Fall

We’re halfway though October here in Vermont, moving from brilliant foliage to stick season. In the meantime, I’ve been in my studio working on a few new pieces. Here’s Tea Time, 16 x 16 in., gouache, Flashe, and paper collage on board, 2021. The first pic is where the piece started (showing the collage underpainting) and the second pic is where the piece ended up, with layers of paint, letting some of the collage shine through. I’m looking forward to passing the new pieces to Stella Quarta Decima (SQD) gallery in Manchester, Vt.

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Here’s what’s also happening…a party taking place right in front of our house:

Residing in Barre

I found out some good news yesterday! I've been selected to do an 11-month studio residency program at Studio Place Arts (SPA) in downtown Barre, Vermont. The residency will take place Dec. 1, 2017 to October 31, 2018; I’ll be based in a small private studio on the second floor of SPA, working on collage paintings and soft sculpture installations for my upcoming show "The Feast of Fools" opening on March 27 in the third floor gallery at SPA.

This is exciting news for several reasons: 

• I am a new resident of Barre, having bought a house up on a (very steep) hill this spring. We overlook downtown. So now, I'll actually BE downtown in my new city.
• I will be part of—and surrounded by—a great community of artists with studios at SPA, including two of my favorite fellow artists Janet Van Fleet and Matt Monk. I can't wait to bug them incessantly—er, I mean—have studio visits with them.
• More space! Enough of this cramming paints, boards, fabric, sewing machine, tables, scanner...all...into a small space (my wee home-based studio.) 

Starting in December, you can find me on the second floor at SPA. There's a window that looks into my studio so you can spy on me. Or you can knock and come in - I plan on having a chair for you to sit in.

Birds' Eye

Birds-eye-view, aerial, and panoramic views…why do I love it so? I’m working on a picture of Montpelier, VT, currently my hometown, and in doing so, I’m seeing what the wide world of Google has to offer me for references. So much overhead view! Is landscape a character? If attachment to a landscape supersedes other things like job opportunities, cost of living, diversity, are you crazy to remain attached? I find myself in that boat, tied up to a particular harbor. In my case, the boat is a canoe, and the harbor is a green bank on a Vermont lake. It’s frightening, committing to a place. My limitless view of the world (”I could go ANYWHERE…except maybe Afghanistan”) has tightened, the aperture dialed down, and gone is a periphery. Through my pinhole view, I gaze at the details. All of this is by choice - or is it? Is there a thread that keeps us tethered to a place, because the landscape matches up with our own shape? Like a giant hand moving puzzle pieces, slotting me in to this one little open space. 

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Bird's eye vintage view, Montpelier, Vermont