Southwick arts expo returns this weekend, with historical exhibit on canal

SOUTHWICK — The Southwick Cultural Council will host its 23rd annual Fine Art Exhibition Show and Sale this weekend at Town Hall, 454 College Highway, Southwick. But preparations for the event can start as early as January, said Council Chair Susan Kochanski. The council, she said, tries to make artists aware of the show that month.

The call for artists was posted in the Southwick Cultural Council Facebook group this February. In March, a jury of artists decided whose work will be on display. The jury, composed of participating artists from previous years, made their decision based on ability, skill level, and artistic quality.

“They’re looking at a lot more technical criteria, as well as artistic ability,” Kochanski said.

The event will start at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, with a “Meet the Artists” reception, where artists can speak to potential buyers about their work. Southwick Cultural Council member Ellen Miles said coffee, tea, alcohol and soft drinks will be available. Participants can also snack on hors d’oeuvres, and pastries made by Cultural Council member Barbara Westcott.

The expo and sale will continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28. This year’s show will feature 40 artists from local places like Southwick, Westfield, Granby, Agawam, West Springfield and Holyoke.

Kochanski highlighted Southwick artist Pauline Thomas, who will host a watercolor painting workshop on Sunday. She also mentioned Joan Nelson, of West Springfield, whose egg tempera painting, “End of Season,” is the artwork on this year’s poster.

Art on display will include paintings, drawings, sculptures, fabrics, ceramics, photography and mixed media works. Prices are set by the artists, said Kochanski. In the past, they’ve ranged from $20 notecards to thousand-dollar oil paintings, though she noted the latter is not typical.

“All budgets are welcome,” said Miles.

This year, Freedom Candle Company will host a candle-making demonstration on Saturday. Miles said participants will learn how to melt wax and place scents in their candles, which they can take home afterwards.

“We try to feature something different every year,” said Kochanski. “This year’s feature will be candle making.”

For music, both Sarah Clay and the StarCats, and Steve Piper and Friends, will return for another year, performing between noon and 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Admission is free. The event takes place indoors, so it won’t be affected by the weather, Kochanski said.

“The artists and the council are certainly looking forward to having everybody attend,” she said.

A canal on display

For more than 20 years, the Southwick Historical Society has contributed an exhibit to the show. This year, said the society’s archivist Pat Odiorne, the exhibit will feature Westfield artist Robert Madison’s watercolor paintings of the New Haven and Northampton Canal, as it looked in the 16 Connecticut and Massachusetts towns it crossed.

The paintings were created for Madison’s book, “New Haven and Northampton Canal Greenway,” which discusses the bike and rail trails that now run the length of the canal. It was published by the Agawam-based publisher Silver Street Media in 2016.

“For Southwick, there are four locks shown where the canal boats had to be lowered or raised to get them to the right level to go on to the next spot,” Odiorne said. “Quite an engineering undertaking.”

The groundbreaking for the canal happened at the border of Southwick and Granby, Connecticut in July 1825, she said. The canal, which was inspired by the success of the Erie Canal, was never profitable and caused its investors to lose a lot of money, she said. It closed in the mid-1840s, replaced by the more convenient New Haven and Northampton Railroad.

Interest in the canal has peaked recently, said Odiorne, due to amateur historian Carl Walter donating a computer with his research on it to the Southwick Historical Society. As well, the 200th anniversary of the groundbreaking is next year, and the society will be raising money at the expo for a historical marker on the rail trail near Congamond Lake.

In the past, Odiorne said, the Historical Society has produced exhibits on the Old Cemetery, the agricultural history of Southwick, and the “renaissance man of Southwick,” Amasa Holcomb. They’ve always been positively received, she said.

“If people didn’t like them, they didn’t tell me,” she said. “Most people said they really like them and look forward to seeing what we’re going to do each year.”

The goal of the exhibits, she said, is to be fun and to increase awareness of Southwick’s history.

“We always hope that people will enjoy what they’re learning about, and maybe be inspired to look around themselves for more things to be excited about,” she said.