Arts & Entertainment

Newest Art Buy Recalls City's Agrarian Past

One of the few remaining families who farm Middletown land is now a permanently visual part of local history with the city's acquisition of photo restoration artist Paul Baldassini's work.

A framed oil painting, "Taking a Break," was purchase by the arts commission for its large Public Art Collection for $600, a discount graciously offered by the artist.

The subject of this large piece is the Hubbard-Wyskiel Farm on Long Hill Road in Middletown. It features Stanley Wyskiel and his brother Walt as they load bales behind their tractor.

Stanley is still a full time farmer in his mid-seventies.

The painting is oil on panel. The artist used all the old master technique of applying a layer of varnish between layers of oil paint and of slowly working up the surface of the painting.

The painting will soon be visible for public viewing at city hall on deKoven Drive, where the art commission's full collection is open weekdays.

Another recent acquisition, a lithograph by Art Blanchard of a rooster, donated to the Public Art Collection by Biff and Jean Shaw, is also on view. The drawing was done in South Yarmouth, Mass., in 1951.

The Blanchard lithograph, a printing process, traditionally uses a stone instead of a metal plate. According to Arts Commissioner Joyce Kirkpatrick, the artist drew the design on the stone when he made it, treated it chemically, and then the stone was inked and the paper was pressed onto the stone to make the print.


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