Caroline Nielsen, 66, still remembers the withering reviews teachers gave her artwork as she was growing up in Indiana.
‘‘In art classes as a kid, they told me, ‘Please don’t take art,’” Nielson said.
More than 40 years later, she defied their advice and has gained a measure of vindication in two paintings that went on display Saturday at the Waters House in Germantown. The exhibit, which runs through Sept. 20, includes works from 15 members of the Art League of Germantown depicting historic landscapes and structures throughout Montgomery County.
The league and the Montgomery County Historical Society organized the exhibit to attract people with an interest in art to the Waters House, said Alison Dineen, director of the Waters House History Center. In doing so, she hopes to deepen the public’s appreciation for the beauty and grace to be found at local historic sites.
‘‘I’m excited about having a different group, a different audience here for the exhibits,” Dineen said.
The exhibit gave Nielsen a chance to produce two paintings, one of a barn and the other a rendering of a farmhouse, both on the 182-acre former Crown Farm property in Gaithersburg. She rediscovered painting in 2003 after retiring from the federal government and, undaunted by classroom critics from long ago, took a non-credit class in oils and acrylics at Montgomery College. She has kept painting since then with a special fondness for farm scenes.
Nielsen, who moved to the Washington area in 1960, described old barns as a passion and nostalgic link to the farms she remembers from her childhood in Indiana.
‘‘I’m always looking for old barns. I kind of like barns that are falling apart,” she said.
Bill Mapes of Gaithersburg and Linda Thompson of Bethesda, two other members of the Art League who are exhibiting at the Waters House, said they are also attracted to historic buildings and landscapes around the county.
Thompson, 64, is showing several paintings, one of which reflects her long fascination with a pagoda at the National Park Seminary Historic District in Silver Spring. She said she first noticed the pagoda as she traveled past the area with her family as a teenager.
Like Mapes and Nielsen, Thompson created her paintings specifically for the Waters House exhibit, an effort that included visiting sites and conducting research.
‘‘First of all, getting outside was exciting. Imagining yourself in a different era in the county where you grew up made it exciting,” said Thompson, a retired federal worker. ‘‘And the research, it just made it so rich.”
Mapes, 62, a freelance designer, painted the Waters House, a place he said he has come to love as an example of the kind of architecture that needs to be preserved. Bringing art and history together at the Waters House through mid-September may bring new attention to historic places that might otherwise be swallowed up by development or fall into disrepair, he said.
‘‘I just think the community loses so much by not knowing these treasures are here,” he said.
check it out
The Historical Montgomery County exhibit is open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment at the Waters House, 12535 Milestone Manor Lane, Germantown. The exhibits runs until Sept. 20. A free artists’ reception open to the public is scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Call 301-515-2887
