Canterbury Shaker Village
August 3, 2008

Participating Artists: Sharon A, Eileen B, Barbara B, Barbara C, Belle C, Mary C, Doug D, Joyce D, Marina F, Bob G, Dale G, Margery J, Janet K, Aline L, Hannah P, Jeanne P, Ellen S, Bud S (did I miss anyone?)

I'll keep this short, as there are lots of pictures to fit on the page ...

... It was quite the day and we had artists everywhere in the Village (some I couldn't even find for photos)! With scattered T-storms looming all around, the skies presented spectacular and ever changing patterns of bright white, intense blue, and angry gray - a great day for cloud studies if we weren't focused on producing images of the Village! Our luck held yet again - although there was some nearby thunder after 1PM and a brief (5 minute?) sprinkle, the rains held off until we had our paintings indoors for the wet paint sale ... at which point the skies opened in a downpour to make up for holding off all day, rain so hard we could barely see out the windows to the next building!

Canterbury Shaker Village and the Staff there were amazing - they actually put up a wall at the Farm Stand to hang our framed works (1st 4 photos above), had some easels and tables (with table cloths) ready for our wet paint sale, and surprised us by making the rounds in a golf cart (type vehicle) with cucumber sandwiches, blueberry muffins, grapes, and cold bottled water. They also took care of chekcin in the artists, hanging our framed works and staffing the room for the wet paint sale. There was a wonderful rosewater cake for celebration of Shaker Spirit Day and Mother Anne, and they brewed a large batch of fresh iced tea for us when they ran out of lemonade. Our heartfelt thanks to all of the staff there, especially Maisie who conceived the event and coordinated all the efforts.

Traffic in the Village seemed a bit slow, but trips to the parking lot revealed that the lot was almost full and that there were a lot more visitors than it seemed. Canterbury Shaker Village is so large that there can be a lot of people there without it ever seeming crowded. We had several interested visitors who followed progress of our works throughout the day. Our wet paint sale was well attended and resulted in sales of 5 or 6 paintings (final count and total amount of our donation still pending - I'll add that here as soon as I have the numbers).

All in all, it was a good day for the artists and for CSV and we look forward to similar events in the future.

Anything to add, please let me know!

Sharon