Thursday, October 8, 2009

Community Outreach


Here is an update of my outreach for the Art of Action project: I had two workshops at the Strafford Library during the summer, on July 9 and August 6 in the evening. I showed my work and invited the participants to undertake their own projects envisioning the future of Vermont.



Between them I had an Open Studio, inviting the community to see my project in progress. I provided some art supplies.











On August 31 I installed the results at the Strafford Post Office, which has an exhibition space. There were
six pieces of art, responding to the subject.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Here is the progress of the three paintings showing high meadows, forests and farmland:I have added various birds and plants in the foreground and made the sky stormier. I will work to connect the compositions.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009



Here is the beginning of "Village Center". It assumes a compact village, surrounded by fields, a small river running through that formerly powered a mill of some sort. So far, the buildings are traditional wood frame, no taller than three floors. There are fruit trees and animals grazing among the buildings. The sky is an ominous color, suggesting unstable weather. Meadowlark and Field Sparrow are the first birds to appear, although there will be some more familiar and common birds, such as Goldfinch.
New buildings will rise up among the existing ones. New crops and farm animals will be possible.

Friday, March 20, 2009

On Tuesday I met with Northern Woodlands Magazine people. We discussed ways to interact as the paintings develop, linking up to their expertise in the working landscape, forestry management, and endangered, native and invasive species. Over the next week I will provide links to some of their sites. I also will schedule the actual dates for the workshops at the Strafford Library- the first one will probably be in July 9 at 7PM and the second will be early in August.
The  Valley News article has been very helpful in publicizing the Art of Action project.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009


Here is an image of a large painting (3'h x 6'l) that I have hanging in a show at the Cambridge Arts Council- I had the opportunity with this show to exhibit not only paintings but also the references that I drew from. In this case, I combined a favorite walk in Cambridge with a view of eastern Turkey; my Armenian grandparents came from that region.  This is a fantasy- not based on one particular place but several, woven together. 
I am posting this to show an example of my most current work. My work for the Vermont Arts Council will be Vermont based but will be constructed in a similar fashion- using references from existing and old Vermont with new buildings, infrastructure, plants and animals in a mostly  harmonious  future (signs of discord small and in the distance).

Saturday, January 10, 2009

This way the first week of classes, so I've been immersed in that down here in Cambridge and Andover, but this morning I am reading recent postings and reentering the Art of Action project. I  heard a quote from Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" this week, referring to the current downturn in the economy as the inevitable result of the kind of commerce that our culture has become engaged with: Non-essential goods production as opposed to a more fundamental needs-based economy founded on, for instance, cultivation. Perhaps this has been taken out of context, but a return to agriculture and cultivation would restore and enrich  the Vermont landscape. Its hard to farm in this climate, but there may be an increasing regional market for locally grown food, and with incentives it could become profitable again. I've heard that there's a very limited market for Vermont wool and that some sheep farms end up burning it...


Friday, January 2, 2009

In thinking about the future I have also thought about the past. Here is another aspect to my relationship to Vermont: The painter Winthrop Chandler is a forebear. He was an early American painter-self-taught- and I feel a kinship with his work. He painted the Crafts family that's in the Craftsbury Common Library. Mahitable Crafts was his sister.














Mostly he painted portraits, but there are a few landscapes-"The Battle of Bunker Hill" is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
This painting has a futuristic and/or apocalyptic quality which I admire.