Sam Thurston says about his work, “When I use the image of the human body in sculpture, I simultaneously resist its reality and embrace its reality. Resist it because I really want to show my self–not a dumb, inert, academic reality. But I need to embrace the real because the real is the only tool with power I can use; if I abandon that tool I am just guessing or using someone else’s idea. My middle way between is to use myth, archetype, story and dance along with looking and intuition. In my cityscapes, I find a similar situation–to embrace and reject the real. By working directly from life and from drawings done on site, and continuing to work on them in the studio, and by allowing subjective distortions and narrative to enter I try to balance the two.” He is currently exhibiting at the Vermont Studio Center and Newport Natural Foods Cafe Gallery.
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Along the River
September 1-28, 2016
Newport Natural Foods Cafe
Walking down the Burgess Branch near his house is Sam Thurston’s favorite nature activity. The river speaks of the past from the mill ruins, from the pot holes in the rocks cut by gravel and time, the hulks of logs pushed down river one year to be gone the next, the chanterelles that come up in the same place each year, all these put the artist into a dreamy mood and he wants to paint it.
Included in the show are three works by self-taught artist Olga Lawson, who grew up on a farm in Eden Mills. She died at age 97 in 2013. Many of her drawings include a river.
Thurston moved to Vermont from New York City when he was in his 30s. He is now 73. Visit his website HERE for more images of his work.
See the work at:
Newport Natural Foods Cafe Gallery
194 Main Street, Newport 05855
(802) 334-2626
Open: Monday-Saturday, 8AM-8PM; Sunday, 10AM-6PM.
Image above:
Old Tree Over River by Sam Thurston (12″x16″; 2000)
Painting & Sculpture
September 1-28, 2016
Red Mill Gallery at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson
Sam Thurston’s show at The Vermont Studio Center features portraits, still lifes, and figurative sculptural ceramics glazed with color, and his wood sculpture Woman With a Nail.
See the work at:
Red Mill Gallery at Vermont Studio Center
80 Pearl Street, Johnson 05656
(802) 635-2727
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Image above:
Glazed Still Life Configuration with Blue Vase by Sam Thurston (4.5″x6″x4″; glazed clay; 2011-2016)