An Artistic Celebration Of

Newtown’s Tercentennial

By Shannon Hicks

An exhibition celebrating Newtown’s tercentennial through flags and representations of the town’s symbol is being coordinated by Mae Schmidle and The Business and Professional Women of Newtown. The exhibition, “The Tercentennial Folk Art Flag Show,” will open on Sunday, June 5, in The Olga Knoepke Memorial Meeting Room of C.H. Booth Library.

A celebratory opening reception for the exhibition will begin at 2 pm on June 5. Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe will be the afternoon’s master of ceremonies, and the event will include a ribbon cutting, a flag ceremony performed by members of Newtown Girl Scout troops, and the introduction of special guests. The public is invited to attend the reception.

 “The Tercentennial Folk Art Flag Show” will present examples of American flags from all periods of the country’s history, as well as appearances in art of roosters, which has become the symbol for the Town of Newtown. It will remain on view until June 30.

“This show will be a look at the various versions of the American flag, beginning with the Betsy Ross flag, and — equally important — it will depict the rooster in various renditions,” Mrs Schmidle, the vice chairman of the town’s Tercentennial Committee, said last week.

When the rooster came to be the official symbol for Newtown is unknown but by 1955, when the town was celebrating its 250th anniversary, Robert Hallock, one of the town’s artists, designed an official town seal for the town and he used the rooster as the centerpiece of the round seal. The town seal was duly adopted, and used, and is still in existence and in regular use on a daily basis in the town clerk’s office, the Board of Selectmen’s office as well as on most Newtown documents and publications.

Mrs Schmidle pointed out that interestingly, on the Chinese calendar, 2005 is the Year of the Rooster.

“It’s ironic that our tercentennial celebration should coordinate that way with the Chinese calendar,” she said. “It’s also very ironic that 1705, the year that Newtown was founded, was also a Year of the Rooster. When you look at both of them being that way, I think it’s pretty interesting.”

In organizing the exhibition, Mae Schmidle has been seeking art that shows the American flag in its different representations. She has also created paintings that offer representational flags. One series of works depict an American flag with only five bars and five stars in its blue field.

“This is my flag to represent that Connecticut was the fifth state to ratify the Constitution,” she said this week.

Prior to 1776, of course, there was no recognized flag for the colonies as a whole. The first official American flag was The Betsy Ross flag — the flag designed in May or late June 1776 by the Philadelphia seamstress at the request of George Washington and fellow Continental Congress members Robert Morris and George Ross (the uncle of Mrs Ross’s late husband John).

The Betsy Ross flag has 13 bars — stripes of alternating red and white — and a field of blue, with 13 stars arranged in a circle. The flag was adopted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, with the stars set into the pattern of a circle “representing a new constellation.”

Each painting in the show will be accompanied by text explaining the date of the flag represented in the art. A painting with a flag that has 15 stars and 15 stripes would have appeared between 1795, when Vermont and Kentucky joined the union, and 1818, when the flag was again changed. The 1818 flag had 20 stars — representing entry by Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi — and returned to 13 stripes (which has remained unchanged since).

Such variations may show up in the art that is being collected for the exhibition. Mrs Schmidle has also located four portraits of Civil War soldiers, and an original pen and ink illustration by Harrie Wood that shows Newtown’s flagpole with a French soldier’s cap atop the pole.

The former town clerk says she may also put one of her own paintings, an oil on canvas called “Emma,” into the show. The folk-style painting depicts a girl in a red dress holding what appears to be a tin rooster in her left hand. The painting was included in the 2005 Tercentennial Calendar.

While most of the flags in the show will appear in paintings, Newtown resident and fellow Tercentennial Committee member Pierre Rochman is putting together a new flag, which was designed by Mrs Schmidle, for the exhibition.

“It’s going to be an interesting exhibition,” BPW member Lorraine Hurley said this week. “I haven’t seen all of the pieces yet, but an art show is always fun.

“This exhibit will also be a teaching opportunity. We’re encouraging students to visit the show,” added Mrs Hurley, who is serving as publicity chairman for the show.

The exhibition might also serve another purpose: It may inspire residents to dig out their own representations of roosters. Featured in the town’s official symbol, the rooster will be celebrated on June 18 when The Newtown Tercentennial Commission hosts a Rooster Rally on Main Street. The Rooster Rally will showcase Newtown’s love of the rooster. The community will have the opportunity to share rooster paraphernalia and artifacts, paintings, drawings, etchings, sculptures — all sorts of renditions of Newtown’s favorite feathered friend.

Individuals and organizations are invited to display, exhibit, or otherwise showcase their favorite rooster articles.

Contact any member of the Tercentennial Committee for details. Deadline to put something into the rally is June 10.