Farmington Artist Auctions Painting to Benefit Hill-Stead Museum

Fine artist Kate Emery will auction her original oil painting, After the Storm, to benefit Farmington’s Hill-Stead Museum and the Clatter Ridge Farm sheep that graze on the attraction’s historic grounds. The painting will be on exhibit at Hill-Stead’s March 21 event, The Art of Shearing, and bids will be accepted online at KateEmery.com/auctions through midnight on March 31, 2020.

The 12x24-inch painting, Emery’s first completed work of 2020, is a serene fall landscape that depicts the historic barns at Hill-Stead and the flock of Shetland sheep commuters see daily from Route 4 in Farmington. A second-career artist who works full-time from her Farmington-based studio, Emery partners with charitable organizations so that each of her works sold benefits a community cause. “I want my work to make a difference,” says the entrepreneur and founder of The Walker Group, a Farmington-based professional technology services social enterprise, and reSET, a Hartford-based non-profit that seeks to advance the social enterprise sector in the state.

Emery will donate 75 percent of the price realized for the painting, valued at $800, to Hill-Stead Museum, an art-filled house museum and National Historic Landmark known for its Impressionist masterpieces, architecture and annual Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.

Interested bidders may see the painting on the artist’s website (KateEmery.com) or at The Art of Shearing, a fun-filled family day of sheep-to-shawl demonstrations by farmers, shearers and fiber artists. Admission to the March 21 event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is $20 per carload. Relic Brewing and Craftbird will offer food and beer for sale. Hill-Stead Museum is located at 35 Mountain Road in Farmington.