Category: Events

Meeting House Arts is organizing a community art show in tandem with the Waterbury Arts Fest as a way to highlight the variety of our homegrown arts talents.  This year’s theme is “SOMETHING NEW” — to be interpreted, used, responded to or connected with in any way with your work.  What feeling, image, memory, or desire does the word evoke?    Have you tried something new recently?  New media, new experience, new subject, new project?
We are especially looking for artists and craftspeople in the area that may not show their work regularly but would enjoy the chance to share it with the community.  Consider applying if you work in ANY media, from paint, pottery and photography to textiles, wood, assemblage, drawings, jewelry, music, poetry… We hope to show 1 or 2 pieces of each artist’s work.  Work may be available for sale, or not, as preferred by the artist.
Participation is open to residents of Waterbury, Duxbury, Middlesex, Moretown, and Bolton.  For visual art, your application consists of  images of up to two pieces of your work for the exhibit along with title, media and dimensions, as well as contact information (including full name, phone and address).  For spoken word or music, provide details in the application including what you want to do, how long you would like to perform, etc. There is a $10 application fee (scholarships available).

TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION

Fill out this form and mail or deliver it (along with printed images of your work and $10 application fee) to Torrey Smith, Meeting House Arts c/o WUCC, 8 North Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05676. Applications due by May 15.  If you have any questions, please email Torrey or call 802-244-8581.  If you are unable to print at home, there are also copies available at the White Meeting House (8 North Main Street), just inside the side door.

 DATES & TIMES OF NOTE

• May 15th– applications due
• June 1st, 5-7PM — Work will need to be dropped off at the White Meeting House. It must be display ready – that is, strung with wire or other hanging or stabilizing material as necessary.  We will also have horizontal surfaces for displaying 3-D work.
• June 4th — An Artists’ Social for the exhibiting artists will be held 1:00 PM, followed by  a public Opening Reception at 2:00.  This is a really fun, friendly event and we hope all participating artists will come.
• July 15th — The exhibition will be open and staffed by participating artists on the day of the Waterbury Arts Fest, between 10:00 and 4:00.
• July 23rd, 4 to 6PM — Please plan on picking up your work on the last day of the show.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS

Meeting House Arts is a collaborative project hosted by the White Meeting House.  Its goal is to provide more opportunities for local artists to show their work, and for local residents to enjoy more art.

We have a beautiful new exhibit of paintings and sculpture by Thetford artist Carolyn Enz Hack.  The show, called “Town by Town,” explores how traditional landscape paintings might be able to incorporate history and time into their imagery.  The show is open through May 7th from Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:30AM to 4:30PM, and admission is free.

Shadow of the Winooski — Waterbury, Vermont
by Carolyn Enz Hack.  Acrylic on linen, 28″ x 30″

   “The works are colorful and somewhat abstracted, but you can always find clear references in them — the quarries in Barre, a view of Camel’s Hump, the ferris wheel in Tunbridge,” says Torrey Smith, the show’s organizer.  “When I saw the work for the first time, I had that crazy feeling that it was something new but, at the same time, it was something I already knew.”
Enz Hack had made traditional landscape paintings for more than a decade, “but then, in 2011, I also began to make sculptures and they were abstract,” she explains.  “Working in three dimensions got me wondering if I might be able to represent how places change over time.”
Each of the towns portrayed in the series has personal significance to the artist.  “I chose towns in which I have spent time and then I researched historic photos, maps and documents to get a sense of how the towns had developed.”
The result is that, in addition to structures and landmarks typical in landscape painting, each piece also incorporates other elements like a bird’s eye view, or traces of maps that allow the artist to show multiple perspectives and stories.
In addition to showing her paintings, Enz Hack will be offering two opportunities for community members to learn more about her work and explore their own creativity.  On Friday, May 5th at 6:30PM, she will offer a talk about the paintings and sculpture on display — the history of the towns and the artistic process of developing a new painting language, as well as some reflections on her more abstract sculptures.
On Saturday, May 6th, Enz Hack will offer a two-hour workshop from 10AM to noon on expanding the boundaries of creative practice and developing one’s own artistic style.  Area residents are invited to spend a couple of hours devoted to questioning the limits of their art through discussion about methods, materials, and practice.  Artists, craftsmen, or anyone interested in boosting their creative capacity is welcome.  Please contact the artist directly to reserve a spot.  Suggested donation of $15 to participate.
The exhibit, talk and workshop are hosted by Meeting House Arts, a collaborative project hosted by the White Meeting House at 8 North Main Street in Waterbury.  Its goal is to provide more opportunities for local artists to show their work, and for local residents to enjoy more art. It’s always a good idea to call 244-6606 and confirm the building is open if you’re making a special trip!  If you have additional questions, email Torrey.  More about Carolyn’s work here.

Interested in learning to draw?  Torrey Smith will be offering a 5-week beginning drawing class at the church beginning Wednesday, March 15th and meeting weekly from 6:30 to 8:30 PM in the dining room.  It will be a fun, friendly group.  We will learn how to see the world around us in a way that allows us to translate it into two-dimensional drawings!  Class costs $100, including materials.  Find more information here.