Arts Calendar: Vermont Arts 2018

It’s a new day for the cello! It seems like everybody wants a cello onstage with them. From singer/songwriters, Brazilian combos, bluegrass bands, and every breed of rock group, people are inventing new uses for the cello that bring this special instrument into contemporary settings.

Come join a community of cellists exploring new ways of collaborating and using our instruments. Innovative rhythmic techniques, accompanying singers and other soloists, creating cello parts in a “band” setting, practicing for being a lead voice in an ensemble – these are issues demanding creative solutions for the contemporary cellist.

Among the many questions addressed at the workshop: How do I practice to cultivate originality? How do I expand my comfort with chords? How can I create melodies through thorny chord progressions? How can I add more rhythmic tension and variation in my improvising and composing? How can I create rich accompaniments by covering the bass notes and harmony while keeping a groove? How can I make cello parts that don’t get overwhelmed by drums and bass?

As well as some hardware questions: Should I have an electric instrument? What type of pickup helps me to cut through a rhythm section while retaining my great cello sound? What electronics do I need to make the cello a compelling arena-sized voice?

In the Creative Cello Workshop you'll meet creative and collaborative players, share stylistic tips, jam with other cellists, explore new repertoire for cello ensemble, perform new pieces, and have the opportunity to improvise and play solos in a group.

Eugene Friesen has worked with hundreds of innovative cellists in jazz, rock, and folk settings. Eugene’s classes at the Berklee College of Music - and three decades of workshops throughout the United States and at international cello festivals - have influenced a generation of players who are changing the face of the cello for audiences worldwide.

Eugene will also be teaching his personal techniques including “Afro-Pizz,” a double-handed pizzicato technique featured in original pieces like “Shadowplay” and “Street Corner;” his signature multi-glissando featured in “Dances of Rasputin;” polyrhythmic col legno, etc.

Special guest, Jacob Szekely, is one of the world's first and foremost modern jazz cellists. A fluent improviser, collaborative musician, and gifted teacher, Jacob will bring a contemporary perspective on life as a sideman, studio musician, and jazz soloist.

Across all disciplines, collaboration is the new norm of creativity. To gain practice in collaborative work, we encourage participants to bring original music and sketches to the Workshop. We will play each other’s music and through the process of “workshopping,” we will discuss alternatives, work together, try new ideas and prepare pieces for public performance.
"Eugene's workshop was the best pure music-making I have experienced in many years. His openness,
depth of knowledge, and mastery of the cello led everyone to unlock doors to personal expression
that will stay open for a long time. This weekend was a gift."
-- Crispin Campbell, Cellist / Educator, Interlochen Arts Academy, Michigan

"Oh, I see how this works. Yesterday you couldn't get me to play a solo,
and today you can't get me to stop!"
-- Janet Haarvig, Cellist and Composer, Montana

Braintree painter Carolyn Egeli exhibits her oil paintings celebrating Vermont and its people through landscapes and portraits. Opening reception April 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Montpelier Art Walk May 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Photo ID required for entry.

Merwin’s exhibit of oil paintings explodes with color and light. This series of over 18 pieces was created from 2015 to the present and celebrates the rites of spring in its color and vibrancy. Opening reception April 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Montpelier Art Walk May 4, 4:00-7:00 PM.

This two-part exhibit of contemporary Vermont art is a collaboration between the Vermont Arts Council, Ric Kasini Kadour, and six guest curators. The 25 artists included come from all across the state and were identified as being on the verge of great work. Part II includes work by: work by Robert Gold (Burlington), August Burns (Middlesex), Jean Cherouny (South Burlington), Caroline Tavelli-Abar(Rochester), Sam Talbot-Kelly (Montpelier), Vanessa Compton (Greensboro), Hannah Morris (Barre), Angelo Arnold(Montpelier), Erika Senft Miller (Colchester), Renee Greenlee (Burlington), and Rose Umerlik (Jeffersonville).

Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call ahead to ensure conference room is available for viewing.

A fun introduction to symphony and jazz orchestra! Welcoming string players entering grades 5-9 and winds, brass, percussion entering grades 6-9. Students play in a full symphony orchestra and jazz orchestra, choose two electives, take instrument specific classes and get to play outside. Tuition is $300 and there's financial aid available. Come play with us!

FASHION DESIGN
June 25th-29th
OR
July 9th-13th
Ages 11-17
9:00am-3:00pm
$300 (member) | $325 (non-member)
Take pieces of clothing and rearrange them into a whole new wardrobe! Working on sewing machines, campers will redesign old clothing into new favorite outfits. Raid your closet, visit a used clothing store; bring buttons, sequins, lace, ribbon and other accessories to add. Basic sewing skills helpful but not necessary.
June Instructors: Donna Collins and Jolene Lane
July Instructors: Donna Collins and Robyn Alvin

Vermont Landscapes, a selection of paintings of Vermont, is installed in the public spaces of Lamoille County Courthouse through June 30. Organized by Bryan Memorial Gallery, the exhibition includes oils, watercolors, monoprints, pastels, and acrylics. The Courthouse is open to guests, except between noon and 12:30. There is no charge for this exhibit. Image is from a watercolor by Vladimir Vagin.

WEST RUTLAND, VT- Hinging on the tensions between truth and fiction that inform our understanding of history, the sculpture of Darryl Lauster investigates the American past and present. "For the Time Being," an exhibition featuring recent works in marble and bronze by the Texas artist, will be on display at the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center June 9-30, 2018. https://www.darryllauster.com/

The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center announces the Annual Members’ Exhibition, June 9-30, 2018 at the Gallery, 636 Marble Street in West Rutland. All members of the non-profit arts education organization have the opportunity to show their work in this popular exhibition. Artists of all levels have the chance to exchange ideas after the often-solitary winter.

For more information: (802) 438-2097 or info@carvingstudio.org.

1968 was a year of upheaval and transformation—a year in which national and international events spawned intense vocal expression and protest. This exhibit, through the lens of art, music, and literature, looks back 50 years to consider the issues that transformed American society.

Free.

The museum recently received an extensive collection of photographs of children from all corners of the globe. This exhibition surveys documentary and intimate images that depict the characteristic activities, delights, and inevitable sorrows of childhood. Among the photographers included are Henri Cartier-Bresson, Louis Stettner, Danny Lyon, and Leonard Freed.

Free.

A large-scale, interactive sculpture installation by LA-based artist James Peterson, inspired by magical Siberian ice caves. Presented by Spruce Peak at Stowe, produced and curated by Helen Day Art Center. Located in the Spruce Peak Village Center, outside Spa Entrance. Open to the public all hours.

Merwin’s exhibit of oil paintings explodes with color and light. This series of over 18 pieces was created from 2015 to the present and celebrates the rites of spring in its color and vibrancy. Opening reception April 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Montpelier Art Walk May 4, 4:00-7:00 PM.

Braintree painter Carolyn Egeli exhibits her oil paintings celebrating Vermont and its people through landscapes and portraits. Opening reception April 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Montpelier Art Walk May 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Photo ID required for entry.

The T. W. Wood Gallery at 46 Barre St. in Montpelier, Vermont, is pleased to announce an important exhibit, Ronald Slayton: Master of Watercolor from May 1, 2018 through June 29, 2018. Slayton (1910-1992) was born in Barre, Vermont. During the Great Depression he worked as an artist in the Vermont Division of the Federally funded Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1936-1939. W.C. Lipke once commented that Slayton “has been a painter, poet, dramatist, educator, politician, gallery director, peace activist, humorist, critic and historian suggest that the single appellation 'artist' is not broad enough to encompass his many achievements.” There will be a celebratory free public opening reception at the Gallery on Friday, May 4, from 5:00-8:00 pm and an Art Talk at 6:00 pm with a panel that will include Nancy Graff, Bobby Gosh, Tom Slayton and Phillip Robertson.

The Ronald Slayton exhibit will highlight two watercolor murals “The Last Supper” (1985) and “The Hunger Dream” (1985). Figures in “The Hunger Dream” The majority of Slayton's works in this exhibit are from the private collection of Billi and Bobby Gosh. They have included twelve of Slayton's later watercolors that will be for sale with 100% of the sales being generously donated to the Gallery.

This two-part exhibit of contemporary Vermont art is a collaboration between the Vermont Arts Council, Ric Kasini Kadour, and six guest curators. The 25 artists included come from all across the state and were identified as being on the verge of great work. Part II includes work by: work by Robert Gold (Burlington), August Burns (Middlesex), Jean Cherouny (South Burlington), Caroline Tavelli-Abar(Rochester), Sam Talbot-Kelly (Montpelier), Vanessa Compton (Greensboro), Hannah Morris (Barre), Angelo Arnold(Montpelier), Erika Senft Miller (Colchester), Renee Greenlee (Burlington), and Rose Umerlik (Jeffersonville).

Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call ahead to ensure conference room is available for viewing.

A fun introduction to symphony and jazz orchestra! Welcoming string players entering grades 5-9 and winds, brass, percussion entering grades 6-9. Students play in a full symphony orchestra and jazz orchestra, choose two electives, take instrument specific classes and get to play outside. Tuition is $300 and there's financial aid available. Come play with us!

FASHION DESIGN
June 25th-29th
OR
July 9th-13th
Ages 11-17
9:00am-3:00pm
$300 (member) | $325 (non-member)
Take pieces of clothing and rearrange them into a whole new wardrobe! Working on sewing machines, campers will redesign old clothing into new favorite outfits. Raid your closet, visit a used clothing store; bring buttons, sequins, lace, ribbon and other accessories to add. Basic sewing skills helpful but not necessary.
June Instructors: Donna Collins and Jolene Lane
July Instructors: Donna Collins and Robyn Alvin

Vermont Landscapes, a selection of paintings of Vermont, is installed in the public spaces of Lamoille County Courthouse through June 30. Organized by Bryan Memorial Gallery, the exhibition includes oils, watercolors, monoprints, pastels, and acrylics. The Courthouse is open to guests, except between noon and 12:30. There is no charge for this exhibit. Image is from a watercolor by Vladimir Vagin.

WEST RUTLAND, VT- Hinging on the tensions between truth and fiction that inform our understanding of history, the sculpture of Darryl Lauster investigates the American past and present. "For the Time Being," an exhibition featuring recent works in marble and bronze by the Texas artist, will be on display at the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center June 9-30, 2018. https://www.darryllauster.com/

The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center announces the Annual Members’ Exhibition, June 9-30, 2018 at the Gallery, 636 Marble Street in West Rutland. All members of the non-profit arts education organization have the opportunity to show their work in this popular exhibition. Artists of all levels have the chance to exchange ideas after the often-solitary winter.

For more information: (802) 438-2097 or info@carvingstudio.org.

The beloved novel set to music.
Book & Lyrics by Gretchen Cryer
Music by Nancy Ford

Anne Shirley, a spunky, red-headed orphan, is sent to live with a farmer and his sister on Prince Edward Island. The only problem? They thought they were adopting a boy. Follow Anne’s adventures (and misadventures!) as she discovers the meaning of home in this adaptation of the beloved novel by L.M Montgomery, with music and lyrics by Broadway’s Cryer and Ford.

Tuesday - Saturday Evenings at 4:00pm 
Saturday June 16 at 1:00pm

Run Time: Approx. 1 hour

Ticket Price: $20 for adults. $10 for children. Does not include sales tax or possible fees.

A fresh look at a timeless classic.
Written by Thornton Wilder

In the small town of Grover’s Corners, ordinary people lead extraordinary lives. This simple yet profound story of a community, brought to life by Thornton Wilder’s singular voice, allows us to contemplate life, death and the meaning of it all. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Details
Run Time: Approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes
Ticket Price: $49 - $60. Does not include sales tax or possible fees.

While still an award-winning photographer with the National Geographic, James Pease Blair summered in Middlebury, Vermont. On his retirement, Jim Blair and his wife Elise settled in Vermont year-round. Jim became entranced by the singular photography collection found in the Research Center of the Henry Sheldon Museum, where he found exceptional images that traced the citizens, landscapes, and townscapes of Addison County and the Lake Champlain region.

Collaborating with Sheldon Museum Archivist Eva Garcelon-Hart, he has chosen three dozen remarkable photographs that will be displayed in the exhibit Our Town: Love, Joy, Sadness, and Baseball — 100 Years of Photography from the Sheldon Museum from March 20, 2018 through July 08, 2018. His choices reflect a photographer’s unique eye, developed in his early training from celebrated American photographers Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind and while studying for a Bachelor of Science degree in photography at the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Later during his long career at the National Geographic he traveled the world, advancing his art, resulting in further photographic achievements.

The exhibit features single and group portraits of Vermonters – both the celebrated and the ordinary citizen, village scenes capturing disasters and daily life, landscapes of Vermont’s treasured mountains and lakes. Stunning aerial landscape photographs were taken by George N. Lathrop (1900 – 1983). An extensive collection of Lathrop’s photographs and negatives of Addison County taken between 1930s and 1960s is part of the Sheldon archives.

100 years of life in the Middlebury region are highlighted in the exhibit. Vintage clothing and photographic equipment from the Sheldon Museum’s collection complement the exhibit.

In celebration of his 60th reunion at Middlebury College, the Henry Sheldon Museum offers a retrospective of the whimsical wood carvings of John Cross, a masterful contemporary folk artist.

Few would have predicted that an economics major at Middlebury College who earned a master’s degree in business at the University of Chicago would have begun carving during his career as a creative copywriter at a premier New York advertising agency. Humor, perseverance, and imagination are the skills reflected in all phases of his life journey.

John Cross began whittling while watching the filming of commercials for which he wrote the scripts for Proctor & Gamble and for Toyota. His ad copy promoted such iconic brands as Scope mouthwash and Crest toothpaste. During the day he wrote jingles from his advertising office in New York City, then headed for 813 Broadway where he shared a rented loft with sculptor William King, coincidentally in the same building where Wolf Kahn painted. Kahn, who now maintains a summer studio near Brattleboro, VT, is known for his sumptuous landscapes, and King, who died in 2015, worked in clay, wood, bronze, vinyl, burlap, and aluminum. Cross, King, and Kahn were among the poets, artists, and museum professionals who gathered for drinks and conversation at the renowned Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village to encourage one another.

Cross has always worked with wood, in particular sugar pine. He favors figurative renderings of sports figures, especially the players and fans of the New York Yankees, artists, sideshow performers, Miss America contestants, fishermen, operatic stars, and playful everyday characters. He has researched players from the Negro Baseball League and commemorated them in compelling wood carvings. For many years Cross was represented by Jay Johnson, owner of a leading New York City American Folk Art gallery on Madison Avenue and later by the David Findlay Jr. Gallery on Fifth Avenue, and currently by the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY. His carvings are in the public collections of the Museum of American Folk Art and the Smithsonian, and in the private collections of Garrison Keillor and Ali McGraw.

John Cross and his wife Linda Cross, also an artist, reside and work from their home studios in Elizaville, New York. The Hudson River is nearby, as is the scenic rail line which provides them easy access to New York City galleries and museums and their son Peter Cross (Middlebury College ’93) and his family, who live in Manhattan.

The Sheldon Museum retrospective will honor this accomplished sculptor, who continues to carve and inspire gallery and museum visitors.

Man with Cigar, c. 1990. Photo: Christian Carone