Located in the former Brandon Training School, this hub of creativity hosts an active exhibition program in addition to artist studios and collaborative spaces.
Park Village
333 Jones Drive, Brandon 05733
(802) 247-4295
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM
ART ON VIEW
Tecari Shuman: Paintings
August 31-September 29, 2018
Brandon artist Tecari Shuman presents 42 paintings of abstract and modern art that he has developed over the past eighteen months. Shuman’s work explores the depth of his personal trials and life experiences creatively and imaginatively expressed through his art.
Surviving and recovering from polio as a child in Flushing, Queens, Shuman became a landscape designer, nature photographer, furniture craftsman and the director of a California health center. But, as fate would have it, Shuman’s life took a serious turn, when, as an adult, he developed post-polio syndrome, compounded by a hydrocephalous condition and the onset of Parkinson’s Disease.
Undaunted by the depression that any human being might feel under these circumstances, Shuman turned to painting as a solace and inspiration to find deeper meaning in his life. His rich connections with Nature were inspirational and flowed into the richness of color and forms that enliven and inspire his works. Shuman began to trust and be informed by his “inner nature”, even as his outer world diminished around him.
As Shuman explains it, “New images dance before my mind’s eye, and each painting finds its own spirit. My fingers on the brush, unfold the rich, wet colors until I arrive at a point where there is no more to do and the painting is done.”
image: Annie’s Keeper by Tecari Shuman. Courtesy of the artist.
PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS
Bill Ramage: The Self
July 7-August 19, 2017
Bill Ramage’s The Self (installation drawings and sculpture) is his latest stop in a long artistic voyage.
When some people observe an abstract work of art like a Mark Rothko color field or the splattered paintings of Jackson Pollock, they think “I could do that”. A not-so-inventive comeback could be, “But you didn’t”. But that’s really not the point. The point is that the artist had a concept in mind, a reason for making that work of art. For some, it may be an experiment, for others it might be self-discovery, but it’s always an artistic journey the artist is on for one reason or another. Bill Ramage has been on such a journey for 35 years. “Any one piece”, he says “is not the art that it might appear to be; in fact, it is really nothing without the context of its purpose.”
Ramage asks the viewer to consider that since the 15th century we’ve essentially all “seen” the same way; the discovery of linear perspective transformed how we see the world. It has been embedded in us so deeply that it hasn’t even crossed our minds that another way to see may exist. But what about before linear perspective? People of that time couldn’t have imagined they could see differently. So maybe it’s not a matter of if we’ll ever experience another change in perception, but when.
Regional art viewers may have seen Ramage’s works at the Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont, the Hood Museum at Dartmouth Collage, and the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Ramage has also exhibited and given lectures both nationally and internationally. He earned a BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art (now The University of the Arts) and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
(text adapted from the venue’s press materials)
Image:
The Self (installation view)
by Bill Ramage
Courtesy of Compass Music and Arts Center
Prelude to Spring: Botanical Art in Vermont
February 17-April 1, 2017
Opening reception: Friday, February 17, 4-7PM
Artists often focus on the elegance and beauty of plants and flowers, depicting them in a spectrum from abstraction to the minute, scientific detail of botanical illustration. Through the centuries, botanical art has combined precise observation of plant life with the balance and beauty of original compositions. “Prelude to Spring: Botanical Art in Vermont” presents the work of three of Vermont’s finest botanical artists, Bobbi Angell, Susan Bull Riley, and Stephanie Whitney-Payne. These artists create watercolor paintings and etchings derived from careful observation of plants and flowers.
The work of Angell, Riley, and Whitney-Payne all show an obvious love for the subject. Creating botanical work is a slow art form, where hours or even days can be spent on a single bloom, intently observing botanical details and faithfully recording them as buds open into flowers and blossoms fade, wither, and die. The artists clearly have a passion for the plants as well as the work, revealing a relationship with the subject that is intimate and deeply focused.
The three artists are members of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) and the New England chapter (NESBA).
(text adapted from the venue’s press materials)
Image:
Blue Flag
by Bobbi Angell
diptych: watercolor
Courtesy of Compass Music and Arts Center
“The Creative World of Stephanie Stouffer”
September 2-October 29, 2016
Artist Talk: Sunday, October 2, 2PM
The paintings of Stephanie Stouffer have not, until now, been exhibited beyond her Belmont, Vermont home-based gallery, though visitors frequently recognize the work as internationally known. The artist has been licensing her work to companies like Caspari, Certified International, and Peking Handicrafts for 35 years, with her images appearing on mugs, tapestries, greeting cards, pillows and rugs. However, the more than 1,500 original paintings she has produced during her career have never been exhibited or offered for sale.
The Compass Music and Arts Center exhibit “The Creative World of Stephanie Stouffer” offers a rare opportunity to see and purchase the unique original work of one of the few artists to earn a living as an illustrative and decorative artist. Stouffer is known for her vivid imagination, precision, and exceptional use of color which creates work sometimes described as “folk art with a contemporary flair”. Viewers can see her masterful use of whimsy and the patience and love she puts into each piece.
The exhibit showcases many of Stouffer’s original paintings, along with selected licensed products, and represents a significant chapter of her life’s work. After a time-intensive career of creating work non-stop for the demands of licensing companies and the fickle, ever-changing market trends, Stouffer would be the first to say that she has moved on from that life. But she does continue to paint, and is enjoying the freedom and time to pursue new creative endeavors. Visitors to the exhibit will also see examples of these new works.
Stouffer’s designs often depicted traditional scenes, including iconic, recognizable symbols, as required by the commercial graphic design world. But she had a knack for turning these “traditional symbols” into something fresh with her vibrant colors, decorative style and rich imagination.
Stouffer explains: “The simplicity of my layouts reflected the serenity and balance that I have sought in my life and that many others seek. I learned that my best work came from the heart, from the intuitive part of the process, and hopefully that is what others feel as well.”
Originally a student at Bennington College and then majoring in sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Stouffer literally stumbled into her career as an illustrator when she began working for Hallmark in Kansas City. Hallmark gave her the knowledge and skills to later develop a successful freelance career, but after 10 years with the company, she felt she had lost sight of her “fine art identity”. However, with a move to Vermont she was gratefully able to discover another side of her creativity which she now recognizes “has brought pleasure to many as they continue to discover my art all over the marketplace and buy products which they bring into their homes or share with friends.”
When Stouffer opened her gallery in Belmont in 2008 she finally understood that she was actually known by her art, if not by her name, and that she says “was a very special feeling”. “The main goal of my work”, she explains, “was to keep it fun and whimsical and to bring delight to people.” She hopes that is what this exhibit will do for all who see it.
(text adapted from the venue’s press materials)
Image (top):
Fantasia: Lion
by Stephanie Stouffer
gouache on archival Strathmore Illustration Board
Courtesy of the artist
Image (center):
Etruscan Horse
by Stephanie Stouffer
acrylic on canvas
Courtesy of the artist