DANCE - FINE ARTS - MUSIC - THEATER - WRITING

ARTBITS by Richard B. Harper


VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 * * All Arts News On the Web * * MARCH, 1999

STUFF YOU SHOULDN'T MISS

      ArtBits always features a calendar of the goings on of Franklin County artists. Check out these events around Franklin County.


IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

      The annual meeting of the members of the All Arts Council of Franklin County, originally scheduled for March 4, was cancelled. The meeting will be held on Thursday March 11, 1999, at 7 p.m. in the Collins-Perley Sports Center. At the annual meeting, members will elect up to 7 directors, report on major projects including the Artist Register and the ArTrain, and plan the 1999 season. AAC members vote, can serve on the board of directors, hold office, and support cultural events around Franklin County.
      The following directors' terms expire in 1999: Chris Bouchard, Dick Harper (chair), Dave Kiefner, and Ania Modzelewski. There are also three open position to be filled with nominations from the floor.
      Control of the Arts Council rests with the membership. Members may vote, serve on the board of directors; attend meetings; receive news, priority seating, educational opportunities, and discounts; network with other artists and other members; attend member-only celebrations; and meet artists. All residents of the service area may join the AAC with full voting rights; people residing outside the service area may join the AAC, but have no voting rights.


THE TEACHER CREATES ART

      Pamela Krout-Voss teaches art Mondays and Tuesdays in Berkshire Elementary School.
      "I like three dimensional forms best," Pam said. She trained originally in pottery at UVM. "I had gotten away from it for a long time, and now do hand building." Hand building is sculpting by hand without a wheel.
      She also enjoys watercolor paintings and other media.
      "I did a series of Mandalas with colored pencils." That series was a study of light and energy.
      Teachers study. Most of the workshops and classes Pam takes are school related. "My favorite has been 'Imagery and the Writing Process' which engages the kids making different textured papers. The outcome is to trigger the kids' creative process and they can create a story." Last year she took a ceramic class at UVM and did a study in Chinese pottery. "That's a dream of mine, to go to China."
      "A couple of times a month a group of us gets together to paint and draw in our houses," she said. They often attend lectures at the Studio Art Center at Johnson State. "We enjoy hearing about other artists and seeing their work."
      Pam grew up in Hanover, NH. "I used to go over to Norwich for private lessons in pottery in high school." She also loves to read, cook, and garden, used to sew her own clothes, and now makes quilts and curtains.
      The Web Project at Berkshire Elementary is in its third year in Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union. Pam thinks her students are more comfortable with digital art than she was at the beginning of that project. Students create art on the computer and scan in works they have done by more traditional methods. The student artwork then becomes part of a growing online gallery. "We have just one computer in the art room, but we have a beautiful lab in the library."
      Pam is also holding the third in a series of workshops on clay whistles for students at Sheldon Elementary next week. Sheldon doesn't have a full time art teacher, so the classroom teachers invite professional artists to give workshops, residencies, and seminars. The clay whistle project was funded by a grant.
      Her upcoming second annual district wide art show will bring together student and professional art at the Opera House at Enosburg Falls in May.
      She is also a recruiter in the Rural Education Program, a Federal project administered by the University of Vermont. This program helps children of farm families who have moved across school districts in Franklin and Grand Isle counties.
      "Orchards do have some migrant pickers but generally most of the children don't come with the pickers," Pam said. "Most of our migrants are dairy farmers who move from one dairy to another." That may not sound like migrant work, but the nature of some jobs and some of our farms means "families might stay as little as three months on a local farm."
      Pam and husband George live by the falls in Enosburg Falls in an old house surrounded by lilacs. They have three kids and are expecting their first grandchild in early June. Son Michael lives in North Carolina; Bendtsen, 17, and Owen, 11, live at home.


ARTIST AT WORK

      Artist, illustrator, sculptor, and dining room manager.
      Nancy Bartell works at the Tyler Place in Highgate Springs. "I was originally hired as their gardener," said the artist who finds expression in non-traditional venues. "I've been a cook and a gardener and found outlets other than sitting down with pens and paintbrushes." She manages the dining room through the summer, then works on graphics for the promotional end of the business and gets involved in the artistic side of redecorating and renovating the accomodations during the winter off-season.
      The Tyler Place is building a new indoor sports facility for basketball, volleyball, and aerobics. "I had a hand in coming up with the basic plan and the design."
      "Most of what I've done forever is pen-and-ink and watercolor work." That work includes wedding invitations and coloring contests. "Right now I'm working on web page designs [for the Tyler Place] and our newsletters, and illustrations advertisement." She is interested in all media, "but with a thread of painting and drawing whether it's creating a birthday card for a friend or a commissioned piece." That shows when she develops menus and plan gardens and buildings.
      Nancy likes watercolor best for the fluidity of the media. She is presently negotiating with a children's book company to illustrate a picture book. "The publisher is one of our guests. who had seen my work in the brochure. He approached me to consider doing kids' books." Nancy submitted the first series of illustrations based on a manuscript
      "I've always drawn and painted or done something creative." For ten years she made a living on the Craft Fair circuit with clay ornaments she calls "Cabin Fever Critters" such as beavers with chainsaws and pigs with bowls of eggs and wire whisks. The critters grew into special orders for people all over the country. "People could write to me with their favorite person and animal and I'd wrap that into a whimsical critter."
      Nancy lives at the Tyler Place in Mrs. Tyler's house. She has two children in their early 20s. Daughter Abigail lives at Lake Tahoe and is an artist and snowboarder. Son Asa lives in Burlington.
      "Whatever I've done for the last 30 years has been very connected to my creative side."


MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

      The AAC needs members who want to assemble art exhibits, book bands, evoke events, and to paint or dance or sing or write. We began our annual membership drive last month.
      1999 members will receive a reproduction of a fine oil or watercolor painting donated by AAC artists. Member benefits also include networking with artists and other members, a member night celebration, regular news of local cultural happenings, priority seating or discount admission to AAC events, advance notice of events, educational and cultural opportunities, as well as other parties and discounts.
      Residents, businesses, and visitors can join at the saint, patron, donor, benefactor, sponsor, or general member Level. Student memberships are free; our student members complete community service projects to fulfill their membership. Check it out here.


ART SITES OF THE MONTH

      Each month we look for a few web sites with great images, music, or resources for people in the arts.


      Web sites with dancing globes or phaser fire are fun, but it is information that keeps us coming back. Ron Sawyer's site is a terrific example of what a writer can do on the Internet.
      Sawyer claims "500,000 words / 350 documents / 8,000 hypertext links" on the site. Writers should check out the On Writing columns he produced for On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of Speculative Writing.


      The Internet for the Fine Arts is an international on-line community and network of artists, galleries, museums, and resources for the fine arts. IFA reflects the emergence of new art and arts-related resources on the Internet. The site also includes a free listings service with thousands of fine art pieces from hundreds of galleries, collectors, other web sites, and individual artists.
      Feature artist Paul Stevens has owned and operated galleries in Key West for 18 years. Hus commissioned works include eight murals for the River Club in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. and the Bicentennial mural for the Monroe County Courthouse in Key West.


FRANKLIN COUNTY BOOKSHELF

      ArtBits features a quick weekly peek at the bookshelf or night stand of the folks you know in and around Franklin County. That popular feature has a page of its own at the Franklin County Bookshelf here on the AAC site.


SUPPORT LIVE ARTS IN YOUR TOWN!

Dick Harper, Chair

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All Arts Council of Franklin County
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Highgate Springs, VT 05460
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Copyright © Richard B. Harper, 1999. All Rights Reserved.