After several months of planning the WSA’s 90th Anniversary Celebration took place during the Wellesley Wonderful Weekend at the end of May. Despite the heavy rain on Saturday which forced the cancellation of a couple of events, all of the events were salvaged. It was a big disappointment that the show at Simons Park was cancelled, but an unexpected opening in the Wakelin Room at the Wellesley Free Library for the summer is the perfect place to share the “Celebrating 90 Years of Art and the Next Generation of Artists” show. The show/sale is also online until September 7. Voting for the People’s Choice Award (online) will continue through the summer.
Everyone loves a parade and the 55th Annual Wellesley Veterans Parade was no different. The WSA was a parade honoree and as such was given a special car complete with signage and candy to throw along the route. Our parade volunteers Kristin Conant (who carried her father’s military uniform in her backpack), Donna Ticchi, Nancy Treves, Yvonne Unger and Nancy Present Van Broekhoven represented the WSA.
The plein air painting took place throughout the weekend with nine WSA members participating as well as three non members. Despite Saturday’s afternoon downpours, everyone found time to paint and capture some iconic scenes in Wellesley Square. The charity auction of the paintings at the Page Waterman Gallery several days later proved to be a lot of fun. Even as many paintings were still wet, the attendees enthusiastically bid with the help of the fabulous auctioneers Dan Lothian (Former CNN White House Correspondent) and Blake Lothian (NASCAR Driver) , and Bob and Deborah Brown (Swellesley Report). An enormous thanks to everyone who made the first “Paint the Town” event a great success.
And finally, the weather really delivered for the town picnic on Sunday evening. Bob and Diane Savage ensured the WSA was well represented for the town picnic on Sunday evening. A debt of gratitude is owed to both Bob and his wife Diane for setting up the WSA table and manning it and chatting with prospective members. The WSA history was on full display along with a few paintings of current members.
