By ROD LEE

Gazebo Palooza held just off the Grafton Town Common on September 17th gave organizers a chance to show off local food and local artisans. It also provided them with an opportunity to tout the upcoming fifth annual Small Stones Festival of the Arts, which begins October 14th and runs through the 23rd.

“We have so many restaurants, a raffle, a silent auction and a number of vendors,” Ken Crater said, of activity taking place on a warm late-fall afternoon.

For Mr. Crater and other members of the SSFA organizing committee—Jennifer Behymer, Sue Cardosi, Gary Cunningham, Bonnie Frederico, Carol Frieswick, Bob Hassinger, James Hunt, Carolyn Kinloch-Winkler, Christina Larson, Sean Padgett, Nancy Rosenberg, Neil Rosenberg, Catherine Thornton, Bennie Thornton, Kathy Vandenengel and Dana Wilson—Gazebo Palooza is the perfect warmup act for what has become a gigantic production staged in partnership with Apple Tree Arts, the Grafton Public Library, the Grafton Congregational Church, and a host of supporters.

SSFA officially gets underway with the Opening Night and Awards ceremony from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Friday, October 14th in the Great Hall, One Grafton Common, 2nd Floor.

Another staple of the Festival, on Saturday, October 15th at 7:00 p.m. at the Congregational Church of Grafton, 30 Grafton Common, will be a rendition of “Envisioning Abstract Form and Structure”—a lecture and demonstration concert—by the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra (CHSO). Admission is free. Donations are welcomed.

Then Paul Surpaine, founder and director of the CHSO, joins the players in a performance of Mozart’s “Quintet for Clarinet and Strings.” The work is considered “one of Mozart’s most mature chamber music masterpiences—standard classic quartet form Plus One,” Mr. Surpaine says.

The performance will serve as a preview of the Claflin Hill Apple Tree Arts Chamber Series scheduled for November 19th. Three concerts are planned.

A highlight of the Festival, Dana Wilson notes, is a juried exhibition of painting and photography, featuring “the finest work of our region’s best talents.” A panel of six judges, distinguished by long experience either as practicing artists or in a curatorial capacity at some of the leading museums and galleries in the area, select from among the five hundred entries received the one hundred forty-four works to be exhibited.

Jurors for the Fine Art Photography portion of SSFA include Al Weems, Lauren Szumita and David DeMelim. Mr. Weems is a commercial and fine-art photographer with a focus on environmental portraiture. Ms. Szumita is curator at the Fitchburg Art Museum where she oversees a rotating exhibition schedule featuring contemporary artists from New England—and the museum’s permanent collection. Mr. DeMelimis a Rhode Island-based photographer who explores the intersection of art and technology.

Jo Ellen Reinhardt, Susan Termyn and William Pope serve as jurors for the Fine Art Painting exhibition. Ms. Reinhardt’s artwork captures the unique beauty in a portrait, still life and landscape. Ms. Termyn is a representational painter and well-known for her impressions of New England’s landscape, seascapes and people. Mr. Pope is a devoted advocate for the visual arts, music and art education and has worked for many years as executive director, curator and gallery manager at the Zullo Gallery Center for the Arts.

SSFA 2022 is sprinkled with events that are bound to draw enthusiastic audiences. Jim Welu, celebrated for his stewardship of the Worcester Art Museum, will give an Artist and Juror Talk in the Great Hall on Sunday, October 16 at 1:00 p.m., for instance.

Dr. Helen Whall, English professor emerita of the College of the Holy Cross, will present a program entitled “Shakespeare Now and Then” in the Community Room of the Grafton Public Library on Saturday, October 15th at 3:00 p.m.

Michael Rose, gallery manager of the historic Providence Art Club, will talk about “How to Market Your Art” in the Great Hall on Wednesday, October 16th at 6:00 p.m.

“A Writer’s Odyssey” remarks will be delivered by Grafton’s own Nicholas Gage on Friday, October 21st at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the GPL.

Mr. Gage’s most recent work is “Greek Fire,” a dual biography of opera diva Maria Callas and tycoon Aristotle Onassis. “The book distinguishes not only its subjects but the craft of biography as well,” The Washington Post wrote, in a review.

“This was a real coup,” for the Small Stones Festival of the Arts to land Nicholas Gage as a speaker, Mr. Crater said.

Helen Whall too. “She just made a big donation to Holy Cross,” he said.

“I originally brought this idea to Apple Tree Arts,” Mr. Crater said. “They had restored the Great Hall and there wasn’t a lot going on. I thought, why not a multi-genre and multi-artist program? It’s turned into something a lot larger than we had thought possible. Always in our mind was to get the painters and photographers involved and give them a chance to sell their work close to the holidays. It’s been a labor of love for them but a chance to work some magic too. They are so encouraging and grateful. For some, it’s their first opportunity to get published” and recognized.

Taking a break at Gazebo Palooza, Bonnie Frederico said “I was on the first committee. I try to be a jack of all trades, wherever I’m needed. Today I’m working on the silent auction. Small Stones Festival of the Arts has grown and so have the entries.”

Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.