into the air, once again

I'm a window seat kind of person.

wild west

mountain prairie

even the trees have beards

little marmot

my sister in red, upper right

evacuation route

backyard

studio transformations

Oh... VSC...what a wonderful place to produce! I have left there with lots of food for thought.

First week

the back corner

third week

last days

Staff artists #VermontStudioCenter

Trevor Corp

Headpiece by Lauren Turk

Painting by Lauren Turk in her studio setting

-->

Great thing about the Vermont Studio Center is that everyone on the staff is an artist or a writer. The founder, Jon Gregg, has created a world of his dreams. Each staff person and visiting resident is supported in their creative endeavors and Pax Cultura reigns.

Recently two of the staff artists really  caught my attention. Lauren Turk works in the kitchen, and Trevor Corp works on maintenance. Both of them make art that touches me. laurenturk.com

Corp's painting

Turk's sculpture

Turk sculpture, mixed media

Both of them work in a variety of media... sculpture, painting and the written word. Corp grew up in Johnson, and Turk has just arrived for a year's stint. They have a quiet demeanor, (unless you get Turk on the Karaoke stage), and their art is both whimsical and fearless.

Turk paintings

Corp's wooden clover leaf table

It has been a pleasure getting to see and experience all the art in Johnson at the studio center. So much to meditate on...

Miami Printer #VermontStudioCenter

Jennifer Basile! twitter

Inspired by nature and her camping trips, Basile spent her weeks at the #VermontstudioCenter carving giant linoleum prints of the forest. Her art immerses you in the landscape. The wall sized three panel print of the pine woods took her about three hours of constant hand rubbing to print. She also carved a wood panel with the Vermont maple and the state bird, the Hermit Thrush, to create a unique design for wall paper. To relieve her sore hands, Jennifer lit the stage at the Downtown karaoke night. She rallied everyone to play games and partied with a generosity of spirit that touched my heart. She is an artist from Long island who now lives and teaches in Miami. The girl is my homie.

Jennifer proudly displaying her creation at open studio night

Jennifer's studio wall

A Writer's night

In the course of our time here at VSC, the writers and the visual artists have comingled and tapped into a chemistry that both inspires and binds us. Writers appear at the life drawing studios, and along the riverbanks where artists are painting plein air. Community art making becomes the fodder for poetry read at the evening readings. At mealtimes the ideas and connections are shouted with glee. So it was with immense pleasure to the majority of us when the writers announced their own open studio evening event.
The Maverick writing Studio houses 16 writers. Among those we visited was Beth Roddy- who has literally and figuratively mapped out the last few months before her father's mysterious disappearance and death. Her studio was full of artifacts placed under blue taped headings such as: "last people to see him alive", "condolence cards" received organized by color, the history of "the crematorium" where the body was transferred and handwriting samples... She had a suitcase with her father's passport and belongings on the desk and a short power point which touched on the (in retrospect hauntingly) trivial actions she committed on the day she received the news of his certain death.
Next was Rosemary Graham working on her novel Simple Lessons in Irish, her work of historical fiction set in Ireland in 1914. Her walls were covered in research documents both real and fictionalized. At the end of the hallway was Su Smallen, author of Buddha, Proof, a collection of poems. She had her studio walls pushpinned with her recent daily life drawing sketches and the poems they inspired day by day. She also had a long musical/dance/ theatrical score written and presented accordian style, about a squirrel's frustration trying to build a nest with colored paper. It was interesting in particular because of the layout, the spacing and the way Su designed the words to sit on the paper.  I also visited the writing rooms of Gwen Mintz's (lots of crayon drawings done as daily exercises), Lindsay Wells, Katheryn Savage (who keeps individual notebooks of research and edits per poem), Nikita Deshpande (color pictures of domestic interiors in Mumbai India), and Amy Young (bird images and nature notes), Elizabeth Harlan-Ferlo (art from resident printers lined her space) and as well.

Su Smallen showing Michael her thought process

Beth Roddy in her writing room

Rosemary Graham

Rosemary's notes on her door

Gwen Mintz thinking of her next sentence

After the tour I felt my mind stretched and needed some rest for absorption of the creative practices I saw demonstrated. Looking back at the building across the bridge in the night, I saw each window lit and filled with a variation of the same sort of wing-back chair. Ideal setting for so much magical thought and creative writing.

I'm ruined

It had to end. #VermontCenterStudio

The three main things to getting work done is space, time left alone, and meals provided. Boy, were they wonderful meals… I am afraid I have gained weight.  Every lunch was accompanied with fresh hot loaves of bread. Dinner with amazing deserts. Such a wonderful time, over the top, I am probably ruined for any other residency experience.  Thank you VSC. Today we say goodbye to Vermont, to the studio center, and to Michael’s kids.

Open Studios #VermontCenterStudios

Fabulous night spent visiting 55 resident studios full of the hard work and creative play culminating after a month's time here at the Vermont Studio residency. We have to pack up soon and go back to the real world/work. I am so full of gratitude for this time and these experiences. The place was beautiful and the support was grand. Here are just a few of the pictures I was able to get taken. Many studios left me speechlessly inspired and I am sorry not to be able to feature them all. In a few of them, the artists were there and able to pose for a shot:

Michal Hunter, from D.C., my neighboring studio mate

Melissa Allensworth, great new friend from CA

 

 

Jean Sbarra Jones, awesome painter and teacher from Salem MA

Trevor Corp, inspiring from Johnson VT

Nadia Huggins from Kingstown, St Vincent (the islands)

Kathie Lovett of NH, my studio neighbor

Jennifer Basile from Miami (via Long Island)

me

www.jeansbarrajones.com