ROTARY HOME EXPO 2001
AAC ARTISTS
Artist and AAC board member Corliss Blakely was born in St. Albans. Her Vermont heritage shows in her detailed portraits of the homes, farms and antiques of her ancestors in northern Vermont. FEATURE ARTIST CORLISS BLAKELY
"I will introduce my new Roland giclee prints 'The Invitatation' and the 'Berry Branch' at the show," she said. Her line of miniature oils is popular for executive desktops and she is working on new still lifes for a gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, and for the Gallery on the Green in Woodstock.
Corliss studied at Vesper George Art School and The Museum School Of Fine Art in Boston. That academic experience gave her exceptional drawing skills. Yet, the intricately detailed paintings she is best known for evolve more from her natural experience and inner emotion than formal training. Although renowned for her watercolor paintings, "I'm exclusively working in oil now," she said.
Corliss paints during the winter in her St Albans studio. In the summer she and her husband Barry live on Butler island in Lake Champlain where she gardens, paints outdoors, and enjoys nature.
Bob Brodeur's lifelong love of photography will be displayed in his scenic Vermont landscapes at the Home Show. His photographs are golden warm and intimate. His exhibit will include the East Orange Church, Taylor Park, and Covered Bridge in East Fairfield. 
ALL ARTS COUNCIL ARTISTS
Bob studied with Vermont Life photographer Dr. Henry Lampert at the Church Street Center. He is now concentrating on the comely barns of Vermont. He has been an NMC artist of the month and a feature artist at the Sugar Mill Co-op, Simple Pleasures, and Highgate Welcome Center Galleries. A series of photocards for the Vermont Commissioner of Agriculture are notecards with Vermont covered bridges and round barns. He has photographs in private collections in Africa, Europe, and most of the United States.
Born in Detroit, painter Alan DeMont comes from an artistic family. His brother and sister are also accomplished artists, and second cousin, Edward Chesney, is a world renowned sculptor.
Alan works in oils, acylics and even housepaint on canvas, masonite or plywood. "I choose my subject matter from what inspires my life," he said, "from musicians, other artists or the spituality of the Native American." His work shows the free approach of painting from emotion.
He works as a chef at The Tyler Place and lives in St Albans. "This seasonal position affords me the opportunity to paint all winter," he said.
Alan's native American series is presently on exhibit at the Kept Writer. He also has paintings in private collections in Colorado, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania.
Entrepreneur Dan Green is a 24 year old, native St Albans sculptor. "My goal," he said, "is to be self sustaining as an artist where I can be creative enough that it will support me." His business plan shows he will pull limited edition reproductions for sale from the original piece, then sell the original.
"I have a rustic or a natural almost pagan style, he said of his primitive or tribal artwork." He would like to pull molds from some of the New York City gargoyles, to create reproductions "that are my size." Dan is also lusting after a 19th-Century bulldog in St Albans.
Dan is completing a Year of the Dragon theme. He is working on a set of 32 dragons, each 18-24" tall and based on chess pieces. The dragons are cast in concrete with a stone-like appearance. He also has lines of candles, angels, and a partnership candle with two people hugging, all cast in raw beeswax.
"All the molds are made by me in my kitchen."
Dan has worked in sculpture at Pink House Studio for about three years and has help from the Microbusiness Development Center to build his artistic business.
Watercolor painter Mary Harper moved to the Florida Keys 17 years ago but she maintains a close, personal relationship to me (she's my mom).
Like many artists, Mary has had a life full of other-than-art. She acquired a degree in English from Swarthmore, studied fashion design at Spring Garden, and chaired the Auxiliary for the hospital I was born in. After many years of, "When I have time, I'm going to paint," she really did have the time. She bought watercolors and went to work. She will show the two-piece Vermont Covered Bridge set and her new Red Peppers.
Largely self-taught, Mary later studied with Connie Hauk and has taken a number of workshops. She is a member of the All Arts Council, the Florida Keys Art Guild, and the Florida Watercolor Society.
She exhibits at the Bougainvillea House Gallery in Marathon, Florida, and with the AAC. Her works hang in many private collections throughout the United States.
A Native Vermonter and part Native American, photographer April Henderson finds ample photographic opportunities here in Franklin County. She may tramp through the woods or drive the back roads.
"I love the dewy grasses, flowers, and dawn silhouettes, but it's the abandoned railroad tracks, rusted barbed wire and peeling paint which offer real fertile ground," April said. She captures the cows and horses, and other objets we take for granted.
The Vermont Department of Agriculture included April's work in Vermont Makes It Special. She has sold magazine covers and calendar photos. Her work is available at The Gift Gallery on North Main Street.
Vermont Life photographer David Juaire of Georgia bought a 35mm Minolta in 1977 as a hobby. "I had always admired the photos, the pastoral scenes, I had seen in 'Vermont Life,'" said this self taught photographer who likes to experiment with different films and cameras. Although he has photographed people, "my favorite is the scenic photo." He is now shooting with a large format Pentax (2¼") camera for the exceptional clarity it brings enlargements.
He has sold about ten slides to Vermont Life to date. Vermont's top publisher has used his photos on their wall calendar, engagement book, in a tourist guide and in the magazine itself. He is also well known for the 29 photos that have appeared on the Cooperative Insurance calendar. In the early 1980s, WCAX TV used viewer slides for Claudia Reynolds' weather program. 200 were from David Juaire. His subjects this year include the red barns of Enosburg and Sheldon, the Royal Swans, Samuel de Champlain, and a love of fireworks.
David is a realtor with Lang Associates and sells framed enlargements. The AAC will feature his photography at Simple Pleasures starting on Valentine's Day. He also exhibits at NMC and will show again at Chow Bella in June and July.
David wants to start an AAC photographers club and workshop. We will have details at the Home Show.
Working artist and former AAC Vice Chair Natalie LaRocque-Bouchard paints primarily in acrylic on large canvas, makes trompe l'oeil murals, and creates digital art. Her pieces bring a spiritual feel to landscapes or skyscapes of the imagination. "I paint not just as a form of expression and communication, but as a song," she said. She often listen to inspirational music as she paints. She has grown from painting "what looks pretty" to expressive, emotional works.
Natalie airbrushed acrylic on canvas in many of her earlier paintings but new gets a similar effect with traditional brushes. She called her digital art the same style of work but in a medium that offers more freedom.
Natalie works as a full-time graphic designer, illustrator and graphic artist at LG Printing in St Albans and is an online mentor to student artists. In a program started several years ago with the Web Project, she goes online, guides students, and critiques their artwork. Her popular projects around St Albans include the Centennial Homecoming logo and the City Pool and Houghton Park murals.
She is working on new traditional and digital work specifically for the Rotary Show.
Watercolor artist, poet, and AAC board member Joy Mashtare will do almost anything get "people into the arts and supporting the arts."
Joy was influenced by Henri Matisse. A leader of Les Fauves (the Wild Beasts), Matisse used strokes of bright, clashing color in his portraits, still lifes, and interiors. Joy uses watercolors to "represent the natural world which is composed of 90 percent water." Some of her paintings are completely non-representational but include realistic landscapes and still lifes. She has been a featured artist at the Highgate Springs Welcome Center, Simple Pleasures, and Kept Writer Galleries. Her exhibit will include Tabor's Point Whimsical Fish, Spring Morning, Native Spirit Bird, and the Oriental Garden series.
Painter, singer, and teacher Patrick Murphy is painting a lot of barns (on canvas). His historical, architectural mood has been in the background for years; he painted and once lived in a St Albans house assembled mostly from old railroad car parts.
"These old and often unused dairy barns have a story to tell," he said. "They are smaller and have more character than modern dairy barns. I'm also painting some churches and old granges, working on painting number ten" in the series. One painting in the AAC exhibit will be a barn on Duffy Hill Road.
Pat was trained at the Ruskin School of Drawing, Oxford University, England, received his MFA from the University of Montana at Missoula, and teaches art at Richford High School. He plays in the band Blue Sky, and lives in Sheldon with his wife Darcy, and their children, Colleen and Peter.
"I'm more focused and shooting to get in some galleries," he said.
"Black and white is my passion," teacher and professional photographer Wayne Tarr said.
Wayne received the Mack Derick Award from the Vermont Professional Photographers. Derick, a landscape photographer, was the first president of the group; the award celebrates the hands-on work of a photographer from original exposure to final print. In 1994, he was named The Most Promising Newcomer by the VPP. That same year he also won a Court of Honor award for his print titled, Quiet Moment. and is now working toward a Master of Photography degree, the Professional Photographers of America designation for top professionals.
Wayne specializes in portraiture. Although he started as a freelance sports photographer for the St. Albans Messenger, he has also photographed weddings, served as staff photographer for the Tyler Place, and did advertising photos for the Daffodil stores. He opened a downtown St. Albans studio in 1990.
He hasn't bought a digital camera yet. "I plan to be an old-time craftsman," he said about using competitions to improve his skills.
Wayne will bring a high school student in the grass next to a cornfield in color and a new black and white dancer with a fine art look to the Home Show.
Directions
St Albans is a small Vermont city on the shore of Lake Champlain, about 1/2 hour south of the Canadian border.
- Follow Interstate 89 to St Albans (exit 19).
- The exit ramp curves to a 4-way stop
- Turn Left onto Vermont 36
- The Collins Perley Sports Complex is on the right.
- Rotary Club volunteers will show you where to park.
All Arts Council of Franklin County
Dick Harper, Chair
P.O. Box 1
Highgate Springs, VT 05460
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