The Darien Times, Thursday, July 18, 2002
Four area landscape artists gathered at the Mather Meadows land in Darien Saturday to capture the property’s scenic woods, fields, and river views on canvas.
The completed paintings will be auctioned off in the fall at a fund-raising event for the Campaign to save Mather Meadows. The Land Trust of Darien and the Trust for Public Land launched a campaign to preserve the 9-acre Meadows in March 2002.
The Campaign to Save Mather Meadows is working to raise $3.8 million by the end of October. So far, the campaign secured just over $1 million thanks to generous grants by the state of Connecticut and the town of Darien.
Today, private fund-raising efforts are in full swing. Many concerned Darien residents have made generous donations to the campaign. If the fund-raising goal is met by Oct. 31, 2002, these 9-acre meadows, located near the intersection of Stephan Mather and Brookside roads and adjacent to Darien’s only National Historic Landmark, the Mather Homestead, will be permanently preserved as open space.
The Mather Meadows landscape lends itself well to plein air painting. The term “plein air” literally translates into “open air”. The impressionist artists of the late 1800s started the movement when they abandoned their studios to paint outdoors. This allowed them to capture the effects of light on different objects during certain times of the day. The Silvermine Guild Arts Center, founded in 1922, is a leading regional cultural center encompassing galleries, a school of art, and a guild of professional artists. Many of Fairfield County’s artists are represented by the guild.
The Silvermine Guild includes more than 300 artist members working in all media, who are selected for membership by a peer jury. The painters who attended Saturday’s painting event are:
· David Allen Dunlop, a landscape oil painter, is a faculty member of the Silvermine School of Art, trustee of the Silvermine Guilds Arts Center and artist member of the Silvermine Guild Arts Center. He has exhibited extensively across the United States and has received numerous awards for his works. He is represented in more than 40 corporate collections.
· Jane Sutherland is a local artist known for painting “a record of a part of America that is fast disappearing.” She works in gouache and pastel. She is an artist member of the Silvermine Guild Arts Center and her works have been exhibited extensively in Fairfield County.
· Nancy McTague-Stock is an impressionist landscape artist. She is on the faculty of the Silvermine School of Art and is an artist member of the Silvermine Guild Arts Center. Her works are represented in many public and private collections and she has received many local awards.
· Diana Wege works in oils and pastels. She has published a book titled “Land America Leaves Wild.”
The primary goal of the Land Trust of Darien is to preserve and protect open space in Darien. Preservation of open space benefits the community by adding to quality-of-life values for the residents of our town, including the preservation on its rural character.
The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving land for people to enjoy as parks and open space. Since 1972, the trust has protected more than 1.4 million acres nationwide, including nearly 100,000 acres in New England. For more information, visit tpl.org