Connecticut’s Historic Gardens
Announces Winner of 2024 Poster Contest
Connecticut’s Historic Gardens is pleased to announce artist Michelle Hawran of Windsor, CT as the winner of the 10th Annual Historic Gardens Day Poster Art Contest.
“Through the Rose Arch,” is a lush, vibrant view of the Butler-McCook House & Garden. This 11x17 acrylic painting is a recreation of what a visitor to the garden would feel while standing under the rose arch, surrounded by the many beautiful plants that Connecticut has to offer. Ms. Harwan states, “the image is a conglomeration of a photo from the Butler-McCook Facebook that I cropped and recomposed, as well as my own addition of what it would look like through the rose arch that is positioned in front of it but not in the photo.”
The CT Historic Gardens Poster Contest gives local and regional artists a chance to showcase their talents while advertising CT Historic Gardens Day, an important, statewide event. The group began the contest to encourage Connecticut artists to visit and capture these historically significant homes with beautiful gardens. They hope that these sites will provide inspiring subjects for their art.
Along with a cash prize, the winning artist receives widespread exposure – at each of the 16 Connecticut’s Historic Gardens throughout the year and at Connecticut’s Historic Gardens Day, an event that attracts garden lovers from throughout the state and beyond. This year’s Historic Gardens Day takes place on Sunday, June 23, 2024; visit cthistoricgardens.org for details on activities offered at each site.
Michelle Hawran is a visual artist born, raised, and based in Windsor, Connecticut. She is known for her vibrant acrylic and oil paintings depicting nostalgic memories of people and places, aiming to capture the joyful feeling of living in the moment. Since graduating with a BFA from the University of Connecticut in 2016, Michelle splits her time between creating dizzyingly colorful paintings of her own family’s past, crafting meaningful commissions for her clients of their own family memories, and teaching all mediums of art to adults at the Windsor Art Center."