Princeton Day features art show, sailboat races

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By Mary Louise Speer | Thursday, August 21, 2008 12:09 AM CDT | () comments

PRINCETON, Iowa — Painter Billie Davids captures vignettes of people in action with her camera and transfers the images into oil paintings.

After being laid off eight years ago as a line worker at Red Jacket/Marley Pump, she tried her hand at different jobs. But nothing quite fit until she snapped photos of can-can dancers at a Wild West

re-enactment in LeClaire and re-created the jaunty, leg-lifting poses in oil paint. A new career was born.

People can view works of art by Davids and other area artists at Bolls Community Center, 428 River Drive, on Saturday during the Princeton Day Celebration.

“It’s all interesting to me the things people do and the way they express themselves,” she said. “I like to paint people who are doing something.”

Davids’ “At the Auction” is an oil painting of two elderly women intent on chowing down lunch during an auction in Bellevue. The inspiration for her work comes from viewing people in everyday life occurrences. Davids might snap 100 photos, put them in the computer and come up with a single image that stands out. Or sometimes her camera reveals dozens of images that beg to be immortalized in paintings.

Davids resides in Princeton in a house that she lived in for a short time during childhood. She was an artist-in-residence at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in September 2007 and a featured visual artist at the 2008 Venus Envy women’s art festival at Bucktown Center for the Arts, Davenport. Her work has appeared in Quad-City Arts exhibits.

She draws inspiration from artists such as Jessie Wilcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Violet Oakley and Mary Cassatt. “They all painted people. I think that I’ll always paint people,” Davids said.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2245 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

Princeton Day kicks off at 7 a.m. Saturday, with a pancake breakfast hosted by the Princeton Lions Club at Princeton Fire Station.

John and Sandy Bridges of Bridges Catering are the grand marshals of the 2008 Princeton Day Parade that steps off at

11 a.m. The art display opens at noon and other activities are arts and crafts booths, a car show, races and boat rides by Mississippi River Tours. All of the children’s activities are free, Mayor Keith Youngers said.

A few new features at this year’s Princeton Day are a sailboat race at 3:30 p.m. and bingo. People can show off their Olympics personas during a costume contest and participate in the Krazy Kanoe race at 6 p.m.

“The big thing is the golf outing on Sunday,” Mayor Keith Youngers said. The tournament, a two-person preferred ball format, takes place at Olathea Golf Course, LeClaire, with food and prizes.

For more information go to princetoniowa.us/schedule.htm.