Palette, Brush Club still going strong

Antho­ny Zepperi
Sep­tem­ber 13, 2019
The Wind­sor Journal 

Windsor’s Palette and Brush Club was­n’t show­ing its near­ly 60 years Tues­day, as its annu­al open house attract­ed a large group of artists for an event that’s designed to show the club is still going strong and attract new members.

Club Pres­i­dent Kath­leen Tra­cy said the club has a long and rich his­to­ry, hav­ing been formed in 1960 by Helen T. Scha­ef­fer. Scha­ef­fer, who lived on Eno Street in town, invit­ed nine oth­er local artists to estab­lish the club. It took off from there.

“With­in a year, they had 47 mem­bers,” Tra­cy said.

She  said the group’s mis­sion always has been to bring art to the people. 

“The orig­i­nal aim of the club was to have a fall and spring exhi­bi­tion along with demon­stra­tions open to the pub­lic,” Tra­cy said. “We con­tin­ue to have demon­stra­tions at our open meet­ings and two exhi­bi­tions in the fall and spring, with each tak­ing place at the Wind­sor Town Hall.”

Wind­sor local Mike Har­grove said he likes the idea of using your imag­i­na­tion to cre­ate a piece of art.

“I like the cre­ativ­i­ty aspect of design­ing some­thing straight from your imag­i­na­tion,” Har­grove said.

He said he also likes see­ing what oth­er painters make every year.

“I enjoy see­ing all dif­fer­ent types of art,” Har­grove said.

Tra­cy said that this year is an impor­tant one for the club.

“We are cel­e­brat­ing our 60th anniver­sary this year,” Tra­cy said.

Tra­cy said that this club sup­ports local stu­dents. “Cur­rent­ly, the club gives a schol­ar­ship to a Wind­sor High School stu­dent who is pur­su­ing the arts,” Tra­cy said.

Tra­cy said that the work is shown through­out the town of Windsor.

“We dis­play our works at 14 dif­fer­ent venues in town, from local banks and busi­ness­es to the library and the Cham­ber of Com­merce,” Tra­cy said.

Tra­cy said that she hopes to get new peo­ple to join the club.

“In an effort to bring new and younger mem­bers into the club, last year we began hav­ing an open house to intro­duce our club to artists in the local area who may not have heard about us,” Tra­cy said.

She also said that the club enrolled six new mem­bers last year and hopes to keep the orga­ni­za­tion growing.

Local painter Lucy Henie­man, 63, who has been a mem­ber since 1979, said that she has always loved mak­ing art.

“I like paint­ing because it is a way for me to relax as well as share ideas with oth­ers,” Henie­man said.

Tra­cy said that show­ing cre­ative pieces is impor­tant for the town.

“Art brings cul­ture to a com­mu­ni­ty and our cur­rent focus is to bring peace, cul­ture and edu­ca­tion to our com­mu­ni­ty through art,” Tra­cy said. “The Wind­sor Palette and Brush club believes in ser­vice to the community.”

Those who would like to join the club may attend a meet­ing or con­tact Tra­cy, 860–778-4888 or kathleentracy@sbcglobal.net.

All artists, regard­less of medi­um, are welcome.