The 9-foot bulletin board in the lobby of the Westport Senior Center is available for 1 month, to any artist or arts group that wants to showcase their work.
October is Ade Van Duyn’s turn.
Ade Van Duyn, with her exhibit at the Senior Center.
A painter, she lived with her husband and 4 children on Hillspoint Road. She shopped at Max’s Art Supplies, Klein’s, the Remarkable Book Shop and Greenberg’s. She enjoyed the Ice Cream Parlor too.
Ade always loved Saugatuck. It felt intimate and friendly — like an old-fashioned village.
Driving up and down Saugatuck Avenue near I-95 Exit 17, she never questioned its lack of a sidewalk, driveways or access to homes.
Recently, while looking for an interesting subject to paint, she was fascinated by the appearance of some of the properties.
But, Ade says, her fascination took on a darker tone.
She painted a concrete wall with a door cemented shut.
A door sealed shut …
A house on a hill with “endless stairs to an invisible entrance.” An empty store disappearing into the hillside.
… and stairs to nowhere.
“My paintings turned into a message: These places are the ugly symbols of a vanishing community,” she says.
And, she asks, “Should we preserve those that are still whole, alive and healthy — those that are still there?”