You are invited to an art party today
Montpelier Art Walk
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“Gear Sphere” by James Irving, part of SculptCycle 2009, in front of The Artisan’s Hand. ROGER CROWLEY/TIMES ARGUS |
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By Jim Lowe Staff writer - Published: September 25, 2009
The fall foliage isn't quite here yet, but Montpelier is brimming with colors – the colors of fine art. And Montpelier Alive (the new name of the Montpelier Downtown Community Association) is inviting you to see them and meet their creators.
This afternoon, from 4 to 8 p.m., the Capital City's quarterly art walk, this week's dubbed "Fall Foliage Art Walk" invites you to see area artists, from top professionals to young up-and-comers, and share art, refreshment and friends – and even entertainment – throughout Montpelier. All you have to do is pick up a list at one of the 20 participating venues or download it from www.lazypear.com, and you're on way.
"It's great exposure for the artists and a good opportunity to meet the public and talk about the work," explained Rob Hitzig, owner of the Lazy Pear Gallery and organizer of the art walk. "And it's a great experience for artists of all levels. There are plenty of venues for artists just starting their careers and trying to get some exposure. Then, for artists who have more experience, there are other venues for that."
The T.W. Wood Gallery & Art Center's blockbuster show, "The Figure and Beyond," by Warren artist Billy Brauer and his students over the 40 years of his art class, has already attracted hundreds to its opening at Vermont College.
Representing the younger generation, Cabot expatriate Ethan Azarian is exhibiting his strikingly colorful and fanciful paintings at the Langdon Street Café.
Two other well-known Vermont artists, Margaret Kannenstine and Marilyn Ruseckas are exhibiting their landscape impressions at the Vermont Arts Council and the Statehouse cafeteria respectively. The Art Resource Association (ARA), a collective of area artists, is presenting representative art and refreshments in City Center, where you can also see crafts by some 130 Vermont craftspeople at Artisan's Hand.
Montpelier's newest eatery, the Skinny Pancake, is hosting the results of a new collaboration by photographer Sandra Bissex and artist and musician Arthur Zorn, both of Montpelier, called Zorn/Bissex Works. More fanciful efforts in the form of fantasy-like watercolors by Katie Flindall are up at Capitol Grounds. Fine nature photography by Roger Irwin can be seen at the governor's office in the Pavilion office building, while fascinating pen-and-ink drawings by Russian-born artist Anna Belkovskaya can be seen at Rhapsody. And there's plenty more.
Live music will be offered at two venues: a jazz duo with Shane Hardiman, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Skinny Pancake, and Montpelier guitarist James Gram, who is studying at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Conn., at Global Gifts. And Montpelier's 20 SculptCycles, sculptures created from bicycle parts, remain on display throughout the downtown area. (For information, go online to www.sculptcycle.org.)
Although their have been previous incarnations of the art walk in Montpelier, this series started in June 2006.
"A few of the venues were interested in finding a way to promote art in Montpelier," Hitzig said. "Sarah and Emma at Damsels were organizing a fashion week and thought a good event to add would be an art walk. So we started getting the businesses and organizations together. It's sort of grown from there."
Local merchants as well as galleries have come forth to make this happen.
"We've been getting more and more venues all the time," Hitzig said. "Some venues do it for a period of time and then drop out, but we seem to be always getting new venues on board.
"Just about every art walk has a new venue – and there has been a core group that has stayed on from the very beginning," he said. "So we've been fluctuating around 20 venues – which is pretty good for a town of 8,000."
Attendance varies from venue to venue and from season to season.
"But for our gallery, we tend to get more than 100, maybe 150 visitors coming through our doors at any given art walk," Hitzig said. "Artisan's Hand gets tons of people. Most venues tend to get anywhere from 30 to 150; 70 is probably pretty average."
Most of the art is for sale, with prices ranging from $10 to thousands.
"People do buy art," Hitzig said. "There's plenty of interest in art – plenty of venues sell art."