Ruth Newquist Featured During KAA Elected Artists Show

By Shannon Hicks

Kent — The Gallery at the Kent Art Association is presenting its 2008 Elected Artists Art Show, with more than 100 works on view until Sunday, September 28. Oils, watercolors, pastels, graphics and sculpture by members of KAA fill most of the rooms of the gallery at 21 South Main Street in Kent. One room, however, has been filled only with the art of Newtown artist Ruth Newquist.

Mrs Newquist was given the honor of a one-artist show after being named the winner of the Dines Carlson Medal of Merit Award for Best in Show during the art association’s 2007 President’s Show. Her presentation is in the gallery’s Aiken Room and offers two dozen of Mrs Newquist’s personal favorites.

“I love painting New York scenes, which is why there are so many on view,” the artist said on August 30 during the second of two receptions KAA was hosting for the Elected Artists show. “I picked 24 for this show, including many that have won prizes for me.”

Mrs Newquist is known for her oils and watercolors of New York cityscapes as well as New England landscapes. She offered a good balance of New York scenes against New England scenes in preparing the current show.

One of the paintings on view in Kent is a watercolor called “Red Barn.” Completed shortly before the show’s opening, the snowy scene features a red barn located in Sandy Hook. The painting was purchased by a Newtown resident during the Elected Artists Show’s first opening but will remain on view for the duration of the show.

Mrs Newquist is an elected artist member of the National Watercolor Society and Connecticut Watercolor Society, as well as Allied Artists of America and the Salmagundi Art Club in New York City. She exhibits her paintings throughout New England and New York and has won over thirty awards in national juried art shows.

Her next show will be a little closer to her home. Mrs Newquist will be the featured artist in November at C.H. Booth Library in Newtown.

The KAA gallery is at 21 South Main Street (Route 7), just south of the monument. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday from 1 to 5 pm, and admission is free at all times. For more information visit KentArt.org or call 860-927-3989 during gallery hours.