About the David Merrill Memorial Award: our $250 grand prize is a People's Choice honor, chosen by public vote at the Newtown Arts Festival. The Youth and Adult category winners were selected by our panel of judges.
Tap any piece to see it full screen, or sit back and let the slideshow run.
Perfect weather and artists of every age at work on the Fairfield Hills Campus.
Every square went on display at the Newtown Arts Festival the following weekend.
David K. Merrill Sr. (1935–2026) was a Newtown painter whose brushes rarely rested. Over six decades he created more than 3,000 works — New England barns, lighthouses, landscapes, portraits — and murals that still hang in the Southbury Town Hall and Newtown's own Edmond Town Hall. He taught art, earned Best in Show honors and Audience Choice awards at shows across the region, and was listed in Who's Who in American Art.
The Newtown Lions Club was proud to publish David K. Merrill's Lifetime of Painting in 2023, with all proceeds supporting the club's charitable work. David passed away in July 2026 at age 90. The People's Choice award — chosen by the public, just as David's Audience Choice ribbons were — carries his name so that every year the community's favorite artist is honored in his memory.
“I think my work has a feeling of peacefulness… peace and joy, and to spread that.”— David K. Merrill, 2023