Benefit Art Sale and Reception
Save the Date and Register to join 50 artists as they give away their art to benefit Cedarcrest
2026 Art in the Park: What’s Special
Art in the Park: The Very Best Things Don’t ChangeOne of the best things about Art in the Park at Ashuelot River Park in Keene each Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend is how much doesn’t change. The beautiful riverside setting, the green lawn, the white tents, the artists, the gathering of the community as the season starts to change from summer to September. The excitement in the air each morning as artists set up and hope for positive reactions to their year-long effort to prepare—positive reactions including sales! Watching people leave with their purchases as the day progresses is as gratifying as ever. So much is precisely the same each year. The changes and improvements don’t hurt the vibe of the day but they do help the lean volunteer team keep mounting the event. A streamlined online registration system. An accurate map and artists’ listing. Much-appreciated sponsors to help underwrite costs. These are examples of improvements made in the past three years. The cost to artists has not changed however. The 10×10 tent space is unchanged. But the art! Most artists bring new pieces to showcase their year’s work. The reveal is spectacular. There are new artists each year and there are returning artists who have exhibited for decades—many in the very same spot. Jeanne Maguire Thieme from Swanzey is an example of this. Her watercolors greet visitors entering the park from the Mascoma Bank parking lot side and have for many years. The sunny smile of colored pencil artist Tina Gagnon from Salem, NH, is one of the first things people notice if they enter the park from the footbridge over the Ashuelot River. The West Street entrance is flanked by two longtime exhibitors: another colored pencil artist, Liz Winchester Larson of Marlboro and photographer Jeffrey Newcomer formerly of Spofford, now living in Keene. Link to map of artists’ locationsArt ranges from traditional to unconventional—lots of examples could be mentioned. But an annual trip to Kyle Stuckey’s booth is like visiting a museum in Europe. His classic style is impeccable. Watercolorist Bill Whyte’s whimsical creations delight the eye, while several sculptors also tend toward the whimsical. Some of the photo-digital art presents the urgency of contemporary life and provokes thought. There really is something for everyone to appreciate. Another broad range represented at Art in the Park 2026 is the age range of artists from the most seasoned nearly-90-year-olds to Montessori three-year-olds. Keene Montessori School is also hosting a food tent offering the cheeseburgers and other fare previously supplied by high school kids but missing for four years. Artists and visitors alike will benefit from fresh-cooked food at the event. Frisky Cow is returning with their refreshing Gelato. Art, Community, Gelato and Cheeseburgers. A short but accurate summary of Art in the Park 2026. 10-4 SAT and SUN of Labor Day weekend at Ashuelot River Park, Keene. Photo above: The volunteer team behind the scenes at one of their meetings always held at Panera. Below, Entering Art in the Park from the footbridge, photo by Herb Frink
Art in the Park 2025: Details
Image: Returning exhibitor Jeanne Maguire Thieme will be displaying her works in watermedia including “Summer Vitality” at site 9 at Art in the Park Art in the Park returns for its 67th year, presented by Monadnock Area Artists Association (MAAA). This weekend, more than 80 New England Artists will be pitching their tents and displaying oils, watermedia, photography and more. An art raffle benefits area student scholarships. (Last year MAAA awarded two $2000 scholarships to Keene and Monadnock students going on to study art at Keene State College.) Admission is free; live music will be provided by New England singer and guitarist Randy McGravey, and Frisky Cow gelato offers refreshments. Art in the Park is a family-friendly two-day event, Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend (August 30 and 31), 10am-4pm at beautiful Ashuelot River Park on West Street in Keene. Sponsored by Mascoma Bank, Putnam Foundation, Indian King Framery, Hannah Grimes Marketplace, Savings Bank of Walpole and Hamshaw Lumber. Of the 86 artists expected, 46 are from the Monadnock Region and another 29 from other parts of NH. There are five registrants from Massachusetts, three from Vermont, one each from Maine and New York. And Kyle Stuckey, an area native, returns from his home in North Carolina to exhibit. Twenty-six artists specialize in oil painting; twenty work in “Watermedia,” comprising watercolor, gouache and acrylics. Eleven artists are entered in the category, “Pen and Ink, Printmaking and Colored Pencil,” five are pastel painters, sixteen are entered in the “Mixed Media, Collage and Sculpture” category. In the “Photography and Digital” area, there are eight exhibitors. Member artists pay only $100 for their tent space, a fee the organization keeps low in support of our artists. For many of our participants, they count on sales from Art in the Park to cover their material costs for the entire year. For a number of our artists, this is their biggest show of the year. Sixteen exhibitors at Art in the Park also exhibit at the member Gallery @ Syd’s, which, with its Art in the Park tent set-up upstairs (pictured below), is like a year-round Art in the Park. Note: A special post-Art in the Park event is being held at the Gallery @ Syd’s on Saturday, Sept.6, 3-4PM. Art in the Park review. 2025 Map showing Artists’ Site Numbers Artists’ Site NumbersListed Alphabetically by Artists’ Last Names Bob (Elise) Askey 23Chelsea Bangert 47Barbara Bass 79Brian Bazarnicki, Jr 38Phil Bean 6Kate Beetle 50Susan Beetle 50Nico Belval 2Nicole Belval 2Suzanne Blanchard 53Jon-Claire Boudreau 60Lynne Brown 67David Bulger 40Nancy Christopher 25Olivia Clinton 87Stacy Corban 78Dave Cote 65Terry Cote 66Ryan Curtis 72,73Veronica Dewester 3Kristi Dompier 28Sue Doyle 45Samuel Elliott 58Jude Fitz-Stone 42Keith Fuller 41Frisky Cow 88Tina S. Gagnon 80David Harris 76Debra Grubbs 35Lesley Heathcote 15Jennifer Hebert-Ward 18Kyle Higgins 75Dorinda Jarest 14Jennifer Hinson 52Wendi Hulslander 33Sue Ann Hum 32Amy Hussey 46Mary Iselin 24Jurg Jenzer 54,55Marty Kelley 70KHS Tennis Team 16Charlotte Lacoste 68Brendan Lada 44Luci Lesmerises 20Tracy Levesque 36Holly Long 51Heidi Lorenz 57Jeanne Maguire Thieme 9Sarah Maxwell Crosby 77John Marmonti 62Deb Mathews 27Shirley McLoughlin 71Catherine Meister 48Kevin Messerschmidt 89Susana Miles 49Lisa Nelson 5Jeffrey Newcomer 34Sarah Oak 82Lisa Papastefanou 39Lorna Perkins 63Stephen Previte 22Sara Rae 74Marylise Reilly-Fajal 17RenaLee Richards 83Michael Robie 43Cheryl Sager 19Gail Shelley 21Barry Simmons 29Lugene Spalding 84Kyle Stuckey 4Vera Sulima 61Joan Szkil 56Joleen Thompson 81Victoria Tkaczevski 13Sumiyo Toribe 86Hallie Trafton 59Gill Truslow 8William Turner 7Jennifer Vallauri 31Sterling Vanderhoof 30Marisol von Hardenberg 89Kevin Whitfield 10Liane Whittum 26Bill Whyte 11Jim Williams 64Harriet Winchester 1Liz Winchester-Larson 1Deb Wiseman 12Peter Zimmerman 37
Our MAAA Members at ArtWalk
Being part of Keene ArtWalk along with twenty other members: from Association President Ruth Sterling
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How one husband surprised his wife with a forever gift by MAAA President Ruth Sterling
Comfort & Joy Exhibit Opening
An Art Opening like Nothing You’ve Experienced Before
Art in the Park 2024
Press release by Liz Winchester-Larson
Art is the gift that gives forever
Art as a forever gift, by MAAA president Ruth Sterling
A new logo and new leadership help ensure a beloved event’s legacy
Some of the backstory behind MAAA’s new logo, written by the association’s newly elected president, Ruth Sterling
Q&A about 2023 Art in the Park
Thoughts collected about MAAA’s signature event, Art in the Park, written by the event’s co-chair, Ruth Sterling