From Marxism to the Burlington marketplace
Church Street Marketplace in Burlington
“‘People’s Republic
of Burlington,’ old Marxist
stronghold, now just a stage
on its way to high
capitalism. Church
Street commodified.
Out on the loop roads
of Montpelier, what does ‘strip
development’ strip? Grass
from pastures….”
— From “Hayden’s Shack I Can See to the End of Vermont,’’ by Neil Shepard (born 1951), a Johnson, Vt.-based poet
‘The illusiveness of time’
Painting by Alexis Serio in her show “Time and Memory,’’ at Edgewater Gallery at the {Otter Creek} Falls, Middlebury, Vt., through March 31.
She calls her show “stories of beauty that I wish to share with the viewer”.
“My paintings are philosophical and formal investigations about the visual perception of light and color, the personal experience of remembering and inventing, and the natural illusiveness of time."
The gallery says:
“The viewer recognizes these as landscapes. Serio gives us a horizon line as a foothold for this but beyond this reference the compositions are investigations of color and shape, rhythmically layered to represent perceptions of light, land, and memories.’’
Otter Creek Falls, in Middlebury
Lithograph of Middlebury from 1886 by L.R. Burleigh with list of landmarks
'A blue-gray glow'
“Underneath,
mice and shrews are moving,
the dog can hear them down there,
out of sight and reach….’’
“a whole landscape laid out
in a blue-gray glow….’’
— From “Listening Through Snow,’’ by Burlington, Vt.-based poet and teacher Nora Mitchell
‘It’s not intellectual’
Rock of Ages granite quarry in Graniteville, Vt.
]
“Never confuse faith, or belief — of any kind — with something even remotely intellectual.’’
— From A Prayer for Owen Meany, a novel by John Irving (born 1942)
The plot centers around John Wheelwright and Owen Meany, who live in the fictional town of Gravesend, N.H. (based on Irving’s hometown of Exeter, N.H.). As boys they are close friends, although John comes from an old rich family — as the illegitimate son of Tabitha Wheelwright — and Owen is the only child of a working-class granite quarryman. John's earliest memories of Owen involve lifting him up in the air, easy because of his permanently small stature, to make him speak. And an underdeveloped larynx causes Owen to speak in a high-pitched voice. During his life, Owen comes to believe that he is "God's instrument".
Jude Hall granite memorial stone in Exeter, N.H.
‘A Wintry Mix’
“Would you like to swing on a star?” (collage), by Rich Fedorchak, of Thetford, Vt., in the show “Wintry Mix’,’ at AVA Gallery and Art Center, Lebanon, N.H., Nov. 19-Dec. 30.
The gallery says: "The holiday exhibition will feature the work of member artists from Vermont and New Hampshire. Works in a variety of media—oil, watercolor, drawing, printmaking, mixed media, photography, ceramics, textiles, sculpture, jewelry, and glasswork—will be on display and available for sale in a wide range of prices."
A little local history
— Photo by Artaxerxes
External and internal landscapes
“Connecticut River Valley at Claremont, N.H.,’’ by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)
Along the Connecticut: Riverbank reconstruction project in Fairlee, Vt.
“There are few things as involuntary as a person’s identification with a landscape.’’
— Terry Osborne, writer and teacher, in his book Sightlines: The View of a Valley Through the Voice of Depression. He died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 60.
From the official summary of the book:
“For twelve years, writer Terry Osborne devoted himself to an intense exploration of the physical environment near his home in the {Upper} Connecticut River Valley {where he lived first in Thetford, Vt., and then in Etna, N.H.} The more he walked the land, the more deeply he came to know its hills and wetlands. But his growing intimacy with the area inspired something unexpected. The valley, formed by colliding and dividing continents, scoured by massive glaciers, and cut by rivers and streams, began to reveal and resonate with Osborne's internal landscape, long shaped from within by an unyielding depressive voice.’’
Kitchen art
“Home Brew” (oil on panel), by Rachel Wilcox, in the group show “Small Works, Big Impacts,’’ at Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, Vt., starting Nov. 15.
The gallery says the five pieces she has delivered to the show “further explore her restaurant kitchen theme but also include vignettes from her own kitchen. Each painting gives the viewer an intimate, and compositionally intriguing snapshot of parts of working kitchens.’’
She lives and works in Amesbury, Mass., on the north side of the Merrimack River.
From The Boston Cooking School magazine of culinary science and domestic economics in 1896
The Whittier Memorial Bridge over the Merrimack River. The bridge, named for the once famous Massachusetts poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), who grew up on a farm in nearby Haverhill, connects Amesbury and Newburyport.
'Fear has softened'
”So often, so long I have thought of death
That the fear has softened. It has worn away.
Strange. Here in autumn again, late October,
I am late too, my woodshed still half empty,
And hurriedly I split these blocks in the rain,
Maple and beech….”
— From “Song: So Often , So Long Have I Thought,’’ by Hayden Carruth (1921-2008), native of Connecticut and long-time resident of Johnson, Vt.
Fog in the Lamoille River valley in Hyde Park, Vt., near Johnson
'Histories held captive'
“Intersection” (oil on canvas), by Jeff Bye, in his show “Shenandoah,’’ at Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, Vt., through Oct. 31.
The gallery says:
“In Vermont we have landscape painters who seek to capture and honor the natural beauty of our state. Bye has a similar focus, but his landscapes are the interior landscapes of buildings that once were inhabited and were vital to the towns and communities in which they stood but now are vacant, their histories held captive behind locked doors and boarded windows.’’
Too foliage-oriented?
“Nope, Not This” (acrylic on canvas), by Rupert, Vt.-based Jane Davies, at Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, Vt.
Countryside in eastern Rupert.
Rupert is the filming location for the syndicated PBS cooking show Cook's Country. The white country house, known as Carver House, has been used as the show’s set. Christopher Kimball, former executive producer and host of Cook's Country, has a house nearby.
‘Adding and subtracting layers’
“Railroad Ties” (oil and cold wax on panel), by Helen Shulman, at Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, Vt.
The gallery says:
“Helen Shulman’s abstract, mixed-media paintings draw on her interest in the manipulation of surface texture, color, and mark making, and are compositions that may have their origins in the landscape or the figure but become about the process of adding and subtracting layers, creating texture, and interest that will draw the viewer in and through each piece.’’
Outward and inner success
”Joy Cometh in the Morning “ (oil on linen), by Rory Jackson, in the “Plein Air 2021” show at Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, Vt.
He says on his Web site:
“As a painter, my aim is to bring to life a presence to the viewer, a relationship between the earth and the people who hold covenant with it. Whether it is through light, reflection, movement or design, I want to bring everlasting life to a moment in time. As long as I can sense a progression in the development of my work, painting will remain a central part of my life. I think Robert Henri best stated my feeling of what it means to move forward as an artist when he said, ‘All outward success, when it has value, is but the inevitable result of an inward success of full living, full play and enjoyment of one’s faculties.’
“I spend my time between my home in Lincoln, Vt., and the beach of Cape Three Points, Ghana. While painting the landscape of Vermont, I focus on the dramatic light and space around the mountains and valleys, pivoting on my favorite Mountain of Abraham {Mt. Abraham}. In Ghana, I spend time studying seascapes, village scenes, boats, and the reflective light and movement of the sea and the life that depends on its abundance. All honest observation absorbs into my successes, a true vibrancy of life. The balance of the two places keeps my interest in subject matter fresh, while marking each year’s progress in two very different seasons.’’
Mt. Abraham from the west.
A hub of Lincoln, Vt.
=
'Insane song'
Loon in Marshfield, Vt.
— Photo by Ano Lobb
,
“Summer wilderness, a blue light
twinkling in trees and water, but even
wilderness is deprived now. ‘What's that?
What is that sound? ‘ Then it came to me,
this insane song, wavering music….’’
— From “The Loon on Forrester’s Pond,’’ by Hayden Carruth (1921-2008), celebrated American poet who lived for years in Johnson, Vt.
And then go back to bed
“Rise’’ (oil on canvas), by Alexis Serio, at Edgewater Gallery at the Falls, Middlebury, Vt.
The gallery says:
“Serio creates ethereal, abstract landscapes. Through her color choices, and layering of tones and simplified shapes the artist’s compositions become vast and dreamlike. They glow with shifting light and a sense of place. Serio’s work strives to evoke remembrance of something familiar for the viewer. Billowing skies meet rolling planes of landscape in this beautiful new series.’’
One-man sculpture park in Vermont
David Stromeyer and his wife, Sarah, during the installation of “Body Politic,’’ last year. For 50 years the celebrated artist has been installing his monumental steel sculptures on his 45-acre domain in Enosburg, Vt., which he named Cold Hollow Sculpture Park.
‘No hitch in the sequence’
“The Wounded Bricklayer,’’ by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828)
“Overhead the sea blows upside down across Rhode Island.
slub clump slub clump
Charlie drops out. Carl steps in.
slub clump
No hitch in the sequence.’’
— From “The Tragedy of Bricks,’’ by Galway Kinnell (1927-2014), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. He was a native of Providence who spent the last part of his life in Sheffield, Vt. (pop about 700).
— Photo by Artaxerxes
Look at when temps exceed 90
“Rapture’’ (oil), by Stephanie Bush, in the show “Made in Vermont,’’ at the Bryan Memorial Gallery, in Jefferson, Vt., through Sept. 6.
The show’s organizers say it “showcases the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Vermonters’’ and centers “around Vermont’s diverse landscape of farms, growing cities, breweries, industry, old and new infrastructure and more.’’
In downtown Jeffersonville’s (pop. about 800) Historic District
Biscuits and kittens in Vt.
Main Street in Bristol, Vt., at the western edge of the Green Mountains
“Even my children, though born here, would not be called Vermonters by most members of long-time Bristol {Vt.} families. (My neighbors might well respond, if I put the question to them, with the old Vermont joke: If the cat has kittens in the oven, does that make them biscuits?)’’
—- John Elder, in Reading the Mountains of Home (1971)
Lord’s Prayer Rock in Bristol
Always looking for work
Newly plowed field in Bethel. Vt., in the spring
“Hard work was not only necessary, but it was also noble; and to avoid it would lead to disgrace, dishonor, and probably, eventually, to Hell itself. If a true Yankee ran out of work, he was expected to look for more.’’
Lewis Hill, in Fetched-Up Yankee: A New England Boyhood Remembered, a memoir of the author’s growing up on a Vermont farm in the 1930s
Ebb and flow
“Each Piece is Different’’ (acrylic on canvas), by Charlie Bluett, at Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, Vt.
Charlie Bluett’s studio is in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. He was born in England and educated at Eton College there, and has exhibited extensively in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The gallery says:
“Bluett is an abstract painter who is inspired by the ebb and flow of the natural processes of the earth. Using this as his reference, his interest is then in the process of building form, color, and surface texture into large scale compositions that are bold and dynamic, but also subtle in their shifting shapes and tones. His works contain elements that pay homage to the techniques of the old masters, blended with abstract expressionism and the colorfield painting of the contemporary names of our time.’’
Panoramic view of Willoughby Notch and Mount Pisgah, in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.
— Photo by Patmac13