About Norfolk Artists & Friends
The Mission of Norfolk Artists & Friends is to bring together a community of Norfolk-area artists to improve and enhance opportunities to market their work, to gain a reputation in the community and beyond, and to allow them to make a sustainable income, through which they can further promote their work.
"Norfolk Artists & Friends evolved from a conversation I had with Patricia Nooy Miller, a resident of Norfolk who expressed the idea of having a salon gathering of artists. Her interest came from her own artist children as well as the presence of a young potter and tenant living in the Miller’s guest cottage.
We started with a list of all the working visual artists and craftsmen I knew who were living in Norfolk, CT, along with three friends who had been important to the art world of Norfolk over time. To my astonishment there were 56 names on the list. It seemed a large number in a town of under 1700 people. The Millers responded with enormous generosity and together we immediately set a date, sent invitations and on Sunday October 19, 2007 on a beautiful fall afternoon, we all gathered together for a great lunch and lots of conversation. 36 artists signed our address book on that day.
This was the beginning of Norfolk Artists & Friends or NA&F. Last year in 2009 we did our first show together, sponsored by the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival – Yale School of Music and made possible by their generous gift and use of the Battell Stoeckel Estate Gallery. We have worked well together as a team to present ourselves again this year, with 35 artists exhibiting, in various media, opening on August 13th through the 15th.
I am truly honored to be a founder and team leader of enormously talented people. Artists are positive creators, adding strength and beauty to our universe. These creative bursts of the spirit offer an endless tribute to our humanity.” – Ruthann Olsson