“Continuous Threads – Creative Legacies of the Northeast Kingdom”
New Exhibit At Northeast Kingdom Artisan’s Guild
St. Johnsbury, VT -- From October 2 through November 20 the Northeast Kingdom Artisan’s Guild will present a multimedia exhibition “Continuous Threads – Creative Legacies of the Northeast Kingdom” in its Backroom Gallery. The public is invited to meet the artists at a reception on Saturday, October 16, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
The Artisan’s Guild was selected as one of a handful of organizations state-wide to host this Vermont State of Craft Showcase event. State of Craft is a multi-year collaboration of the Vermont Craft Council, Bennington Museum, and Vermont Folklife Center to document, preserve and interpret the history of the contemporary crafts movement in Vermont. The “flagship” State of Craft exhibit continues at the Bennington Museum through the late fall. Echoing the themes of the major show, the Guild’s “Continuous Threads” offers an opportunity to learn about the careers of individual artists as well as the mentors and organizations that have nurtured them. The exhibit will explore the creative threads local artisans have drawn from the region’s rich cultural and historic craft traditions; as well as the inspirational threads of the landscape and community which drew them to the region.
Featured artists include Jesse Larocque who continues the basket-making tradition of his Abenaki ancestors. Printmakers Mary Simpson and Sheri Pearl and paper cutter Carolyn Guest, who grew up in the Northeast Kingdom, will show how their work is inspired by examples of generations of craftspeople in their families. Delsie Hoyt is the fourth generation of women in her Northeast Kingdom family to braid rugs; in her work rug braiding evolves from the utilitarian to fine art.
Several of the artisans included in the exhibit were drawn to the Northeast Kingdom by its landscape and weather, as well as its people and tightly knit communities. Printmaker Claire Van Vliet finds a particular quality in the skies and weather patterns of Newark; the photographs of Richard Brown capture the character of the region’s farmers and working landscape. Potter Norma St. Germain was drawn here by an established and supportive community of artisans. Glassblower Harry Besett learned his craft through studio apprenticeships in the United States and in Sweden. He and his wife Wendy draw inspiration from the hills and meadows surrounding their Hardwick home in their collaborative creations in which her landscape painting is encased in his blown glass forms.
Besett and Hardwick blacksmith Lucian Avery will include examples of work created by their apprentices; illustrating the promising future of craft in the region.
The Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild (748-0158) is located at 430 Railroad St., St. Johnsbury and is open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 to 5:30
