Wednesday, September 28, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Colin Brant at the Bennington Museum

On view through November 13 in the Regional Artists Gallery of the Bennington Museum are paintings by Colin Brant. “I make paintings that refer to a 19th-century American Romantic view of the landscape combined with the dreamy air of the French Rococo. These spaces are constructed with scenes of people and animals to pose questions about our relationship with the natural world,” states the artist. Speak with Brant at his opening on Saturday, October 15 from 3:00 to 4:30 pm.

Working in oil on canvas, Brant’s approach is one in which reverence and skepticism coexist naturally. “I like to imagine the possibility of a world in which men and women in their underwear read poetry by a reflecting pool, looked on by deer and birds. I also find such utopian visions amusing in their naïve optimism,” states Brant.

Represented in New York by the Adam Baumgold Gallery and in Boston at the Beth Urdang Gallery, his paintings have also been exhibited at the Geoffrey Young gallery, The Westport Arts Center and the Dumbo Arts Center. He is the recipient of two NYFA fellowships, a Pollack-Krasner award, and was artist in residence at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2002. He has taught at Williams College and the School of Art and Design at Alfred where he was also director of the Fosdick Nelson Gallery.

Image: Homecoming, (detail) 2009, oil on canvas, 30” x 50”

OPEN STUDIO: Kathrena Ravenhorst-Adams in Northfield


Kathrena Ravenhorst-Adams Welcomes you to
Foliage Open Studio Weekend 2011

Saturday and Sunday, Oct 1 and 2, 10am-5pm

540 Bear Farm Road, Northfield VT
www.ravenhorst-adams.com

Follow the Yellow Signs: From Rte 12 in Northfield, take Water St and travel west over the railroad tracks to the second right onto Union St. Follow Union St. (Union Brook Road) 4.5 miles onto Hallstrom Rd to the end of the pavement. Take an immediate right up the hill on Bear Farm Road. Go 0.5 mile to the red house on the right. Welcome to Ravens Nest Studio Gallery and Little Bear Farm!

Image: Birches in Autumn, oil

CALL TO ARTISTS: Chandler Gallery "Art of the Chair” in Randolph




Chandler Gallery in Randolph seeks artists to be a part of the upcoming exhibit:
Art of the Chair; Process and Possibility

that will run from January 21 through March 6, 2012.

The subject is the chair; the concept is beyond the limits of sitting. It is about process, utility, history, sentiment - from representational to the obscure. Looking for innovative, multi-media submissions (digital, conceptual, 2-D, 3-D). Deadline for submission of concept: December 31. Submissions to include two digital images of previous work and a short statement of intent. For more submission information, please email: qpearlmay@valley.net. Chandler Gallery phone: 802-431-0204.

PRESS RELEASE: Grace Cothalis at Vintage Jewelers in Burlington


Grace Cothalis will exhibit her work from October 7th – November 28th, 2011 atVintage Jewelers, 125 College Street, Burlington. There will be an Opening Reception on Friday October 7th, 5 – 8 p.m. Store hours are Monday - Friday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The artist will be donating 10% of any sales from this show to The Vermont Disaster Relief Fund (www.vermont211.org).

Artist’s statement

My earliest and happiest art experience is of finger painting in kindergarten. It was pure color and tactile joy, the paint soaking through my apron and clothes! Since then I’ve been to art school, worked as a graphic designer and art director as well as random jobs as a manufacturing technician and sewing in an alterations shop.

Thanks to the encouragement of Sabina Evarts and Jolene Garanzha (fellow artists) I am back in the creative process, enjoying kindergarten happiness. These paintings, monoprints and collages are my most recent pieces; in them I enjoyed exploring vibrant colors – with an occasional dose of whimsy!

I seem to engage in a visual conversation with each piece I create and hopefully you also will find yourself in your own dialogue as you enter each work.

Image: Lady Bird

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Helen Rabin at Blinking Light Gallery in Plainfield


From Oct. 20th through Nov. 13th, the Blinking Light Gallery, 16 Main St. in Plainfield, will present Still Rising, an exhibit of figurative landscapes and still-life paintings in oil by Marshfield artist Helen Rabin. There will be a reception for the artist Friday, Oct. 28 from 4:00-6:30 pm. Regular Gallery hours are 2-6 pm Thurs.; 10am-6pm Fri-Sun.

For most of her adult life, Helen Rabin, of Marshfield, Vermont, has known the delights and self-doubts of painting. Some years ago, writing reflectively about her art, she summed up an abiding wish in an elegantly simple statement. “If I could only learn to put paint down in a beautiful way,” she said, “I wouldn’t want much else.”

Helen, a Russian Studies major, took a single art history class in college. The experience failed to dazzle -- an outcome helped along by a professor who churned through the material in a surpassingly dreary manner. “It was dry…just terribly dry stuff,” she recounted with annoyance. It could have derailed her interest then and there. But in time she realized how vital the subject matter was to a painter’s developing eye and artistic vocabulary. Thereafter, she found great pleasure in immersing herself, on her own, in the study of art history. “Artists do stand on the shoulders of those who came before,” Helen said. She paused and then added with gentle conviction, “Whether they think they do or not.”

Helen Rabin is alternatively known to many in the area for her star turn at bread baking, especially in the heyday of the bygone family business known as Upland Bakers in Marshfield. In a wide region of the state now pleasantly rife with makers of whole grained and artisan breads, the Rabins were the very first local producers of such baked goods. What’s more, they did it in a wood-fired oven of their own design which gave the bread an incomparably toothsome texture and flavor.

Why go on about the oven…and the baking? Perhaps because they are illustrative of Helen’s approach to creative problem solving, i.e., to learn by venturing forth. And also, to teach by showing what an intelligent devotion to a project or a principle can yield.

You can read the full text of this profile of Helen Rabin by Ricka McNaughton on the Blinking Light website.

PRESS RELEASE: "The Art of Horror" Group Show at The S.P.A.C.E. Gallery and The Backspace Gallery in Burlington



Opening Reception:
Friday, October 7, 2011
5-9pm
(6:00-6:30 Ghost stories with the Queen of Halloween, Thea Lewis)

The S.P.A.C.E. and Backspace Galleries are pleased to present a juried group show for Halloween. Guest curators have chosen work that best defines the Art of Horror. The show will represent the beautiful side of decay, the finer points of blood letting, and that special something inside a depraved mind.

Please join us for the opening reception where you will meet the artists, hear ghost stories from the Queen of Halloween, Thea Lewis, and have your future told by a local fortune teller.

PRESS RELEASE: Manhood: Masculinity, Male Identity and Culture at Helen Day Art Center in Stowe

Manhood: Masculinity, Male Identity and Culture opens at Helen Day Art Center Friday, September 23rd. Talk at 6:00 pm and Reception at 6:30 pm.

An exploration of contemporary male identity through the eyes of practicing artists, this exhibit addresses the lifelong process of choosing how to live, behave, define oneself, interact, and to simultaneously reconcile these choices and actions with our self image and with the expectations of our culture through the lens of male gender.

Manhood: Masculinity, Male Identity and Culture, curated by HDAC Director Nathan Suter, examines the gap between cultural expectations of masculinity and the identities chosen by men. Touching on themes of readiness, ability, confusion, frustration, freedom and responsibility, the thirteen artists in the show explore this landscape in the present.

How do we navigate our life paths and what parts of this journey are influenced by gender and gender expectations? What are the messages we receive about how to be masculine, how to behave like a man? How do those messages reach us, and what signals to we send in response?

Artists in the exhibition are: Jesse Burke, Steven Frost, Jason Hanasik, Keith Hoyt, Zinah Loo, Darrel Morris, Polly Motley , Andrew Mowbray, Mark Newport, Oli Rodriguez, Jules Rosskam (screening), Jeremy Arlo Simmons, and Travis LeRoy Southworth.

Images: Mark Newport, Sweaterman 8, 2011 Jason Hanasik, Sharrod on Balcony

Monday, September 26, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Carol E.S. MacDonald at the Supreme Court in Montpelier


Line / Structure / Pattern


September 6 - October 28
The Vermont State Supreme Court
11 State St, Montpelier
Open M-F 8-4:30


Carol MacDonald’s Statement:

In this work I explore the role of process, repetition and the essential elements found in our daily lives and the natural world. I am interested in how repeating patterns, routines, and structures assist us in living a more centered and peaceful life. Providing a way to bring serenity and satisfaction into our lives.

Line has long been an essential element in my work. The drawn line, the line of a piece of nesting material, the spoken line of conversation, the line of yarn. In examining the world of knitting, pattern is created from a single line, at times mistakes are made, the pattern unravels and becomes a tangled mess or can be reformed into a new pattern. These are all metaphors for our life process. As I work with patterns, opening parts of it up, microcosms have emerged. The structures become cellular or skeletal in nature or take on their own sculptural shapes. Beauty in its most essential form.

Images: Transition I, Coming Undone III

PRESS RELEASE: Brian Zeigler at Capitol Grounds, Montpelier

Brian Zeigler, a conceptual doodler, presents a humorous realm of our fragmented civilization. He weaves a narrative, thru his creatures, that provokes insight into the imperfections of humanity, inviting the viewer to romp around within.

Already a published artist, he will be exhibiting a new body of black & white ink works at the Green Bean Visual Art Gallery @ Capitol Grounds in Montpelier from October 2nd to October 30th. Please join us for the opening reception of 'Untitled Composites' during the Montpelier Art Walk on Friday, October 7th.

For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Fans-of-Green-Bean-Visual-Arts-Gallery/176207625774864 or email curator@capitiolgrounds.com


press release: PAUL STONE SOLO EXHIBITION AT GALLERY NORTH STAR, Grafton


Grafton, Vermont - Gallery North Star, 151 Townshend Road, presents a solo show of new oil paintings by nationally acclaimed artist Paul Stone.

The exhibition will run from October 1st through November 6th. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, October 1st from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. For more information call (802) 843- 2465 or visit the gallery's website at www.gnsgrafton.com.

A master of color and light, the work of Paul Stone reflects the artist's fascination with the rural landscape and its structures. Employing a bold palette, Stone renders the ordinary in way that bridges the realistic and the abstract, forcing the viewer to alter his perceptions and re-examine his surroundings. His strong sense of light creates shadows and places ripe for multiple explorations.

Paul Stone's shows are greatly anticipated events, drawing collectors worldwide. This show features over 15 new works demonstrating a consistent, yet varied, approach to his subjects.

Gallery North Star, located in historic Grafton, Vermont, is dedicated to presenting a diverse selection of work by Vermont's and New England's finest artists in a unique setting. The gallery is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.






Saturday, September 24, 2011

REVIEW: Pat Adams and Bhakti Ziek at BigTown Gallery in Rochester

by Janet Van Fleet

I attended the opening reception and artist talks for Geomancer: Paintings and Textiles by Pat Adams and Bhakti Ziek at BigTown Gallery in Rochester on Saturday, August 27, 2011. The next day Hell broke loose, (see here and here), cutting off the village of Rochester and leaving residents without power for many days. Traffic into the village is now restored (though I would call the gallery at 802-767-9670 to inquire about the best route and to confirm their opening times). NOTE: due to the unfortunate downtime caused by Irene, the exhibit has been extended through November 20.

BigTown’s exhibits are always of the highest quality. Pat Adams is a painter of serious power (and reputation) and Bhakti Ziek’s weavings are equally impressive. As always seems to be the case in the exhibits Anni Mackay assembles, the work of each artist is having interesting conversations with those of the other, facilitated by an arrangement that mixes the work together, rather than segregating each artist’s work.

Adams’ paintings range from the very large (Therefore, 34 x 153") to the small and jewel-like (Arc, Diagonal, Circle, Square, 6.5 x 9"). Therefore is a composition employing circles that appear to be caught in various stages of rotating down the long, horizontal canvas. In her artist talk, Adams revealed that she had used a large metal hoop to make the outlines of the circles that create the painting’s forms. Among Adams’ smaller pieces that especially delighted me, Of, From, Toward I (2002, 8.25 x 30.5") features hot, red enameled circular plane figures of various sizes, seated in a complex surface textured with sand.

These circular forms, natural materials and earth references are conjured in Bhakti Ziek’s work through the use of other kinds of celestial imagery, with several pieces using a cloud motif. Ziek says she manipulates photographs she takes to create the images woven into her pieces, though in most of her work the origin of her imagery is not at all obvious.

Ziek also uses letterforms, saying in an artist statement, “It seems quite powerful, even poetic, to embed text in a medium almost as old as language itself.” In Down Pour, letters are sifting down above a central band where the threads become slack, emerging transformed and elongated at the bottom.

The back room of the gallery is a more intimate space, with big, fabulous pieces by both artists. Ziek’s Emperor and Empress are executed in black and white, while Adams’ Over Over (hung over the gallerist's desk) presents a vivid, otherworldly landscape.

There’s still time to see this show, and the gallery’s website says “We would greatly appreciate it if you would please come and support us as we greatly need it.” That seems like a call to action, and the action is making your way to Rochester and appreciating this fine show.

Images:
Down Pour
by Bhakti Ziek; 33.75”h x 29”w, 2011 silk, bamboo, tencel, linen, rayon boucle, natural dye extracts painted warp, damask and weft-backed jacquard
Genesis
by Bhakti Ziek; 24.5”h x 29.5”w, 2011 silk, cotton, tencel, bamboo, metallic gimp, indigo dyed warp, plain and satin weft-backed jacquard

CURATOR’S STATEMENT: Dialogue at Brattleboro Museum

Jackie Abrams & Josh Bernbaum: Dialogue
July 15 - October 23, 2011

by Mara Williams, Curator

Continued growth is a necessary component in art making, as it is in most endeavors in life. Stretching yourself in order to explore a new idea, in a medium over which you already have mastery, involves risk taking, most often alone in the studio.

Basket maker and weaver Jackie Abrams and glass maker Josh Bernbaum chose collaboration as a way of exploring, expanding, and eventually fusing their artistic practices. This exhibit traces the trajectory of their artistic partnership.

Their first explorations are best characterized as “call and response.” Jackie gave a woven vessel to Josh and he translated it into glass. Before long, their reinterpretations gave way to intensive conversations and experimentations.

The resulting pieces are dynamic fusions of fiber and glass—molten shapes girded in copper; translucent and opaque glass rods laced with cording; glass pods encased in a tracery of fabric. Each piece seamlessly blends technical ingenuity with aesthetic considerations. Color, pattern, texture, and proportion along with the qualities of light (reflectivity, opacity, translucence) that animate glass are all harnessed to striking effect.

What began as a dialogue between two artists is now a conversation between art and viewer. I trust you will find the exchange stimulating!

Image: Jackie Abrams and Josh Bernbaum, A Primary Discourse: hot glass/hot paper, painted cotton paper, waxed linen, glass (2011)

PRESS RELEASE: Benefit Sale for Artist Emma Levitt at Photostop Gallery in October, 2011


During October PHOTOSTOP will be selling many of the surviving photographs and prints of artist Emma Jane Levitt whose home and artwork were recently damaged in a fire in Seattle, Washington. The proceeds of the sale will go directly to the artist to help her replace her lost photographic and art equipment and supplies. An opening reception will be October 7th from 5-8 pm, a White River Junction First Friday. The public is invited to attend.

Emma Levitt is the recipient of numerous awards in printmaking and photography including the Seattle Print Arts Scholarship, Wellesley College Book Award and 4Culture Individual Artist Project Award. Her work has been exhibited at The Center for Wooden Boats, Dartmouth College, and in galleries both nationally and internationally. Ms. Levitt earned a BFA at Washington University in St. Louis and M.Ed. at the University of Washington with a focus in education, environment and community.

Levitt's prints are photographs taken with an antique Czech camera, aquatints, woodcuts, and collographs, some with etching, relief and collage components. Her work can be seen at: http://emmajanelevitt.com.

PHOTOSTOP Gallery is located in Suite 150 of the Tip Top Media Arts Building, 85 North Main Street, White River Jct., VT 05001. The gallery is typically open Wednesday through Saturday from noon-5 or by appointment. On First Fridays and opening nights, the gallery is open until 8 pm. Hours for this special exhibition will be variable. Check the PHOTOSTOP website for detailed information or call 802.698.0320.

Image: Print from the Rock/Salt +Wonder series by Emma Jane Levitt

PRESS RELEASE: Family Ties at Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville


Family Ties
Now through October 30, 2011

Bryan Memorial Gallery presents Family Ties, an invitational exhibition of paintings and sculpture by nationally acclaimed artists, each of whom is related to at least one other person in the exhibition, by blood or through marriage.

Featuring 80 works by artists who are living or working in Vermont, the exhibition features work by Robert, Jeanette and Bruce Blair of New York State and Vermont, (father, mother and son,) John Brickels and Wendy James of Essex (husband and wife,) the late Alden and Mary Bryan of Jeffersonville, (husband and wife,) Chris Curtis and Tari Swenson of Stowe, (husband and wife), Donald and Christine Mosher of Rockport, MA (husband and wife), Charles Movalli, Dale Ratcliff and the late Charlotte Movalli of Gloucester, MA (husband, wife and mother,) Tom Nicholas, N.A. and T. M. Nicholas of Rockport, MA (father and son,) Don Stone, N.A. and Caleb Stone of Ipswich, MA, (father and son,) and Karen Winslow and Jack Winslow of Cambridge, VT (husband and wife.) All the artists are nationally recognized for their work. The exhibition was curated by Bryan Memorial Gallery's executive director, Mickey Myers, and all the work in the exhibition is for sale.

The exhibition continues through October 30. Through October 10, Bryan Memorial Gallery will be open daily, 11 - 5. After October 10, the gallery will be open Thursday - Sunday, 11 - 4 and by appointment at any time. Bryan Memorial Gallery is at 180 Main Street, Jeffersonville, Vermont. 802-644-5100.

Image: John Brickels, Kafka’s Projector, clay and mixed media sculpture

PRESS RELEASE: New Two-year Exhibit in the Sculpture Garden at the Vermont Arts Council in Montpelier



The Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services invite the public to join them in opening a new exhibit of outdoor sculpture in the Council's Sculpture Garden, on Friday, October 7, from 4-7 pm. The reception will be held in conjunction with Montpelier’s Art Walk, and will include an exhibition of paintings by Candy Barr in the Council’s Spotlight Gallery, music by Mayfly and a special presentation of the first-ever Arthur Williams Award for Meritorious Service in the Arts, which will be presented to Steve Ames of River Arts in Morrisville.

The Sculpture Garden is a rotating exhibit of contemporary work by Vermont artists. The 2011-2013 exhibition was curated by Lindsey Carlson of the Vermont Arts Council and includes sculpture by Thea Alvin, Ria Blaas, Rob Hitzig, Steve Procter, Brian-Jon Swift and James Irving Westermann. The six pieces feature work in stone, steel, wood and ceramics. The works range in style from figurative to abstract with conceptual themes that are both whimsical and thought-provoking. To see photos and artist statements please visit www.vermontartscouncil.org.

The Sculpture Garden was designed in 2002 by Burlington landscape architects H. Keith Wagner and Associates. Special thanks to State Buildings Curator David Schütz and his assistant Tracy Martin for their ongoing dedication to bringing art into Montpelier’s downtown Capitol complex. The Sculpture Garden is open to the public year-round, 7 days a week. The Spotlight Gallery is open Monday – Friday, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM. The Vermont Arts Council and the Spotlight Gallery are accessible.

PRESS RELEASE: Art in the Round Barn in Waitsfield


Art in the Round Barn
September 18 thru October 15, 2011

In celebration of it's 21st year, Art in the Round Barn is pleased to introduce Vermont native and Boston based art dealer, Stephanie Walker, owner of Walker Contemporary, as curator of this year's exhibition, Wild Things; Contemporary Art Inspired by Nature. The Round Barn is at 1661 East Warren Road inWaitsfield.

Wild Things will be open to the public daily September 18 thru October 15 from 9:30am until 5pm, but closed at 2:30pm for private parties or showings on the following dates: Sept 24, Oct 1, Oct 9 & Oct 15.

Artists in this year’s exhibit are Bonnie Acker, Julie Baker Albright, Candy Barr, Jean Cannon, Robert Carsten, Mierelle Clapp, Jodi Colella , Mary O’Malley, , Jennifer Houle, Linda Jones,
Mike Nedich, Meg Payson, Whitney River, Casey Roberts, Marilyn Ruseckas, Mark Eliot Shwabe, Helen Shulman, Peter Wiliams, and Andy Woodward.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Vermont Watercolor Society at Chandler Gallery in Randolph


The Vermont Watercolor Society (VWS) is pleased to announce its 2011 fall juried exhibit at Chandler Gallery in Randolph, Vermont. The show, WET: Washes, Energy and Technique, will run from September 30 to November 12.

An opening reception will take place on Sunday, October 2 from 3 - 5 pm. The public is invited. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

The VWS will offer a powerpoint presentation and painting demonstration on Saturday, October 29 from 10 a.m. til noon, with the opportunity for participants to do some hands-on experimentation.

This exhibit is the second 2011 juried show for the watercolor society, and the first VWS show to be held at Chandler. Ninety-seven works were submitted for the jury process and forty-nine paintings were accepted by a group of judges from the Chandler Gallery committee. Membership in the VWS is spread throughout the state, and the society looks forward to this exhibit in central Vermont, allowing its nearly three hundred members an opportunity to meet, to view the work of fellow painters and share their works with the extended community.

The Vermont Watercolor Society is a non-profit organization started in 1995 to promote the awareness and appreciation of the art of watercolor painting to its membership of all levels of ability. It offers community opportunities and venues for participation, education, fellowship, and exhibitions. The society has grown from nine dedicated members to nearly three hundred strong in fifteen years. All watercolorists, from novice to professional, are invited to join at any time as associate members. Signature member status can be earned by being accepted into three juried shows within a five year period. The society offers workshops, paint-outs, "hub" activities and two membership meetings per year. For more information visit http://vermontwatercolorsociety.com.

Chandler Gallery is located at 73 Main Street in Randolph and is open on Thursday from 4 to 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 3 pm, and by appointment by calling 802-431-0204. www.chandler-arts.org

Image: Jillette Bea, Hibiscus Patterns

PRESS RELEASE: James Vogler at UVM Living/Learning Gallery in Burlington


September 12 - October 7
UVM Living/Learning Gallery
James Vogler:
Real Estate Listings

Artist Talk and Reception on Monday, September 12, 5:30 PM

The exhibit contains a selection James Vogler’s work from the past year. The titles of the works are derived from real estate ads. The artist says, “I would normally use untitled and being a bit frustrated with that, I chose these random statements used in real estate ads to title the works, but hopefully not giving the viewer any reason to feel a suggestion of imagery in the pieces. There is a loose reference to nature in the works...I'm often influenced by nature and landscape, but the pieces are not derived directly from these images , just the memory of the images.”

Overlapping color and suggestions of line and light are used in these paintings to create space between forms. The forms range from geometric to nearly amorphous, their function always being repositories of color. Color interacts with itself, creating light and depth. Through the intentional act of painting, heavily provoked by coincidence, the chromatic forms battle for dominance on the surface.

Through this dynamic but sensitive interplay between transparent and opacity and through the suggestion of emerging and receding forms, the foreground and background become interchangeable. Time becomes marked and space becomes limitless.

Exhibit Hours: Monday-riday 12:30 pm - 8:30 pm, Saturdays 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm.

Image: Come On Home, oil/wax on canvas, 36x24"

Monday, September 19, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Uncommon Threads at SPA in Barre


Through September 24: Fresh, modern, contemporary—not words that one typically associates with traditional needlework arts. However, in the 21st century, fiber artists are producing imaginative new and fantastic works that puncture those musty old conventions about needlework. Uncommon Threads, the current show at Studio Place Arts (SPA) running through September 24 celebrates the skill, imagination, whimsy and vibrancy of these artists and their work. Featuring 42 pieces from 18 mainly local artists, Uncommon Threads presents a wide array of surprising knitted, crocheted, sewn, and woven compositions.

To the right of the gallery, a vintage wooden table set invites visitors to discover its plentiful bounty. Artist Theresa Sinclair’s crocheted Bacon & Eggs seem freshly cooked in a cast iron frying pan placed on the table, along with a large basket of colorful knitted vegetables called CSA Share Veggies. Hanging on the wall by this table is Burlington artist Jude Bond’s Hunger is the Best Sauce, a curious mixed media piece consisting of an aged potato masher with wide ribbons of pink and taupe crocheted threads woven through and trailing from the metal tool. Two three-dimensional knitted constructions by Emily Stoneking; Knitting in Biology 101, and Knitted Lab Rat illustrate a softer, warmer approach to the often cold and sterile scientific procedure of dissection.

Middlesex artist Pria Cambio’s glorious mixed fiber Sunset over Lake Champlain is displayed on a wall next to Indiana artist Rob Millard-Mendez’s pink feathered construction, Soft Gun. A giant crocheted teacup (Tea Time) and peach colored furry ice cream bar (Ice Cream Bar) by Montpelier’s Mary Jo Krolewski evoke a whimsical, Alice in Wonderland ambiance. Two doily pieces, Jude Bond’s Home is Where the Doilies Are, and Wylie Sofia Garcia’s sequined Untitled Tata No. 1, demonstrate fresh and unusual techniques while still embracing this traditional form.

A glass case at the front of the gallery contains cotton crocheted and several metal jewelry treasures from Winooski’s Eliza Joy Collins, among them: Crocheted Copper Bangle, Fern Collar and Knit Brass Cuff. Gabrielle Dietzel’s crocheted, copper Christening Gown and tiny T-Shirt made of button thread grace the front walls of the studio, as Montpelier’s Agathe McQueston’s magnificent wire dress Party! adorns the front window.

This is not your great aunt’s hope chest. Come visit Uncommon Threads at SPA and experience the exciting new world of fiber.

SPA Hours: Tues-Fri 10AM-5PM; Sat: Noon-4PM

Images:
Rob Millard-Mendez,
Soft Gun, mixed media, 2010; and Emily Stoneking: Knitting in Biology 101, 3D knitting, 2011 and Knitted Lab Rat, 3D knitting, 2011
Anita Gangi Balkun,
Spontaneous Embroidery 3, mixed media, 2010
Wylie Sofia Garcia,
Untitled Tata, No. 1, lace, linen, sequins, thread, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Vanessa Compton Open Studio in Greensboro

Artist Vanessa Compton will be participating in the first Vermont Foliage Open Studio Tour on the weekend of October 1st & 2nd.

Krinshaw Studios will be open to the public both days from 10 AM to 5 PM and is located on 102 Cook Hill Road in Greensboro VT. Works on display will include mixed-media collages, giclee prints, ceramic sculpture, ornaments, earrings and handmade greeting cards. Located in Vermont’s remote Northeast Kingdom and overlooking beautiful Caspian Lake, this is the perfect opportunity to view one-of-a-kind works in a unique setting.

Open Studio Weekend is an award-winning event, having been named among the Top 10 by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. For more information, please visit ww.KrinshawStudios.com

Image: The Rain Door mixed-media collage

PRESS RELEASE: Candy Barr at the Spotlight Gallery, Vermont Arts Council in Montpelier

Candy Barr's work will be on display in the Spotlight Gallery at the Vermont Arts Council through the end of October 2011.

Well known for her plein air paintings, figures and murals. Candy Barr's paintings are captured alla prima, fresh in color, and reflect an immediate response to the subjects being painted. Inevitable changes of light force her to paint spontaneously with animated brushwork. Intense observation for accurate draftsmanship and prolific production deepens and insures her sense of place.

Barr has taught drawing and painting privately since 1975, living in Vermont since 1978, and has been faculty with Goddard College, Burlington College, Community College of Vermont, Woodstock, Bethel, Hamden Hall, CT., and Hillsboro, WV. She is a well respected juried artist with the Vermont Arts Council, doing residencies throughout the state for over 16 years coordinating murals, mosaics, banners, plaster sculptures and individual projects.

She has received several awards and grants, including Best Artist in Vermont from readers polls of Vanguard Press, Vermont Studio Center and from the Vermont Arts Council. Her expressive oil paintings have been exhibited nationally and collected internationally over forty years in many private collections.

Candy Barr graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a MAT and BFA in painting with European Honors, and from Norwich University with a MFA. She is a juried member of DailyPainters.com and her daily work can be seen at CandyBarrArtist.blogspot.com. Her gallery affiliations are the Vermont Fine Art in Stowe, Parade Gallery in Warren, the Artisans Gallery in Waitsfield, Vermont and Casa des Artistas in Scottsdale, Arizona.

PRESS RELEASE: Autumnal Tumble at the Cricketers Gallery in Grafton


After one of the most intense months on record in Southern Vermont, the Grafton Valley Arts Guild has resumed business as usual in historic Grafton Village at the Cricketers Gallery (45 Townshend Road) which is open Wednesday thru Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM.

The Grafton arts collective is pleased to announce the opening of their new show Autumnal Tumble, Columbus Day weekend featuring accomplished guild artists: Rick Hearn (Vermont farm paintings) Asok Patnaik (vivid photography) and Bryce LeVan Cushing (mixed media sculpture). The show opens Sunday October 9, at 2 PM with a gala event and runs through November 15.

Rick Hearn a prominent Vermont painter based in Chester, Vermont, has a vast catalogue of works in various styles which the guild will be featuring in upcoming months. This show focuses on his classic Vermont farm paintings, each depicting a local working farm and celebrating the essence of what it is to live in this beautiful area.

Visitors to the gallery this foliage season will be given an exciting experience viewing the vivid works of photographer Asok Patnaik. (aka Ash), is a world traveler with an exceptional eye for capturing sunsets, spectacular ocean views and urban settings. Autumnal Tumble will take you on a journey through eyes of this worldly adventurer!

Finally the guild will be featuring new dynamic collaborative sculptures of founding members Bryce LeVan Cushing and Guild President Adam Howard. Mixed media sculpture has been a dream for Cushing and Howard of Grafton Forge adds a unique dimension to what has already been an international success story. The sculptors executed their first pair of pieces this summer which are signature LeVan Cushing bird bodies with long hand-forged legs. A must see!

Despite the challenges born of the recent deluge, Grafton is open for business and this foliage season promises to be one of the most brilliant ever. Autumnal Tumble is just one of the many wonderful offerings in Grafton Village and the support of the community of artists and craftspersons as well as the greater village is sincerely appreciated. We hope to see you all in Grafton!

For More Information Contact: Bryce LeVan Cushing at 802 843 1162 or email brycelevancushing@gmail.com

Images:
Rick Hearn, Bishops Farm
Bryce LeVan Cushing and Adam Howard, Collaboration
Asok Patnaik, photograph

PRESS RELEASE: Event inside Art Installation at Plainfield Community Center


What: DreamTimeOpera/ prelude to a revolution
Text/Music/Dance by Theatre of Evidence:
with Brian Tokar, Tara Gita, Alexis Smith, Phyllis Sawyer & George Peskunck Larrabee
on the current Global Climate Justice/Social Justice Crisis
& on uncovering the conditions necessary for self-transformation
inside the Art Installation: The Great Turning from the Homocentric to the Cosmocentric WorldView by Jerome Lipani
additional texts and music by Nagarjuna, Tyagaraja, Kabir, Rumi, Tagore, Julian Beck, Bill McKibben and Others
When: Friday, September 23, Autumn Equinox @ 7PM
Where: The Plainfield Community Center
above the Co-op
Main Street, Plainfield VT
Join us in a Gathering of the Forces!***
***ARTISTS, please consider submitting Work (any medium) for GroupShow on Climate Justice/Social Justice Issues
for the month of October at the Plainfield Community Center!
RSVP/CONTACT: Jerome Lipani: 802 223 6805 or jerome@vtlink.net.
Image: xtended snowlingham & tara-jerome maison

Sunday, September 18, 2011

REVIEW: Bunny Harvey at the Korongo Gallery in Randolph

Magical Pond, Forest and Sky Immersion:
Bunny Harvey at the Korongo Gallery

by Dian Parker


Living in Vermont one is continually immersed in the riotous quantity and quality of color, sound and movement of the natural world. The other day a giant snapping turtle lumbered across my long driveway, bringing my car to a halt, as it made its way down to the beaver pond to join the darting dragonflies. To capture nature’s spontaneous magic on canvas is rare and Bunny Harvey manages to do just that.

Harvey’s paintings lift and curl, dart and fly in a cacophony of color and swirl. She is able to express not only the flights of nature but also its stillness. A wild sky, a crazy dragonfly spin, the pond’s heavy surface, the heat of blown reeds on a hot sand dune, a stately stand of white birch - all find their way onto Harvey’s canvases in a flurry of color, light and shadow. Her canvases are not labored but filled with energy and the crazy patterned dance of the wild; the brush strokes swift and playful, sometimes dizzying.

In Flit and Dart I and II (above), two oils on panel, 12" x 12", the turquoise of pond water is a delicious backdrop for the darting flights of dragonflies in brown curls, lifting and swirling like musical notes.

Three other 12" x 12" oils, Boatman Light, Luminous Darkness and Freshwater Paths, summon the viewer to enter the world of the small and play in its movement. Harvey’s colors are evocative combinations; teal and brown, yellow and black, green and blue. These colors bounce and dart, just like the dragonflies she paints, never resting.

Frank Gave Me a Blue Mountain, oil on canvas, 42" x 42", is a large painting in deep blues and green. A center swatch is carved out where a gleaming mountain shines in the distance. The rest of the horizon is forested and one can imagine how thrilling it must have been when Harvey’s husband cut down the distant trees so she could have a view of the mountain, drenched in luminous blue light.

There are also charcoal and pastel paintings such as Listening ,The Sky, 22" x 30", in which Harvey uses an eraser on these two mediums to render the light and shadow of the sky and field. The sky is a sweep of wind; the field in the foreground blowing and billowing. Kelsey Mountain Light, 26" x 40", has three bold panels of forest and sky. A storm is brewing over the pines in two of the panels and in the third, the bare trunks of white birch stand still and silent, waiting.

Harvey said, "The pieces exhibited here at Korongo are particular examples of work in which everything around me animates my awareness of the shifting winds, the songs of insects and birds, the scent of hay and manure, even the interruption of a distant chainsaw, all find their way onto the canvas." Indeed. Her paintings are animated in their often furious strokes. The colors are lively and rich, evoking the texture of woods and water, of sky and earth.

When Bunny Harvey was only 28, she received the coveted Rome Prize award and spent two years in Rome. She has remained a member of the Society of Fellows to this day, nearly 40 years later. It is a testament to her commitment as a painter that she has worked and shown her work all these years, ever since 1976. Darting like her beloved dragonflies all over the world, she has created patterns of light and love.

This review was first published in the Herald, Randolph, September 15, 2011.


Images:
Flit and Dart I and Flit and Dart II, oil on panel, 12" x 12"
Listening, The Sky, charcoal and Pastel on paper, 22" x 30"

PRESS RELEASE: Abby Manock at Shelburne Art Center.

Abby Manock: Santa and the City of Now
Opening Performance October 21st 2011 5pm-8pm at Shelburne Art Center

Expanding and contracting Artist Abby Manock has exhibited across the U.S. and internationally, including New York, London, Berlin, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico, Connecticut, Boston, and most recently, El Salvador. When not traveling with her shows, Manock splits her time between Burlington, VT and Brooklyn, NY, where she is an adjunct drawing professor at Columbia University.

Now she is on her way to Shelburne. Manock has set up a fall residency at the Shelburne Art Center. For their part, the Center is crafting a space for Manock, in a room dubbed the “Fish Bowl” due to its span of mosaic-lined windows facing the Center’s courtyard. “We had the idea that students and visitors can watch Abby as she works,” notes Executive Director Sage Tucker-Ketcham regarding the choice of studio. The design for Manock’s work is spontaneous and expansive, and incorporates re-purposed objects, like cardboard, among others, respectfully. Manock’s style ranges from drawings and sculptures to large-scale, interactive, and game-like performance projects that encourage viewer’s participation and collaboration.

Abby Manock received her MFA from Columbia University in 2007. Her drawings and sculpture have been included in select exhibitions in New York, London, Berlin, Los Angeles, Miami, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and most recently at MARTE Contemporáneo in San Salvador, El Salvador. Her large scale, interactive and game-like performative projects have been showcased by the Deitch Projects Art Parade in NYC in 2006, Performagia 2008 in Mexico City, the William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT, as well as several major concert venues across the US. She has lectured at the Art Center of South Florida, Bowdoin College, and the University of Connecticut.

Manock’s style ranges from drawings and sculptures to large-scale, interactive, and game-like performance projects that encourage viewer’s participation and collaboration.

Friday, September 16, 2011

ESSAY: Studies in Comparison and Contrast at Exhibits Statewide

by Janet Van Fleet

In my work as co-editor of Vermont Art Zine, I get the broad view of what’s happening in exhibitions around the state, and I’ve recently noticed an interesting series of conceptual conversations going on.

For example, at the Bryan Memorial Gallery (see the Press Release below this essay) they’re doing a show called Family Ties, where each exhibitor is related to at least one other exhibitor by either marriage or blood.

Over at Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, two concurrent exhibits (September 23 - October 23, 2011) look at maleness – Manhood: Masculinity, Male Identity and Culture – and femaleness – Wylie Garcia: The Tulle Did Her In. Here’s some of the text from HDAC’s website:

The Male:
This exhibit addresses the lifelong process of choosing how to live, behave, define oneself, interact, and to simultaneously reconcile these choices and actions with our self image and with the expectations of our culture through the lens of male gender. Who are the artists making work about male identity and what does their work have to say about contemporary culture and reality?

The Female
Garcia works in many media, most recently creating wearable art in a project titled “The Dress that Makes the Woman”, a year-long creative and performance piece in which she creates and wears one dress per month, steadily embellishing and modifying it during that time. The product, and the way that she inhabits these dresses accesses her personal family history, a childhood in Houston -complete with debutant balls-, and materials drawn from her personal history and coming of age. Each dress is assembled over time from a garment that figures prominently in Garcia’s past. Her additions relate directly to her daily life and her past, and are often made from materials given to her by her friends and family [emphasis mine] - an extensive group of collaborators.

The T.W. Wood Gallery and Art Center in Montpelier is focusing on women’s art in their exhibit Women’s Work: The Visual Art of Vermont’s Women, up through September 25.

So what’s going on here? Maybe in this war-torn, building-bombed, politically-divisive world there’s a need to assert connection, to affirm commonality even in the face of difference, in the hope that some of the disparate crumbs can be brushed together to make a meal, something like sustenance.

Images: Andrew Mowbray, Parachute, 2009
Wylie Sofia Garcia,
Chameleon, mixed textiles (Photo: Rick Levison)

PRESS RELEASE: Open Studio Opportunity for Flood-Impacted Artists in Montpelier


The Art Resource Association (ARA) has announced a program to provide exhibition space for flood-impacted artists during the Vermont Crafts Council’s Fall Open Studio Weekend, October 1 and 2.

“We know there are artists and craftspeople out there who are either cut off by transportation issues or whose studios have been damaged, and ARA wanted to do something to help them get their work out during the Open Studio Weekend,” said Linda Maney, the group’s president.

“Basically, it's time for arts organizations to help each other, so we will make ten spaces available at the Wood Art Gallery in Montpelier for Open Studio Weekend. We’ve paid all the fees and will offer a year’s membership in ARA to ten artists who need an exhibition space,” Maney added.

Artists or craftspeople interested in participating should contact Missy Storrow at missystorrow@yahoo.com or 802-279-6349 to sign up and get further details.

Image: A previous ARA Open Studio at T.W. Wood

Thursday, September 15, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Family Ties at Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville


Bryan Memorial Gallery presents Family Ties in the Main Gallery. Family Ties is an invitational exhibition of nationally recognized gallery members, all of whom are related to or married to at least one other participant in the exhibition. The participants are:

Robert Blair, Jeanette Blair and Bruce Blair
John Brickels and Wendy James
Alden Bryan and Mary Bryan
Chris Curtis and Tari Swenson
Donald Mosher and Christine Mosher
Charles Movalli, Dale Ratcliff and Charlotte Movalli
Tom Nicholas, N.A. and T.M. Nicholas
Don Stone, N.A. and Caleb Stone
Karen Winslow and Jack Winslow

The exhibition continues through October 30.

Images: Tari Swenson, Picnic, oil, 18 x 18"

PRESS RELEASE: Molly Davies' Underwater Video Installations at Amy E. Tarrant Gallery in Burlington

Known for her richly textured work using multi-channel video, monitors, and projections, Molly Davies' three-part retrospective of video installations opens Friday, October 7 in the Amy E. Tarrant Gallery. The exhibit runs through Saturday, December 31 with an opening reception Friday, October 7 from 5:30 to 8 pm. Davies work is known for immersing the audience in a meditative encounter with the subject. This exhibition includes three underwater film and video works from three different decades.

Sea Tails (1983) is a three-channel, six monitor piece that integrates an evocative electronic sore by David Tudor with film footage of French artist Jackie Matisse's underwater kite tails. This collaboration results in a mesmerizing abstraction of color and form. Originally presented at the Centre Georges Pompidou, this piece is in the permanent collection of the Getty Research Institute. Swimming (1999) is a single monitor piece; the underwater footage of choreographer Polly Motley swimming becomes a slow motion sensual dance of dislocated time and space. Blue Sonnambula (2008) is also a single monitor piece: from a fixed focal point, under water, a young girl spins in a swimming pool, oblivious to the boys harassing her. This small event becomes a glorious celebration of unconscious beauty.

Davies became well-known in the 1970s for her innovative work with film and performance, collaborating with musicians and artists including John Cage, David Tudor, Takehisa Kosugi, Lou Harrison, Michael Nyman, Alvin Curran, Fred Firth, Suzushi Hanayagi, Sage Cowles, Polly Motley, Jackie Matisse, and Anne Carson. Her work in film, multimedia performance, and video installation has been presented at such sites as the Venice Film Festival, The Centre Pompidou Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, The Getty Research Institute, Theatre Am Turm, The Whitney Museum, The Walker Art Center, Asia Society, The Kitchen, La Mama Etc., Dance Theatre Workshop, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and The Indonesian Dance Festival. Her video installation work is in the collections of The Getty Research Institute, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, and The Walker Art Center. A solo show of Molly Davies' video installation works was presented at Zone Chelsea, NYC in 2006. She did an installation for DIVA (Digital and Video Art) in Paris, October 2006, and an installation for DIVA New York in February 2007. Danspace @ Baryshnikov Arts Center presented Traditions, Inventions, Exchange in June 2009. The installation Critical State, was presented at River Arts in Morrisville, VT in 2010 and September 2011.

The Amy E. Tarrant Gallery-an extension of the Flynn Lobby-is open to the public Saturdays from 11 am to 4 pm, and during First Friday Art Walk. Performance attendees may also view exhibits prior to MainStage shows and during intermission.

PRESS RELEASE: Alice Murdoch Exhibit at Amy E. Tarrant Gallery in Burlington extended



We're pleased to announce that Private Pleasures, an exhibit featuring new oil paintings by Vermont artist Alice Murdoch, has been extended through Saturday, October 1.

Private Pleasures is a collection of new oil paintings that focuses on "the role of food in women's lives: the control of it, the sharing of it, the comfort of it, the overindulgence of it, and the lack of it."

Originally from the South, Murdoch lives in Charlotte and maintains her studio in Burlington. She studied at the University of Vermont, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Art Students League in New York. She has exhibited extensively throughout the East Coast and the South, and is in many corporate and private collections throughout the United States.

PRESS RELEASE: Fourth Annual Worldwide Photo Walk in The White River Junction


PHOTOSTOP Gallery will be a local site host for the Fourth Annual Worldwide Photo Walk on Sunday, October 2, from 4:30-6:30 pm. Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk is the world's largest global social photography event. It takes place on the same day around the world when photographers of all walks of life and skill levels gather to socialize, learn new tips from each other, and explore their corner of the world through photography.

Last year's event attracted more than 30,000 walkers who took over 6,000,000 photographs in 1,000 locations around the world. The White River Junction Walk will be led by local photographer Rob Strong and will feature a Walk around White River Junction, VT that will explore some familiar and some undiscovered gems of the Upper Valley. The Walk is designed as a free and fun social event for people to just get out and take pictures together.

For more information about the event go to http://worldwidephotowalk.com/ and find the White River Junction Walk location on the map. The Walk is free and open to anyone who has a camera but participation is limited to the first 50 participants who sign up through the Worldwide Photo Walk website.

Image: Photo Walk 2010

PRESS RELEASE: Beth Pearson at Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery in Shelburne


Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery will be showing Recent Paintings by Beth Pearson, beginning with an opening reception with the artist on Friday, September 23, 5:30-7:30. The exhibit will run through October 25th. Beth Pearson is known for her singular style which combines sophisticated technique with often whimsical content. She describes her painting process with the same insight and humor that comes through in her paintings:

In real life you can’t easily paint over a bad choice but in art you can, so it’s ok to go ahead and be reckless. There is something inherently satisfying about creating an image out of pure intuition and letting whims and impulses lead every decision. The beginning of each new piece can be fun and lusty like a new love and so for the first three or four weeks of building my paint it’s almost constantly boasting and flirting and changing. I think it’s at this point that I am most inspired by it. The colors are singing and the surfaces and compositions are filled with flaws. I usually have about 30 of these beginnings going at once in my studio on small boards and large canvas.

There is a longer and more frustrating period in the life of the piece where I’m trying to finesse and uncover the heart or idea of it and also to control the chaos and flaws of its childhood. It’s like writing a story without knowing the plot. Mistakes are made, shallow ideas played out, thoughts trashed and rehashed and reborn. I’m just hoping it will deliver a message soon. Some of my paintings flow quickly. Some take years to resolve to the point where I can title them and some and some never will. It is interesting when those young marks and flaws are obscured or changed by influence from a sister painting but they never fully disappear. Lately I am conscious of how much more beautiful it is to see them peeking through and they have become an increasingly important elements of my mature work.

Building paint in this way opens a path to experimentation with composition and layering that gives the paintings their own histories as well as life as group. Watching whatever emotional content or narrative message take root in a composition is the final reward. It is what I am after and it presses me to interpret the work. I have slowly accepted and invited viewers to solution the work as well. It is truly satisfying to find the completed thought and to watch others try to find it. It is the reason I have continued this visual conversation for so many years.

Images:
Drama With Consequences, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 30" x 40"
Over the Fence, Oil and acrylic on panel, 5x5"