” Womack, a fifth grade student at Reed School, will also have a work included in “The Great Art-doors,” as will Newtown High School student Lucia Romano.

“She did a Capstone Project that was this tree with all these ceramic charms on it,” Womack said last week. While she does not teach Capstone Projects, Womack did assist Romano with firing the pieces for the project.

“It was so awesome, and after it was taken down I asked her and her parents if it was OK to revive it for the show and she’s all for it,” Womack said June 12.

All other artists are adults, and all but one are creating their works for the show. Gonzalez, now a student teacher at college, had a ceramic work already finished that she had decided to put into the show, Womack said.

NCAC Grant Recipient

The idea for “The Great Art-doors” began forming for Womack last year. She had an idea, she said, to do something with art and nature, two of her favorite things.

She has seen other outdoor exhibits, she said, “and with where we are in Newtown, and there being so many beautiful trails that I’ve enjoyed with my family, and there are so many artists that I’ve come to know since I’ve lived here, I just thought it would be the perfect intersection of those two things.”

Womack reached out last year to Newtown Forest Association Executive Director Trent McCann, who in turn took the idea for an outdoor exhibition to NFA’s board. The board was “excited and fully behind the idea,” he said this week.

Speaking with The Newtown Bee via e-mail, McCann said he was immediately interested and excited about the idea.

“People approach me with collaborative ideas all the time; often unrealistic or not closely aligned with the NFA's mission. I knew after the first meeting with Annette that she was going to have the direction and vision to make this happen,” he said June 16.

The decision to move the presentation from Cherry Grove Farm, where Womack found her initial inspiration for the exhibition while hiking with her family, to Nettleton Preserve had a lot to do with exposure for the art and its creators.

“As the concept took form and we moved along in planning we realized that far more people would be exposed to the exhibition, through happenstance, if we moved it to a more visible location,” McCann explained. “If even one percent of cars that drive by Nettleton each day decide they're going to pull over and check it out, that's hundreds of more visitors over the course of the summer.”

Womack has organized student exhibitions, but “The Great Art-doors” is her first attempt at doing an outdoor exhibition.

“The thing I really like about this is why I like street art and murals: there’s no walls. You don’t have to pay or go inside a building to enjoy this,” she said. “It’s just there for the viewing and the enjoyment.”

The theme for the inaugural exhibit was “Open,” and artists were encouraged to interpret that any way they wished. Artists were encouraged to create works that engage with the natural surroundings, spark curiosity, and enhance the visitor experience on the trails.

Part of the visitor experience enhancement will happen through signage and other promotional materials. Womack was recently notified she was the recipient of a 2026 Newtown Cultural Arts Commission grant, which she has put toward outdoor posters and signage within the exhibit.

“My favorite part of this is I’ve been working with Sign-O-Rama to make metal labels for each site,” she said. Each label will have information about the artist, their work, and a QR code that will take visitors to the NFA website, where additional information related to the exhibition will be presented.

Womack is very happy, she said, that “Great Art-doors” is not only something that can be enjoyed by people of all ages, “some artists will be putting things at lower levels, for kids to enjoy.

“It’s going to be a great exhibit overall,” she said. “I’m super excited.”

McCann agreed, saying while he’s had a sneak preview of one work only because he knows the artist, he is looking forward to experience what he’s calling “Newtown’s own ‘mini Storm King Center’ … for the first time like everyone else.”

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.