In 1986, four local artists - Peggy Stowers, Pauline Turner, Patricia Binette and Marilyn Dwelley - founded the Waterville Area Art Society. Their mission statement, in part, was to stimulate the awareness of the visual arts in the Waterville area, exchange ideas, encourage beginners, and gear young art students toward the correct path for a primary or secondary career in art or just a lifetime enjoyment of art; a society would group area artists for an environment of creativity for Waterville and its surrounding towns.
The first meeting of the Waterville Area Art Society was held in September 1986 and had 18 charter members. We now have over 50 members from communities all around the Greater Waterville area. We have programs at our meetings, workshops, member exhibits, and monthly Zoom meetings for members to share art together. Our commitment as artists causes us to be an active, inspiring voice in our community as we seek to make our immediate world a more beautiful place in which to live.
One of the priorities of the Waterville Area Art Society is to encourage local students in their art education. On February 4, 1993, the Society voted to give an annual scholarship to a local graduating senior displaying artistic talent toward pursuing further artistic study. The first scholarship awarded in May was for $100 and succeeding scholarships have been raised to $1,000.
WAAS Founders, circa 1990s: at the Waterville Intown Arts Fest, left to right: Peggy Stowers, Pauline Turner, Pat Binette, and Marilyn Dwelley.
Pat Binette and Pauline Turner, at the 30th Anniversary WAAS Members' Show, in 2016.
