Painting brings people together
CRANBERRY TWP — Members of the business, nonprofit, faith and public institution communities came together Wednesday night to socialize, fundraise and participate in a unique art project at the Four Pillars Reception and Martinis with Monet art exhibit opening at the Cranberry Township Municipal Center.
With the guidance of artists from the Cranberry Artists Network, hundreds of people attending the event added a brushstroke to a community painting to replicate Monet's famous “Water Lilies.”
“They're having a ball,” said Mary Jane Hadley, of the Cranberry Artists Network.
Hadley said they've done similar projects with schoolchildren — she and her fellow artists at the community painting table are retired teachers. But this was the first time they tried a community painting with adults. It was a rousing success, she said, as adults gleefully added their touch to the painting.
“They're really enjoying it,” said Kathy Bischak, of the Cranberry Artists Network. “I think they're starved for art.”
The Cranberry Artists Network sold raffle tickets and raffled the completed painting off at the end of the night.
“I love it,” said Debbi Manes, a local business assistant manager. “I thought it was a fun thing to do. I could've painted the whole thing.”
The reception was a fundraiser for the Cranberry Township Community Chest. There were 500 tickets presold for the event.
Art from artists across the region will be displayed in the Cranberry Township Municipal Center through Aug. 10. The juror for this year's event is artist and professor Patricia Barefoot, who selected works by artists from a 150-mile radius around Cranberry for the exhibit.
