The work of about 24 township artists was on display October 5 in the second annual “Not Quite Wine & Cheese Art Opening,” held at the Franklin Township Senior/Community Center.
The inaugural event was held last year in the municipal building lobby, but response to it had organizer Saffie Kallon thinking maybe a bigger space was needed this year.
Kallon, the Township’s Special Projects Manager, said this year’s selections are from more artists, and also represent a wider age range of creator.
“Our age range this year was so much bigger,” she said. “Our youngest artist is 17, our oldest is 77.”
Kallon said she’s happy with whatever rate participation in the art show grows year-to-year.
“Even if it grows incrementally, I’m like, it’s still growing, so I’ll take it as a win,” she said.
All of the artists are township residents, Kallon said. The art was supposed to reflect a certain theme.
“We had one of the artists, they were asking what the theme was, and I’m like, Franklin is the theme, you know what I mean?” she said. “It’s all the creativity that Franklin has and anything your heart desires and then you bring it here.”
The art show is the brainchild of Mayor Phil Kramer. He has said that he got the idea while out knocking on doors during his last campaign.
Kramer said he noticed that many houses had beautiful artwork on the walls, and that he was surprised to learn that many of the pieces were created by the homeowners.
It was then that he brought his idea to Kallon, and the art show is the result.
“So I think that it had happened so many times as he was on that campaign trail that he was like, we have to put this in one place, people have to see it,” she said. “So then he went, Saffie, make this happen.:
Here are some scenes from the event: