Art in August Has Another Successful Summer

When Mary Hart moved to Winchester from Chicago she noticed the lack of art around town. There were plenty of artists, but no place for them to show off their skills.

As she became a little more familiar with the town, she had easily come across 80 to 100 different artists in town.

"When I saw how many artists that lived here I figured we could have a network and come up with some different events to do," said Hart, who is one of the founders of the Art in August event. "I was looking to do something that will part art into the street. There's no gallery in town, so I came up with this idea."

The idea was to use store-fronts to display the art in town. And August is generally a slow time for stores anyway, so 12 years ago Hart started pitching the idea.

"August is traditionally the one month that people go out of town," Hart said. "We started asking shops if they could give us some window space and they agreed. We've been doing it ever since."

Last Thursday Hart displayed her acrylic painting at Mad About Shoe in the month's final Meet the Artist reception. From a couple of stores and a handful of artists, it has now turned into an event that houses three receptions at five different locations for 14 unique artists.

"It's certainly grown in the 11 years that I've been doing this," Hart said. "I really appreciate all the support from the merchants from around town."

Joining Hart last week was Sophia Mone, who taught in the Winchester school system for 30 years, and showed off her 2-D monoprints.

"This is the first time I've done this event," Mone said. "I fell very privileged. It's so exciting to have everybody come here."

As far as Nina Lapchyk is concerned, participating in this month-long event was a privilege.

"I love the atmosphere here," said Lapchyk who had her hand painted silk scarves on display. "It's nice to see so many people here. It's so well attended. The people really appreciate it."

For something that started 12 years ago trying to get artists work in display, it has now become a staple in the Winchester community.

"It just started with an idea," Hart said. "There's no art gallery here, so we just wanted to display our work. We just wanted to have an ongoing art dialogue between the artists and the people in town."