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Summer Arts Festival on the Essex Town Green

This Father’s Day weekend the Arts Center Killingworth and the Spectrum Gallery in Centerbrook will present the Summer Arts Festival on the Essex Connecticut Town Green on Saturday, June 17 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, June 18 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., featuring the work of many fine artists and artisans from Connecticut, New England, and the tri-state region.

On the Green, 12 Main Street, Essex, there will be representational and abstract painters working in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and mixed media collage as well as photographers, potters, glass, fabric artisans, and jewelry designers using sterling and silver, copper, and semi-precious stones.

The Arts Festival also includes a concurrent six-week Group Show through Sunday, July 2 at Spectrum Gallery and Store in Centerbrook with a juried selection of work by participating festival artists. The exhibit includes a mixture of painting—both representational and abstract—as well as mixed media, sculpture, and photography.

“The festival is not only a fundraiser for us but also a wonderful opportunity for many of our artists to display and sell their work to a wider audience,” says Arts Center Killingworth executive director, Barbara Nair.

Many new and returning artists are presenting at the festival including painters Kerri Beisner, Diane Brown, Colleen Casner, Ned Farrell, Tatiana Ferraro, Lillian Forziat, and Jacqueline Barry, abstract artist Lauren Verner as well as watercolorists Candace Bialczak and Pamela Morgan. Also exhibiting are mixed media artists Sandra Baker, Penny Feder, Regina Thomas, and Drew Mingolello as well as fabric artists Emily Dale, Monica Rak, and Deki McKenney. Photographers include Faith and Larry Bilansky; Normand Charlette; Paul Ramsey; Larry Reitz; Robert Thomas; Avery Bart, who is showing select photographs from his upcoming book; Vincere Noel, with his one-of-a-kind digital collages; and photographer and painter Ursula Coccomo.

Also presenting are award-winning potters and ceramicists Hayne Bayless, Debra Rosen, and Nancy Scilipote and sculptor Sam Zeldner, who creates whimsical artwork from found objects. Glass artisan Francis Barkyoumb returns and Jeni Gray-Roberts joins for the first time, showcasing her glass panels and art glass jewelry. Other fine jewelry designers who work with a variety of materials and in many styles include John Mathers, Lauren Mullaney, Anne Mulligan, Azra Hussain, and Barbara Raleigh and beaders Lisa Long and Pauline Clifford.

Visitors can see a preview of the artists presenting at the festival and in the Spectrum Gallery Show by visiting spectrumartgallery.org for artwork galleries and bios of each artist. The 2017 Summer Arts Festival the Arts Center major sponsor is Renewal by Andersen.

The non-profit Arts Center Killingworth, founded in 2004, offers art workshops, classes, intensives, and private art instruction for established and beginning artists of all ages. The center also offers art options for children and teens including after school classes at the gallery, summer art and fashion camps, and art birthday parties. For more information, visit artscenterkillingworth.org or call 860-663-5593.

Spectrum Gallery and Store, an expansion of the nonprofit Arts Center Killingworth, showcases regional and local artists, both emerging and established. In addition to painting, sculpture, and photography, the gallery includes a store that offers fine crafts in mediums such as fabric, glass, ceramics, paper, pottery, jewelry, wood, and more. For more information, visit spectrumartgallery.org or call 860-767-0742. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.