Wet Paint Live! coming to Springfield

Close to three dozen artists are going to paint the town Saturday during what organizers hope will become an annual artists’ event.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20151008/NEWS02/151009878

Published October 8, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Wet Paint Live! coming to Springfield By SUSAN SMALLHEER SPRINGFIELD — Close to three dozen artists are going to paint the town Saturday during what organizers hope will become an annual artists’ event. “Wet Paint Live!” is a plein air festival and competition, for professional and beginning artists. Visitors will be able to watch the artists create artworks in 18 downtown locations, the “painting loop,” chosen by the festival, and later watch judging and be able to buy the new Springfield paintings from the 34 different artists. On the painters’ loop will be the Black River, Comtu Falls, many of the historic factory buildings and different views of Springfield. The painting loop will be marked with sidewalk stencils to guide visitors and artists alike. Nancy Lent Lanoue of Springfield was one of about a half dozen people who started meeting some 18 months ago about how to support and promote the art community in Springfield. The group came up with hosting a plein air festival and competition, she said Wednesday. “The central idea was, how can we bring people to Springfield to enjoy the arts, and it’s an attempt for people to come together and talk about it,” she said. “I hope this will be the beginning. There are lots of artists around,” she said. Lanoue said Nina Jamison, curator of The Great Hall, and Bob Flint, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corp., got a group of artists together to brainstorm. “Five of us have been working on it for more than a year. We each volunteered our time, and put together most of it on our own,” Lanoue said. She said artists from as far away as New York City, and all over Vermont, would participate in Wet Paint Live, which will award cash prizes in several categories to the artists. Quite a few of the artists are from the Montpelier area, with close to an equal number from the Bellows Falls-Chester-Ludlow-Springfield area. She said the 34 artists divide equally between professional artists and amateurs. “We’re trying to make it both an artist’s day and a visitor’s day,” Lanoue said. Artists will be painting in 18 different locations in downtown Springfield, and artists are being asked to stay close to those 18 spots. Three professional artists, Robert Carsten and Jamie Townsend, both of Springfield, and Matthew Chinian of New York state, will be holding demonstrations during the day. Carsten is a master pastelist with the Pastel Society of America, will judge the various works produced by the artists, Lanoue said. Carsten said Wet Paint Live would be a fun thing for artists and visitors, who can travel to the different downtown locations and watch artists work. Artists can learn a tremendous amount from each other, he said, as well as striking up new friendships and developing the artists’ comraderie. “Artists can meet other artists, interact and share,” said Carsten, who will be judging the paintings from the 34 artists. He said he expects each artist to paint one painting in the morning session, which starts at 10 a.m., and another in the afternoon. Painting stops at 2:30 p.m. Judging will be held at The Great Hall at 3:30 p.m., and many of the paintings will be available for sale after the judging. “It’s going to be a great celebration. It will foster friendships and it can also foster artists thinking in a new way,” Carsten said. For more information about Wet Paint Live, including the 18 downtown locations, see www.wplvermont.com.