“It’s like a little world unto themselves,” artist Diane Grant Czajkowski of Ashley said as several Cider Painters of America gathered at Mainstreet Galleries in Kingston on a recent Saturday to hang artwork for their organization’s 41st annual exhibit.
When she said “little,” she meant it.
Each of the more than 300 pieces of art on display is no larger than 3 x 5 inches. Some are quite a bit smaller. And in these tiny spaces the artists painted everything from a thatched roof cottage to a troll doll with a shock of purple hair to the sun rising over North Carolina.
“We visit there (at the Outer Banks) twice a year,” said artist Jeanie Gordon of Warren, Ohio, who came to Pennsylvania for the exhibit opening. “It’s one of my favorite places.”
While landscapes and seascapes, trees and flowers are perennially favorite subjects for the artists, every once in a while a toy crops up in the mix. Artist Susan Hourigan contributed a trio of imaginative pictures in which Mr. Potato Head makes sure he sees, hears and speaks no evil by removing, in turn, his googly eyes, one of his ears, and his mouth.
Then there are the animals, from woodpecker to wolf to mother moose with two babies following her.
Artist Richard William Haynes from New Jersey, whose several paintings collectively were judged “best in exhibit” included images of zebras, swans and geese among his entries.
Other artists who looked to the wild kingdom for inspiration were Wayne Chunat, whose paintings included a squirrel, a fox and a pheasant, and artist Jean Cook, whose works included an elephant, a black bear and a grizzly.
Some artists focused on animals more likely to be raised by humans, such as the cat wearing a collar and watching a butterfly that just might land on its forehead, or the calf that spent a “Long Day at the Fair” with a boy now resting his head on the animal’s shoulder.
Suzy Mikusevich of Warren, Ohio, who also was on hand for hanging the exhibit, captured the essence of her late pet cat in a portrait. “I called her ‘Miss Monkey’ because she was always climbing,” Mikusevich said.
Whenever you see paintings of horses in a display of local art, chances are at least some of them are by Czajkowski — this year her equine miniatures include one horse rearing, another horse wearing a bridle, and a pair of horses pulling as a team.
“I would have been really disappointed if I forgot my camera,” Czajkowski said of the day she visited a friend’s horses and was able to photograph one of them up on its hind legs. Then she recreated the image of the rearing horse in watercolors.
The Cider Painters of America were founded in 1983 in Dallas, Pa., inspired by the Whiskey Painters of America and the Scotch and Watercolor Society. Because most of the founding members were teetotalers, “cider” seemed like an appropriate beverage to include in the name.
On its website, the organization plays up the apple cider imagery, explaining it is “governed by an Orchard Board” that represents “Apple Artists.” The group also nurtures “Seedling Artists” and keeps its membership “fertilized” with information, some of which comes via a quarterly newsletter called “The Cider Press.”
Submissions to this year’s show came from as far away as South Africa, Australia, England and Belgium. The 41st annual exhibit will remain on display at Mainstreet Galleries, 370 Pierce St., Kingston, through Dec. 27. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
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