Holiday Shoppers & Crafts Enthusiasts Alike

Can Appreciate ‘A Holiday Gathering At Home’

By Shannon Hicks

Anyone who has visited Newtown General Store during the last five or so years may have noticed that when Peter Leone took over ownership of the business, he brought the charm of an old-fashioned general store back to the Main Street business. In addition to sandwiches, snacks, and drinks aplenty, Mr Leone also devoted a large section of the store to items relating to Newtown such as notecards, books, and even a section featuring folk art.

The vast majority of that folk art has always been done by the Sandy Hook resident Stacey Olszewski, who works under the name Old Green Road. Her bowls and containers feature scenes both familiar and made up, many of which feature the name Newtown worked into the image. She paints bottles, vases, and stacking containers, and recently even found an old aluminum cooler that she covered with a winter scene.

Items like that, and plenty of others, will be featured when Mrs Olszewski hosts a show and sale of fine gifts and collectibles featuring not only her work but that of nearly two dozen regional artists at her Sandy Hook home over the weekend of November 18–20.

Old Green Road’s Holiday Gathering at Home will open on Friday, November 18, from 6 to 9 pm, and then continue on Saturday, November 19, from 10 am to 4 pm, and Sunday, November 20, from noon to 3 pm.

In selecting the artists to be featured in the show and sale, Mrs Olszewski contacted people she knows.

“I was hoping to pick people who don’t do [shows] all the time, so they’re still passionate about their work. These are also people who can offer different items,” Mrs Olszewski said.

Walkabout Farm raises its own sheep, and that’s where the farm gets the wool it uses for its homespun wool items. Splendid Ribbons, a Brewster-based artist (and the only non-Connecticut participant), does everything by hand in creating pins that have very intricate ribbonwork.

Also coming to the weekend event will be Michelle Babyak of Newtown, with photography; Terri LaCroce/BearMark Designs, also of Newtown, jewelry; Claudia Cormier, floral designs; Cris Fadus of Newtown, Emily’s Specialty Sauces; Teresa Hicks, calligraphy; Theresa LeFevre, with folk art dolls; Pat Martin of Newtown, primitive gatherings; Chris Raissis/The Painted Pony, folk art signs; and Clare Yacaskin/Harmony Weaving, with shawls and rugs. Mrs Olszewski expects to have at least 20 artists participating by next weekend.

The show will be set up in two of the front rooms of the Olszewski home at 4 Old Green Road. The whole family is getting involved.

Mrs Olszewski’s husband, John, will be instrumental in setting the booths up for the show.

“He has always been there with tons of support for me,” Mrs Olszewski said. “Without his support I’d have to do something else,” she added with a laugh.

The Olszewski kids will have their own booth next weekend. Daniel and Bryan will be selling their homemade marshmallow shooters, and younger sister Megan will be offering wine charms that she has made.

A self-taught artist (aside from one workshop, she says), Stacey Olszewski has always been making and/or painting things. As a child, she spent many of her summers in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her grandmother, “and we would always do things together.” That creative spark stayed with Mrs Olszewski all her life, even when her first child, Brian, now 11 years old, was born.

“I remember thinking I wanted to stay home with him. I didn’t want someone else raising him, so I stayed home and began painting again,” Mrs Olszewski said. “I began creating things as gifts as well as to sell to raise some money for us.”

So Mrs Olszewski set up her work space within her home.

“That way I could work, but also hear the kids the minute they needed something,” she said.

Like the folk artist Warren Kimble, who is known for his paintings on old barn wood, Mrs Olszewski likes to work on old objects that already have some character to them. She has used old cutting boards and antique washboards, sometimes even old cabinet doors — items with wood graining that shows through the paint — to take advantage of uneven lines within the wood, which only adds to an item’s charm.

An old cooler has taken on a new life under Mrs Olszewski’s paintbrush. The red aluminum container, found with nicks and scratches aplenty, now features a charming snowman scene. Three snowmen are sandwiched between a pair of pine trees, all on a snow-covered ground. Twinkling stars punctuate the sky.

Scratched paint on the lock, and even places along the seam where paint has been bumped or scratched off over the years, still remain. These touches maintain the cooler’s original use and age, while its new scene offers additional attraction for a new owner.

Old Green Road’s A Holiday Gathering At Home: Fine Gifts & Collectibles will take place at 4 Old Green Road in Sandy Hook. For additional information Mrs Olszewski can be contacted at 270-9461.