Artists’ Day Is In The Works At Flanders Nature Center

 WOODBURY — Flanders Nature Center will host an Artists’ Day on Saturday, May 31, when artists are invited to work outdoors in the inspiring surroundings of the nature center. Participants are welcome all day, with light refreshments, a map of the center and check-in available at the Flanders Sugar House from 9 am to 2 pm.

Artists of all levels, from beginners to professionals, and in all media, such as drawing, painting, photography, fiber, printmaking, and sculpture are invited to participate. The rain date is Sunday, June 1.

 A showing of the work that results from the artists’ day is planned for Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29, from 10 am to 4 pm, in the new, spacious Sugar House at Flanders, a post and beam barn. A reception for the artists and the public is planned for Sunday, June 29, from 2 to 4 pm.

The nature center on Flanders Road includes over 200 acres of woodland, meadows, ponds, vegetable gardens, barns, a barnyard of animals, and the main house that belonged to the parents of nature center founder Natalie Van Vleck. Next to the main house is the studio that Miss Van Vleck built and lived in. Animals such as goats, sheep, a horse, a pig are housed in the barnyard. Artists are also welcome to work on site between Artists’ Day and the artists’ reception

The event follows in the tradition of the founder of the center, Miss Van Vleck, an early Modernist artist whose paintings and drawings were very original and ahead of her time. Miss Van Vleck was also an accomplished gardener and livestock farmer who raised prizewinning sheep and a flock of turkeys. Flanders Nature Center, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, sponsors farm and agriculture classes, art classes, nature classes, an art lecture series, a summer nature camp, after school programs for children, and maple syrup production, among other activities.

Registration ahead of time is encouraged, but not required, by calling Flanders Nature Center at 203-263-3711. Participants may also call the center for additional information on the event.

Flanders Nature Center is on Flanders Road in Woodbury, at the intersection with Church Hill Road, three miles north of Route 6 in Woodbury. On Artists’ Day participants are asked to check-in at the Sugar House which is on Church Hill Road, one-quarter mile from Flanders Road, for information on Artists’ Day and the planned exhibit.