Category Archives: The Arts

Art, Lilacs, and Music for Mother’s Day Weekend!

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Over the weekend we attended Mary Hill’s opening at the Block Gallery in Winooski. The evening was a delight, as was the art! Oh, and the coffee, chocolate, and music! Here are a few images!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday we attended Lilac Sunday at the Shelburne Museum. The day was cool, with passing raindrops and fragrant air. The museum as many lilacs and most were in bloom! Lilac Sunday is the museum’s yearly celebration of mothers.

 

 

Two of the featured shows this year are rugs by the late Vermonter, Patty Yoder, and circus elephants by the young and talented Kat Clear:Kat Clear

 

N is for Nichols

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both shows are excellent, and the herd circus elephants will continue to grow throughout the summer. Walking the museum is good exercise and the lilacs and art were pure pleasure. What a marvelous weekend!

A Day With Paul Zaloom

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Yesterday I was privileged to participate in a found object puppetry workshop with Paul Zaloom. I had participated in a similar workshop with him a few years ago. Both were great fun, yet this one seemed special. Maybe it was because the President of the U.S. was in town, snarling traffic as only the President can manage, but there were only three of us in the workshop. Paul made four. As a result we were able to conduct much deeper, hands -on explorations than had there been the usual twenty or so participants. I learned a lot! Continue reading →

Art Begets Art: Axis Performance Inspires Visual Artist

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Almost Ready to Leaf OUt!Here in Vermont, the maples are budding, the lilacs seem ready to leaf out, and the robins have returned in force. Even the Juncos are mating. Out in the larger world, the men’s collegiate basketball tourney is underway, with small schools somehow beating larger, more highly rated schools with some consistency. Creativity, generativity, and the unexpected are everywhere! Continue reading →

Axis Dance Company at the Flynn

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This week, Axis Dance Company was in residence at the Flynn Center. Last night they performed on the main stage. I attended the performance and stayed around for the post-performance conversation.

Axis is a mixed abilities, gender, and ethnicity dance company, composed of a multinational group of dancers and choreographers. Some dancers are able bodied, others have physical disabilities that challenge their mobility. All are exceptional dancers. The choreography embodied by the company draws on the unique skills of each dancer, and seamlessly  incorporates wheelchairs and props into the dance. The result is artistic magic.

I noticed early on in the performance that the company’s style of dance was quite different than it had been when I last saw them six years ago. (It doesn’t seem THAT long ago!) During the post-performance conversation the dancers repeatedly referred to the choreography as having been “written on the bodies” of the dancers. It turns out that choreographers design each dance to fit the capacities of specific dancers in the troupe. The pieces are literally choreographed on the bodies of the dancers! One implication of this is that the pieces performed change as the composition of the troupe changes. Another implication is the choreography begins to map the bodies of the dancers in ways similar to the mapping created by disability and by the “the gaze” of others.Yet, the choreography also CHALLENGES the viewers concepts regarding disability, and in so doing, the gaze. Continue reading →