Bennington Arts Guild Celebrates Year of the Dragon

Dragon hooked rug by Dan Barber

When the Chinese New Year begins January 23, the Bennington Arts Guild is ready, featuring new works of art featuring spirited dragons.   Painter Judith Kniffin’s oil-on-canvas dragon is now displayed in the gallery window.   She researched traditional depictions of Chinese dragons, and selected one which appealed to her: “The strong figure-ground design and passionate colors nailed me!”

Artist Daniel Barber hooked a new rug featuring a fire-breathing dragon.  To create his one-of-a-kind hooked rugs, Dan draws an image before preparing his wall hangings, but does not use color until he works with the wool.   The completed sinewy figure glows in rich greens, reds, and blues.

Paula Kautz-LaPorte created a 13-foot bicycle dragon named Ramapo Green. “I made her walk about and celebrate life, to warm hearts and stir imaginations,” Paula reveals.   Too large for the gallery, Ramapo Green can be seen at Paula’s Weaving Workshop at 126 Washington Avenue in Bennington. “Ramapo Green is an eastern woodland dragon. She was named in honor of the two mountain ranges I have lived in. I grew up in the Ramapo Mountains in New Jersey and that is where my childhood dragon lives. The Green Mountains of Vermont have been my home since 1972.”

Other guild artists are contemplating dragon creations. New dragons will be featured throughout the Chinese Year of the Dragon, which ends February 9, 2013. According to Chinese folklore, the Year of the Dragon will be marked by excitement, exhilaration and intensity. You will find all of that at the Bennington Arts Guild.

Keeping the Arts Alive: with thanks to our 2012 Friends of the Bennington Arts Guild

The Bennington Arts Guild thanks our 2012 Friends for their support.  The Guild is planning new exhibits, including a new themed exhibit “2012: The Year of the Dragon.”  We thank our Friends, the community, and our visitors for their continued support in keeping the arts alive in downtown Bennington, Vermont in the coming year.

 

2012 Friends of the Bennington Arts Guild

■Bob and Alison Stannard  www.bobstannard.com  Stannard Assc. Inc.

■Bonita Dundas

■Telly Halkias:  www.nowandthenbooksvt.com  Now and Then Books, Bennington VT

■Gabe Palmer:  www.studioclubartworks.com  Studio Club Artworks, Pownal VT

Donated Supplies and Services

■Lia Diamond Apple Barn and Country Bake Shop www.theapplebarn.com

■WBTN www.wbtnam.com

• We also thank Jack Appelman for his generous support of the Guild.

Donations of Art

■Joe Cardamone Glass Fusion Studio of Vermont  www.glassfusionstudios.com

Give the Gift of Art this Holiday Season

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Want to shop local this holiday season?  The Bennington Arts Guild in Bennington VT is the perfect place to find locally made, hand made gifts.

• hand-crafted ornaments
• jewelry by Christina Hazel, Barbara Henry, Ann Webster Lang, Colleen Williams, and Jenny Wren
• hand-hooked rugs by Dan Barber
• turned vases, bowls, and wine stoppers made from local hardwoods by Joe Comi
• elegant trivets and vessels by Ray Mullineaux
• woven baskets by Paula LaPorte and warm, hand-knit scarves by Marie Devito
• ceramic vases, platters, teapots, mugs, and trivets by Marie DeVito, Arline Mayer, and Jessica Phillips
• the Guild also features a selection of photographic prints, cards, and fine art pieces, perfect for your home during the holiday season

By supporting local artists you help keep the arts alive in downtown Bennington.  We thank everyone for their support of our Guild during 2011, and wish everyone much joy in the new year.

Art is Timeless: The Bennington Arts Guild’s Exhibit at the Bennington Museum

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The Bennington Arts Guild designed and created a display for the Bennington Museum’s Festival of Trees, which runs until December 31.

Reflecting on the continuity between the Museum’s historic collections, and the works of art members of the Guild are creating right now, the Guild decided to create a display entitled “Art is Timeless.”  The vignette depicts an artist’s studio, complete with a palette, easel, and recently completed works of art; a diminutive mouse “artist” is at work in the studio, as well.  Even the tree is decorated with this theme, complete with tubes of paint, brushes, pencils, and hand-crafted ornaments by members of the Guild.  Works of art are for sale, and may be purchased through the Guild’s gallery and picked-up after the Festival of Trees exhibit closes (please coordinate all details through the Bennington Arts Guild’s gallery).

Works featured in the display (left to right):

• Kathryn Kosto, collage, “Perfectly Wonderful” $200; “Green is Gold IV” $140.
• Ceil Petrucelli, mixed media, “Key to Life” $225; “Joy Time” $250
• Paula LaPorte, weaving, “Delightful Green Rocker” $175, Fishing Creel, $140
• Ray Mullineaux, wooden box, lacewood and American sycamore, NFS
• Marie DeVito, “Winter Green” hand-made scarf with wool accents, $30
• Jenny Wren, polymer clay sculpture “Jean-Claude” NFS
• Jessica Phillips, melon vase, stoneware, $45
• Dan Barber, hooked rug, “Snowmen on Parade” $250
• Judith Kniffin, “Winter Embankment” watercolor, $400; “Winter Wetlands” oil on canvas, $650
• Samantha Ambrose, photograph, “Ice Crystals” $60
• Trix Niernberger, photograph, “Frozen Maple” $35.

Art is indeed timeless, and works of great beauty are still being created today in Bennington.  Choose to buy local this holiday season, and stop by the Bennington Arts Guild’s Gallery at 103 South Street to browse fine art and fine crafts created today.   The Bennington Arts Guild is a not-for-profit arts co-operative made up of local artists in the greater Bennington area, and we are pleased to contribute to this fund-raiser for the Bennington Museum.

Give the gift of art this holiday season

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The artists of the Bennington Arts Guild announce their holiday open house on Sunday, December 4, 2011, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.  The open house is at the Bennington Arts Guild Gallery, 103 South Street, Bennington, Vermont.  Light refreshments will be served, and everyone is welcome.

Make this a hand-made holiday season: the Guild’s gallery features gifts for everyone at all price levels, and purchases of locally made fine art and fine crafts keep your dollars in the local community. The Guild’s gallery features paintings, photographs, fine furniture, rugs, scarves, sculptures, pottery, collages, baskets, ornaments, and cards.

The Guild is also showcasing eleven decorated wooden cheese boxes, which originally were used to hold Vermont-made cheddar.    Member artists designed and created each box, and 100% of the proceeds will go towards the Guild, which is a not-for-profit organization which furthers the arts in the greater Bennington region.  Each member interpreted the project creatively.  Paula LaPorte was inspired by the intricate use of birch bark on Adirondack style furniture.  Judy Kniffin created a hand-painted and collage box featuring a pheasant, and Marie DeVito fashioned a bright and bold box of dozens of pink-and-white ribbon roses.  Kathryn Kosto found inspiration in the date stamp on the box – January 15. The lid depicts a snowy day in January, and the inside of the box depicts a starlit winter’s sky created with textiles and hand-beading.

The jewelry section at the gallery has been expanded for the holidays, with five artists contributing to a large collection of silver, wire-wrapped, beaded, and polymer clay jewelry. “All are unique pieces,” said Barbara Henry, who layers polymer clay to form jewelry akin to abstract paintings.

Complete your holiday decorations with hand-crafted, locally made ornaments.  Jenny Wren finds inspiration in nature, and sculpts and hand-paints polymer clay in her Bennington studio.  For this holiday season, she has created hand-painted star and egg ornaments, shimmering fish ornaments, and sparkling peace doves.

Be sure to stop by the Bennington Arts Guild for all of your holiday shopping needs.  This season, give the gift of art.

Autumn in Vermont: it’s all about the colors

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Bennington Arts Guild members are busy creating and showcasing their art during our glorious fall season in Vermont.

The Guild welcomes three new members: jeweler Christina Hazel, photographer Trix Niernberger, and mixed media artist Ceil Petrucelli. Christina’s wrapped-wire jewelry is available for sale in the gallery. Trix reports that her photography is featured weekly in the Eastwick Press, and in addition to her work in the gallery, she has an exhibit through December in the Petersburgh Library in Petersburgh, NY. Ceil, who also works in interior design, is continuing her mixed media collage series, plus is working on some new boxes and textiles. She comments that in Vermont, autumn is “always about the colors – the vibrant reds, yellows, golds, russets, deep greens, browns, and coppery and bronze metallic hues.” She finds inspiration in the late afternoon light in autumn, enjoying the changing light of the sun against the mountains, and how “the fading light turns the mountains different shades of purple, slate, blue, and lavender.”

Kathryn Kosto takes inspiration from the changing light and color of each season in her new collage series “Seasons” which depicts four women at different points in their lives.  Each collage incorporates the colors of the seasons in textiles, paper, and embroidery.

Ceramic artist Jessica Phillips reports that she is one of the four founders of Gallery 47, a co-op gallery of local artists, which is located at 47 Highland Ave in Manchester VT. In addition, Jessica will have a holiday Open Studio on December 10 and 11th in her Arlington VT studio. She is also part of an exhibit titled “Clay” which is on view through November 19 at the Buttondown Gallery in the Shirt Factory (Glens Falls, NY).

Weaver Paula LaPorte is busy working on custom-woven chairs for her many clients, and is also creating some birch-bark ornaments for the Guild’s upcoming Holiday Open House.

Take some time while out enjoying the colors of autumn to stop by the Bennington Arts Guild, to admire the colors and vibrancy of fine art and fine crafts made by local artists.

“Dogfight!”: a new collaborative art installation at the Bennington Arts Guild

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The Bennington Arts Guild announces the collaborative installation “Dogfight!” on display in the front window of the Bennington Arts Gallery. This project features the work of Vincent Thomson, who created models of a suspension bridge, covered bridge, and biplanes out of toothpicks, and illustrator Jenny Wren, who hand-sculpted the dog fighter pilots out of polymer clay. Fiber artist Marie DeVito accessorized the scene by hand-knitting red scarves for each dog, and painter Judy Kniffin completed the installation with an original oil-on-canvas backdrop depicting a rural Vermont landscape.

Soaring through the air, the dogs are intent on their barnstorming mission. The Vermont theme is made literal in a beagle named “Snoop Dawg” who rides a red-painted covered bridge as his aircraft. Other dogs, such as Rolf the German Shepherd and Cocoa the chocolate lab, each bring their own dog-personalities to the scene. Combining the whimsical with the naturalistic, and merging fantasy and realism, this collaborative piece draws on the talents of each artist, and reflects the spirit of the Bennington Arts Guild, which is entirely operated by local artists. The ultimate message of the piece is to “support local art” and to remind us that those things small but spirited often succeed despite all odds.

Lit through the night, the installation is visible at any time in the front window of the Bennington Arts Guild’s Gallery at 103 South Street. Be sure to stop by during gallery hours to see additional work for sale by these artists and other members of the Bennington Arts Guild. “Dogfight” is available for purchase as a group or individual pieces, and the banners may be personalized; please contact Jenny Wren for details and prices: info@wrenhouse.com.

New Exhibit: blurring the lines between clay and glass

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Kicking off the Fall season at the Bennington Arts Guild, two local artists, Joe Cardamone, of Glass Fusion Studios, and Marie DeVito, of Shirkshire Pottery, have collaborated on their show “Double Take: Blurring the Lines Between Clay and Glass.”

Joe, who works in stained and fused glass, and Marie, who works in stoneware and ceramics, realized they shared similar tastes in design and color when they first met six years ago. This show capitalizes on those similarities and highlights the differences.  ”We had a lot of fun putting this show together,” says Marie. “I would design a piece, in clay and glaze, and then Joe would execute it in his medium.”

Joe found that his fused glass would work would best with this sort of interplay, so he focused exclusively on that for this shared exhibit.  The pieces play on the pair’s bold
use of color, and their affinity for geometric patterns; some pieces are simple in design, others very ornate.

“And,” added DeVito, “in some cases, people we have shown them to can’t tell which was produced in clay, and which were made of glass. When that happened, we knew we were on to something fun.” While all of the pieces they produce are food safe, the
message of the show is that these works were not necessarily created to be used, but rather, to be appreciated as works of art, to hang and admire.

“Art should be fun, bring a smile of pleasure to your face when you see it,” says Joe.  “We think this show does just that.”

“Double Take” opens Saturday, September 17, with a reception from 5-8 pm at the Guest Gallery of the Bennington Arts Guild, and will be on display through October 10.

Art Endures: Finding Solace, Meaning, and Inspiration in Art

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In the days following Irene, art may seem to be far from our minds.  However, as
an editorial in the Bennington Banner reminds us “despite all, the arts endure.”  To help with relief efforts, selected members of the Bennington Arts Guild are donating 20% of their September sales to the American Red Cross for local relief aid.  While there is much to be done, many museums, galleries, and restaurants do remain open in Vermont, and the Bennington Arts Guild continues its regular hours, providing a forum for people from near and far to enjoy the solace of art.

The Guild’s Guest Gallery exhibit series continues, with Ray Mullineaux’s and Kathryn Kosto’s exhibit “Remainders / Reflections” running until September 12. Reflecting on his sculptural pieces, which are created from fragments left over from other woodworking projects, Ray muses:

Remainders are left from the completed projects of one’s life cut from the whole cloth….If we are thinking of the “reduce, reuse, recycle, trash it” paradigm, these are part of what we recycle…. My remainders are of both these types. But I’m interested in them not as evidence of attention to the problem of waste but as part of a different problem: the  problem of personal attachment, meaning, acceptance and letting go….These new
creations make visible to the public what is hidden, repressed, undervalued or even viewed with suspicion and derision in ourselves.

Several members of the Guild will be opening new exhibits.  Painter Judy Kniffin will
be at the opening of her show in the Regional Artists Corridor at the Bennington Museum on Saturday, September 3, from 3-5 pm.  Likewise, ceramic artist Jessica Phillips will
be at the opening of her new show on Saturday, September 3, from 3-5 pm at the
Canfield Gallery in Arlington, VT.  Jessica’s show runs until September 30.

Paula LaPorte shares that her routine changes as late summer turns to fall.  “During
apple harvest I split my work day between my shop and Terry’s Orchard” operating the pick-your-own booth, while managing to work on weaving chair seats while in between assisting customers.  Paula reflects, “September is such a glorious time of year in Vermont so I look forward to standing in the sun and helping people have fun.”

Late summer has also inspired Guild member Jenny Wren, who shares that she has just completed two new drawings of a mouse eating blackberries off the branch – revealing that she was “inspired by the whopping  bounty of blackberries we found here in Bennington- we have 37 pounds in our freezer!”  She has also added new designs to her jewelry collection, including lobster necklaces and bird pair pendant necklaces, painted
to reflect both the male and female plumage.  Jenny is also working with other BAG members on an upcoming sculptural installation piece to be displayed in the Guild’s gallery window.

Ann Webster-Lang and BAG volunteer Ceil Petrucelli have been collaborating on designs for buttons and other embellishments which Ceil plans to incorporate into pillow designs.  Ceil is also working on decorated boxes and is collecting 3D objects so she can start making some assemblages this winter.

The next exhibit in the Guild’s Guest Gallery series is called “Double Take: Blurring the Lines between Clay and Glass” featuring the work of BAG member Marie DeVito in collaboration with glass artist Joe Cardamone.  Their show will open in the Guest Gallery
September 17.

New Exhibit: Remainders/Reflections

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“When cutting pieces for furniture, I found myself intrigued by what was left behind, in the wood I had cut away.” – Ray Mullineaux

The new exhibit, opening on August 20 in the Guest Gallery of the Bennington Arts Guild,
explores the concept of remainders, of remnants, and of pieces left behind and their implicit duality.  Fragments, be they wood, textiles, or words from a larger text, look backwards towards their origin or original use; in the hands of artists, fragments also look forwards, towards repurposed and continued meaning. This exhibit of sculpture by Ray Mullineaux and collages by Kathryn Kosto invites us to reflect on both presence and absence, to see what was included, and what was excluded, cast aside, or left behind.

“I occasionally make small sculptural works as a meditation upon putting bits and pieces, many from cherished scrap, together and reshaping and engineering them to new purpose.
Their pasts may survive in some aspect but serving a new whole. Spontaneity is my muse and method,” says Ray Mullineaux.  Ray has worked as a cabinet and furniture maker in the Bennington area since coming to North Bennington to study furniture making and design with Ian Kirby in 1979.

Kathryn Kosto uses fragments from poetry by poets such as Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Phillis Wheatley in her collages.  As in the poems themselves, themes of pairing occur in her work: fire/ice, eternity/memory, and imagination/recollection.
The collages incorporate vintage textiles, text fragments from poems, and goldwork, a form of embroidery using gold thread which flourished during the Middle Ages.  Kathryn has worked as a museum curator and archivist, and her art reflects her familiarity with
historic needlework, textiles, and archival collections; more information and images are on her website.

Tune into WBTN for an interview with Ray and Kathryn, from 8:30 -9 am on Tuesday, August 16.  The public is invited to celebrate the opening of “Remainders/Reflections” at the BAG Gallery on Saturday, August 20, from 5-8 pm.  Light refreshments will be served. This exhibit will be on display through September 12.