Date: Fri 23-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

SCAN-Lexington-artworks

Full Text:

Color In January, Thanks To A Society Of Creative Artists

with cuts

BY SHANNON HICKS

The fifth annual presentation of the Society of Creative Arts of Newtown's

winter art show and sale, "Color in January," continues at Lexington Gardens

through Sunday, January 25. Lexington Gardens is at 32 Church Hill Road in

Newtown. Admission is free. The nine-day event opened last weekend.

The annual show presents works by members of one of Newtown's most active

artists' groups. Members can show up to four pieces of their original work.

"What is especially nice about this show," said Joann Charles, chairman of

this year's show, "is that any member of our organization can show, whether

it's a beginner or one of our internationally-known artists. It's just

completely open to everyone, and that's nice because it allows new, budding

artists to hang their works in a show and see how it looks, and get that

experience.

"You don't get that in a lot of places," she continued.

The fifth annual "Color in January" offers nearly 200 artworks, representing

58 of SCAN's member artists. All of the works included are new to the show;

artworks are not allowed to be shown more than once at "Color in January."

"Color in January" comes one month or so after the Winter Solstice, when

daylight hours are beginning to extend, but days can remain somewhat overcast

and the landscape is generally bleak. Entry to each year's "Color in January"

-- not to mention the lush environment of its host, Lexington Gardens -- is

always a breath of fresh air.

The show and sale officially kicked off last weekend, on Saturday, January 17.

SCAN hosted an opening reception and a demonstration by one of its members,

Barbara Goodspeed. Four demonstrations are scheduled during the run of the

show, one on each weekend day. The demonstrations are open to the public, free

of charge.

Last weekend, Mrs Goodspeed opened the series with a demonstration of painting

a winter scene with oils. On Sunday, Kita Macon presented a program on

painting with pastels.

For the show's second weekend, watercolor painting will be highlighted. On

Saturday, January 24, Ruth Newquist will offer a program. Richard Ochs will

follow with one on Sunday. Programs begin at 12:30 pm, the public is invited,

and admission is free.

"The [opening] weekend was well attended," Mrs Charles said this week. "There

were an awful lot of people there for the opening reception.

"We're quite pleased, as an organization, with the response. We actually set

up on Thursday, in the ice, and then manned the show on Friday.

"We weren't officially open, but people were interested in the show and we

weren't going to turn them away."

The Society of Creative Arts of Newtown is open to anyone who is interested in

art, as well as artists, reminds Mrs Charles. The group's meetings, held twice

monthly at Newtown Meeting House, are always open to the public.