Duxbury artist’s painting wins Waterbury Arts Fest poster competition
June 19, 2025 | By Waterbury Roundabout
Courtney O’Brien’s “Midnight on the Tracks” is the winning selection for this year’s Waterbury Arts fest poster.
Waterbury Arts Fest is three weeks away and organizers at Revitalizing Waterbury have unveiled the art for this year’s commemorative event poster.
Titled “Midnight on the Tracks,” the winning painting was submitted by Duxbury artist Courtney O’Brien and selected from a total of 17 submissions to the competition to represent the annual arts event, according to the RW announcement.
This is the third year for the organization to have an art poster created for the event featuring work by a Vermont artist. Arts Fest will be held Friday-Saturday, July 11-12, in downtown Waterbury.
The poster image, painted in acrylics on mixed-media canvas paper, depicts the Waterbury Train Station under a full moon.
In sharing the piece, O’Brien explained her inspiration: “My piece ‘Midnight on the Tracks’ reflects a deep love for our community and the beauty that can be found in stillness. I have grown up in the Duxbury-Waterbury area, and the train station has always been a steady presence – a meeting space for a walk through the park, a coffee date with friends, and a spot to sit and enjoy the incoming train with my young son. I am grateful to be able to honor such a beautiful space and to share our love of the station with our community.”
Ginger Pierce is a member of the panel that judged the contest entries. She noted how the previous two Arts Fest poster images by artists Todd Cummings of Huntington and Natasha Bogar of Bolton both depicted “the tranquil and turbulent beauty of Waterbury Reservoir.”
The 2025 selection is different. “This year, we’re excited to feature Waterbury’s iconic train station that was renovated by RW and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in 2006,” Pierce noted.
RW board member Matt Larson co-chairs the Waterbury Arts Fest Volunteer Committee. He commented on the poster-art choice, saying that “Courtney O’Brien’s piece captures a moment of solitude and our unique place in the universe.”
Posters measuring 12 x 18” will be on sale at Arts Fest for $20.
Arts Fest involves a Friday Night Block Party, 5-9:30 p.m., with live music, dancing, food trucks and local beverages. On Saturday, the Arts Market is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with more than 90 local artists and artisans selling their work, along with food trucks, live music, a creation station for kids, and Salt and Rind’s mocktail/cocktail garden for adults.
The Revitalizing Waterbury booth also will have commemorative posters from previous years and a silent auction.
Arts Fest is the largest annual fundraiser for Revitalizing Waterbury, a nonprofit community and economic development organization.
The artist whose art is chosen for the poster gets a booth at Arts Fest where they will sign posters and share their artworks with the public. A Harwood alum, O’Brien said she is just starting out as a career artist and will have original pieces and prints available at the festival. The original “Midnight on the Tracks” will be on display and for sale at Arts Fest. More of her work is online on her Instagram page @artbycourtneyob.