Apples - painting by Brent Kinsley
The Arts Ministry Committee hosts ongoing visual art shows in the Parish House Gallery featuring local artists as well as many talented members of the congregation. If you or someone you know is interested in exhibiting, please contact our Gallery Coordinator at artgallery@oldmeetinghouse.org.
Current exhibit - Spiritual Homes
Singing to Vermont by Susan Bull Riley
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Imbibing the Woods by Carolyn Shapiro
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Where is your spiritual home? Do you have many spiritual homes? Is it in a creaky wooden pew on a crisp December morning, warmed by the wood stove? Is it listening to the choir or to a hermit thrush in the early spring on your morning walk? Is it looking at the vast sea and experiencing one’s smallness in the universe? Is it pondering a leaf, the quiet woods, the distant mountains?
Come visit the work of many local artists in this exhibit as they explore their spiritual homes and share their art and words with us. We thank Jo McKenzie, Cherie Staples, Jeanine Maynard, Linda Hall, Adam Stanforth, Sally Giddings Smith, Carolyn Shapiro, Janice Walrafen, Ben Graham, Heidi Broner, Susan Bull Riley, Celina Moore, Erik Esselstyn, Dawn Littlepage, and Jim Eaton for sharing their inspirations and talents with us. Stay tuned on the date for a reception for these artists in January and in the meantime, ponder what makes your spirit feel at home, and nourish yourself with all it offers.
Come visit the work of many local artists in this exhibit as they explore their spiritual homes and share their art and words with us. We thank Jo McKenzie, Cherie Staples, Jeanine Maynard, Linda Hall, Adam Stanforth, Sally Giddings Smith, Carolyn Shapiro, Janice Walrafen, Ben Graham, Heidi Broner, Susan Bull Riley, Celina Moore, Erik Esselstyn, Dawn Littlepage, and Jim Eaton for sharing their inspirations and talents with us. Stay tuned on the date for a reception for these artists in January and in the meantime, ponder what makes your spirit feel at home, and nourish yourself with all it offers.
Past exhibit - Gilman Art Show
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In celebration of our bicentennial this year. A Special art exhibit in the Parish House Gallery through October 31, 2023. You can view the exhibit 1:00-4:00pm every Sunday in October!
The show presents twelve reproductions of the spectacular art of James Franklin Gilman,1870-1890. They portray the farm life- style and bucolic nature of the rural countryside of that era. To appreciate the amazing fact that many of these grand old farms and barns are still standing we have produced a driving tour of the historic places of note in the area.
The show presents twelve reproductions of the spectacular art of James Franklin Gilman,1870-1890. They portray the farm life- style and bucolic nature of the rural countryside of that era. To appreciate the amazing fact that many of these grand old farms and barns are still standing we have produced a driving tour of the historic places of note in the area.
past exhibit- Poems in the parish house
Celebrating Poetry month in April 2023. Poems written by members of our congregation. Click on links below to read the poems!
past Exhibit - sally smith
Little Pops of Color, Courtesy of the Pandemic
From the artist: “The pandemic caused me to do some serious color therapy, and since I love barns and their shapes, all barns became red and were put in various places. There are also 3 Story collages from the pandemic time: the Whammy Bar, St. Francis, and the newly finished one, Annunciation. Prior to the pandemic, I was part of a group of artists who gathered at the Maple Corners Community Center on Mondays and drew, painted or sculpted. I had many large drawings from those days, and since we couldn’t gather anymore, I turned to my art history background and put together these large story collages. They are open to interpretation!
I love oil paints and watercolors, ink and graphite - all media, and love to play with form, composition and COLOR. Most of them are available in print form at salgsmith@gmail.com.
Visit website
From the artist: “The pandemic caused me to do some serious color therapy, and since I love barns and their shapes, all barns became red and were put in various places. There are also 3 Story collages from the pandemic time: the Whammy Bar, St. Francis, and the newly finished one, Annunciation. Prior to the pandemic, I was part of a group of artists who gathered at the Maple Corners Community Center on Mondays and drew, painted or sculpted. I had many large drawings from those days, and since we couldn’t gather anymore, I turned to my art history background and put together these large story collages. They are open to interpretation!
I love oil paints and watercolors, ink and graphite - all media, and love to play with form, composition and COLOR. Most of them are available in print form at salgsmith@gmail.com.
Visit website
past Exhibit - susan bull riley
ARTIST STATEMENT:
To paraphrase Anais Nin’s words: but substituting “paint” for “write”: “I paint to heighten my own awareness of life. I paint to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.”
I don’t seek out my subject matter; it comes to me, from the exquisite delicacy of an ordinary leaf to the local landscapes that lead my eye for miles across Vermont’s hills. Light, the ultimate designer, amplifies the beauty of everything I see.
Sometimes it’s easier to use watercolors to communicate what I need to say, and sometimes oils work better. I will never be able to (or want to) decide if I prefer one medium over the other. Most of the subject matter of this particular exhibit was best suited to watercolors.
My academic training and working life was once entirely in music performance and education rather than art, but that which was most private —drawing and painting on my own since early childhood— eventually demanded to be primary.
I live and work in a renovated schoolhouse on the property next to the Old Meeting House with my husband, the musician Richard Riley. It is a source of pleasure that our two grown daughters and their children share our feelings about music and the natural world we live in.
www.susanbullriley.com
To paraphrase Anais Nin’s words: but substituting “paint” for “write”: “I paint to heighten my own awareness of life. I paint to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.”
I don’t seek out my subject matter; it comes to me, from the exquisite delicacy of an ordinary leaf to the local landscapes that lead my eye for miles across Vermont’s hills. Light, the ultimate designer, amplifies the beauty of everything I see.
Sometimes it’s easier to use watercolors to communicate what I need to say, and sometimes oils work better. I will never be able to (or want to) decide if I prefer one medium over the other. Most of the subject matter of this particular exhibit was best suited to watercolors.
My academic training and working life was once entirely in music performance and education rather than art, but that which was most private —drawing and painting on my own since early childhood— eventually demanded to be primary.
I live and work in a renovated schoolhouse on the property next to the Old Meeting House with my husband, the musician Richard Riley. It is a source of pleasure that our two grown daughters and their children share our feelings about music and the natural world we live in.
www.susanbullriley.com
past Exhibit - tracey Hambleton
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I’ve been a practicing plein air painter since 2010. For most of the year I take a small tripod- mounted easel and my painting supplies outside. My focus has been to explore deeply the familiar views around my home—initially Marshfield’s meadows and mountains, and now the working landscape and farms in East Montpelier, my new home.
I often paint the same place multiple times to explore different iterations of the same motif. Experiencing a place over the course of a week, a month or a season provides me with new expressions of that place.
I am currently an Artist in Residence at Studio Place Arts in Barre. During the 11 months of the residency I am painting neighborhoods in Barre, historic architecture, and the granite quarries.
If weather keeps me inside I find inspiration from the views outside my windows at home or in my SPA studio. I scout often, walking or driving, and use my photos from these forays for my studio work. My challenge is always to maintain the freshness of a plein air painting, the spontaneity of my brushwork, and the feel of the paint itself.
You can see more of my work on Instagram @hambletonartist, Facebook and my website: https://thambleton.artspan.com.
I’ve been a practicing plein air painter since 2010. For most of the year I take a small tripod- mounted easel and my painting supplies outside. My focus has been to explore deeply the familiar views around my home—initially Marshfield’s meadows and mountains, and now the working landscape and farms in East Montpelier, my new home.
I often paint the same place multiple times to explore different iterations of the same motif. Experiencing a place over the course of a week, a month or a season provides me with new expressions of that place.
I am currently an Artist in Residence at Studio Place Arts in Barre. During the 11 months of the residency I am painting neighborhoods in Barre, historic architecture, and the granite quarries.
If weather keeps me inside I find inspiration from the views outside my windows at home or in my SPA studio. I scout often, walking or driving, and use my photos from these forays for my studio work. My challenge is always to maintain the freshness of a plein air painting, the spontaneity of my brushwork, and the feel of the paint itself.
You can see more of my work on Instagram @hambletonartist, Facebook and my website: https://thambleton.artspan.com.
POEMS BY MEMBERS OF THE OLD MEETING HOUSE COMMUNITY
2022 Celebrating Poetry