NOTE (Monday, April 22, 2019): This press release has been updated to include the correct date of the opening reception. 

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AIR Gallery/Art With A Heart is planning its next exhibition to double as a benefit for Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps (NVAC).

“The Art of Living” will be on view at Avance Day Spa May 1 through July 31. Its presentation has been timed to coincide with recognition of National EMS Week, this year scheduled for May 19-25.

A benefit champagne brunch reception is planned for Sunday, May 5, from 11 am until 2 pm. All are invited.

Avance Day Spa will donate 15 percent of all spa products and jewelry sales, and AIR Gallery and its participating artists will donate 15 percent of all sales conducted at the reception to NVAC.

“The Art of Living” will feature paintings “celebrating all the beauty that abounds around us, including figurative, seascape, landscape, floral, and fauna captured in oils, water color, pen and ink, acrylics, and gouache,” according to Rosemary Rau, curator and founder of AIR Gallery. Works will be offered in a variety of sizes and base materials, from canvas and linen to paper and wood.

“It will be a feast for the eyes and the heart, if you will, inviting the audience to slow the pace of everyday life and enjoy the art of living,” she said.

Participating artists are Joannne Conant, Jeanne Eleck, Ron Kopreski, Aline Lapointe, and Michelle Rosenthal. This show also marks the gallery collections debut of Lindsay Hayes of Thomaston and Rita Martin of Burlington, Vt.

For this show, all artwork may be taken in hand on day of purchase. During its three month run, the show will be refreshed with new pieces as exhibit space becomes available.

NVAC Chief Liz Cain shared several items at the top of the corps’s equipment wish list. At the top of that list is The Thumper, a mechanical CPR device capable of delivering continuous chest compressions to a patient in a state of acute cardiac arrest. The automatic compressions delivered by the Thumper are uninterrupted and exact. Made in the United States, its cost is $15,000.

The Rapid Patient Mover is a device invented by a firefighter to move patients safely and quickly. The tool would replace the scoop stretcher that is rigid and cumbersome.

“They are $329 each, and we would need one in each ambulance for a total of four,” according to Ms Cain.

The third item at the top of NVAC’s wish list is Prestan CPR Manikins.

“The AHA has recently changed their requirements and now require feedback for CPR testing,” Ms Cain explained. “These manikins are latex free and AHA compliant, each costing $143.14.

“I think it is important for everyone to know CPR and run regular classes,” she added. “They would greatly help.”

Ms Cain and several members of NVAC plan to be in attendance at the May 5 reception, “providing an opportunity to get acquainted with some of these amazing people,” said Ms Rau. “I’m really surprised that these folks do not get paid.

“It took me a long time to realize that, and I’ve been here in town for 23 years,” she added. “It takes a very special kind of person to do this.”

Avance Day Spa is within The Village at Lexington Gardens, 32 Church Hill Road. Spa and gallery hours are Tuesday and Thursday, 11 am to 8 pm; Wednesday, 10 am to 6 pm; Friday, 9 am to 6 pm; and Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm. For additional information, call 203-270-8911.