Articulture (Artworks Westfield, Westfield, MA)

Date Of Event: May 4, 2019

Location: The Episcopal Church of Atonement, 36 Court St, Westfield, MA

Cost: Free

Summary: Artists from Westfield and the surrounding area showing off and selling their art.  The Westfield Fair conducts various events throughout the year to bring attention to various artists and their causes throughout western MA

Website: Westfield Artworks

For the past 3 years, the Westfield ArtWorks organization has been showing off some of the work of the talented artists from the area.  The event in May was no different.  The Episcopal Church of Atonement was bustling with the work of a diverse group of artists.  The first art display I noticed caught my attention because of the cause it supports.

Steve Jones, a veteran, uses his experience and his knowledge from his studies as an art therapist to help other veterans express themselves and provide a positive outlet through the Warrior’s Art Room organization.  Sometimes veterans have a hard time expressing how they feel and often don’t have people in their lives who can related to them on such a personal level.  The Warrior’s Art Room works to give them an opportunity to relate to other veterans.  Steve is standing next to his wife in the first photo.  One of the volunteers at his organization is painting in the second photo (from left to right)

You can find out more about Steve and his organization here.

One of the more unique authors I met at the fair was Westfield, MA, author Rhonda Boulette

Rhonda writes children stories that children in Haiti can read.  Her book “Wolfgang Lost His Whistle” as a gift to the children of Haiti who do not have access to books.  The book is bilingual and she donated 50% of the book sales to the children of Haiti.

Jeff Bellefleur displayed his bear chainsaw carvings (he’s the one on the right).

There was also a space in the basement of the church for artists to show off and sell their work.  As I was looking over the art from all of the artists, I found this talented artist who was painting from a photo on her phone.

There was also entertainment at the event.  The Berkshire Mountain Boys provided a bluegrass feel to the event.

This shoot was not too hard to photograph.  I used AV (Aperture value, or aperture priority) except when I was photographing the band because of their movement (I used a setting of 500 or 1/500th of a second for my shutter speed which was enough to avoid any blur).  I also noticed I had my ISO up a bit (around 400 or 500 in some photos).  I have an awful habit of forgetting to reset it back to 100 after I increase it.  So that is some food for thought.  Every time you take a new photo, always check your settings as the lighting and the movement of your subject can warrant a change in all of your settings.  I’ve actually been using manual almost exclusively because it makes me more disciplines about always checking all of my settings.  Oh and the photos tend to look better too!