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. Each issue includes the entire text of our weekly newspaper column.

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      Stop in for live music and more at the Fairfax Music Sessions at the Foothills Bakery in Fairfax most Saturday afternoons at 1 p.m., at various restaurants around Franklin County throughout the week, at the Bayside in St Albans Town most Sunday afternoons, and the Cambridge CoffeeHouses at 7 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of every month.
     These gatherings bring new opportunities, gossip, "show-and-tell" and occasional workshops. The booked performances and acoustic Open Mike Nights feature music, readings, and more from the best new artists in Vermont.

      Find links to these events and more in our Spotlight!

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ART ON THE WALLS

ENOSBURG FALLS--The Artist In Residence Gallery features different artists each month. This month, the spotlight is on "Vermont Bag Lady" Nan Adriance, farmer and watercolorist Kristan Doolan, and photographer David Juaire with a Vermont Life retrospective. Each will give a presentation the afternoon of the reception.
      The A.I.R. gallery hosts a free meet-the-artists reception with refreshments on Sunday from 1 - 4 p.m. The exhibit continues through the end of February.
      The Artist in Residence art cooperative features paintings, fiber arts, stained glass, sculpture, lamps, pottery, folk art boxes, scarves, hats and more by 45 Franklin County and surrounding area artists. It is owned and operated by the artists and sponsors. The gallery, located at 321 Main Street, is open Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. plus the first Sunday of each month, noon to 5 p.m.

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LIFE OF VERMONT

     Vermont Life photographer David Juaire of Georgia bought a 35mm Minolta as a hobby 34 years ago. "I had always admired the photos, the pastoral scenes, I had seen in Vermont Life," said this self-taught photographer who liked to experiment with different films and cameras. Although he has photographed people, "my favorite is the scenic photo."
      A Franklin County native, Mr. Juaire was brought up on a dairy farm in Georgia. He works primarily with digital cameras now but is well known for his medium format (2-1/4x3-1/2 inch film) and 35 mm images. He has always liked the large format "for the exceptional clarity it brings enlargements."
      Magazines required slides when Mr. Juaire started. He originally used Kodak's Ektachrome film but switched to Kodachrome at the request of the editor. It was the gold standard film for color reproduction in the glossy magazines.
      Kodak introduced Kodachrome color slide film in 1935 but abandoned Kodachrome research and development in the mid 1990s and discontinued its manufacture in 2009. The last Kodachrome processing facility, Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, discontinued processing at the end of 2010.
      Steve McCurry who shot Sharbat Gula, the "Afghan Girl," on Kodachrome for the National Geographic magazine in 1984 hand-carried the last roll of that film to Manhattan, India, Istanbul, London, and Kansas for photos of Robert De Niro, a sculpture studio in Mumbai, street art at 7th Avenue and Bleecker Street, a cemetery in Parsons.
      Mr. Juaire had already moved to Fujifilm's Velvia transparency film for his medium format work. "The Velvia lost the blue shift" that Ektachrome was known for but used the same 1-hour processing labs. It is still known for its extremely high level of color saturation and image quality.
      In 2008, Vermont Life Magazine commissioned Mr. Juaire make another major change: to photograph Cold Hollow Career Center students digitally at their sugar house in Enosburg. It was his first assignment with his first digital camera and became a two-page spread in the magazine.
      "My sales have picked up since I shifted to digital," he said. "I think I'm selling more because I shoot more."
      His first digital camera was a Nikon D80; he uses a Nikon D300 now. The D300 is a professional digital SLR with a 12.3 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor. Thanks to the monopod or tripod he often uses, he is able to print 24x36" prints "that are as sharp as I did with 220" (medium format film), he said. He still uses the polarizer filter that gave his film images so much punch.
      Vermont's top publisher has used his photos from his first submission to their engagement book, to their wall calendars, in a tourist guide and in the magazine itself. Last year, they published nine photos including several centerfolds. He is also well known for the 80 photos that have appeared on the Cooperative Insurance calendar. In the early 1980s, WCAX TV used slides for Claudia Reynolds' weather program. 200 were from David Juaire. 200. He continues looking for fascinating landscapes but with so little snow, "I haven't taken a single winter picture yet this year," he said.
      Mr. Juaire is a Realtor with Lang McLaughry Spera where business seems to be picking up.
      He is also taking a digital photography class. "There is so much to learn," he said.
      The David Juaire exhibit at the A.I.R. reception on Sunday will include a digital slideshow, a photo album of the calendar photos, a poster of the Enosburg sugaring piece, and his scenic photos from around the state in all five seasons.

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ON STAGE LIVE

ESSEX JUNCTION--On Tap (formerly the Lincoln Inn) offers Blues Night with the Nobby Reed Project tonight at 7 p.m. The Phil Abair Band takes the stage tomorrow at 9 p.m.
      Call 802.878.3309 or email for more info.

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BURLINGTON--Young Tradition Vermont and Burlington Parks and Recreation present a Young Tradition Showcase in Contois Auditorium at City Hall on Saturday at 6 p.m.
      The Burlington Winter Festival event features Young Musicians and Dancers Performing with Their Mentors and Teachers with Mary Wesley and Cassondra Covington as emcees/dance callers. Teacher/student combinations include Sarah Blair with Ian Watkins, Tim Cummings with Haliana Burhans, Rose Diamond with Alya MacManaway, Joanne Garton with Mikaela Moore, Benedict Koehler and Hilari Farrington with Yasi Zeichner, Oliver Zeichner and Toben Traver, Beth Ann McFadden with Sean Downing and Erin Brady, Laura Markowitz with Eileen O’Grady, Molly Shallow, Arianna, Matthews and Paige Fournier, Heather Morris with Hannah Marshall, Darcy Schmoll, Lindsey Griggs and Olivia Gates, Pete Sutherland with Oliver Scanlon, and Beth Telford with Sophie Roe.
      A short contra dance will follow the concert with free pizza after the concert and before the dance.
      Email for advance reservations. Partial proceeds benefit the Tom Sustic Fund. Click here for more info.

     The Special Olympics Vermont Penguin Plunge takes place at 11 a.m. on the Waterfront on this same day.

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BURLINGTON--The Skinny Pancake on Burlington's Waterfront presents the Carol Ann Jones Trio with Gary Spaulding and Jon Sochin Saturday evening at 7 p.m.
      "Make sure to get a desert crepe," Ms. Jones said, "and they make gluten-free buckwheat crepes too. I can't wait!"
      There is a suggested $5 donation to the music basket.

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CLICK HERE: ART SITE OF THE WEEK

     Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away. Kodachrome's prominence may have peaked in the 1970s when it was immortalized by Paul Simon who lauded the film's capacity for bright colors with his lyric. This slide show at Vanity Fair has many of Steve McCurry's last Kodachrome photos.

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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!

All Arts Council of Franklin County

Dick Harper, Chair
P.O. Box 1
Highgate Springs, VT 05460
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