Friday, Jan. 16 at 5 p.m. — BRANDON — The temperatures have fallen, the landscape has turned white, and everyone is eager to get out and soak in Vermont’s winter season once again. Compass Music and Arts Center’s Winter Art Mart is an exhibit which celebrates this stunning season by showing work by local artists, many portraying Vermont’s beautiful winter season, along with a variety of other work in different media. This, Compass’ second annual Winter Art Mart, runs from Jan. 16 through March 29. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Jan. 16 from 5-7 p.m.
Exhibiting artists include Gayl M. Braisted, Andrew David Christie, Lyn DuMoulin, Stu Hall, Maurie Harrington, Tom Merwin, Jim Samler, and Judith Reilly.
Lyn DuMoulin says, “What draws me to watercolor is my delight in almost mixing with the colors. The medium is alive as no other medium.” She delights in how the viewer’s eye is the final step in her watercolor painting process—for their eye is what finally puts the painting together. Known as “The Traveling Artist,” fellow watercolorist, Maurie Harrington, displays something much more close to home in this exhibit: her idyllic depictions of skiing in Vermont.
Two photographers exhibit their work in this year’s Winter Art Mart. The photography of Andrew David Christie is in response to nature, a creative process in search of answers to broader questions. “In the process of discovery, images reveal narratives, connecting people, nature and the world around us,” he says. Stu Hall grew up near the home of Wilson A. “Snowflake” Bentley, the first photographer of snowflakes. Hall took inspiration from Bentley’s work and now creates dramatic macro images of snowflakes of his own, continuing to prove that “no two snowflakes are alike.”
The acrylic paintings of Jim Samler take us into the Vermont wilderness, often showing wildlife, in a blend of representational and fantasy landscapes. Tom Merwin, an abstract expressionist painter says the world of each painting reveals itself slowly to him. He explains, “My painting process expresses a layering of symbol and spirituality using nature as a doorway to the expression of existential concerns.”
Using vibrant colors, textures and working in needle, fabric, paint and thread, Judith Reilly intertwines a light-hearted spirit and her love of storytelling in her representational and catawampus fiber designs. Transferring her experience in drawing architectural renderings, Gayl M. Braisted creates detailed, architectural watercolor paintings of Vermont buildings and landscapes.
The Compass Music and Arts Center is located in Park Village at 333 Jones Dr., Brandon. For more info, visit www.cmacvt.org.
