Sunday, January 29, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: Women’s Art at The Chaffee Art Center in Rutland

In honor of the 25th Anniversary of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Vermont Committee wishes to highlight the work of Women in the Arts in the State of Vermont by holding events around the state that feature and promote the work of creative women in Vermont. The Chaffee Art Center and Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre have created 2012: Women in the Arts, a month long series of events featuring exhibits, performances, and a workshop by Vermont women artists.

Events will kick off with an opening reception on Friday, February 17 from 5 until 8 pm. There will be an introduction to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Vermont Commission on Women by Wendy Love and Billi Gosh. The reception will also include a performance by The Unpredictables, a female a cappella group from the Rutland High School at 6 pm.

The exhibit features the works of eleven women artists: Miriam Adams, Betty Atwood, Anna Ayres, Linda Durkee, Susan Farrow, Juliana Cassino Fechter, Kerry O. Furlani, Lois Macuga, Hilary Neroni, Athena Petra Tasiopoulos, and Karla Van Vliet. These artists come from all corners of Vermont and their work is varied in mediums. The exhibit will be at the Chaffee Art Center through March 17, 2012.

Image: Leaves III, Lois Macuga

PRESS RELEASE: Three New Shows at Studio Place Arts (SPA) in Barre

There are three news shows up at Studio Place Arts (SPA) in Barre, running from January 24 - February 25, 2012.

In the Main Floor Gallery:
Weathering It Out: Rain or shine, snow or sleet, this group, multi-media exhibit explores how we are weathering dynamic weather patterns.


In the Second Floor Gallery:
Vermonters in Italy - Works by Jeneane Lunn and Jim Lund

In the Third Floor Gallery:
What Lies Beneath - Multimedia works by Maggie Neale

PRESS RELEASE: Bruce M. MacDonald at the Regional Artists Gallery at the Bennington Museum



The only thing I've found similar between nature in the landscape and the nature of the human condition is that light falls alike on each. I can't resolve the madness of mankind on Earth and its utter absurdity; I include myself in this observation. The beauty of "artistic philosophy" is that it's oxymoronic and can change. – Bruce MacDonald
On view in the Regional Artists Gallery at the Bennington Museum are satirical paintings of Bruce M. MacDonald. The artist has divided ways to visualize, one being influenced by the 15th century Dutch landscape painters, and some of the 20th century American realists. The other, portrayed in this exhibit, is a form of social realism using cartoon-as-art to depict the artist’s expression of the twenty-first century human condition. He has become known for his unique style of copper plate etchings combined with the subtleties of water color which he developed. Much of his work is based in the history of social satire and commentary from Goya, Hogarth, and Daumier. This exhibition opens February 4 and is on view through March 18. Visit with the artist on Saturday, February 4 from 3:00 to 4:30 pm.

MacDonald is a self-taught artist who was born near Boston in 1944. Educated through self chosen courses of art and philosophy at several colleges, he hones his skills working with mentors such as Shelly Fink. He began exhibiting formally in the late 1960s with major shows locally in the Highpoint Galleries, the Barrington House, and the Art Union. During the 1970s he was a contributing artist for Up Country Magazine, the Berkshire Eagle, Sports Illustrated, Ski Magazine and also created murals for Westbridge Associates and a variety of Berkshire sites.

He operated his own gallery, The Art Orphanage, in Lenox for a decade beginning in 1973 during which time he continued to work as a contributing artist for area advertising companies, Time Life, and Biography Records. MacDonald also exhibited his work in art shows across the county at locations including the NY Racquet Club, Philadelphia Prices Gallery, and several galleries in San Francisco. Locally, his work was on view in the Tyringham Gallery, Welles Gallery, Joy of Art, Train Station Gallery, and the Becket Arts Center. He currently lives and works in his studio in Adams, MA. Some of his most recent works include a series of children’s books for Richard C. Owens Publishers, Inc.

The Bennington Museum is located at 75 Main Street (Route 9), Bennington. Regular admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and students over 18. Admission is never charged for younger students or to visit the museum shop and café.

Images:
The Ball of Gold, 24” x 30” oil on canvas
The Mask Family, 16” x 20” watercolor/ink

VIDEO: Tina Escaja at Flynndog in 2010

The traditional method for documenting exhibits is the printed catalog, but there are more options out there now, including video documentation. --Ed.

Tina Escaja, Ph.D. is a professor in the Romance Languages Department The University of Vermont. She was involved, as a poet and artist, in the show called Alter(ed) Ego (organized by Bren Alvarez and Marie Davis) at Flynndog in May and June, 2010. Escaja created a series of videos about that exhibit. This one looks at her part of the exhibit. Two other videos treat Bren Alvarez’s installation and the exhibit as a whole.

ESSAY: A paintbrush is a tool. A computer is a tool.

We are delighted to publish this essay by Kim Darling, an artist and art teacher at St. Johnsbury Academy, whose work you can see on her website, This essay deals with the sometimes controversial question of whether computer-generated or -enhanced work is “art,” and brings to us the important perspective and experience of a teacher working with the upcoming generation of visual artists. - Ed.

By Kim Darling

Years ago, when I had recently finished my study of painting at the Art Students League of New York and was working hard in my studio to further develop my skills and voice, I had a conversation with my father that has stuck with me through the years. My father is a physicist who worked for the navy, programming and using computers from the time that they were gargantuan machines, filling large rooms. Those computers were programmed using punched cards of heavy paper, and my first drawings were made on discarded punch cards. I wish I still had some of those drawings. They would be interesting artifacts of the early days of the technology that I use today.

The conversation - or rather, argument - that my father and I engaged in had to do with painting and computers. He said that someday computers would be able to paint. I said that no, they wouldn't - painting is a uniquely HUMAN activity - and while a computer might be able to be programmed to make certain kinds of marks and designs, it could never PAINT in the full sense of the word. It was a heated argument, and remained unresolved. I stuck to my side and he stuck to his. Now, as my own artwork and my work with students becomes increasingly involved with technology, the memory of this argument is never far beneath the surface of my thinking. The fact that, despite my own use of new media, I have never changed my position, informs my work with students every day.

Art-making is a human endeavor, whether using a piece of charcoal, a brush and paint; clay; a camera and darkroom; or computer hardware and software. It is in the interface between human intention, tools and materials that ideas are manipulated, and it is the artifacts of that process that are shared as "art". With some tools, such as a brush, the interface between human brain, hand and artifact is fairly direct, seemingly simple to understand - and innately human. We humans have been making marks with intended meaning for a long time. With complex technologies, the tool itself sometimes influences the form of the artifact to such an extent that its very hard to know how much of the work can be attributed to a specific artist's ideas, and how much of what we are seeing is that which a program was designed by someone else - or by numerous other people - to do. When I first began employing complex programs, like Photoshop, in my work, I would see all those names of the developers of the program come up when the program was opening, and I felt like they were all unknowing collaborators in my work. I've stopped noticing that - this complex arrangement of digital switches has become like a piece of charcoal to me in some sense - and I'm not sure what that means.

If simple mark-making with a stick is innately human, and effectively communicating with more complex technologies involves a complicated learning process, it makes sense to think of the simple media as being in some sense foundational to the more complex media. In my experience with students, it is in the simple encounters between idea and writing stick and paper that important compositional elements and ideas are most effectively explored, and the language of visual communication is worked out. As more complex technologies are employed as a means of expression, these basic elements of composition and expression are adapted and used, so I consider the idea that drawing is a foundation for other forms of visual communication to be valid. However, we can look at the idea of "foundation" in more than one way. Are traditional, hand-driven forms of art-making foundational in the sense that they should come first in the unfolding of an educational progression, and then they will lose their usefulness as a student becomes adept at more complex art-making forms? Or, do they function more the way the foundation of a building functions, or the way that learning to walk is foundational to the understanding of one's place, and knowledge of, the physical world? We don't discard the foundation once the house is built, or stop walking once we become oriented in the world.

The changing admission-portfolio requirements of post-secondary schools over the past ten-or-so years reflect an evolving understanding of the relationship between traditional art media and "new" media. Ten years ago drawings and paintings included in portfolios might be made from observation of life - but work that was copied from a photograph or traced and filled in was just as acceptable to schools, as was an image produced entirely from the imagination. A variety of media - sculpture, collage, pottery, and photography - was acceptable and encouraged, for showing a student's diversity of experience. A few years ago most schools began to require the bulk of a portfolio to be drawings made from direct observation, which seemed to be evidence of a growing understanding of the importance of drawing as a foundation for other visual work, as well as a response to the large number of works schools were receiving that had a technology-derived finished quality to them, making it difficult for evaluators to understand how much of the production of the work was due to the student's own efforts and abilities, and how much was due to technology. Over the past few years, schools have required evidence of highly developed visual problem-solving skills through drawing, and they have discouraged technology-created artwork - even for entry into computer-design related programs. However, from talking to students in these schools, it became obvious that, after entry into the programs, very little emphasis was placed on drawing itself. The attitude seemed to be: you've got that as a foundation, now we'll teach you the real, important stuff.

This year I've noticed a shift in post-secondary education toward an increased focus on work made with the hand, while, at the same time, art and design programs are asking for either a student's "best work", regardless of the medium, in application portfolios, or a combination of drawing from observation and digital work - as well as work in other hand mediums. Artisan programs and craft schools are proliferating, MFA programs in drawing have appeared, and the ideal students entering a computer graphics or game design course of study will both be able to draw, and have computer design skills. Schools are expecting more from their applicants than they used to - and I think that this is because, as animation and game design has become such a huge part of visual culture, the need for strong drawing skills has entered the public consciousness. With animation software so available, to retain a relevant position within the culture, visual art schools need to keep the quality of what they are turning out a step or two above what anybody with a computer and a little knowledge of drawing can do. They are asking for evidence of a high level of combined skill in application portfolios. They ask for these things because they can, they know that students with these skills are out there, and they need to keep ahead of the game.

Here is the way I see these changing cultural positions in relationship to art and technology playing out in my high school students. When planning individual projects and exhibitions, students increasingly want to use sophisticated technologies - particularly video and digital photography. I encourage this, but almost always find that the students know less than they think they know about creating quality work with digital media. Programs like iMovie that are designed for ease of use with minimal involvement with learning about the how and why of the way they work lead students into a false sense of proficiency. They can make a video that their friends think is great and, with a keystroke, upload it to YouTube, but they know almost nothing about video production and editing. They commit themselves to complex projects, then they realize the unbelievable amount of work that is ahead of them. They lose hard-earned video clips because they don't understand what exporting a file is - and they have little sense of how to adequately save and back up their work. They crash their computers because they have no conception of the size files that they are working with - and that in the process of editing they are duplicating those huge files over and over again.

A couple of years ago I was questioning the value of teaching complex technologies within a high school art program. Our place seemed to be more in developing solid foundation skills - and particularly, drawing skills - that would place our students in a strong position for continued work in whatever medium they chose, as well as keep them competitive in the college admissions process. I think that our job has recently become harder. While solid traditional art-making skills are more important than ever, so is a working knowledge of technology. And as popular image manipulation and video editing software increasingly provide easy templates for maneuvers that simulate professional work, we need to be sure that students are gaining a basic understanding of file handling and sharing, and we need to provide real professional software to students to learn and to use, so they aren't confined to the moves that are built into popular software programs.

Again -

A paintbrush is a tool, and so is a computer.

Images:
Mannequins withTV heads, by Yemaya Briggs-Guzman
Projected video, which included a video including interviews with the St. Johnsbury Academy kitchen staff, by Hanley Chu

PRESS RELEASE: Sam Thurston presents Christian Art and Images at the United Church of Christ in Craftsbury Common

The Art House and the United Church of Christ on Craftsbury Common collaborate this February and March to bring you a winter speaker series focusing on sacred images in art. These talks will take place at the Church on the Common. For more information on this collaboration, please email Sarah Mutrux at vtarthouse@gmail.com.

Sam Thurston will present Christian Art and Images: History of Christian Art and Imagery from the Earliest Times

Friday, February 3, 2012
At United Church of Christ, Craftsbury Common
6:30 - 8:00 pm

Artist and art historian Sam Thurston of Lowell, Vermont, explores the evolution of Christian images from the 3rd century AD through the 20th century. Thurston will show a selection from some of the earliest works of art through the Renaissance into the modern, speaking about symbol, meaning, and expression.

This talk is hosted by The Art House and the United Church of Craftsbury on Craftsbury Common. The talk will be in the sanctuary of the church, with a reception and refreshments provided by the Deacons of the Church after the talk.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: Julia Shirar in Gallery II at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson


People in Places is a collection of Julia Shirar's most recent paintings and drawings, on exhibit from February 11th through March 10th in Gallery II at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson. There will be an opening reception beginning at 7PM on February 11.

Gallery II is located on the side of the Wolf Kahn Studio Building at the Vermont Studio Center, 80 Pearl Street in Johnson.

Shirar says, “In the tradition of the 19th century itinerant painter, I’m recording a small part of our time through portraiture and landscape, depicting people and places. It is an on ongoing documentation, a subjective partial record of right now. The Gallery II exhibit has work from New York, Oakland and Los Angeles, California and a little bit of Vermont.

Julia Shirar received a BFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA and an MFA in Painting from California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland,CA . She lived in Oakland for 17 years, where she was a Senior Adjunct Professor in the Film department at California College of the Arts and a Sound Designer for feature films to support her painting.

She started thinking about documentation through portraiture and landscape as a reaction to her close work with the simulacra of film, and the isolation of her profession. She saw anew the value of human interaction as a means through which to collect history and started documenting Oakland. In 2008 she was a resident at Vermont Studio Center, where the work began evolving into a collaboration with the sitter, involving props and symbolism, a loose narrative of our time with hints of the apocalyptic. She relocated to the East Coast recently as a caretaker for a funeral home in Queens, and returned to VSC to make one of the portraits in the show of Dan Allen. Because of the scale of the more narrative paintings, this is the first chance she’s had to show them.

Images: Top - Dale; Bottom: Mick

PRESS RELEASE: Jude Bond and Michelle Saffran at Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace in Burlington


Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace on Flynn Avenue in Burlington is pleased to announce an exhibition in February of work from Vermont artists and photographers Jude Bond and Michelle Saffran. This exhibition featuring black and white and color photography will open on First Friday, February 3rd with a reception from 5-8pm, and runs through February 29th. Also in the month of February, Vintage Inspired will feature art work from the community at The Lodge at Shelburne Bay. Vintage Inspired, A vibrant new marketplace for antique dealers, artists and craftspeople, is located at 180 Flynn Avenue, and is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10am to 5pm, Sunday from 12pm to 4pm and closed Mondays.

Artist Jude Bond’s silver gelatin prints entitled Yours Till Niagara Falls; Brides and Grooms and Honeymoons are a photographic celebration of love, marriage, honeymoons, waterfalls, smooches, pools, geysers, rocks, rivers, caves, carnivals, and attractions – both tourist and otherwise. The series is an ode to both the vernacular candid snapshot and the vintage cabinet card, a posed studio-style portrait genre with atmospheric hand-painted backdrops. Taking something old and something new -- in this case old and new photographs, and old and new technology -- Jude has created faux snapshots of happy couples as they traverse the USA visiting such familiar locales as The Carlsbad Caverns, Mount Rushmore, and Marine World. These silver gelatin prints are intimate little treasures presented to accentuate their object-ness. They provide a glimpse of romance that is tender yet archly amusing. Jude has exhibited her work all over Vermont for over 15 years, and facilitates the Early Arts program at Burlington City Arts. www.judebond.net

Michelle Saffran creates photographs that deal with issues of gender identity, loss of innocence, passage of time and our temporal existence. In her artist statement, Saffran states that she “looks to the tradition of still life painting for inspiration, and is particularly provoked by the dark moodiness and heavy symbolism of the Dutch and Spanish still life paintings of the early 16th Century.” Michelle holds a BFA in photography from Minneapolis College of Art and Design and exhibits her work throughout the area. She is a photography and design teacher at Burlington City Arts and is currently pursuing an MFA in Visual Arts from the Art Institute of Boston. www.michellesaffranphotography.com

Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace on Flynn Avenue in Burlington, VT is a funky & accessible source of vintage goods for inspired lifestyles. It is a delight for shoppers wanting to combine a love for antiques, curious goods and art. Owner, Mary Heinrich Aloi has a truly inspired eye and her shop is a destination for in-the-know pickers, collectors, and art lovers. For more information and directions to the Marketplace, please visit www.vintageinspired.net


Images
Jude Bond, Gorilla, Bride & Bug, Silver Gelatin Print, 2008
Jude Bond, The Deep End, Silver Gelatin Print, 2008

PRESS RELEASE: All Aboard at Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville



Bryan Memorial Gallery presents

All Aboard: an Exhibition of Trains

as its featured exhibition Friday, February 3 - Sunday, April 1, 2012. This exhibition in its East Gallery includes model trains, toy trains, historical train objects and an extensive presentation of the train in fine art and videos.

The opening reception is Sunday, February 5. At 1 PM: An Artists Roundtable will feature four artists in the exhibition. A reception in honor of all the artists is from 2 - 4. There is no admission charge for the roundtable or the reception.

Curated by Fiona Cooper Fenwick, with assistance from Marclay Davis, All Aboard amasses a vast cross section of railroad culture and imagery, from actual objects from the earliest days of the railroad in Vermont, to model trains and toy trains, and a significant collection of the train in fine art and photography today.

Among the lenders to the exhibition are the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury; the St. Albans Historical Museum, The St. Johnsbury Railroad Heritage Society and Stowe Historical Society. Among the artists on exhibit are David and Line Tutwiler, Gary Davis Lang, David Plowden, Jim Shaughnessy, Kevin Fahey, Christopher Jenkins and 20 Vermont artists juried into the exhibition from among Bryan Gallery members.

Among the collectors who have loaned to the exhibit are Shaun Phillips, Bill Sander, Jim Murphy, Bob Jones, Ramsey Yoder, Wayne Senville and Nancy Engels. Many more lenders in each category contributed over 500 objects to this exhibition.

The exhibit will also include a selection of videos on demand from such video artists as the late Charles and Ray Eames (Toccata for Toy Trains,) and Jim Jones of Vermont.

The gallery is open Friday - Sunday, 11 - 4 and by appointment at any time. Bryan Memorial Gallery is at 180 Main Street, Jeffersonville, Vermont. 802-644-5100. www.bryangallery.org. There is no admission charge.

Images:
David Tutwiler: Steamin' Round The Bend, oil on linen
Mary Bryan: Night Trains, watercolor
Kevin Fahey: Railyard at Sayre, PA, oil on linen

PRESS RELEASE: Kevin Fahey at Galleria Fine Arte in Stowe

Galleria Fine Arte, at 6 Sunset Street in Stowe Village, will Feature Artist Kevin Fahey, A Painter's Voice, from January 27 - February 26, 2012. The show will open on Friday Jan. 27, from 5pm to 7pm.


Kevin Fahey was born in the small town of Sayre , in north central Pennsylvania. His first exposure to the art world was in his teens, when he studied oil painting with his Dutch neighbor, Lily Belle Isle. He went on to studies in advertising design at Mohawk Valley College in Utica , New York.

After moving to Vermont in 1981, he started cooking and eventually worked with Arthur O'Connor (Bourbon Street Grill and Mona's in Burlington VT) and Albert Lattanzi, owner of Lattanzi's, on Martha's Vineyard, MA. He has worked as a private chef for 23 years with international clients.

Painting off and on through the years, the decision to paint full-time came and cooking went back burner..literally. Fahey paints in a realistic style,seeking the beauty and mystery in his subjects.

Image: Home Hill 12x36"

PRESS RELEASE: Art of the Chair at Chandler Gallery in Randolph

An innovative exhibit opens at Chandler Gallery in Randolph, Vermont Saturday January 21. The subject is the chair. The focus is process, history, personalization, and personification beyond the limits of sitting. The exhibit Art of the Chair: Process and Possibility will open with a gallery reception on Saturday, January 21 from 5 – 7 p.m. The show runs through March 6.

Works include two and three-dimensional pieces in a variety of styles bringing twenty artists together from all corners of Vermont.Two-dimensional works include pieces by Rona Cohen, Jan Fowler, Lisa Kippen, Ken Leslie, Marjorie Ryerson, Arthur Schaller, Cameron Schmitz, Ronnie Solbert and Stephanie Suter.

Three-dimensional works were created by artists Angelo Arnold, Ria Blaas, Paul Calter, Michael Cunningham, Christine Hartman, David Hurwitz, Antoinette Jacobson, Karolina Kawiaka, Michael Tulloch, Maxwell A.Van Pelt and Wouter Zwart.

The show is curated by Kirstin Quick and Janet Cathey. A cash bar and light refreshments will be available at the opening reception.

Surround events include a chair-painting workshop on Saturday, February 4 from 9 – 1 p.m. A gallery talk will be given by some of the exhibiting artists on Saturday, February 18 from 1 – 3 p.m. Admission is by donation.

Chandler Gallery hours are Thursdays 4 – 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 – 3 p.m. For more information please call 802-431-0204 or contact Betsy Cantlin at outreach@chandler-arts.org

PRESS RELEASE: Opening of gallery at Phoenix Books in Essex


Art fans are invited to meet the artists at The Gallery at Phoenix Books' art opening on Sunday, January 29th from 3:00pm through 5:00pm. Light fare will be provided, and the reception is free and open to the public. Featured artists will include Paige Dunbar, Rick Evans, Eric Fitzgerald, Brittany Foster, Donna McDermid, and artists of the Essex Art League.

As at their first official gallery exhibit, Phoenix has chosen to feature a range of local talent. Rick Evans, a graphic artist hailing from Underhill, takes commissions for pen-and-ink drawings of page 100 of (almost) any book. Donna McDermid creates sculptural images with felted wool. Brittany Foster and Paige Dunbar are high school students from Essex and Hardwick, respectively. Foster works primarily in acrylics. Dunbar is a photographer, as is fifth-generation Vermonter Eric Fitzgerald.

The exhibit will stay up through the beginning of March. The gallery (along with the associated bookstore and cafe) is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am through 7:00pm, Saturday from 10:00 am through 7:00 pm, and Sunday from 11:00am through 6:00pm. For more information, please visit our website or call 872-7111.

About Phoenix Books:
Phoenix Books was established in 2007 on the principles of social responsibility, community, and sustainability. Phoenix Books is a locally-owned, independent bookstore, gallery, and café, and a proud member of Local First Vermont and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. Whenever possible, Phoenix Books sources eco-friendly products from Fair Trade/Green Certified companies.

Images: A Piece of the Story by Donna McDermid; Photograph by Eric Fitzgerald

PRESS RELEASE: Joelen Mulvaney presents slides at Seminary Art Center in Waterbury Center


Seminary Art Center will be hosting a series of artist slide show & talk series this Winter & Spring. They are free events to help connect local artists and the community. The first show will be on Friday February 10th from 6:30-8:30 pm. Joelen Mulvaney of Barre will be presenting her slides of paintings and installations. Mulvaney describes her work, "I do three types of work. One is the empty mind approach and is entirely extemporaneous, the second involves deep research in a particular subject matter and the third arrives like a dream which is then interpreted. Sometimes the expression is painting, other times some kind of construction or installation, whichever suits the occasion."

Seminary Art Center
is located on 201 Hollow Road in Waterbury Center.

PRESS RELEASE: Ian and Saskia Reinholt at Townsend Gallery at Black Cap Coffee in Stowe


For the month of February Townsend Gallery at Black Cap Coffee will feature the work of two Maine artists, husband and wife, Ian and Saskia Reinholt.

Ian Reinholt is a master furniture maker who focuses on creating contemporary heirloom furniture that melds the natural beauty of wood with the elegance of traditional techniques. Ian is also owner of Lucid Skis a small alpine ski company in Phillips, Maine that produces hand crafted custom skis. Emphasis is on high performance and unique wood veneer top sheets.

Saskia Reinholt is an oil painter, water colorist, stained glass artist, and owns an art gallery in Kingfield, Maine. Currently her work focuses on the beauty of winter light reflecting off of snow and ice.

To see the art, furniture, and skis please come and meet the artists on Saturday February 25th from 4-7 pm at the closing reception. Live music and refreshments provided.

PRESS RELEASE: James Vogler at Left Bank Home & Garden in Burlington



Left Bank Home & Garden, Burlington’s newest home furnishings boutique, is currently featuring an exhibit of paintings by James Vogler, through February 29th. A store opening reception will be held on February 3rd from 5-8pm in conjunction with Burlington’s First Friday Art Walk.

Vogler describes his work as follows: “Overlapping color and suggestions of line and light are used 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.”

The exhibit at Left Bank Home & Garden is a diverse selection of Vogler’s work, ranging from 2009-2011. As such, the viewer can see his expressive progression of color, form, and line quality.

James Vogler received his BA in Painting from Kean University and Masters in Art History from Rutgers University and Kean University. He then worked as an art installer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York while he continued to paint and develop his style of color field abstraction. Since returning to painting in 2007, Vogler has exhibited works widely in New England, working largely in the oil and wax media.

Left Bank Home & Garden is located two blocks west of Church Street, at 127 Bank Street in downtown Burlington. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am-6pm and Monday by appointment. Visit www.leftbankhome.com for more information.

Image:
Corner Lot - 30"x24" oil/wax on canvas, 2009
Needs A Washer - 40"x30" oil/wax on canvas, 2010

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: Clark Derbes at Helen Day Art Center in Stowe





Clark Derbes' Shapescapes are in the East Gallery of Helen Day Art Center from January 20 - February 26, 2012

Opening Reception: January 20, 2012, 6 pm

Derbes uses a multitude of materials and surfaces to create paintings, sculptures, and installations, ranging in size from the miniscule to the monumental.

PRESS RELEASE: Art on Burton at Helen Day Art Center in Stowe


The Art on Burton

January 20 - April 15, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday January 20, 6 pm

The Art on Burton examines the profound role of art and design on the culture of snowboarding through the lens of Vermont's Burton Snowboards.

Snowboarding's reputation as a counter-culture lifestyle enables companies like Burton to visually push the envelope, collaborating with artists on product design. Not only does this positively impact the experience of the rider, it also supports the artist by increasing visibility of their work. There are few other examples where fine artists' work reaches the public so directly and extensively - consumed and viewed by thousands.

The Art on Burton focuses on designers and artists who have contributed to the design and image of Burton, highlighting significant moments and innovations. Original artwork, sketches, board graphics, and videos by: Basquiat, Thomas Campbell, Kevin Cyr, Futura, Mike Giant, Greg Gossel, Maya Hayuk, Andy Jenkins, David Kinsey, Andrei Molodkin, Michael Montanaro, Jari Salo, Lance Violette, Andy Warhol, and William Wasden.

PRESS RELEASE: Cool It Now at Colburn Gallery at UVM in Burlington


Cool It Now

An exhibition of recent Ceramic Sculpture and Pottery
from UVM Art Faculty and Alumni

Artists included in the exhibition :

Hoyt Barringer
Steve Carter
Nick Earl
Jenn Galusha
Ian Winsemius

Closing Reception is on Wednesday January 25 at 6:30pm
Music by percussionist Andrew Mallon

PRESS RELEASE: Natural Wonders at BigTown Gallery in Rochester

At BigTown Gallery, 99 North Main in Rochester, Vermont

Natural Wonders
Main Gallery: John Udvardy and Marcy Hermansader
Center Gallery: Anda Dubinskis

January 18 - March 19, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 21, 5-7 pm

This exhibition brings together the work of three singularly distinctive artists: Marcy Hermansader, Anda Dubinskis, and John Udvardy—a grouping that serves as a study in juxtaposition, of energetic contrasts and potent evocations of spirit inhabiting nature, here expressed in painting and sculpture.

Marcy Hermansader has characterized her work as a response to a pervasive “mystification,” an ongoing self-inquiry that asks: How does meaning emerge from art? Hermansader’s deeply personal, richly imagined drawings emerge from the provocations of real-life stimuli, be it literary or musical, from travel, out of memory, or fantasy; the trigger can be personal circumstance, or a social setting, it might even be political. The works are composed by combining mixed media—pencil, acrylic, foils, fabrics, thread, sequins—diverse materials that disappear into the exquisite figurative abstraction. Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Senior Curater of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, said of this suite of drawings when it was exhibited there in 1990, under the title Belief in the Underground: The Art of Marcy Hermansader: "They [the drawings] should be seen as imaginary maps of states of being, or feeling, in which objects from daily life assume magical properties."

John Udvardy's sculptural assemblages of found wood, paper, metal, plaster, and parts peer directly into a face-to-face encounter with Nature, and especially into its intersection with Time. His deft reappropriations and repurposing of selected natural materials confer a meaningful and expressive afterlife as Art, on what otherwise had been discarded, post-function. Udvardy’s work exudes a precision of balance and proportion that seems of a piece with the near boundless elaboration of organic forms found in Nature, but it argues its aesthetic, and seats any claim for meaning, strictly within the particular and specific; Udvardy works from a physical sense of merging with the heft of his objects, so to discover how things, in sculpture, find each other. The balance objects seek—in weight and form, and in color—when they are brought into proximity, placed in combination, is the initiating principle animating his work.

Anda Dubinskis’s work for this exhibition is selected from three of her series in gouache: Flora and Fauna, Little Poems, and Let’s Talk. The graphic and design elements, as well as the aspects and attributes of the figuration, combine into set-like stagings that insert the highly-charged immediacy of acute psychological states into the structures and confines of an enduring, natural world. An omniscient clarity suffuses each piece, as with an Audobon-like precision, Dubinskis transforms space into habitable environment by sparely (never sparsely) furnishing detail—salient, succinct, personalized—fit to that figure's life, be it animal’s, plant’s, or person’s.

Marcy Hermansader, Putney, VT; Anda Dubinskis, Philadelphia, PA; and John Udvardy, Bristol, RI; have widely exhibited throughout the northeast. Both Hermansader and Dubinskis have shown at the Fleisher-Ollman Gallery in Philadelphia. Dubinskis has taught at Swarthmore, the University of Pennsylvania, Moore College of Art, Arcadia University and Tyler School of Art, and is currently on the Visual Arts faculty of Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. Udvardy is retired from a long teaching career at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Images:
Marcy Hermansader, After, 1988, colored pencil, acrylic, spray-paint, and foil on paper, 20.25" x 20"
John Udvardy, Spiritwalker / Muse, 2011, glazed earthware, painted cardboard, wood, 25" x 8" x 10"
Anda Dubinskis, Civita, 2010, gouache on rice printed rice paper, 26" x 19"

Friday, January 13, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: Janet Wormser at Vermont Arts Council’s Spotlight Gallery in Montpelier

The Vermont Arts Council’s Spotlight Gallery is currently hosting an exhibit of paintings by Cabot artist Janet Wormser, through February 29th. A reception will be held on February 10th from 4PM to 7PM in conjunction with Montpelier’s Art Walk.

Wormser began painting in the early ‘80s after seeing an exhibit of work by Fairfield Porter. She sees herself as an artist who is "interested in creating an immediacy, a presence on canvas that feels like a natural wholeness, a mood of beauty and emotion that comes from [her] passion for form and color."

She explains further: “I love the aesthetic vitality of painters such as Bonnard and Matisse, the quiet of Morandi and Vuillard, and the anonymous marks of Hodgkin. My goal is to create paintings that aspire to incorporate the beauty, feeling and sensitivity that these painters impart in their work. In living a contemplative life close to nature, I have wondered how I could dig into my imagination and with paint create the equivalent of tone poems.”

The Spotlight Gallery is located in the Vermont Arts Council offices at 136 State Street in Montpelier and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm.

Image: Landscape, oil on canvas, 24 x 24" , 2011

PRESS RELEASE: Robyn Osiecki and Róbert Herold at the Gallery at Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier

The Gallery at Lost Nation Theater is excited to announce that the international, award-winning iPhoneography show Distortions will light up its space in concert with Lost Nation Theater's Winterfest! 2012. Exhibiting artists are Robyn Osiecki (Middlesex, Vermont) and Róbert Herold (Pécs, Hungary).

The exhibit will run concurrent with LNT's Winterfest! (Thursdays through Sundays, February 2nd through February 26th). During this period the show/gallery will be open 1-1/2 hours before curtain time. Alternatively, interested folks may call the theater at 802-229-0492 or email robyn@lostnationtheater.org to arrange a special viewing appointment with the artists.

The Gallery at Lost Nation Theater is located in City Hall Auditorium Arts Center (second floor, in the lobby space of the theater), 39 Main Street, downtown Montpelier, Vermont.

What is iPhoneography?

iPhoneography is an approach to the art of photography that - as with all prior forms - embraces new tools and techniques as part of the creative quest. This emergent medium challenges the artist to use the iPhone as the sole tool for capturing, processing, and publishing photographs.

There is something inspiring about shooting with a simple fixed lens and few physical controls, all on a device that fits in the pocket and serves a wide variety of other purposes. One also discovers the highly personal aspect of doing all the editing in the palm of the hand. It is an intimate and highly satisfying journey that in many ways transcends the darkroom or Photoshop experience. Add the simplicity and the social aspects of posting from the same device, and this all-in-one package for capturing, processing and publishing makes the iPhone a compelling platform.

About the Artists

Robyn Osiecki (unruly-e) Robyn was named one of the top 50 mobile photographers of 2011 by iPhoneogenic, had one of her images chosen as a best-of 2011 by lifeinlofi, and is currently in the semi-finals for the 2011 IPA Mobile Art Award Grant. The artist has been featured at P1xels At An Exhibition, iPhoneogenic, and iPhoneart; appeared in the "Style without Boundries" gallery show at the 2011 London Design Festival; has had several works chosen for accolades at iPhoneography (UK), Eye’em (Germany), LifeInLofi (US), Bickr (UK), PixelsAtAnExhibition (US), and fotoigriPhone (Italy); and teaches advanced iphoneography techniques at iPhoneographyCentral. Most recently, Robyn won the "Filterstorm" category of the 2011 International Mobile Photo Awards (MPA) with a post-Irene image, which will travel as part of the MPA exhibits.

Róbert Herold (_HerRo) Róbert is a Hungary-based mobile photographer. He carries great pride in taking and editing all of his works exclusively on an iphone. Róbert's images have been exhibited throughout the United States and he currently has two works in the Miami iPhoneography Exhibition. Róbert was tagged one of the top 50 mobile photographers of 2011; he was named featured artist on both iPhoneogenic and P1xels At An Exhibition; several of his images were showcased at PixelsAtAnExhibition, fotogriPhone, iPhoneogenic, Life In LoFi, and Eye'em; and he has had multiple works appear in print media. Most recently, Róbert won the "Digital Art & Collage" category of the 2011 International Mobile Photo Awards (MPA) and two of his images will part of the traveling MPA exhibits.

Images:
Robert Herold, The Visitation of Mr. Horatius, from Véménd, Hungary
Robyn Osiecki, Until the bricks started to melt in the rain, from the (now-former) state office complex, Waterbury, Vermont

Thursday, January 12, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: Elinor Steele at the Jackson Gallery at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury

Elinor Steele: The Art of Tapestry

January 6 - February 26, 2012
Opening Reception Friday, January 13, 2012

Award-winning designer/weaver Elinor Steele combines a strong sense of color and composition with meticulous craftsmanship to create her contemporary hand-woven tapestries, on exhibit at the Jackson Gallery at Town Hall Theater at 68 South Pleasant Street in Middlebury until February 26.

Exhibiting nationally for over 30 years, she has been commissioned to create numerous works for corporate, healthcare, and residential settings. This exhibit features examples from several of her series, including abstract and impressionistic images, landscapes, and geometric compositions, along with information on the art and history of tapestry making.

The design process for the recent Reconstruction series involves deconstructing shapes and images until they are no longer recognizable, and then reorganizing them in a new composition which has strength and balance - a metaphor for rebuilding the fragments left by an act of violence. The Barns series combines abstract composition layered with representational images of hay barns, perhaps in an effort to preserve these images as they are disappearing from the landscape.

Working from a small scale printed color drawing and a full sized "cartoon" or line pattern, Steele interprets her designs while weaving by hand on a high-warp loom using traditional tapestry techniques. Combining several strands from a large palette of wool yarns to achieve the desired colors and gradients, she takes full advantage of the rich tone and texture that are inherent in the medium.

Steele studied Fine Art at the University of New Hampshire and Tapestry at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. With creative interests in music and theater as well as art, she currently directs the Jackson Gallery and is the Box Office manager at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury, Vermont.

The Art of Tapestry will be on exhibit at the Jackson Gallery at Town Hall Theater from January 6 through February 26, with an opening reception on Friday, January 13, from 5 - 7 pm. Gallery hours are Monday - Saturday from noon - 5:00 pm, and during theater events. The Gallery is located on the lower level of Town Hall Theater on Merchants Row, Middlebury. All exhibits are free and open to the public.

Images: Reconstruction and Autumn Leaves, Winter

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: David Kearns at Gallery II Vermont Studio Center, Johnson.



"OUT OF THE WOODS", recent acrylic paintings on a variety of supports by David E. Kearns
Now through February 10th, 2012 in Gallery II @ the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT.

Gallery II is located on the side of the Wolf Kahn Studio Building at the Vermont Studio Center, 80 Pearl Street, in Johnson, VT.

"In January 2011, I embarked on a cross-country road trip with my dog, Seamus. After an extended stay in the Bay Area, including a month-long studio residency at the Last Avenue Studios in San Francisco's Outer Sunset neighborhood, we found our way back to Vermont. "OUT OF THE WOODS" is a show of work made during and immediately following this trip. After a dozen years painting in, and inspired by, the Vermont woods, I found new inspiration in the landscape of the American Southwest, the Pacific Coast, and the hills of the East Bay, as well as the various urban locales and long-deserted ghost towns we explored."

Friday, January 6, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: Sculpture at FLYNNDOG in Burlington




Join us this First Friday, January 6th at FLYNNDOG 6 to 8 pm for

Fluid Dynamics: New Sculpture by
Ethan Bond-Watts, Homer Wells, and Chris Cleary


The exhibit will be up through February 25th

Image: pieces of the three artists work

PRESS RELEASE: David Smith at Claire’s in Hardwick




Paintings by David Smith
Claire's Restaurant, Hardwick, VT
January 9- March 11, 2012
Reception:
Monday, January 16, 4-6 PM

Image: Entrance, 22 x 36"

PRESS RELEASE: Isaac Wasuck at Dostie Bros. Frame Shop & Art Gallery in Burlington


Dostie Bros. Frame Shop & Art Gallery Presents The Figure of It Is, mixed media explorations of the human figure by the person called Isaac Wasuck. There will be an Artist’s Reception at Dostie Bros. Frame Shop & Art Gallery in the Historic Kilburn & Gates Building at 308 Pine St. in Burlington during the First Friday Art Walk on January 6 from 5-8pm featuring Hot Cider and Cookies! This reception is free and open to the public. There are regular gallery hours Mon-Sat 10am-6pm.

Image: Woman on Red

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: 30/30 Print Project at Amy Tarrant Gallery in Burlington

The 30/30 Anniversary Print Project is an exhibition and silent auction supporting the youth education scholarship programs of the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts and Burlington City Arts, in honor of the Flynn Center and BCA’s 30th anniversaries. Prints by the 30 artists can be seen here.

Opening Reception: Friday, January 6, 5pm, CASH BAR
Closing Reception: Saturday, February 18, 5pm

Participating artists, lead by artist/project coordinators Gregg Blasdel, Jennifer Koch and Sumru Tekin, created prints in BCA’s Print Studio at 250 Main Street, as well as the studio of Jennifer Koch.

Prints created by the artists will be part of a silent auction, beginning during the opening reception on January 6th at the Amy Tarrant Gallery. Bidding will continue during regular gallery hours, and end during the closing reception.

Image: print by Gregg Blasdel

Monday, January 2, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: Bryce LeVan Cushing and Rik (Wave) Kapler at BLCARTGRP Gallery in Chester



Bryce LeVan Cushing (Sculptor, Performance Artist, Chef, Garden Designer & Curator) has been busy for the past two decades working in the arts across a multitude of disciplines coast to coast in the United States and in Europe. He is thrilled to announce his latest undertaking, opening a modern art gallery in the new capital of contemporary art for Southern Vermont: Chester, VT. The gallery will feature cutting edge work from artists around the U.S. and abroad and is called BLCARTGRP Gallery. It is located at 297 Main Street in the MoonDog Cafe Building. The first show to open in the space is titled: Contempo-Take-O and features the dynamic polaroid transfer prints of Rik (Wave) Kapler and the mixed media sculptures of curator Bryce LeVan Cushing. This show opens with a gala event on January 22nd from 3-9 PM and runs through March 15th.

BLCARTGRP is proud to host Provincetown, Massachusetts - based fine artist Rik (Wave) Kapler for our inaugural event showcasing a retrospective of his polaroid transfer prints of Provincetown Carnival imagery. It is rare to see this type of groundbreaking work in a rural setting. "This body of work began with the hand-manipulation of images that have worked through the Polaroid transfer process and culminates with Poetic Prints that are made with Archival Pigmented Ink,” says Kapler.

This venue will offer an art experience not available anywhere else in Vermont with legendary NYC performers bringing their far left edgy grit to the pastoral New England countryside. The first in a series of performers coming to the gallery offering performance art during our openings are Needles Jones and Moonfire Tower. Needles has been a regular at the NY Times critically acclaimed Pussy Faggot perf art marathon as of late and he has been on the scene since the late 70's when he graced the stage of the Pyramid Club. He also hosted the Monday Night Club for several years in Philadelphia in the past decade.

MoonFire Tower is best knows for his work with "The Goddess" Joey Arias and has produced an homage to Joey including his underground hit single: "The Night I Fell For Joey Arias." MFT helped give rise to the gender-bending performance art style which flourished in the early 90's in Philly and other urban centers while he worked with artists such as Earl Dax, Raven O, Sherry Vine and John Kelly. These groundbreaking performers are now the impresarios of the genre.

At the opening of Contempo-Take-O MoonFire Tower will debut his new live guitar act of original songs as he opens for the fantastic local trio: The Break Maids. The Break Maids will play an extended set of rural carnival punk to round out the evening. Please join us for a night full of art, song and celebration.

Visitors to the BLCARTGRP Gallery, in the rear of the MoonDog Cafe Building at 297 Main Street in Chester, Vermont will experience a true modern art experience. The gallery will be open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM and by appointment. For more information please visit www.brycelevancushing.com, or call 802 843 1162. Contempo-Take-O runs from January 22nd to March 15th.

Images: Bryce LevanCushing, Blackbird; Rik (Wave) Kapler polaroid transfer prints

PRESS RELEASE: Student Photography at Gallery 160 in Richmond





Young Visions
, an exhibit of photographic works by students from Champlain Valley and Mount Mansfield Union High Schools, will be offered at Gallery 160 in Richmond from January 7th through February 15th.

Open House Hours are 10-4, January 13 & 14. The Artists’ Reception will be held Friday, January 13th from 5-7 pm. Gallery 160 is located at 160 East Main Street, Richmond.

Hours are by chance or appointment. Contact Scott & Kelly Funk at 434-6434.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: Robert Gold and Tami Crupi Zeman at Ilsley Library in Middlebury




Portraits: Different Points of View

Work by Dr. Robert Gold and Tami Crupi Zeman
Ilsley Library, Middlebury
January 3-29, 2012
Opening reception January 8th from 2-4pm.


Portraits: Different Points of View is about two photographers who use very different styles working in different mediums but showing similar subject matter.

Tami Crupi Zeman and Robert Gold met in 2009 while neighbors sharing a porch. They became friends because of their mutual interests in being artists and eventually shared a studio together. Tami uses a film camera and works in Black and White photography while Dr. Gold digitally manipulates his photographs and enhances them with acrylic paint.

The two have also collaborated on portraits. Tami would often borrow Dr. Gold's digital camera and leave photographs on it for Dr. Gold to manipulate.

Tami Crupi Zeman has a Master's degree in fine art and Dr. Gold has been self taught for the past 50 years. Dr. Gold feels his work has grown because of the interaction between the two artists while Tami feels Dr. Gold's productivity encourages her to produce and create more work.

When Tami and her husband Bruce moved there was a lapse in Tami and Dr. Gold's collaboration and it has recently been rejuvenated by the show. Portraits: Different Points of View evolved from this recent collaboration, the juxtaposition of Tami's black and white photographs with Dr. Gold's digitally manipulated, acrylic enhanced photographs.

Dr.Robert Gold lives in Middlebury and Tami Crupi Zeman resides in New Haven, Vermont. Artist websites at tamicrupi.com and robertgoldart.com

Images: Top: Tami Crupi Zeman, Now What; Bottom: Robert A. Gold, Self Portrait