NEW BERLIN – The 13th annual Made in Paint exhbit at the Sam & Adele Golden Gallery, opens this Saturday, April 18 with a public opening event from 4:30 to 6:30pm. Attendees will get to see work by the Golden Foundation's 2025 artists in residence and get a chance to meet those in attendance. The public opening will feature live music, free food, and drinks.

As a celebratory tradition, Made in Paint includes a specific color or hue that they use on the cover of the year's catalog, and request attendees to come dressed in. This year that color is Alizarin Crimson Hue, a “reddish maroon,” as described by Emma Golden, Executive Director of the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts Inc.

This year's opening will feature the most returning artists that the foundation has seen up to this point, with 16, of the 18, 2025 residents coming in for the event. Each year the foundation chooses only 18 artists out of hundreds of applicants, to live and create art, in New Berlin. During residency they get free access to Golden Artists supplies, studio space, and chances to meet with material and applications specialists. Each artist submit just a few pieces for the exhibit and the gallery director curated the show of over 20 artworks from them on display in the gallery space.

“I'm most excited about all of the artists that are coming back,” said Golden. Who added, “every time someone leaves, we just dream about the next time we're going to see them again, and we never say goodbye. We always say see you later, and we cross our fingers that they'll be coming back for the Made in Paint show.”

The returning artists this year are traveling back to New Berlin from all around the globe, from places like Chile, Puerto Rico, and California.

All of the artists will be wearing special boutonnieres to distinguish themselves to attendees who are encouraged to go up to them and ask about the work, “you'll be able to identify the artists that if you see a work that you want to speak with the artist about, you can tap their shoulders,” said Golden.

While Golden Artist Colors is a paint manufacturer the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts residency is open to all forms of artists, and attendees can expect an exhibit with more than just paintings.

“We describe the residency, as a residency for artists who use paint, not for painters,” said Golden. She added, “because there are a lot ways to use paint.”

This year's exhibit features digital work for the very first time. There's also sculpture, weaving, and textile among other mixed-media art forms.

“It just spans such a breadth of materials and its exciting to not only be able to share with our community what's happening, but with staff here at the factory, you know, the people who are making this stuff all day, and then being able to see where it goes because it doesn't just end in the jar” said Golden.

The Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts has invited the community to celebrate the Made in Paint exhibit opening for over a decade now, becoming a staple event for the region. Since the artists in residence live in New Berlin for a month, creating, learning, and experimenting, the atmosphere and the people influence the artwork made.

Mark Golden, president of the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts and CEO of Golden Artist Colors, opens the Made in Paint catalog with a personal essay each year. In it he wrote, “The artists absorb something from this landscape; the landscape absorbs something from them. While our geography remains rural, the conversations and level of talent here are undeniably global.”

Catalogs will be available at the public opening and throughout the exhibit's display at the gallery. In the catalog you'll be able to read the full essay by Mark Golden and get more information about the artwork on display.

Speaking with Emma Golden, she expressed gratitude for the locals who attend the opening each year and encourages more to come saying, “It s an event that we've been having for 12 years now, so it's a part of our culture here in upstate New York. I think it's become, you know, a tradition, this event. 16 of the 18 artists are coming back for the show, so everybody gets to meet most of the artists who are in the exhibition. And I think more globally, it's about, this really special gem that we have in upstate New York, bringing artists from all over the world to New Berlin and have access to not only their work, but these people from diverse backgrounds and sharing what they do. So it's rare and unique in our community to have a gallery space like the one that we have here at Golden Artist Colors. And in our, you know, really rural area, to have access to professional artists is also a real gem.”

The Made in Paint 13 public opening is truly a community event. It will feature a three piece band as entertainment, sushi, local cheese from Jewetts, wine and beer donated from Ommegang brewery, among other tasty treats. The exhibit will continue to be on display at the gallery until August 28 for those who wish to view it after the opening.

“Experiencing art in person- you won't get a sense of these works looking at them on a screen. It's so important to be physical and standing in front of them and in the moment, you know, art can change the world,” said Golden

If you're able to come to the opening try and dress with an element of Alizarin Crimson Hue, “it has a lot of different names, and people can veer off into whatever they have in their closets. But like a maroonish, crimson, burgundy type color,” said Golden who is planning her ensemble to be on theme along with colleagues.

She previously shared that most of the artwork will be for sale and is excited at the idea that some of theses pieces could potentially end up in homes around the area. The Golden Foundations defies the traditional 50:50 gallery artist split instead applying a 30:70 split; meaning the artist gets 70% and the foundation gets 30% of the purchase. This helps support both the artists and the foundation at the same time.

Everyone is invited to celebrate the Made in Paint 13 exhibition on Saturday, April 18, 2026 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Sam and Adele Golden Gallery, 188 Bell Road, New Berlin, NY.