‘Generations’ Exhibition Captures One Family’s Talents

WILTON — With color-popping bountiful flowers and all manner of woodland and sea creatures inhabiting select walls in Wilton Library, people will now have a chance to meet the wonderful artists of those creations in the exhibition “Generations,” on view until October 30. Former Wilton resident Ed MacEwen, his artist partner on the library’s murals, daughter Bonnie MacEwen Sailer of Newtown, and his granddaughter photographer Jesse Sailer are presenting their more than 70 works in the multi-facted collection.

According to Ed MacEwen, Wilton Library’s art chairman, “As I curate the library’s art exhibitions each month people have asked me when I’m going to exhibit my works again. With my granddaughter Jesse, an up and coming photographer, and the collaborations I’ve created with my daughter Bonnie, now just felt like the right time for all of us to share our work.”

Mr MacEwen has concentrated his efforts on a wide range of artistic endeavors since retiring from GTE Corporation in 1996. He has been the art chairman of the Wilton Library for 16 years. In that volunteer position he has selected and installed more than 150 exhibitions showcasing over 6,000 works of art and photography by artists from the Fairfield County area. This will be his third exhibition at the library, the second with Bonnie and the first with all three generations of his artistic family.

Mr MacEwen has designed six murals for the library, three in collaboration with Bonnie, which can be seen in the Children’s Library. One depicts animals, birds and fish from around the world in fanciful landscapes. Another  is a blue tiger in a Caribbean setting that greets children as they enter their area. The third mural, which was designed by his daughter and painted by both of them, is located in an alcove also in the Children’s Library. The three walls of the alcove are filled with giant flowers.

Mr MacEwen’s three other library murals are supergraphics that illustrate the many categories of the library’s annual book sale. The largest mural, which was completed in 2006, is 13 feet high by 123 feet long and runs the length of the basement, where the book sale takes place. He enlisted his daughter, Wilton artists, and the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs to help him paint it.

Mr MacEwen earned a bachelor of fine arts from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s degree in communication from Fairfield University. He studied watercolor painting with the late Jim Minnicks, who was a retired faculty member of the Silvermine Guild in New Canaan. He has exhibited widely in the region and many of his paintings are in private collections.  He and his wife, Jan, are founding members of The Wilton Singers, now enjoying their 30th season. They both are very active volunteers in the library’s book sale. They now reside in Weston.

Bonnie MacEwen Sailer, an alumna of Wilton High School and student of Ed Mack, graduated from Connecticut College in New London. She earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art and received the Jane Bill Prize for Ceramics.  She obtained her master’s degree in art education from Western Connecticut State University and has been teaching in the New Canaan public schools for 16 years.

She is presently one of five art teachers at Saxe Middle School. Mrs Sailer lives with her husband, Dan, and two daughters, Jesse and Katie, in Newtown.

Jesse Sailer, a sophomore at Newtown High School, began actively taking photographs in middle school. Two years ago she participated in Wilton Library’s “Wilton Up Close” with photographer Daryl Hawk. In 2011 she won first and second prize in the youth division of Wilton Arts Council’s annual photography show “Focus.”

Two years ago, with friend Hannah Fitzgerald, Jesse designed and built an 8-foot fish sculpture out of wood, wire and over 1,000 recycled CDs for the Annual Newtown Middle School Sculpted Scarecrow Contest. It won first prize from a field of nearly 40 sculptures, and the work was subsequently hung in The Children’s Museum of Connecticut in West Hartford for several months.

The majority of the artworks in “Generations” are available for purchase, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the library.

Wilton Library is at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in the heart of Wilton Center. Library hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 am to 8 pm; Friday, 10 am to 6 pm; Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, 1-5 pm. For additional information, visit www.wiltonlibrary.org or call 203-762-3950, extension 213.