The ART DRIVE Donates Over $5,000 and a “Beautiful Blue” to the Lloyd Center

The ART DRIVE, an open artist studio tour through the coastal villages of Dartmouth and Westport, generously donated over $5,000 to the Lloyd Center for the Environment as a result of recent fundraising efforts during their 2016 drive on August 6th and 7th.

For the past nine years, artists from the ART DRIVE have opened their studios to the public for a weekend in August, showcasing their artwork in unusual and dramatic studio settings. Visitors to the ART DRIVE enjoy a scenic drive through fifteen picturesque miles, as they visit the studios of 34 local artists. The drive uniquely emphasizes a consistently high level of professionalism and quality, and some of the area’s premier painters, ceramic artists, photographers, jewelers, woodworkers, metal artists and other artists participate in this annual event.

A unique aspect of the ART DRIVE is its popular fundraising component, in which its artists apply their creativity and style to create large, colorful depictions of popular species of fish. In the weeks leading up to the ART DRIVE, the fish are displayed in public spaces and in front of local shops, businesses and other sites in Dartmouth and Westport. As the ART DRIVE weekend approaches, the fish are posted for auction on eBay, with final bids closing the day after the drive ends. A portion of the proceeds raised from the eBay auctions, as well as a portion of the artists’ sales made during the ART DRIVE weekend, are then donated to the Lloyd Center each year.

This year, the ART DRIVE artists affectionately proclaimed: “The Blues are Back!” as they brought back the ever popular blue fish… the species that was chosen by the artists in the first year the ART DRIVE created the fish. In addition to the ART DRIVE artists’ very generous monetary donation, this year the Lloyd Center also received one of the famous blue fish. Artist Patricia Poineau donated “Before/After”, a two-sided pastel and decoupage blue fish that will be on display in the Lloyd Center’s Visitor Center for years to come.

“We are extremely grateful and honored for the support that the ART DRIVE artists have given to the Lloyd Center over the past nine years,” commented Lloyd Center Executive Director Rachel Stronach, “Their generous donations have played a key part in the Center’s ability to continually offer high-quality research, education and outreach programs to visitors and students of all ages.”

Throughout the past nine years, the ART DRIVE’s artists have donated almost $45,000 to the Lloyd Center.

The Lloyd Center for the Environment is a nonprofit organization that provides educational programs on aquatic environments and supports scenic, public walking trails through 82 acres of estuaries and salt marshes in South Dartmouth, MA.

This year’s ART DRIVE artists: Carol Bliven, Maddy Bragar, Peg Call-Conley, Beverly Carter, Sarah Daughn, Deborah Ehrens, Maureen Fleming, Ray Genereux, Wendy Goldsmith, Vidar Haaland, Sandra Hall, Nancy Hayes, Michael Hubert, Donna Huse, Marty Keating, Caitlyn Kenney, Ellen Langer, Jill Law, Frank McCoy, Barbara McDowell, Colin McKenna, Dora Atwater Millikin, Patricia Poineau, JP Powell, Barbara Purdy, Marjorie Puryear, Kirt Rebello, Anne Carrozza Remick, Stephen Remick, Jim Sears, Martha Sears, Susan Strauss, Joney Swift, and Debra Valeri.

Along with the participating artists, the ART DRIVE is sponsored and supported by many wonderful local businesses!

Sponsors: Anne Whiting Real Estate, Bayside Restaurant, Buzzards Bay Brewing, Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Flora and Folia, Inc., Friends Academy, Howland Evangelista Kohlenberg Burnett LLP., Lee’s Market Wine and Spirits, Little Moss, Sylvia Group, William Raveis.

Supporters: 6½ Bridge Street Gallery, BayCoast Bank, Dartmouth Ace Hardware, Elizabeth Brinkerhoff, Dartmouth Dermatology, Dartmouth Early Learning Center, Deborah Quinn-Munson, Details and Design, DSK Dewing Schmid and Kearns, Folia, Milbury and Company, Norton Gallery, Partners Village Store and Kitchen, Running Brook Winery, Susanna Ries, The Law Offices of Rusitzky and Russell, The Village Merchant, Westport Lobster.

Eateries and Brewery Support: Bayside Restaurant, Beach Plum Café, Black Bass Grille, Buzzards Bay Brewing, Little Moss, Not Your Average Joes, Partners Village Store and Kitchen, Handy Hill Creamery, Salvador’s Ice Cream.

The ART DRIVE is the region’s only juried, open studio event. It is exclusive to Dartmouth and Westport participant artists and artisans who work primarily from their home studios.