Thursday, June 30, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Henry Gorski Retrospective, Union Station, Burlington


The Henry Gorski Retrospective:ART AS EVIDENCE OF SCIENCE

WHO: Presented by the Institute of Conflict Analysis

WHAT: The Henry Gorski Retrospective: Art as Evidence of Science

WHERE: Main Street Landing’s Union Station, 1 Main Street Burlington, VT

WHEN: Opening reception Saturday July 9, 2011 5-8PM

Exhibition open to the public July 9 – August 31, 2011

Monday-Friday 10AM-6PM, Saturdays 12-4PM

Guided tours and discussion: 5:30PM Thursdays July 14, 21, 28, August 11, 18, 25 & Friday August 5

HOW: This exhibition is free and open to the public

Reservations for guided tours may be secured by emailing: tours@museumofcreativeprocess.com

The Henry Gorski Retrospective: Art as Evidence of Science is an exhibit of striking art and visionary science. The exhibit brings together the canvases of the late Henry Gorski (1918–2010), a leader of the Figurative Expressionist movement, with the scientific insight of Dr. Albert Levis, a noted social psychiatrist and creativity scholar. Linking art and science, this retrospective presents a radically new way of looking at art, locating each painting within a continuum of the artist’s personal growth and transformation through creative discovery.

Active from the 1950s’- 90’s, Gorski, a colleague of Andy Warhol, Elaine de Kooning, and Bob Rauschenberg, redefined the dimensions of modern art. Famed for his sports lithographs, Gorski has also won critical acclaim for his political paintings, mixed-media collages, and self-portrait series.


Dr. Levis, of Manchester Vermont, owns the Wilburton Inn and directs the Museum of the Creative Process, a research and learning center dedicated to the scientific study of creativity. Levis first became associated with Gorski in the 1970’s when they partnered to study art as a conflict resolution mechanism. This exhibit also celebrates the publication of Levis’ latest book, Science Stealing the Fire of the Gods, a study of the intersection of science and art and a guide to the exhibits of the Museum of the Creative Process.

Recently featured at the Chafee Art Center in Rutland VT, where it received rave reviews, this exceptional exhibit brings together the provocative artwork of Gorski, the scholarship of Dr. Levis, and the elegant facilities of Main Street Landing’s Historic Union Station.

Guided tours will be held each week, providing a detailed explanation and analysis of the paintings. Following each tour, Museum of the Creative Process staff will lead a discussion on the relevance of the exhibit and the themes of creativity and science, religion and psychology, and emotional education.


The Gorski Retrospective demonstrates the conflict resolution process present within any artist’s lifework, linking individual canvasses into a formal and meaningful progression, a visual clarification of the emotional journey towards wisdom.”- Dr. Albert Levis

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:Mark Puryear 802.777.7757 or Albert Levis 802.379.6350, info@museumofcreativeprocess.com

www.arttoscience.org www.museumofcreativeprocess.com

PRESS RELEASE: New shows at SPACE and BACKSPACE, Burlington



The S.P.A.C.E. Gallery

Figures and Faces
work by Catherine Hall
July 1 - July 30

Opening Reception, First Friday Art Walk: July 1, 5-9pm
Catherine Hall has been making plaster and wax faces cast from distorted latex molds for over a decade, using recycled flea-market dolls and animals. She has incorpora ted the doll's bodies into small figures, and made small encaustic paintings of doll's and children's faces. Hall wants the works to embody all of the emotions evoked by our childhood memories, you will see a wide range of this work throughout July at The S.P.A.C.E. Gallery.

image: Frog Boy, by Catherine Hall
--------------------------
The Backspace

Dead Men Tell No Tales
by Adam DeVarney
July 1 - July 30

Opening Reception: First Friday July 1, 5-9pm
DeVarney delves into the heart and soul of fighter pilots past, and lost voyagers of space and time. Vagabonds of the great beyond, these haunting characters search for love, lust, and revenge. Traveling up from an exhibit in Manhattan, this series portrays a collection of weary and weathered ghosts of aviation by a South End, Burlington artist.
The Backspace is pleased to showcase this series of work, with an additional new series of limited edition prints by the artist through the month of July.



image: "Dead Men Tell No Tales"

PRESS RELEASE: Unveiling and Opening of work by Karen Petersen at Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph

Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph will receive a monumental gift on July 15 in the form of a large abstract sculpture donated by Braintree artist Karen Petersen. It is the final installation in Chandler’s extensive and exciting renovation making it a vibrant focus of the arts in the Central Vermont community. The dedication begins at 5 pm and will be followed by a gala reception in the Gallery for Petersen’s exhibit, The Gift – Karen Petersen Retrospective, of sculpture and paintings.

The sculpture that was created for Chandler is still under wraps and will not be on view until the dedication, but board President Janet Watton and Director Becky McMeekin worked with the sculptor to choose a piece that reflects Chandler’s place in the community. To date, the sculpture does not have a name. Based on her experiences installing public art pieces in Connecticut and as a way of encouraging engagement, she plans to let the community interact with the Chandler piece and offer suggestions for titles.

Petersen describes her piece as “a bronze abstract piece that symbolizes what I have seen happen to children and adults as they participate in so many ways in the various activities generated by Chandler. The sculpture is in the form of an opening seed that is also the opening of the human heart and mind to potential, to joy, to the excitement of sharing talents and good will.”

A lifelong artist and educator with an international reputation, Petersen feels strongly that for a public sculpture to find a place in the visual culture of a community, there needs to be dialogue and education. The retrospective exhibit communicates her artistic process and showcases a career of luminous and contemplative artistic achievement. Activities during the two-month exhibit will include talks by the artist and tours for local schools in the early fall.

The paintings and sculptures in the Petersen Retrospective will be on display through September 25. The summer is the perfect time to be immersed in Petersen’s organic sculptural forms and her “Landscapes of the Heart” painting series. Explore how she visually expresses that “I create what my hands see and feel, ignoring fashion and embracing the lessons I have learned from teachers, past masters and a life of conflict and beauty.”

Chandler Gallery is located at 71-73 Main Street in Randolph. Gallery hours are Thursdays from 4-6 PM and Saturday and Sunday from 1-3 PM, or may be scheduled by appointment by calling 802-431-0204.

Image: Karen Petersen working on a piece in Shanghai

PRESS RELEASE: Craig Mooney at Gallery North Star in Grafton


Gallery North Star, 151 Townshend Road, presents a solo show of new oil paintings by internationally acclaimed artist Craig Mooney.

The exhibition will run from July 9 through August 7. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, July 9th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. For more information call (802) 843- 2465 or visit the gallery's website at www.gnsgrafton.com.

Acclaimed for his emotionally-charged landscapes, Craig Mooney's paintings draw viewers into scenes of mystery that awaken memories and feelings of previously experienced times and places. With this body of work, Mooney expands his horizons with forays into pieces based on rural structures and the human figure. Highly textured and imbued with an innate feeling of motion, the paintings impart an inherent ambiguity that bridges both the impressionist and abstract worlds.

Sought by collectors worldwide, Craig Mooney's shows are highly anticipated events. He has recently been the subject of solo shows in London and Milan and has been profiled in American Art Collector magazine.

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.

Image: Sunset Clouds, 30x50"

PRESS RELEASE: Deidre Scherer Open Studio in South Newfane


Deidre Scherer's OPEN STUDIO on July 16 & 17
Saturday & Sunday from 10am til 6pm
for the 2011 Rock River Artists Tour

Originals in fabric-on-layered-thread, torn-paper weavings, a commission in progress, and a full-scale self-portrait. Start at Scherer’s studio or at the Old Schoolhouse in South Newfane, VT, to preview samples of all 18 artists, and pick up a map of studio locations.

For general information about the Tour, call 802-348-7865 or visit www.rockriverartists.com - or email Scherer directly at deidre@dscherer.com

Image: Florence, by Deidre Scherer, thread on layered fabric, 11 x 10 inches, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Paul Gruhler and Marion Stegner at the Miller's Thumb Gallery in Greensboro


You are cordially invited to the opening reception of - Bold & Beautiful - Saturday, July 9, 5-7 pm, at the Miller's Thumb Gallery in Greensboro, Vermont. The exhibit will include some of Paul Gruhler’s most recent paintings, as well as jewelry by Marion Stegner.

The exhibit may be viewed Thursday - Monday, 11-6 pm, July 7th -31st, at the Miller’s Thumb Gallery - 14 Breezy Ave, Greensboro, VT.

Gruhler’s paintings explore vertical and horizontal relationships in space, the harmony and tension within color, line and form. He employs surfaces and paint textures to explore further the possibilities of the medium, working on large and small scale square surfaces of linen or paper using highly saturated acrylic color.

Marion designs and creates fine jewelry using precious and semiprecious stones set in both gold and silver. The beauty of Marion's jewelry arises from the harmony she creates between the stones and their settings as she unites primitive stones and fine metals to create distinctive works of art.

PRESS RELEASE: Jeri Canfield and Nick Rosato, Art on Main, Bristol



Bristol—Art on Main announces its July-August 2011 Featured Artist Exhibit Home is Where the Art Is. The exhibit features quilts & quilted textiles by Jeri Canfield, Shoreham, and Vermont hardwood serving ware by Nick Rosato, Essex Junction. The community is invited to meet the artists at a celebratory reception on Friday July 8 from 5-7pm in the Gallery at 25 Main Street, Bristol. Both artists will be on hand and light refreshments will be served.

Jeri Canfield has been sewing since her 4-H Club days. She discovered quilting in the 1970’s and enjoyed it so much that it became a passion. She remembers, “My first quilt was our wedding quilt in 1974. It was a Goose in the Pond pattern done in the scrap fabric style.”

Jeri’s quilts are now made in various sizes and for many uses: to brighten up a wall (virtually all include a hanging pocket along one edge or attached rings), as a bedding accent, as a table runner or centerpiece. She uses traditional quilt patterns as well as new modern abstract designs of her own creation. Bright colors, themes, and shapes often distinguish her work: blues and reds and fabric featuring baseballs are just right for a young sport’s enthusiast’s bedroom or playroom, curved lines of many colors echo the waves on the lake and the ridges of the mountains, traditional stars pair with seasonal fabrics for the holidays. Piecing is done on a sewing machine for seam strength, and all quilts are hand tied and the edges finished by hand for a look of quality.

In addition to quilts, Jeri also creates practical home goods for the kitchen and table. Pairs of potholders in an endless variety of colors will brighten any kitchen, as will colorful aprons with a generous pocket and crazy-quilt pattern on the chest. Patterned tablerunners are finished with a complimentary fabric on the back for potential double-sided use.

“Creating beautiful products with all the gorgeous fabrics of today makes the hours in the studio worthwhile,” she says.

Nick Rosato began woodturning on a whim. “I saw a video online and thought it looked like fun,” he says, “so I took a class at a community workshop. I was hooked instantly.” Nick studied, and apprenticed, and spent all his free time turning, and now he works fulltime as a woodturner and teacher, balancing production work which is readily duplicable and more creative one-of-a-kind pieces, along with interaction with students. His studio, The Sculpted Tree, produces handcrafted woodenware for modern living using local timbers harvested sustainably within our region. He chooses local wood as part of a dedication to being environmentally responsible and because “each piece of wood has its own character, shape, size, weight, grain structure, and other features that make it unique.”

“Woodturning is an act of patience, harmony, and movement,” Nick asserts. “I build a relationship with the tools I use, which allow me to cut and shape the wood into elegant forms. I strive to create harmony and balance in my work.” Nick’s turned servingware strikes you first for its unusual shape: most often square with flared corners. This spring, he added a long, slightly raised platter with those same signature corners. Nick’s other practical and beautiful pieces include french style rolling pins in cherry and maple, almost-sculptural muddlers to make your mojito-making more memorable, and garden dibbles to perfectly measure for planting bulbs.

The exhibit will be on view in the Gallery through Monday August 15. Art on Main is open Monday thru Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 11am-3pm.


For more information, visit www.artonmain.net, find us on Facebook at ArtonMainVT, or contact Carolyn Ashby, Gallery Manager at (802) 453-4032 or info@artonmain.net.


Wednesday, June 29, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Renée Bouchard and David Hurwitz at Towle Studio, Corinth

Immediate Release: June 24, 2011
Contact: Renée Bouchard
renee@renee-bouchard.com
802-733-7651

Towle Hill Studio Presents –
Paintings by Renée B
ouchard and Handcrafted Woodwork by David Hurwitz

On Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10, Towle Hill Studio in Corinth, Vermont, will present recent paintings by Renée Bouchard and handcrafted woodwork by David Hurwitz. The gallery will be open on Saturday from 12 to 6 and Sunday from 12 to 3. The artists will be hosting a reception, with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, o
n Saturday, from 4 to 6.
Bouchard and Hurwitz met while in residence at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, one of New England's leading arts residencies. While their work is quite distinct, they share an affinity for the subtleties of color and texture and they both revel in the little details that others often overlook. Bouchard, who received her BFA From the Maine College of Art, is an active artist and art teacher based out of Bennington, Vermont. Hurwitz is a professional woodworker who received his BFA from the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology. His home and studio are both located in Randolph, Vermont.
Bouchard will be exhibiting recent works, painted over the last two years. Since the summer of 2009 she has been exploring the traditions and pushing
the boundaries of plein air landscape painting. Of this work she has written, “When painting landscapes from observation, I am more interested in recreating my perception of a place than I am in depicting the reality of it. Similarly, with landscapes that are executed in my studio, psychological atmospheres are created in memory of an experience or invented. Escaping the confines of one reality and entering an alternate reality is often where I find meaning within the complexity of the mind and the emotions it houses.” Since last summer Bouchard has been combining her interest in
the landscape with inspirations she encountered on a trip to Italy. In addition to a love for the rich, earthy palette of the Tuscan landscape, Bouchard has
taken a deep interest in some of the historical works of art that she encountered in Italy's many churches. The work inspired by her Italian sojourn has been
part of an ongoing quest by Bouchard to reconcile history, religion and her own spirituality. She writes of this work, “With a continual interest in the role that spirituality plays in my life and work, I paint from observation, exploring the space in between the form and the formless. As in Zen painting, one mark is capable of containing many aspects of nature and human presence. In this way, I consider my paintings to be mindscapes as much as landscapes. A conundrum lies in the range of experiences and identities within the story of my sequence of mark making. Often the marks are inexplicable passages of time between presence and absence. The duration is a series of interwoven, never endings.”
A true craftsmen, Hurwitz designs and builds contemporary furniture, one
piece at a time in his Randolph studio, using hand carving and traditional
methods of furniture construction and joinery. At Towle Hill Studio he will
be showing a wide selection of his exquisitely wrought woodwork, ranging
from hand-carved utensils and lamps to mirrors and tables. Hurwitz's work
challenges assumptions about the boundary between art and function. During
the last 60 years th
e much-debated barrier between craft and fine art has
become increasingly blurred and the last two decades have seen an explosion of work that ambiguously straddles the art/craft line. Hurwitz, who has been working as a professional furniture maker since 1988, falls squarely within this trend. While studying at the School for American Craftsmen, Hurwitz took an independent study in sculpture. When looking at a piece such as Hurwitz's *“State of Craft” Console Table*, which he made for a major exhibition at the Bennington Museum that explored the history of the studio craft movement in the Green Mountain state from 1960 to 2010, it is clear that his work strikes a careful balance between function and visual appeal. While Hurwitz's work is clearly made to be used, it is imbued with qualities that are only obtained by a sophisticated aesthetic sense – from the careful selection of native and exotic woods to lovingly executed hand carved textures. There is often a pleasing and engaging tension in his work between the organic, free flowing feel of his carving style and the careful balance and overall symmetry of his forms.
The Towle Hill Studio, located at 28 Center Road, Corinth, Vermont, hosts weekend long exhibitions throughout the Summer and Fall featuring the work of some of the region's finest artists. To learn more about their exhibition program visit their website www.towlehillstudio.com or email Mark Nielsen at mjnart.nielsen@gmail.com for more information. To learn more about the work
of either Bouchard or Hurwitz visit their websites
www.renee-bouchard.com and
www.davidhurwitzoriginals.com

Images: "Baptism" 2011, watercolor, graphite, acrylic, and gold ink on paper, H 30” x W 22" Reneé Bouchard
"Luxe, Calme et Volupté," 2010, oil on canvas, H 20” x W 20” Reneé Bouchard
“State of Craft” Console Table, 2010, carved ash, painted poplar base arch, Tamo (Japanese quilted ash) top with hand rubbed poly-varnish finish, H 32” x W 60” x D 16” David Hurwitz
"Taffy Mirror," 2004, carved and painted cherry, H 15.5” x W 12” x D 2” David Hurwitz

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Press Release: Helen Day Art Center, EXPOSED exhibition, Stowe



Exposed 2011 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition

presented by Stephen Levin and Helen Day Art Center

July 8, 2011 – October 8, 2011


2011 marks the 20th year of the annual Exposed Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in Stowe, Vermont. This exhibition’s long history has provided opportunity for local and regional object-based and site-specific sculptors to exhibit their work.

This year’s suite of work both honors the tradition of art history and reflects the contemporary global art atmosphere. It features sculptural objects and acknowledges the ever-changing role of art to incorporate active, socially engaged work in a variety of media. Curator Rachel Moore has accomplished this by including high profile sculptors along side artists who work interactively with community and site. This year’s exhibit includes artists from Canada, Germany, Greece, and Mexico.

Public programs each Thursday night include 13 performers, writers, and video artists who add texture to the already diverse exhibition. These happenings will be hosted by The Art Center at 6:00pm beginning July 14th.

This year the Exposed exhibition debuts the use of a cell phone audio tour and QR codes for smartphones. These two strategies deepen the experience for the visitors and provide instant access to the meaning and intent of the artwork in the artists’ own words. This creates a more personal connection between the artist and the public, providing insight into their processes and concepts.

The addition of a cell phone tour; QR codes; walkabout tours; a catalogue with images and descriptions; and a comprehensive map cohesively work to create a more accessible exhibition, engaging the anticipated 75,000 visitors.

Public Programs & Events

July 8, 2011 Exposed Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition Opens.

5:00 Opening Reception

6:00 Artist-led Walkabout

July 14, 2011: 6:00 Video Screening

August 4, 2011: 6:00 Video Screening

August 6, 2011: 1:30 Curator-led walkabout (as part of Stowe Summer Arts Festival)

August 11, 2011: 6:00 Musical Performance: Gretchen Farrar & Francisco Roldán

August 18, 2011: 6:00 Artist Lecture: Polly Motley, dancer and choreographer

August 25, 2011: 6:00 Reading and Performance by creative writers: Alisha Laramee, m. pinchuk, Shannon Schmidt, and Julia Shipley

September 22, 2011: 6:00 Video Screening

October 6, 2011: 6:00 Video Screening

Curated by Rachel Moore. Please visit www.helenday.com for more details.

Helen Day Art Center

School Street

PO Box 411

Stowe, VT 05672

www.helenday.com

802.253.8358

Friday, June 24, 2011

REVIEW: William Ramage at Gallery-in-the-Field in Brandon

William Ramage’s exhibit is only up through June 30, so hurry if you want to see it! – Ed.

By Liza Myers

William Ramage's current exhibition, The Men's Group explores human perception: how we actually see the world in which we live. In an impressive, large-scale installation, Ramage challenges the rules of linear perspective that have governed artists since the 15th century. He asks us to view the world centripetally. The term refers to drawing into a visual core, into a center, rather than viewing the world linearly, along the traditional lines into a vanishing point.

The space is dominated by a monumental installation, an embracing circle featuring two immense, free-standing arcs of photographs. Simultaneous realities are juxtaposed. The images boggle your sense of reality and space, setting your equilibrium askew.

Additionally, as you walk behind the installation, the gallery walls are hung with the actual stunning, large-scale drawings featured in the photographs. The drawings are a visual feast and impressive body of work unto themselves.

To the uninformed the installation is fascinating, but initially seems odd- slices of imagery adjacent to one another confound the viewer. How can the same grouping of men be standing next to each other in adjacent locations, seemingly at the same time? Who are they, why are they gathered?

The intellectual underpinnings of Ramage's work are deep and complex. In his new book, Seeing, available at Gallery in-the-Field, Ramage quotes Blake, Huxley, Proust, Emerson and more. The philosophical breadth is vast. Within the pages of the book Ramage's artistic thought processes are clarified.

Artists who ask us to see differently challenge our sense of reality. They ask us to step beyond the status quo, beyond confining perceptual limitations. Contemporary visionaries such as Goldsworthy, Turrell, Banksey, and JR ask us to see new possibilities, thus nudging the human race farther along our path, wherever it might lead. Joining an impressive group, William Ramage's exhibition will expand your sense of what is possible.

Gallery in-the-Field is at 685 Arnold District Road (just off Route 7) in Brandon, VT. Hours are Friday - Sunday 12-5 pm and by appointment 802-247-0145

PRESS RELEASE: Celebrating 20 Years at FS Gallery in Shelburne

20/20
20 Artists representing 2 decades of artistic vision


July 8 - August 16, 2011
Please help us celebrate our 20 years as FS Gallery on
Friday, July 8, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

In 1982, Joan Furchgott and Brad Sourdiffe returned to Vermont and began a business utilizing their skills in customized picture framing and restoration of frames and objects. In 1991, the purchase of Shelburne Frame and Art (a business that originated in the 70's) began a new era. As Chittenden County's oldest independent art gallery, Furchgott Sourdiffe transformed the name along with the stylistic vision and became one of northern Vermont's most respected venues for fine contemporary art. This year marks twenty years of showcasing the regions' finest artists as FS Gallery.

Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery is located at 86 Falls Road, in Shelburne Village. Hours are Tue-Fri 9:30-5:30, and Sat 10-5.

Image: Hark II by Betsey Garand, lift ground aquatint monoprint and monotype

REVIEW: Edward Koren and Fulvio Testa at Big Town Gallery in Rochester


Cartoon Bestiary and Moody Landscapes


by Dian Parker

Why see art? Why go to art galleries, buy art, hang art on your walls? As one of my painter friends said, "There are already too many images in the world," so she rushes through art galleries only stopping at what moves her. Some people never go to galleries. I go because it invariably feeds something new to me that is not always observable in everyday life. It tweaks my view of the world, if only for a moment. I feel different when I look at art, far different than at any other time. Whether I like the work or not, I get a kick out of all individual expression and the human desire to create.

Art stimulates and rouses our curiosity. Without it we are poorer, whether the form of art be music, theatre, the visual arts, cooking, gardening, or even the ways we teach our children. We all strive to express. Art may not be necessary for us to survive but it is certainly necessary in order that we thrive and flourish. It fills us out. It feeds and sparks our imaginations, inspiring us to create, and creating makes us happy. Just look at the joy of a child’s imagination. It certainly gives me joy to see creativity expressed, in all forms: tractor parts, hay bales, a story, a concerto, paintings, and even cartoons.

Currently showing at the Big Town Gallery in Rochester are some of the original drawings of a longtime resident of Vermont, Edward Koren, best known for his cartoons and covers for The New Yorker magazine. His first cartoon in The New Yorker was 50 years ago! In this show, his fanciful furry creatures ride bicycles, dance and give speeches. Mini dramas, not unlike commedia dell’arte, the comedy of manners, where actors do their shtick with grande pomposity and elan.

As I stood before each drawing, mostly in ink and some quite large, 26" x 40", I laughed out loud. Koren’s work tickles and teases. I found myself making up captions for the work and going back to reexamine the horns on his characters’ wild heads and the way the clever beasts hold their bicycle handlebars, intently pedaling - a theatrical romp done with a wry wit. Each drawing is mounted on cut mat board which is a pleasing way of displaying the drawings and far less expensive if you choose to buy a piece. A comprehensive retrospective of his work is presently showing at the Fleming Museum in Burlington as well.

Also showing with Koren are 23 abstract watercolor landscapes by the Italian artist, Fulvio Testa. Testa was born in Verona, Italy and now lives 6 months of the year in New York City. His paintings are small (also not framed but mounted on white board), averaging 12" x 10". I preferred the work he painted this year to his older work. They show an evolution which is wonderful to see in any artist’s work. His moody watercolors are modest and delicate, evoking dreamy, allusive landscapes that could be imaginary or real. His colors are dense and often saturate the paper. I especially liked his "Untitled 14", "15" and "16", sensual washes of color and stroke, all three painted this year.

The pairing of these two creators is insightful. Both are gestural artists showing us the world in a flourish. Whereas Koren wryly observes society; Testa’s work are emotional, inner landscapes. You don’t have to like any of the work to like the show. As I said, art stimulates the palate, prodding us to dream up our own inner landscapes or to take our own maniacal bike ride, horned creatures that we are. The show runs till July 10.
This review was first published in the Randolph Herald, June 23, 2011 Images: Ed Koren, Untitled 26.25”x 40.25”, ink on Fabiano; Fulvio Testa, Untitled 15, 13 1/2” x 9 3/8” Photos by Dian Parker

PRESS RELEASE: Eighteen Riverside Artists Open Studios to Public Rock in the River basin in Southern Vermont


Rock River Artists will hold their 19th annual weekend-long art tour, July 16-17

Summertime in Vermont encourages residents and visitors alike to tour the countryside and adventure down picturesque dirt roads to new and unknown destinations. Where some local commuters may find this a mild annoyance, rural artisans greet the opportunity to meet new faces, share stories, and demonstrate their talents. In mid-July, back road wanderers and art enthusiasts will unite for a chance to tour the studios, galleries, and workshops of professional artists along the Rock River.

During this annual event, the Rock River Artists open their creative spaces to passersby and collectors in search of high quality art from a range of disciplines. Unlike stuffy city galleries where patrons are guided from room to room along a fence of velvet ropes, this self-guided tour through historic villages provides a unique level of accessibility to both the art and artists themselves. This year, the Open Studio Tour welcomes two new artists.

Georgie Runkle is a plein air painter, whose mosaic arrangements of complex colors and shapes create a visual expression of an inner landscape. “My art becomes what I see in nature,” says Runkle. “As you drive through southern Vermont you may see me painting along the roadside, in a field, or beside a barn...anywhere that the setting has attracted my aesthetic sensibility.”

Paul Bowen, another newcomer to the Rock River Tour, has always been interested in material with a history. Drawing on the imagery of ships’ flags, tar, canvas, rope and other marine detritus he creates drawings and prints using his own inks made from squid, Xerox toner, and walnuts. Bowen also constructs small and large-scale sculptures, for which he employs limited means such as stacking, or simple carpentry to convey motion to the viewer.

Among the tour’s veteran artists, is Christine Triebert, a three-time recipient of a Golden Light Award for photographic excellence. Her still life and landscape photographs have been licensed by major publishers in the US and Europe. Currently, when she’s not leading photography workshops at her Rock River studio, Triebert works in a unique cameraless process, exposing organic objects directly onto paper negatives in the darkroom.

For more information about the Rock River Artists including directions, maps, and nearby food and accommodations, visit www.rockriverartists.com.

19th Annual Open Studio Tour Information:
WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, July 16-17, 2011. 10:00AM - 6:00PM
WHERE: Homes, Studios, Workshops in South Newfane and Williamsville, Vermont WHAT: Eighteen professional artists open their homes, gardens and studios during this enchanting self-guided tour. Wander Southern Vermont’s picturesque back roads and be greeted like an old friend at the homes of successful painters, print makers, sculptors, metal and wood workers, potters and more. Start at the historic Old Schoolhouse in South Newfane to view artists' work and pick up a map. Gourmet delights are available mid-tour in Newfane and Williamsville. Free and open to the public.

ABOUT ROCK RIVER ARTISTS:
A collaborative of 18 professional artists residing along the Rock River basin in Southern Vermont. Their creative talents include a variety of disciplines and mediums. Several of the artists’ work has received national acclaim and been hosted in galleries and museums throughout the country. Once a year, the Rock River Artists open their studios for a weekend-long tour, inviting visitors into their homes and creative spaces to view and purchase artwork, and interact directly with the artists. More information at www.rockriverartists.com.

Images, top-bottom: Rock River Artist, Leonard Ragouzeos, paints with India ink on synthetic paper, and offers demos throughout the weekend-long tour. Deidre Scherer shows visitors how she puts a fabric-and-thread still life together. At Richard Foye Fireworks Richard Foye demonstrates his pyrotechnic raku firing process throughout the tour weekend. Roger Sandes and Mary Welsh fill their home with their own cheerful, brightly colored art.

PRESS RELEASE: Elizabeth Nelson at White Water Gallery in East Hardwick


Elizabeth Nelson Exhibit
Six Seasons
July 10, 2011 to August 28, 2011

at White Water Gallery
5 River Street
East Hardwick Village
802 563 2037

Opening reception
Sunday -- July 10, 2011
4 to 7 PM

Image: Ice Curl, 30” x 40”, acrylic

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

INTERVIEW: Emi River Visits Genese Grill

The Amazingness of Everything: An Interview with Genese Grill

by Emi River
She told me her home was the “green and white house with lots of wild flowers out front; the only one without mowed front lawns.” I walked down the street towards Genese’s house on a hot, blue-skied June afternoon. The front lawn was beautiful and felt much more natural than all those other mowed front lawns. It was brimming with flowers and bugs, and I’m almost positive I caught glimpse of an imp bustling through the grasses. I knocked on the front door, and Genese, with sparkling eyes, led me inside into a refreshingly cool living room, filled with what seemed to be ancient artifacts and an air of peace and brightness.


Genese’s house is a sacred space, devoted to a non-mediated experience and atmosphere of being present, while experiencing silence, sound, color, music, literature, and art. She compares it to “a cult of art,” inspired by the English arts and crafts aesthetic movement and her love for Vienna, a city devoted to art, thinkers, culture, the riches of the past and present, and the life of the spirit.

We sat down in lovely chairs beside her paintings and books and drank homemade Jasmine and honey iced tea, as I showered Genese with the many questions I had about her recent art show, “Aphrodisiacal Anagoges.” Her artwork was hung at the Block Gallery in Winooski this past May, comprised of “egg-tempera paintings and mixed-media works exploring the heights of spiritual and romantic ecstasy and the depths of memory and darkness.”

Her paintings on panels, large paper pieces, and prints are images that come almost entirely from her imagination, while her grimoires are created from both her imagination and the physical world. The paintings were done with egg tempera. Egg tempera is an ancient medium. To use the paint, the artist seals a piece of wood with rabbit skin glue, then makes a mixture of egg yolk, pure pigment, and water to create the paint. Genese is drawn to egg tempera because of its intensity of color, matte finish, and its ease of use for detail.

Some of Genese’s pieces began with loose ideas and more conscious symbolism, while others grew freely with no initial intention. In the latter, figures and images would spontaneously appear on her panel that she would later contemplate and find meaning within. What’s more, her separate works of art symbolically connect to each other in mysterious ways.


I was curious about the title of her show, “Aphrodisiacal Anagoges,” so I asked Genese to explain. Anagoge is a word she learned from her friend Kathryn Barush, a scholar of theological aesthetics at Oxford, and its meaning refers to an ascent or climb upwards. It dates back to medieval theologians, as one of the ways they interpreted the Bible. This was a way of understanding the Bible so that every story was a symbolic description of the ascent to the divine. Thus, anagoge refers to the spiritual journey experienced when gazing at, or contemplating, a work of art – this can be in writing, fairy tales, paintings, and beyond. Genese views art objects in this way, a way of lifting up to the divine. By dwelling on an image, we can all enter a dream-like, meditative, mystical state where meaning and clarity appears. Aphrodisiacal refers to Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, who connects physical, sensual love to spiritual, sacred love.

Many of Genese’s grimoires were created during her travels. “Grimoire” is a word that originated in Renaissance and Middle Age times. According to the dictionary, they are books of “magic spells and invocations.” While we talked, a grand red box glistened in the middle of the room like a treasure chest. It was overflowing with years and years of Genese’s grimoires, sparkling in the sunlight that was parading through the windows.


Her grimoires are often made with goauche paint and any other art materials available to Genese at the moment. In these grimoires, Genese uses writing, drawing, and painting to explore ideas while concentrating on a question in her life. During this creative meditation, she evokes subconscious wisdom. Each grimoire contains a universe of its own. Genese is fascinated by the way that books, like our brains and bodies, seem like finite structures – and yet within them exists infinite space, energy and potential. Books, for Genese, are sacred passageways to other worlds, waiting to be unfolded and discovered.

I wondered how Genese felt about the use of words in visual art, as it is a conversation that has been debated many times. I didn’t notice any words in her paintings, but there are often many in her grimoires. She explained that while she is working, images and words seem to spring up. During the creation of one of her paintings, she kept hearing the phrase, “She concentrates.” In another, she heard, “Just because part of you is dead, doesn’t mean you are dead.” She does feel that there might be a danger of limiting someone else’s experience or even her own experience with words, but “you can’t dwell on the same dream forever,” she reflected. She pointed out that her work often does have a certain meaning, so it feels appropriate to use words to describe it. Those meanings are open and poetic, more evocative than descriptive. She thinks of words as prayers or mantras, and considers the act of writing to be magical.


I was intrigued by the “not for sale” signs on Genese’s paintings. Because her paintings are so intimate, she wants to either hold on to them or give them to friends. Though she feels that artists should sell their work if they want to, she personally has no desire. She made silk screens “as a way for people to have her things.” Prints became the answer to how to sell her work. Although she thinks it is great for artists to be admired, Genese can’t imagine ever being part of the commodified art market. I found this, among everything else Genese had to say, as uplifting as the artwork she makes.

Genese grew up with literary, creative parents and began making art at the age of twelve, while she attended the Art Students’ League in New York City. There, she took a number of figure-drawing classes. When she reached the age of seventeen, Genese was expected to go to college. She fervently didn’t want to do so. She told herself that she would only apply to one school, and if she were accepted, she would go. That one school was the Cooper Union free art school in New York City, and she was admitted.

At the Cooper Union in the 1980’s, it was a “hard climate” for art. The artistic atmosphere was very conceptual. The community tried to push Genese to be edgy, sarcastic, and “cool.” Genese, conversely, wanted to “make beautiful things.” At the time, she was deeply intrigued by the artwork of Pre-Raphaelite and other aesthetic painters. She believed then, as she does now, that art is sacred, beautiful, and magical.

Genese left Cooper Union, deciding that she was not an artist. She began to focus on reading and writing. She went to Berlin, Germany, on the suggestion and invitation of a friend of her parents, who also happened to be a patron of young artists. On a deeper level, she was returning to the home of her ancestors. Somewhere along the way, she also returned to art, though this time without the criticism of her peers or the pressure of pursuing art as her career. She began creating grimoires as journals of her experiences.

In Germany, Genese fell in love with German literature. She went back to New York City and decided to attend graduate school to pursue a Master’s and doctoral degree in German literature. Genese now speaks German fluently and is a writing and literature professor. Although she has fallen in love with words, Genese has never fallen out of love with art.

When she moved to Vermont, Genese began painting larger pieces because she had more time. She spent her last two summers in Vienna and was amazed by the art she encountered. The place where she was living in Vienna had vast walls, so that is where she began making her huge works on paper. The move from her small, intimate art to her large-scale pieces reflects her shift from her personal world into the public world. She has always loved writing letters and making personal artwork, but recently has wanted to experiment with stretching her private voice into a communal voice. She is currently writing a book about the Austrian novelist Robert Musil as well as a collection of essays about bridging the physical and spiritual worlds, particularly through art.

In the paintings featured in “Aphrodisiacal Anagogs,” Genese noticed many of her influences after their creation. Although she doesn’t really like Picasso, except for his drawings of classical Greek subjects, she realized that those drawings as well as the paintings from his Blue period influenced her own. The stark lines of Germany’s New Objectivity artists like Max Beckmann are also connected to her style. She also observed, in her work, references to the Viennese and German Arts & Crafts movements, the Viennese secession, Art Nouveau, Gustav Klimt, Frida Kahlo, William Blake, Renaissance art, Greek and Roman art, Remedios Varo, Symbolist painters, German romantic painters, and Ernst Haeckel’s “Art Forms in Nature.” If she had to label herself a certain kind of painter, she’d say she was a Symbolist painter.

I asked Genese what else about the world and about life inspires her. Her answer included W. B. Yeats, his ideas about the magical possibility of symbols, fairy tales and their motifs, as well as mythology. She is also deeply moved by her friends. With Angela Chaffee, a unique artist inspired by medieval manuscript illumination, and Jackie Schlein of The Pansensical Parlour, a pianist and singer, she creates collaborative music and poetry performances in a sort of free-interpretation on themes she likens to the Jewish scholarly practice of Midrash. I was very intrigued when she began to describe German Romanticism and Idealism, with its emphasis on a connection between the physical world and the world of ideas, imagination, mysticism, magic, and spirit.

She loves Immanuel Kant, Existentialism, Emerson and Thoreau. Thoreau and Emerson are especially significant to her: “Their sense of the primacy of the imagination. The transcendental imagination as free from the bounds of time and space and matter.” She also loves the German poet, philosopher, and novelist Novalis, with “his emphasis on dreams, fantasy, the importance of questioning the ‘reality’ of the merely physical, measurable world.” She has learned that it is we who create reality with our minds and we who are free in our minds. Reality, Genese recognizes, is “simply much vaster and more interesting than any merely scientific material description of it. Thus we need poetry, images, stories, myths, and metaphors to help us connect to the other realms and to then, in turn, help us communicate what we find there to others!”

Besides being a writer and a painter, Genese is also a musician, an actress, and a puppet-maker. She is interested in how different realms of art inform each other, in how we can create correspondences through metaphor, in how we can say the same thing through different languages. With art, she tries to find and create meaning; she struggles to affirm her “belief in beauty and meaning in a world of cynicism and meaninglessness.” She is not embarrassed to “be sentimental and care about things.” According to Genese, everyone has a responsibility to change reality – with our psyches – by thinking fruitful, regenerative thoughts. She sees art as a meditation, as a way of reaching a state of creative openness, as a prayer that can connect us with our “higher and lower selves.” She commented, “A lot of great art is an expression of pain… but my favorites are the ones that show brightness within pain.”

She is very inspired by gracefulness in art. In her last few paintings, however, she observed that she was playing with a certain crudeness in her work that “felt revolutionary” for her own process of painting. Genese thinks of her art-making as an act of devotion – a devotion to nature, to love, to life, to beauty, to the life force, to sacredness, to anything she chooses. She unabashedly loves seriousness and fanaticism. She loves to celebrate detail and to honor “the amazingness of everything.”

As I left Genese’s house, a soothing gust of wind blew past me – the sunlight sparkled in the deep blue like a diamond – and I marveled at the amazingness of everything.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: T.W. Wood Gallery receives donation of a T.W. Wood portrait

The T.W. Wood Gallery and Arts Center is delighted to announce the acquisition of a portrait by T.W. Wood of Montpelier native Arthur Daggett Bancroft. His descendants, the Dwinell family, donated this painting to the Gallery.

Who was Arthur Daggett Bancroft? This information was gleaned from an entry about him in the History of Montpelier section of Abby Hemenway's History of Vermont, and brought to our attention courtesy of Jane Dwinnell:

He was a lifelong resident of Montpelier. It said he was a selectman and much esteemed by his townsmen. It did not say what he did for work, but indicated he was much like his father who was a director of the Montpelier National Bank, so I expect the son was as well (especially since the bio said, "he left a handsome estate"). He died of "consumption”, as did his father. My mother thought his home was where the Main Street School is now.


This most welcome new addition to the T.W. Wood Gallery & Arts Center’s Permanent Collection is a sterling example of the Art of Portraiture that Wood became so famous for during his lifetime and is still appreciated by the students, critics and connoisseurs of today. The portrait can be viewed during the Gallery’s regular business hours – Tuesdays - Sundays from 12:00 Noon till 4:00pm or during one of the many Special Events the gallery is proud to host.

Monday, June 20, 2011

PRESS RELEASE: call to artists for Shelburne Art Center fundraising event.

Wall to Canvas
Saturday August 27th, 12-6pm, Magic Hat Artifactory, South Burlington

Wall to Canvas is annual urban arts competition hosted by Magic Hat to benefit the Shelburne Art Center. On Saturday, August 27th, twelve local and regional artists will gather at Magic Hat's unique Artifactory in South Burlington where they will be given two hours to create a work of art on canvas before a live audience. First, second, and third place cash prizes will be awarded ($300, $200, and $100, respectively) and all of the artwork will be auctioned off on site, with 50% of proceeds benefiting the Shelburne Art Center and 50% going directly to the artist. Artists of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply, although experience in mural painting, spray-art, stenciling, and wheat-pasting is preferred. This is a great opportunity to show off your skills before an audience, enjoy an event of great artwork, food, music, and Magic Hat brews, and network with other local artists and patrons of the arts.

Visit our website, www.walltocanvas.com to learn more or to find an entry form. Questions can be sent by email to Sarah at walltocanvas@gmail.com or by phone at 802-985-3648.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

CALL TO ARTISTS: Down on the Farm at Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction



Last call for Submissions to
Down on the Farm
Juried by Paul Mobley
Entries Close Tuesday, June 21st at Midnight EDT

Material for Down on the Farm is endless: from backyard gardens to the 1000-acre ranch, rice paddies to cotton fields, the chicken coop to the breeding barn, sugar house to road-side veggie stand, farmers' markets to agricultural auctions, from harvest festival to the county fair. This exhibit pays tribute to the men and women who work the land that nourishes us all.

A look back: the Farm Security Administration was born in 1935 in the United States as a means to battle poverty in rural America. It was the documentary photographic work born of this era and via the goals of the FSA, that the first major bodies of work depicting agriculture and its social realities came into being. The majority of the work produced was by fifteen Photographers (a total of 44 photographers had been hired) including such greats as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Carl Mydans and Ben Shahn. Look to their images, as well as contemporary Ag-Documentarians for your inspiration, such as juror Paul Mobley. More information at http://darkroomgallery.com/ex17