Seven Days Review

This week's Seven Days has a review by Amy Lilly of the Artists to Watch show at the Vermont Arts Council, with closeup images of two of my pieces.



She says, among other things,

The show demonstrates the benefits of relinquishing a single curatorial vision. It includes well-known artists, such as found-wood sculptor Janet Van Fleet (Cabot) and landscape painter Bonnie Baird (Chittenden). 

and

Van Fleet's wall-hung "Puppets" demonstrates the experienced artist's ability to turn every natural curve of driftwood, bone, shell or scrap metal to account. She derived the relaxed stance of the central skirted figure — a long-armed puppeteer, or perhaps mother figure — using literal stick legs. Each arm supports three dangling puppets, all made from deftly connected found materials. 

You can have a look at the whole review here.

Artists to Watch

Vermont Art Guide, a quarterly magazine about the contemporary visual art scene in Vermont, published by Kasini House, has launched a cool new project. They asked five guest curators to nominate five artists they thought were worth watching in the coming year. They are profiling the nominees in this and an upcoming issue of the publication. I was one of the artists, nominated by Mary Admasian. Here's the spread about my work. Click the image for a larger view.

Some text from the editors: "Hardworking and productive, Van Fleet is one of the state's premier contemporary artists." And, from Mary Admasian, "With roots steeped in political activism and arts education, Janet is a stalwart and everbearing producer of endless collections of curiosities, assemblages, photographs, painting, and sculpture."

Half the profiled artists are exhibiting work at the Spotlight Gallery of the Vermont Arts Council in each of two exhibits. Here's the work I am showing, up through April, 2018 -- a puppetmaster from whose arms hang six of my new puppets.

I encourage you to learn about and subscribe to this publication, which is supporting the visual arts in Vermont and working to make the richness of Vermont's visual arts scene known within and outside the state's borders.

Show 24 at The Front

Another really fine show at The Front. I have one of the front windows of The Front, showing the four completed Wheeled Chairs.

I wrote about the first two chairs in this series here. The last two chairs (below) continue the two elements all the works have in common: wheels and bones.