Our MAAA Members at ArtWalk
- June 17, 2025
Above: Artist Bob King’s oil painting in the window reflects the spire of Keene’s iconic UCC Church at the Head of the Square.
ArtWalk and Art in the Park Bookend the Region’s Summer Art Experience
See the 1.5-minute movie about ArtWalk here.
For seven years I have been a proud exhibitor at Keene ArtWalk. For the last three years, I have been a Board member of Monadnock Area artists Association. This year, as I walked around ArtWalk, I felt inspired to write about the experience and put together a 1.5-minute video.
The beauty! The enthusiasm! The joy!
ArtWalk brings beauty to Downtown Keene every year in June, just as Art in the Park brings beauty to the community every Labor Day weekend. The two programs rely heavily on the generosity of volunteers, sponsors, businesses and artists. And both make for tremendous gifts to our region.
Restaurants and sidewalk cafés no doubt benefit from the foot traffic generated by ArtWalk visitors. Certainly, we artists contribute. Celebrating after ArtWalk’s opening with family and/or friends has been a tradition for me since my first installation. Some years people have come from afar to support my work. Invariably they comment on how beautiful Downtown Keene is.
I remember talking with my ArtWalk neighbor my first year, a seasoned veteran of the show. She said she had never sold a piece of art at ArtWalk directly, but she had always found something good came from the experience. A phone call about a possible purchase or commission, a new contact… something good. If only to break the isolation of creating art that never leaves the studio, programs like ArtWalk feed the spirit of area artists.
The Downtown establishments opening their doors (and windows) to ArtWalk artists are the hidden heroes in a collaboration like this. Clearing their spaces, removing their own wares for 10 days, permitting us to schlep our easels and artworks past their delicate display cases, and for me, past their precariously perched mannequins… I imagine the business owners/managers holding their collective breath hoping all goes well!
The art community in our region includes some wonderful people—my kids’ art teacher at Franklin School thirty years ago, my ArtWalk neighbor who is a certified art therapist, successful business owners whose hobby is art—so many interesting people climb into Downtown windows to exhibit at ArtWalk. It’s like the best kind of potluck supper with compliments and mutual enjoyment.
ArtWalk is a juried show and not all applicants are accepted. But many rookie artists (as I was in 2018) get their big break at ArtWalk. And some of our region’s most acclaimed artists participate as well. This rainbow of people, paintings (and many other art forms) is what makes the event worth the walk.
ArtWalk and Art in the Park bookend summer in the Monadnock Region. In between and year-round, many of us exhibit at the Gallery @ Syd’s. In fact, of the 21 MAAA members in ArtWalk, 13 currently have works in the “Lasting Beauty” exhibit at the Gallery @ Syd’s. More than 90 original works of art by 25+ area artists.
As grateful as I am to my ArtWalk hosts at Synergy who have welcomed me for several years, my hat is off to the owners of Syd’s Carpet and Snooze Room, AKA Syd’s Furniture and Fine Art Gallery. Year-round, they open their doors and windows to Monadnock Area Artists Association member artists to display their work. And the Art in the Park Shop upstairs gives visitors a chance to experience Art in the Park year-round.
Together, volunteers, businesses and artists continue to bring beauty to this very special community.