Area Children Can Join Community Painting Project

Area children ages four and up are invited to artist Caren Frost Olmstead's home studio at 18 South Maple Avenue in Basking Ridge to participate in a community painting project between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 2. The event will will be part of the first ARTsee open studio tour in which participants can visit the private studios of artists from Bernardsville and Basking Ridge.

Acrylic paint will be used by the children to fill out a mural-sized canvas that has been planned out in advance to inspire artists of all level of ability. The canvas is 8 feet by 4.5 feet in size.

At the same time, artists Olmstead and Kristina Lloyd—gallery coordinator at the township's Farmstead Arts, where many of the ARTsee artists have shown work — will display paintings, pastels, painted musical instruments, photography and beaded jewelry in Olmstead's second floor garage studio and gallery.

The planned ARTsee Open Studio Tour would be the first of its kind in Bernardsville and Bernards Township. Twenty-four of the area’s artists are due to open their private studios to the public, including six artists at Farmstead Arts at 450 King George Road.

The group’s stated mission is the fostering of artistic expression, the promotion of visual artists who live and work in the area, and the creation of art-based community events, according to information from Lloyd.

Olmstead holds a Theatre Design degree from Bates College in Maine, as well as a degree in K-12 Art Education, from Appalachian State University in North Carolina. She is a teaching artist for the Arts Council of the Morris Area, and also teaches at The Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminser Her works have appeared on national television and print media, as well as numerous galleries, schools, businesses and homes across the country.

Olmstead is the founding co-chair of the ARTsee Open Studio Tour, and the Cultural Arts Chair for the Parks, Pathways and Recreation Committee of Bernards Township. She is also a member of CWOW (City Without Walls) and The Visual Arts Center of N.J. Her studio is in Basking Ridge, where she lives with her husband and two sons, whom she described as her most spectacular creations.

Kristina Lloyd described herself as loving to paint with vibrant and iridescent colors, photograph bold graphic forms, and use whimsical themes with extraordinary details.

When creating beaded jewelry she uses rare semi-precious gemstones as a palette for her artistically inspired wearable art. Lloyd is a volunteer gallery coordinator at Farmstead Arts, a non-profit center on township property that displays and offers room for the creation of the fine, performing and practical arts. She also is co-chairwoman of Myhelan Artists’ Network, a group of artists that host monthly supportive meetings and participate in group shows.

She has exhibited her artwork in solo and group shows in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. She received a BFA from the Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington, D.C.  She lives in Basking Ridge with her husband, Greg, and their two children, Ryan and Brendan.