Jane Lynn said she had an art teacher once tell her to trash what she was working on and start all over. She persevered.

“And that was the first piece I sold,” said Lynn, 71, coordinator of the Boyle Center Art Group in Auburn for the past four years.

The art group of about 20 meets every Tuesday, in the Boyle Center Community Room, and spends a few hours tapping into their individual creativity, Lynn said.

Through the month of August the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce on South Street in Auburn has the art work on display. There are a variety of mediums including watercolors, pen and ink, acrylic, oil, even a rug made with small pieces of yarn.

The art group has been in existence since 1991, Lynn said. It serves as a get together for artists of all skill levels. Instructors will teach techniques when members are interested, although primarily there is no teacher.

“It's not a class you have go to every week,” she said. “It's something you come to when you're able to.”

Many, like Lynn, have never painted before joining the group, yet by browsing the exhibit at the chamber, it'd be hard to tell.

“One guy has only been painting a year,” she said. “And I've never liked abstract, but the way he does it - I like it. It doesn't just look like a bunch of colors.

“Another girl just did her first pen and ink, and it turned out beautiful,” Lynn continued. “She didn't even use pencil first, she just did it. Even I draw it out in pencil first.”

For those who've never painted before, Lynn said supplies are available until they decide what it is that they are comfortable working with. More than anything however, it's the camaraderie between the members that makes Tuesdays great.

“And to see how much (members) progress through time. They're all so good,” she said. “We critique each others work all the time. There's two retired art teachers who offer insight, but they're very easy going - not 'this is how you're supposed to do it.'”

The group ranges in ages from about 65 to almost 90, and come from all over including North Rose and Groton. Six of the members live at the Boyle Center.

Lynn takes on the responsibility of making sure all the members are aware of what's going on with the group and things like getting everyone involved in activities such as the exhibit at the chamber. The group has exhibited work elsewhere, including the state fair, which are selected from all entries in the senior citizen category for display.

“In the past, we've had six to eight people showing work (at the fair),” Lynn said. “This year we'll have four.”

Ideas come mostly from images in books, magazines or snapshots, like the pen and ink Lynn has on display that she drew from a photograph she had from Myrtle Beach.

“If you're really talented, you can just take it out of your head and put it on paper,” she said. “I haven't got that far yet.”

Among the three pieces Lynn has hung, there's also Roseann Spinelli's “Cougar,” Betty Komarisky's “Spanish Dancer,” Michael G. Savage's “Petites Fleurs” and Cheryl Hunter's “Indian Dancer,” among many other pieces hung throughout the exhibit brightening up the walls.

This is the first time the group has collectively had a show, Lynn said.

“Some have shown their work at 'Both Ends of the Rainbow;' one lady had her own exhibit,” she said.

When she and another member were contemplating an exhibit of their own, Lynn said she began to think there had to be a way to highlight the work done by the whole class and contacted Tom Hussey about an exhibit at the chamber.

“At least maybe it'll give people the idea that they don't have to be a senior citizen and sit and do nothing,” she said.

Staff writer Laura Boyce can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 236 or at laura.boyce@lee.net