Faces Of Newtown Portrait Exhibition

By Susan Coney

As part of Newtown’s numerous Tercentennial celebrations, award-winning members of the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists (CSOPA) were invited to paint some of Newtown’s most prominent citizens, nominated by the C.H. Booth Library’s Board of Trustees.

Out of the 13 distinguished citizens chosen for the honor, three of the citizens — town benefactor Mary Hawley, former first selectman Timothy Treadwell, and the first parks and recreation department director, Lee Davenson — are deceased. Artists worked from photographs and previous paintings to achieve the portrait results.

The ten current Newtown notables who were featured were: Marie Sturdevant; her husband businessman Richard Sturdevant; chairman of the Family Counseling Center Joseph Humeston; former First Selectman Jack Rosenthal; First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal; former State Representative Mae Schmidle; current State Representative Julia Wasserman; Town Historian Daniel Cruson; Library Director Janet Woycik; and William Denlinger, esquire.

Contributing CSOPA artists were Alain Picard, who also served as the project’s artist facilitator, Diane Aeschliman, Janice Baragwanath, James DeCesare, Jeanine Jackson, David Luchak, Judy Perry, William Rorick, and Sandra Wakeen. All are Connecticut-based artists. Artists from New York State were Leslie Bender, Karen Martin, and Joyce Zeller. Artist Joseph Sundall is from New Jersey.

Project coordinator Paula Stephan, along with members of the CSOPA, came up with the idea for the “Pose for Posterity” event over a year ago. Ms Stephan said, “All of the artists volunteered their time, effort, creative talents, and materials to create these wonderful portraits. I’m very thrilled with the number of people who turned out for the celebration.”

Jack Rosenthal said that initially he posed for about an hour for the artist. He was very pleased with artist James DeCesare’s rendering of him and especially liked the outdoor, relaxed setting.

Mae Schmidle said that at first she was hesitant to pose for the portrait, but was also pleased with the results artist Karen Martin achieved.

The public was invited to join in the unveiling of the 13 original portraits on display in the Olga Knoepke Memorial Room in the Cyrenius H. Booth Library on Saturday, September 10. The reception was held from 6 to 8 pm with approximately 150 people attending. Refreshments of wine, cheese, and fruit added to the celebration as people mingled to discuss the paintings. Ballots cast that evening by the public to select “The People’s Choice Award” for the best portrait went to artist Alain Picard of Bethel for his watercolor portrayal of Town Historian Dan Cruson.

The portraits remain on display at the library through Wednesday, September 28.