Sunday, September 30, 2012

CALAIS: "Full Circle" at the Kent Museum

From the editor:  I wanted so much to attend the opening of this exhibit but couldn't. This morning I discovered that Abby Raeder had written about it on her blog and, with her permission, I've reprinted it below. I admire the work of so many of these artists, from sculptors Axel Stohlberg to fiber artist Karen Henderson to the inspired constructions of Janet Van Fleet, to name just a few. I'm so excited about this exhibit and what the curators have put together!

Full Circle: Vermont Artists Give Round a New Shape, will run through October 7, 2012 daily from 10 am to 5 pm at the Kent Museum in Calais. There will also be a silent auction to benefit CERF+ and you can find some additional information on the CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund) Web site, including directions to the Kent Museum.

Some of the artists included are: Axel Stohlberg, Chris Miller, Pat Musick, Gowri Savoor,  Karen Henderson,  Janet Van Fleet, Susan Sawyer, James Teuscher, Ken Leslie,  Sam Talbot Kelly and Gabrielle Dietzel, and Lochlin Smith. While Abby was not able to identify all of the work in her photos, some of you may recognize the artists by their work. Either way, I hope these few photos will be enough to entice you there.

- Meg Brazill, editor
_________________________________

Ephemeral Art

by Abby Raeder, Executive Director of The Vermont Institute of Contemporary Arts

The only certainty in life is nothing lasts forever.  Buddhists have made impermanence central to their philosophy, opening our eyes not only to the adverse side, but to the positive side of change. Impermanence can be frightening but also exhilarating.

On a cool, grey fall afternoon, on a drive to Burlington to meet with an artist, I took a detour, a detour to the remote town of Calais VT.  I was told of an art exhibit at the Kent Museum that was worth a visit. With 15 minutes to kill I drove through Montpelier, cruising north on an idyllic back road. The landscape was reminiscent of a romantic foreign epic. A thick opaque mist clung to the hills, as the meadows still glistened, moist from the morning dew.  Entranced by the scenery, not realizing until I hit a dirt pothole, the road went from paved to dirt. “This can’t be right”, I thought, “why would a museum be so off the beaten path?” I persevered and finally reached my destination, a historic red brick building, with a vinyl sign reading, The Kent Museum.




From what I understand, The Kent Museum is owned by the State and used to host a 9 day art exhibit during Open Studio Weekend in the fall. This year the exhibit, Full Circle, runs from September 28th – October 7th. The building is art in itself, lovingly restored. The interior is textured with old wood floors and walls stripped down to the bare original lathing slats, exposing its history and charm. Some walls have the peeled remains of a handsome colonial blue wallpaper giving evidence of a time gone by.



 

Then there is the artwork: metal mobiles, textured fiber art, bronze sculptures, and wall art made from found objects fill the building, two floors of it. The exhibit is spectacular, I was moved to tears. One room after another opens to additional work, installation art and metal work abound. There is a grace and elegance to the entire exhibit. The simplicity of the stark space gave focus, emphasizing the sheer beauty of the artwork.


 

The main feature for me was the ultimate example of impermanence, a sand painting (actually colored rice). I came upon the piece as three volunteers were laboriously adding grains of colored rice to the sketched design found on the second floor. The designer of the piece, artist extraordinaire, hovered over the three crouched women on the floor as they giggled with pride and excitement. How fortunate they were to be part of this unique installation. 

 
 

There are two extraordinary gals that are curating this show, Allyson Evans and Nel Emlen. I applaud these two for after months of preparation, they put this unique show together for a duration of just 9 days, then it all disappears. What is even more commendable, they do it just for the love of art.


 

Please, I implore you, treat yourself and make the bucolic drive to Calais to experience Full Circle, a collection of the best and brightest artists in our region, exhibited in a gracious historical building, made possible by the efforts of enthusiast volunteers.


 

For me what makes this exhibit even more riveting is with all the hard work needed to put this together, it disappears in just a few days.  Ahhh, the beauty of impermanence!

Oh, this joy of the rose, that it blows, and goes.  Willa Cather

Live in color,

Abby

To see more photos of the Full Circle exhibit please check out VTica's facebook page.



_________



This article is reprinted here courtesy of Abby Raeder at VTica. The original story can be seen on their blog, http://blog.vtica.com/2012/09/30/ephemeral-art.aspx and additional photos on their Facebook page.
Vermont Institute of Contemporary Arts (VTica) 
15 Depot Street PO Box 972
Chester, Vermont  05143 

MONTPELIER: Brent Gould at Capital Grounds Green Bean Visual Art Gallery.



Artist: Brent Gould
Exhibit Title: Angels, Sneakers, and Wheels
Dates of Exhibit: September 29 – October 28, 2012
Location: Green Bean Visual Art Gallery 
@ Capitol Grounds, Montpelier, VT 


Brent Gould’s long time passion for photography led him to fuse classical approaches with modern technology; he “developed [his] own way of translating digital capture to traditional print.” His experimentation with exposing prints has advanced his photographs into timeless art. 

Angels, Sneakers, and Wheels is a collection of Brent’s photographs exhibiting his “emotive portraits and other ephemera” and will be on view @ Green Bean Visual Art Gallery through the month of October.

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

images: Angel, Sneakers, and Wheels.  All Silver Gelatin Prints

Friday, September 28, 2012

MONTPELIER: Glen Coburn Hutcheson exhibit at The Shoe Horn

Drawings and Paintings of Sculpture: Glen Coburn Hutcheson
29 September - 30 November, 2012
The Shoe Horn, Montpelier


Hutcheson's own description (below) of his upcoming exhibit is reason enough to see it. The image here, Duel Interrupted, shows awkward figures leaking out from under penciled lines, as if held in place by graphite before erupting in a more violent splurge of paint. Hutcheson's suggestion, "Long looking is rewarded," is accurate - and important. This work demands a closer look before it will convey its secrets.

Hutcheson articulates his process while acknowledging how messy the mental work of artmaking is. And, he shares freely with us the power of the art to, at times, have its own way - a way that the artist both conquers and submits to. The work has a kind of emotional punch to it that may be surprising.

Hutcheson's work is on exhibit at The Shoe Horn, where one can inhale the smell of shoe leather to their heart's content.    - Meg Brazill, editor

Duel Interrupted, 27" x 40", homemade gouache, pencil and chalk on paper, 2012
 Artist's Statement: 

"Drawings and Paintings of Sculpture arose in a three-step process: first, shaky balanced sculptures formed, made out of found objects and previous sculptures. Paintings in homemade gouache on heavy paper came next, roughly depicting the sculptural arrangements. The sculptures usually fell over before the paint dried. The paintings then suggested figures and scenes, sketched out in pencil and chalk in the final (and often longest) stage. Some scenes still match the original sculptures fairly closely; others changed radically, including rotating 90 or 180 degrees.

It can be difficult to make out the intended figures in some pieces; the drawing and painting elements don't always align. Long looking is rewarded.

Part of the intent behind this series was to give voice to several layers of awareness at once. I was 'in charge' the whole time, but didn't usually know what would happen next. If something wasn't working, I quickly gave up and tried something else - anything else - to find a way to an image. I don't always like the narrative or characters in the end, but if they seem coherent I feel I ought to let them stay."


The Shoe Horn
8 Langdon Street
Montpelier, VT 05602


Image: Duel Interrupted, 27" x 40", homemade gouache, pencil and chalk on paper, 2012

Thursday, September 27, 2012

WOODSTOCK: LOCAL COLOR at ArtisTree Gallery

3rd Annual Autumn Exhibit of Local Color
ArtisTree Gallery
Opening: Friday, September 28th 5:30-8pm
Exhibit runs through Saturday, October 13, 2012


This year's exhibit coincides with the Fall Vermont Open Studios in which the gallery is a participant. Open Studios will be the weekend of October 6, 2012.

ArtisTree Gallery
1206 Route 12, Mount Tom Building
Woodstock, VT

802 457-3500
Gallery Hours - During exhibitions:
11am - 4pm, Tuesday - Saturday

ST. JOHNSBURY: Rosamond Orford photographs

Elemental Matter: Rocks and Water, photographs by Rosamond Orford
Artist reception: Saturday, October 6, 3-5 pm
Guild's Backroom Gallery, The Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild
On exhibit: September 28 through November 17, 2012

Bandelier, NM (photograph) by Rosamond Orford
The title, Elemental Matter: Rocks and Water, reflects Orford's interest in the designs, colours and patterns of the natural world, in this case rocks and water.

For 30 years Rosamond Orford's photographs have been seen in her Upcountry postcards and notecards, sold throughout New England and beyond. Her book "Water Colours" shows, in both abstract and representational ways, her fascination with the effect of light on water, and the ever changing colours, moods and rhythms of water.

Smith River, CA (photograph) by Rosamond Orford)
Her work has been shown in Santa Fe, New Mexico; in Colorado, and widely in northern New England. Photomurals, taken from the frontispiece of her book, can be seen on the walls of 3 floors of the New York Law School Library in New York City. Largely self-taught, Rosamond Orford has studied with such photographic luminaries as Ernst Haas and Sam Abell.






The Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild
430 Railroad St.
St. Johnsbury, Vt.
802-467-3701
www.nekartisansguild.com

Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10:30-5:30 / Sunday 11:00-3:00

UPPER VALLEY: Lois Masor Beatty to exhibit new monoprints.

Lois Masor Beatty - New Monoprints
Squared Lines XVI, a collagraph by Lois Beatty
Two Rivers Printmaking Studio
Opening Reception: Friday, October 5, 

6 - 8 pm
Exhibit continues through October 31, 2012



Lois Masor Beatty, long-time artist member and board member at Two Rivers Printmaking Studio will be showing new monoprints done in collagraph and solar-plate etching in October.

Lois has been a member of Two Rivers since its first year of existence when she moved to the Upper Valley from Boston. Early in her career she preferred painting to printmaking  because the repetition of making a traditional edition of the same image did not appeal to her. Then she discovered monoprints and was hooked. This endlessly variable medium allows the artist to work themes by repeating part of an idea and making new, altered versions of a print. She was introduced to monoprints at Rugg Road Paper and Prints in Somerville, Massachusetts. When she moved to the Upper Valley, she joined the studio and learned a wide range of both traditional and experimental techniques from the many talented artists who have been involved with the studio.

The work in this show makes use of collagraph printmaking which uses coated and carved cardboard instead of metal for plates, as well as solar plate printmaking which is another non-toxic method using a steel plate coated with a light-sensitive material that is developed using light and water. Lois says that, "I enjoy particularly the opportunity monoprinting gives the artist for spontaneity and a fluid, painterly result."

Two Rivers Printmaking Studio
85 North Main Street
White River Junction, VT
(802)295-5901
www.tworiversprintmaking.com


BURLINGTON: Abby Meaker's Photography at Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace

The Unseen, featuring black & white and color photography by Abbey Meaker will be on exhibit at Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace.
Reception: First Friday, October, 5 - 8 pm
On Exhibit: October 5 through 30, 2012


Los Angeles film critic and poet Dreux Moreland describes Abbey Meaker’s photography in this way:
“There is a scene in Chris Marker's 1962 film, La Jetee, in which a woman, after a remarkable dissection of cross-dissolves, suddenly comes alive: staring into the hollow face of the camera, the future of love blinks her eyes. After twenty minutes of still photographs and auditory association, the moment is nothing short of revelation. Abbey Meaker's photographic work is an evocative touchstone of the same variety. Like the coma victim who exists in solipsism, a state of perpetual twilight, faintly working memories like rosary beads inside the cathedral of time which is the skull, the photographs tug me to places I have only visited in the gray. A hand lost to fog, a building equally consumed by weeds, by moss, by emulsion, a woman looking for the vanishing traces of youth in a window, the erotic riptide of loss.”

Artist Abbey Meaker grew up in Putney, Vermont and currently resides in Burlington. Abbey has been shooting photos for about ten years, which has culminated in a desire to be challenged as an artist in an academic setting. To this end, she is currently enrolled at Burlington College, pursuing a B.A. in Fine Art, and ultimately an MFA. Abbey also works as the studio manager for sculptor Richard Erdman. Relatively new to exhibiting her work in a public setting, Abbey recently was part of an exhibition at Furchgott Sourdiffe in Shelburne, Vermont and has previously shown her work at Piazzo Barsanti in Pietrasanta, Italy. Abbey’s writing and photography has been featured in numerous online publications, including Nighthawks, Orphanwork, Tourist Zine, Pas un Autre, Hillbilly Magazine and more.

For more information about
Abbey Meaker’s work, please visit:
www.abbeymeaker.com

Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace
180 Flynn Avenue
Burlington, VT
Hours: Monday – Saturday, 10am to 5pm / Sunday, 12pm to 4pm.


Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace is a vibrant new marketplace for antique dealers, artists and craftspeople. A funky & accessible source of vintage goods for inspired lifestyles, Vintage Inspired 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

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

NEWPORT: Poem Drawings by Sam Thurston

Poem Drawings by Sam Thurston
Newport Natural Foods and Cafe Gallery
 
Opening: Friday, September 28,  6 - 8 pm

Artist's Statement: Sam Thurston

For years I had wanted to "illustrate" poems that moved me, but I never understood what would work for me. The first one that stayed in my head in my 20's held the key to how to do it, but I could not see it.

  I heard a noise and wished for a sight,
  I looked for life and did a shadow see
  Whose substance was the sum of my delight,
  Which came unseen, and so did go from me. 
                                                       (Anonymous, 16th c.)
 
Then when I was in my 60's talking to a painter from England, Timothy Hyman, who liked to take Moleskin accordion sketchbooks and illustrate them with images of his life, some realistic and some fantastic. Had he ever "illustrated" poems I asked? 'No,' he replied, adding 'I am too old to do it now, and so are you.'
from Dido Queen of Carthage by Geoffrey Chaucer



That must have been what I needed because the next day I did my first poem drawing, starting with the anonymous "I heard a noise" poem. I had finally found my formula.


If I took a poem that I did not associate with anyone else, one that I had heard no one else read or comment on, a poem that gave only a hint of physical description so I would not get pulled down into illustration, and if I let myself be moved by the mood rather than the facts of the poem, I could find a sensibility that was offered by the poet to me to use, and I could build on that.
from Patterson by William Carlos Williams

from The Witch of Atlas by Percy Bysshe Shelly
After doing some of my favorite poems in this way I next went searching for poems that were new to me so I could think up my image during that first surprise of the poem. I did about 50 poems during a year and then my mood shifted and I stopped.

Will I return to them? Yes, if I can find the new equation.
- Sam Thurston







Show of Poem Drawings by Sam Thurston
Newport Natural Foods and Cafe Gallery
194 Main Street
Newport, VT 05855
(802) 334-2626
Hours: Monday thru Saturday, 8am to 8pm /      Sunday, 10am to 6pm

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

ARTIST CALL: VERMONT High School Student Photographers

2011 Juror's Choice, Rhye Tempest
Submission Deadline: October 24, 2012 
Free Entries Close: September 26, 2012
Exhibition Runs Nov. 23 - Dec. 9, 2012

Person Style

If you are or know an aspiring Vermont High School photographer: "The Darkroom Gallery is hosting our third Vermont High School Student only juried photography exhibit. This year we have the help of Mt. Mansfield Union High School Arts teacher Dodi Gomez; our juror is Jordon Douglas of St. Michael's College.                

What makes your photography unique and different from others? What techniques or approaches energize your work? Part of the growth and development of any artist is to develop a personal style that is uniquely their own. Style may include subject, perspective, composition, depth of field, lighting, post production treatment (darkroom or digital) and printing.

Read More . . . .
http://www.darkroomgallery.com

STOWE: Migration - Approaching the subject of human migration


Migration
September 21 - November 25, 2012
Helen Day Art Center

Political and humanizing in its approach to the subject of human migration. Migration addresses topics of immigration, emigration, migrant workers, New Americans (refugees), and visa holders. These personal
stories describe physical and cultural dislocation and assimilation, the act of moving, and migration's socio-political complexities through contemporary and historical narratives of the artists and writers.
This exhibition pulls together internationally renowned artists from Switzerland, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, and across the United States.
Ira Eduardovna, The Library Room, 2 channel video installation

Participating Artists:

Chantal Akerman, courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery NYC
Margarita Cabrera, courtesy of Walter Maciel Gallery L.A.
Esperanza Cortes
Ian Deleon & Kara Stokowski
Ira Eduardovna
Adamantios Kafetzis, courtesy of Kappatos Gallery, Athens
Brian Kaplan
Hung Liu, courtesy of Nancy Hoffman Gallery, NYC
Adrian Paci, courtesy of Peter Blum Gallery, NYC
Judith Quax
Yu-Wen Wu

Writers:

Alisha Laramee
m.pinchuk

Helen Day Art Center
5 School St.
PO Box 411
Stowe, VT 05672
802.253.8358
mail@helenday.com

Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Sunday. 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm.
Gallery entrance is FREE. Donations are accepted

BURLINGTON Airport (BTV) artists Lynda McIntyre, Joan Hoffman, Elizabeth Nelson

Good reason to head to the airport and watch the planes come in.

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER, 2012
BURLINGTON AIRPORT


Skyway – Lynda McIntyre, mixed media

Gates 1-8 – Joan Hoffman, oil landscapes

Escalator: Elizabeth Nelson, "Interstate Rocks February and March", diptych, acrylic on cotton canvas

Click on artists' names for more information about their work.

Bookcliffs, oil, 12" x 16" by Joan Hoffman

GRAFTON: James Urbaska at Gallery North Star

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 29, 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Exhibition runs through October 31, 2012


Island, 13 x 12
Gallery North Star presents a solo show of new oil paintings by artist James Urbaska. Inspired by the landscapes of New England and particularly the Connecticut River Valley, James Urbaska's paintings chronicle the tranquility of the rural experience. In this body of new work, Urbaska continues to explore the conversations between light and shadow, land and water and sky. The luminescence flowing out of his canvases enhances the drama inherent in the ever evolving Vermont landscape. Using a heightened sense of realism, he defines our experiences through his exquisite images.

Right Shore Distant Rain, 30 x 30

James Urbaska's shows are greatly anticipated events, drawing collectors worldwide.  A native of Montana, he currently lives and paints in Newfane, VT.



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.

Gallery North Star
151 Townshend Road
Grafton, VT
802-843- 2465
Hours: daily, 10 am to 5 pm

Mantels Pond, 40 x 62

Monday, September 24, 2012

JERICHO CENTER: Landscape paintings by Lisa Forster Beach

Artist Reception:  Sunday,  October 14, 2012, 4 - 6 pm
On Exhibit: October 14 through November 18, 2012


Emile A Gruppe Gallery presents an exhibition of paintings by award-winning Stowe landscape artist Lisa Forster Beach.  Beach gets to the essence and spirit of the New England landscape. Her emphasis on structural design is constant in all of her paintings, but of greater concern is the translation of the character and the impression of an experience into visual artistic language, rather than creating a factual representation. Beach prefers to paint on location to capture that New England spirit embodied in the natural world.
Autumn by Lisa Forster Beach

Beach teaches two outdoor painting landscape workshops in Stowe each year as well as other courses and workshops here and abroad.  In 1986, her watercolor paintings gained her the honor of signature membership in the National Watercolor Society. 

Emile A. Gruppe Gallery
22 Barber Farm Rd.
Jericho Center, VT
Gallery hours: 
Thursday through Sunday
10 am - 3pm or by appointment
Contact: 802-899-3211

www.emilegruppegallery.com


Dinghies by Lisa Forster Beach

UPPER VALLEY & ORANGE COUNTY: Vermont North by Hand Studio Tour

Vermont North by Hand Artisans Co-op - Eighth Annual Open Studio Tour 
Saturday & Sunday, October 6 & 7, 2012 
10 am - 5 pm
Rug by weaver Mary Hays

Visit the twenty workshops and studios of artisans in Corinth, Bradford, Fairlee, Topsham, Newbury, and So. Ryegate, Vt.

Delicious homemade food will be available at the Corinth Town Hall.

For a map, and a list of participating artists and a gallery of their work, visit: www.vermontnorthbyhand.org
Watercolor painting by James Gardner





Brochures with maps are also available.
Contact Bruce Murray at:
802-222-5798
vtnorthbyhand@gmail.com

 





Cookeville Woodworking: mirrors from reclaimed material





About Vermont North by Hand Artisans Co-op: we are a non-profit artists’ cooperative which has sponsored this open studio tour for eight years. Vermont North promotes and supports the appreciation of the arts through events, studio tours and educational programs.






Friday, September 21, 2012

CRAFTSBURY COMMON: Artist talk, by colored pencil painter Corrina Thurston

Corrina Thurston is hosting an artist talk on Friday October 5, 2012 at the Art House on the Common in Craftsbury Common, VT. The talk starts at 7pm, but feel free to come early and view the solo exhibit she has on display at the Art House, which will be up through the month of October.

Corrina Thurston started drawing in 2010 after she was diagnosed with a chronic illness, from which she still suffers. Her work has already been in many galleries, cafes, and was part of a display in Times Square. This talk is a rare opportunity to meet this unique artist and hear how her illness transformed her life and changed her path from one of science, to one of art. She’ll describe how she discovered colored pencil to be the optimum medium for her and what it takes to create colored pencil drawings as rich and vibrant as paintings. She will also let you have a look at her very first work, and at the piece she is currently in the process of drawing. She would love to answer your questions and meet you, so stop by the Art House on the Common to say hi! 
Prints, greeting cards, necklaces, and keychains of her work will also be available at the talk. 
For more information, visit her website or email her: www.corrinathurston.com. See you there!

RANDOLPH: Turning Leaves - New Directions in Book Arts

Renowned Book Artists Explore the Medium in New and Innovative Ways
Reception: Sunday, September 23, with Artists’ Talk, 4 – 6:30 pm
Chandler Gallery
Exhibit runs through 10 November 2012

In time for the turn of the seasons, Chandler Gallery is hosting an invitational artists book exhibition, Turning Leaves: New Directions in Book Arts. The participating artists think “outside the book” in new and innovative ways with their one-of-a-kind or limited edition books. On view are drawing, painting, objects, sculptural elements, printmaking, letterpress, photography, collage, calligraphy and hand lettering, typography, handcrafted paper, photocopy and other media. The two-dimensional, wall-relief, and three-dimensional books may be made entirely of images, may reveal themselves in prose, poetry or other uses of words, or may include images and words.

Artists represented in the exhibition include: Cameron Davis, Kathy Fiske, Kerry Furlani, Ania Gilmore, Rebecca Goodale, Maryanne Grebenstein, Deborah Howe, Katy Locke, Lorraine Reynolds, Susan Smereka, Nancy Stone, Stephanie Stigliano, Stephanie Wolff and Bob Walp. A collaborative book includes work by: Ann Forbush, Ania Gilmore, Anna Leliwa, Monica Mitchell, Jan Cadman Powell, Annie Silverman, Carolyn Swift, and Annie Zeybekoglu.
PodCast Gilmore / Zeybekoglu
Nature provides inspiration to many. In order to gain a better understanding of each plant or animal that will become a part of her next artist’s book Rebecca Goodale wanders into the woods and marshes by herself or with local naturalists. She seeks to inspire sensitivity for rare species by using her background in book arts and textile design to interpret color, pattern, rhythm, and transition.

Secret Garden - Cameron Davis
Cameron Davis is a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Art and Art History and the Environmental Program at the University of Vermont. Her Secret Garden is a rebound 1962 edition Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. Alternating each of the 256 pages are drawings and paintings on sheer fabric or rice paper.

Kerry O. Furlani is known for her expressive slate carvings of incised and burgeoning forms. She gives life to her work using mallets and chisels, traditional methods introduced to her while training at the Frink School of Figurative Sculpture, in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in the late ’90s. Furlani engages directly with the stone, playing a visual game with stone fragments she finds in Vermont quarries, riverbeds, stone yards and backyards.

Personal experience provides the creative seed for Ania Gilmore, living in “Boston, via Poland”. “As an emigrant, I am infused with inspiration resident in my roots and history.  I am interested in the continuous growing dialogue of identity and multiculturalism.”

Nancy Stone is a Williston book artist, painter, art teacher, co-founder/chairperson of the Book Arts Guild of Vermont and a member of the Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville, Northern Vermont Artists Association, and a Signature member of the Vermont Watercolor Society. Many of her books are inspired by personal experience, varying from a week to several years between concept and completion. She searches for metaphors in elements of design, using line and color as tools to suggest passage.

History inspires Deborah Howe, Collections Conservator at the Dartmouth College Library and a long-standing member of the Guild of Book Workers. She finds pre-existing texts that hold her interest and allow for interpretation in design.

With design sensibilities rooted in late 19th and early 20th century Fine Press traditions, designer, printer, bookbinder and papermaker Bob Walp pushes through traditional boundaries while still aspiring to high standards of craft and the best principles of readability. Bob’s printing and papermaking equipment at Chester Creek Press is more than three-quarters of a century old, little changed in essence from the late fifteenth-century. Most of the illustrations in his books are printed from hand carved wooden blocks.

Maryanne Grebenstein is the lead designer of The Abbey Studio where she makes hand lettered, one-of-a-kind books. She conducts calligraphy and manuscript gilding classes and has authored books and magazine articles on the subjects of calligraphy and medieval and renaissance manuscript collections. As a young adult she was introduced to illuminated manuscripts, and felt an immediate connection to and reverence for their creators. She seeks to convey the historical importance and cultural significance of the evolution of the book in her work.

Lorraine Reynolds’ mixed media assemblages are a collection of “glimmering prizes.” Assembled in old boxes, frames and books, found objects find unity and a common voice in her hands. Lorraine’s gift is in sifting through disparate objects, finding the compatible bits and pieces of others’ lives, and weaving their faint and ancient energies together until they sing in one voice.

In 2002 Susan Smereka was awarded a grant from the Kittredge Foundation to work in printmaking at Two Rivers Printmaking Studio. At her second residency at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in 2008, she began doing bodies of work in journal/sketch books. Working in small, constrained spaces she developed a repetitive and meditative language gluing her hair strand by strand into small books, or cards that were bound into folios. Smereka sees the book being a wordless form of communication that is both informal and intimate.

"Looking Backwards," Handmade book by Stigliano
Stephanie Mahan Stigliano, a faculty member of the Visual Arts Department of Walnut Hill School for the Arts, of Natick, MA is participating in Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here; an international traveling xhibition of artists’ books and correspondence: the 9th International Book Art Festival (Poland 2012). Stigliano brought students to Poland to paint ceiling panels for a recreation of the 18th century wooden Synagogue, to be in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Stephanie combines visual art, sculpture and storytelling.

The artists’ talk and opening reception on September 23 are free and open to the public.

Chandler Art Gallery
Randolph, VT
Contact: Emily Crosby, 802-431-0204,
outreach@chandler-arts.org

Thursday, September 20, 2012

MORRISVILLE: “Curtains Without Borders”

Opening Reception: Friday, September 21, 5 to 7 pm / Talk at 6 pm.
September 21 – October 30, 2012


“Curtains Without Borders” is a conservation project dedicated to documenting and preserving historic painted scenery.  The travelling exhibition, on display in the Copley Common Space Gallery at River Arts,  shows a collection of large photographs which document the rich history of painted theater curtains from around the State of Vermont.
Hardwick Townhouse Curtain

A hundred years ago, grand drapes and painted backdrops were the primary artistic feature in the cultural life of almost every village and town in northern New England.  The “curtains” provided color and escapism
in institutions that varied greatly in size and professional capacity. These theater curtains (primarily muslin roll drops, not the “velvet” drapery curtains commonly used today) hang in town halls, grange halls and opera houses all over the state.

During the last 12 years, a Vermont conservation team, “Curtains Without Borders” has stabilized all 185 historic theater curtains in Vermont. Most of them have been re- installed for use or display on their home stages, but in order to protect them from light, dirt and inadvertent mishandling, they are generally kept rolled up except for special occasions.





The Common Space Gallery
River Arts Center
74 Pleasant Street
Morrisville, VT


Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 10 am-2 pm. 
For off hours, please call 802-888-1261 
Admission is free.
www.riverartsvt.org

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

WINOOSKI: 30 years of paintings by Robert Waldo Brunelle, Jr."

Artist Reception: September 20, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
August 29 through October 21, 2012
Winooski Welcome Center Gallery

Robert Waldo Brunelle, Jr. paints Vermont the way David Hockney painted California or Peter Hurd painted New Mexico: a blend of place and style. Brunelle, who is also a cartoonist, brings a comic-inspired illustrative quality into his painting.  What I Have Painted So Far: 30 years of paintings by Robert Waldo Brunelle, Jr. is on exhibit at Winooski Welcome Center from August 29th through October 21st, 2012. The exhibition features over 150 paintings and is the single largest showing of the artist’s work ever.

Brunelle is a seventh-generation Vermonter, with roots dating back to the 1750s. Brunelle was born in Rutland in 1958, and, as he puts it, “learned to draw before I learned to write!” He received no formal art training until attending St. Michael’s College in 1976. There he fell under the influence of renowned art professor, Roy Kennedy, well-known painter Lance Richbourg, and the namesake of the Sloane Art Center, Sy Sloane. Brunelle graduated in 1980 with a double degree in History and Fine Arts, and went on to earn a Master’s in Art Education at Castleton State College. Brunelle has been exhibiting his paintings in Vermont since 1975, and has served as the president of the Northern Vermont Artist Association since 1995. He is also a political cartoonist, whose strip “Mr. Brunelle Explains It All” may be seen in the humor magazine Funny Times.

Brunelle’s scenes have a before and after, even if those are not in the paintings themselves. The moments in the paintings are not necessarily the pinnacle moments. Old houses are worn down. They are matter of fact. If there is a love affair in these paintings, it is between the artist and the light. Brunelle says, “Underneath the skeleton of our modern Vermont towns and cities, there’s the Victorian world and little bits and pieces of it are still sticking out. If you know where to look, where to dig, so to speak….I’m interested in time and the effect that time has on people and how things are always receding into the past."

The Winooski Welcome Center is a collaboration between Jodi Harrington and Kasini House

Gallery Hours:  
Wednesday through Saturday, 11 am to 8 pm 
Sundays, 10 am to 3 pm.
(802) 399-2670 
info@winooskiwelcomecenter.com


The Winooski Welcome Center is located on the top right side of the circle in Downtown Winooski at 41 Main Street (US 2/US7). The Winooski Welcome Center Gallery brings art to Downtown Winooski in a highly visible space on the top of the circle. Exhibitions feature Vermont artists as well as curated exhibitions. The Winooski Welcome Center Gallery was part of the highly successful 2011 and 2012 Winooski Pop-Up Gallery Districts.

Click here for parking info and more details about the Winooski Welcome Center. 


Monday, September 17, 2012

ARTISTS CALL: Red - Deadline September 19

Jurors: Lenswork's Brooks Jensen and Maureen Gallagher
Submission Deadline: September 19th, 2012


Red.
A primary color.
Light. Laser. Sunset. Earth. Brick. Fire. Lips. Blood. Heart. Heat.
Heroism. Rage. Loyalty. Aggression. Honor. Evil. Love.
Stop.
Curry. Pepper. Paprika. Pomegranate. Cherry. Apple. Red Dress. Red Riding Hood. The Scarlet Letter.
The Red Badge of Courage.Raise the Red Lantern.
Happiness. Success. Fortune. Fertility. Passion. Lust.
The Feast of the Martyrs.
Rose. Ruby. Cardinal. Sin.
Loss.
Communism. Socialism. Revolution. And, a safelight in a Darkroom.
Red. Roja. Rosso. Rouge. Red. Rot. Rooi. Roig. Rood. Red. Roge. Rudhira.


For more information, click here: RED.
________________

Darkroom Gallery
12 Main St.
Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
Open Every Day (11:00-16:00)

(802) 777-FOTO ; (802) 777-3686

SHELBURNE: Outside Influences - Drawings and Fabric Collages by Dianne Shullenberger

Opening Reception: Friday, September 21, 6-8 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: September 21– October 23, 2012


Red Branch, image 22"x16", colored pencil
Dianne Shullenberger works in two distinctive mediums that both convey the intricate details found in natural objects and the outside world. Her detailed colored pencil drawings on black paper capture the luminosity that a photograph cannot easily convey. The fabric collages, composed of infinitely shifting shades of silk and other fabrics, transport one into the dimensionality and depth of nature, yet they have a playful surface quality that engages the viewer in a more abstract manner.


Spring Rush, image 20"x13", fabric collage
Shullenberger says of her work: "The places I go, the outdoor activities I do are major influences in my fiber and colored pencil work. I have always wanted my work to take you with me or to provide an opportunity to share these special observations. I am a collector of all natural objects and apply the same philosophy I use when I buy fabric and thread: 'It will have a use sometime.' I love detail so every piece of work is a study of light, texture, color, patterns and weather. When I squint my eyes I see objects fractured into the many colors that make up the shape. Layering of color is crucial in the way I work with both fiber collage pieces and colored pencil drawings."


Visit the gallery's blog at: fsgalleryvt.wordpress.com for more images.

Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery
86 Falls Road
Shelburne Village
contact: Joan@fsgallery.com
Phone: 802-985-3848

Hours: Tue-Fri 9:30-5:30 and Sat 10-5.

JOHNSON: Jon Gregg, Recent Paintings at Vermont Studio Center

image: RED CROWNS, 48” x 56”, oil on canvas, 2012
Opening Reception: 
Friday, September 21, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Jon Gregg, Recent Paintings
September 21-October 22, 2012

Jon received a BFA ('67) and a Masters of Architecture with honors ('71) from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied with Louis Kahn. From 1971-83 he practiced architecture and ran a Design /Build firm in Johnson. After the loss of his sister and brother, Jon, along with  Louise von Weise and  Fred Osborne, founded the Vermont Studio Center in 1984.

Jon has exhibited his paintings at 55 Mercer Gallery, New York, NY. He has won awards  from the Vermont Arts Council and the Preservation Trust of Vermont. Jon has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism since 1971. In 2006, he biked across the country to celebrate his 60th birthday.

Gallery II, Wolf Kahn Building
Vermont Studio Center
80 Pearl Street
Johnson, VT
802-635-2727
http://vermontstudiocenter.org/vsc-galleries/

Under the direction of G. Todd Haun, The Red Mill Gallery & Gallery II exhibition schedule features VSC international and U.S. residents, staff, alumni, and local artists. For information about openings and hours for viewing a show, please call 802-635-2727 or email: galleries@vermontstudiocenter.org

Saturday, September 15, 2012

BURLINGTON: 2012 SEABA Art Hop South of Marble Avenue

by Rob Hitzig

I love the Art Hop. I love the diversity of art; the mix of professional and amateur artists; seeing large crowds of people looking at art; seeing families expose young children to art; the energy generated by activities surrounding the art; but most of all, I love the search for the great piece discovered in the unexpected space. So when I was asked to write about a section of the Art Hop, I said, sure, I'm game. And when I realized (about two hours into my first day) that being assigned everything south of Marble Avenue meant having to cover over two-thirds of show, I was a little intimidated (given that meant viewing thousands of works) but it was still early and I had a can-do spirit. 

But then, after two days, and over eight hours of viewing, at my last few venues, I was, admittedly, getting a little fried (to put it mildly). A viewing haze had set in and I was getting ready to pack it up and call it good enough, especially after climbing the steps to the third floor of Champlain College's Miller Building and finding the door locked. I peered through the door window and didn't see anything that looked interesting so I thought I would be justified to not try the elevator. But I promised I'd at least pass by everything so up I went once more. And then, as the doors opened, I had that revelation again of what I really love about the Art Hop. Staring in front of me (out of sight from the stairway door window) were six spectacular large scale (48" x 48") charcoal portraits on quarter-inch construction grade plywood by Matt Ryan. Expertly executed and done with a confidence and courage that surpasses paintings on canvas (mistakes are not an option on this surface), I was elated to find something this good in such an unassuming hallway.
Abe by Matt Ryan
Sylvia by Matt Ryan

In addition to randomly finding great work in unexpected places, I've found that a good Art Hop experience is facilitated by knowing where to go when you need to see something you know will be good. Two of my favorite venues south of Marble Avenue that fit that bill are RL Photo and Select Design. Neither disappointed me this time. RL Photo is a photo studio owned by Rick Levinson, where there was a show of the impressive artistic side of Rick and his employees. And I always seem to find some new, and great, work by Clark Derbes,
Last Stand by Clark Derbes
but what I really enjoyed were the high quality portraits by Todd Lockwood in his show, One Degree of Separation. My favorite of the group was this one, Claude, because of the clarity and detail in the foreground with a very narrow range of focus that quickly fades. 
Claude byTodd Lockwood

At Select Design I saw a number of great pieces but, in particular, I loved these two by the late Mickey Welsh. His style is distinctively uninhibited and full of energy. I didn't need a label to know they were his (and I never found one for the second piece).

Blown Around Brightness by Mickey Welsh
title unknown by Mickey Welsh
Also at Select Design was this beautiful wooden surfboard by Grain Surfboard, made with Vermont bird's-eye maple, white cedar, and red cedar.


Also in the same general complex, in the Flynn Dog Gallery, was work by Chris Cleary.
Neptune by Chris Cleary
Other random highlights included seeing Paige Berg Rizvi's encaustic work (winner of third place in the Art Hop juried show this year) in the cavernous maze of studios in the Howard Street building
Paige Berg Rizvi
At the entrance of the Maltex building, you can also see the expertly executed photorealistic charcoal/casein paintings of juried show second place winner, Gabriel Tempesta. He had three pieces, including this spectacular owl (be prepared: it takes a good deal of effort to confirm for yourself that it is not a photograph).
Owl in Flight by Gabriel Tempesta
Back across the street, in Speeder & Earl's, I found some really interesting porcelain work by Alex Costantino.
Robot Soldier by Alex Costantino
 And in the E-1 Collective Studios, behind Speeder & Earl's, for just the weekend, Dan Siegel, of DanMade Pottery, was selling his unique stoneware.
DanMadePottery by Dan Siegel
Back in the hellaciously-difficult-to-navigate Howard Street studio building, on the second floor, I found really great work by Nancy Dwyer. She was featuring wallpaper made with phrases that she modified to create a design. She would then enlarge and frame a section to hang on the wall, and, most interestingly, she would take a section of the art-phrase out of the picture and make a three dimensional object with it.
Not Dead Yet (wallpaper and framed art) by Nancy Dwyer
Below is a combination of the last letters of each word in the phase "Not Dead Yet" turned into a sculpture.
Not Dead Yet (sculpture) by Nancy Dwyer
While wandering around the maze of studios behind the SEABA office, I ran into Wylie Garcia and got to see her latest Art Hop Dress. Each year, since 2007, Wylie has created a walking exhibit that can only be seen on the Friday of Art Hop. This year she made a dress out of four of her grandmother's swing dancing skirts.
Art Hop 2012 Dress by Wylie Garcia
I found this interesting, and ironic, silk screen skateboarder over a silk screened Che, by Guy Derry, in the hallway to RETN/VCAM Studios.

Live Free or Die by Guy Derry
Also in the RETN/VCAM Studios I saw Jim Bruce's work for the first time. I like his work but what I found really interesting is that whenever I saw more of his work I would note that I liked it, look at the label, see it was Jim's and think, "of course!"
The Hanging of Bridget and Susannah by Jim Bruce
More of his work can be seen at Burton Snowboard.

Betty by Jim Bruce
I had the same experience with the ghostly work of Lorraine Reynolds, whose pieces can also be seen at Burton Snowboard as well as Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace

Salisbury Sisters by Lorraine Reynolds
If you were to ask me where to find more of Lorraine's work, I'd tell you that you can also find it in the Space Gallery's 20 Medium Show (in the Soda Plant), though you didn't hear it here because that was outside my zone of review.