UES Lantern Parade - Wednesday February 18th @ 6:00pm

Union Elementary School invites the entire Montpelier community to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of our school building!  Please join us for an evening lantern procession on Wednesday, February 18^th.  

Our lantern procession will begin at 6:00 pm at Union Elementary School.  Led by the samba band Sambatucada, we will parade from the school to the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where we will celebrate on the VCFA Green with rainbow ice sculptures, live music by Sambatucada, and hot cider and cocoa. This is the main event of our first-ever UES Winter Carnival, which will take place the week of Monday, February 16 through Friday, February 20.  

Sambatucada leading the Waterbury River of Light Parade.  Photo courtesy of Gowri Savoor

Local artist Gowri Savoor is guiding UES students in making their lanterns during a ten day art residency, thanks to the “Artists in Schools” grant awarded by the Vermont Arts Council as well as the support of the UES Parents’ Group and The River of Light in Waterbury.  All K-5 students will create a hand-made lantern from sustainable materials including willow and tissue paper. Lanterns will be suspended from bamboo poles and lit with battery operated LED lights. 

Our parade is made possible with the support of the Vermont College of Fine Arts and Coldwell-Banker Classic Properties.  The event is funded in part by a “Community Arts Grant” awarded by Montpelier Alive and funded by the Downtown Improvement District Assessment.  We thank Diamond & Robinson P.C. Attorneys at Law for their support.  We also thank Lake Champlain Chocolates and Champlain Orchards for their donations. 

To learn more about Gowri Savoor and her residencies, visit her website:
 http://www.gowrisavoor.com/  

Rainbow Ice Sculptures at Vermont College of Fine Arts Green!

Rainbow Ice Sculptures

to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of UES

We need the entire UES community to help create the building blocks, literally, for a day of colorful construction on February 15. It’s easy! Please save your ½ gallon milk and juice cartons, rinse them out, fill with water and a dash or two of food coloring, and leave outside to freeze. Save and freeze as many blocks as you can between now and February 15th. Ask your neighbors to help, get your grandmother to make colorful ice blocks too! On February 15th, we will be building colorful ice sculptures and functional outdoor furniture on the Vermont College of Fine Arts green, where the parade and winter festival will culminate the following week. You will be able to drop your ice blocks off the day before and that morning, and we would love you to stay to help build if you can. Dan Clar will be our construction and engineering leader. Building will be an all day project, with lots of hot cocoa and hot cider breaks in College Hall, so feel free to drop ice blocks and go, come back later if your Sunday schedule allows. The plan is to make tables and benches, to function at the celebration, and other fantastic colorful forms to celebrate UES. All community members are invited to participate. Our inspiration is the 2012 Edmonton Rainbow Igloo, and while we won’t be making covered structures that can be entered, we will be making hollow forms that we will light up from within! Our sculptures will glow colorfully as the lantern procession reaches the College Green on February 18th. The sculptures will remain as long as nature allows, and will be useful surrounding the College Green skating rink.

What you can do:

1.    Save and rinse as many ½ gallon milk and juice cartons as you can between now and Feb.15

2.    Open up tops, fill with water and some food coloring, place outside to freeze

3.    Bring frozen blocks to the College Green starting Saturday February 14th through Sunday morning, February 15th (drop off location will be obvious)

4.    If you want to make colored ice spheres with balloons, any size will be welcome. Its easy, use the same method as above, but with a balloon instead of milk carton:-)

Please email with any questions and/or if you know you definitely want to help build: marni.leikin@gmail.com

Thanks in advance!

Marni

Lantern Making Art Workshops

LANTERN MAKING ART WORKSHOPS!

Join us for FREE workshops with artist Gowri Savoor.  Each participant will create their own magical hand-made lantern from willow branches and tissue paper! 

February 7^th @ THE MONTPELIER SENIOR 

ACTIVITY CENTER

February 14^th @ UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

10:00 – 3:00 (with an hour break for lunch)

Everyone is invited to join us for a lantern parade in Montpelier

at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 18^th to  

CELEBRATE 
THE 75^th BIRTHDAY OF

UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Waterbury's River of Light Lantern Parade. Photo by Gordon Miller

      ·         Workshops are free to attend for all.  Donations will be welcome.

All tools and materials will be provided. 

If you have a pair of hand-held
pruning shears, please bring them along,

 you’ll find it useful to have a pair of your own.

·         Children must be accompanied by an adult. 
Not suitable for children under six.  

·         There will be a limit of 20 participants per workshop.

For more information and to book your place, 
please contact Gowri Savoor at info@gowrisavoor.com 
or call 802-778-0334

These workshops are made possible by the generous support of …

HUNGER MOUNTAIN COOP

MONTPELIER ALIVE
THE RIVER OF LIGHT IN WATERBURY

COLDWELL BANKER CLASSIC PROPERTIES

THE MONTPELIER SENIOR ACTIVITY CENTER

Winter Carnival @ Union Elementary!

Please mark your calendars for these special events:

Date	What	Where	Time
Monday 2/3-Friday 2/13	K-5 Lantern Making Art Residency	UES Art Room	Schedule to follow
Saturday 2/7	Free Community Lantern Making Workshop	Montpelier Senior Center	10:00-3:00 *preregistration required*
Saturday 2/14	Free Community Lantern Making Workshop	UES Art Room	10:00-3:00 *preregistration required*
Sunday 2/15	Snow + Ice Sculpting Family Event	Vermont College of Fine Arts Green	10:00-3:00
UES WINTER CARNIVAL WEEK! Monday 2/16 - Friday 2/20
Monday 2/16	Time Capsule Ceremonies + Winter Carnival Kick-off	UES Auditorium	Grades K-2 8:30-9:00 Grades 3-5 1:30-2:00
Tuesday 2/17	UES Stories Day	UES Classrooms	During school day
Wednesday 2/18	UES 75th Birthday Celebration and Montpelier Community Lantern Parade	Parade Route from UES to VCFA Green	5:00 Dinner in Cafeteria 5:40 Line up for Parade 6:00-7:00 Lantern Parade from UES to VCFA Green
Thursday 2/19	UES History Lessons	Classrooms	During school day
Friday 2/20	Dress Up as 1939 Day	UES	During school day

Fall Open Studio Weekend!

VERMONT ARTISTS 

WELCOME FALL VISITORS TO THEIR STUDIOS

Open Studio Weekend at Sites Across the State on October 4^th & 5^th

Leaf peepers love autumn in Vermont and traveling the state to see the brilliant show of reds, oranges and yellows shimmering in the mountains and valleys. Foliage visitors will also find artful surprises during their stay by meeting Vermont artisans in their studios during the Fall Open Studio Weekend.

The free tour takes place from 10-5 on Saturday and Sunday, October 4 and 5 when craftspeople and artists at sites in every region of Vermont will open their studios to the public. Bright yellow Open Studio signs are posted along the roads to guide visitors to each studio. Visitors experience a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the workspaces of glassblowers, weavers, sculptors, potters, woodworkers, printmakers, jewelers, furniture makers, painters, quilters, and other makers.

The Open Studio Map/Guide is free and available at Vermont welcome centers, galleries throughout the state, or on the Vermont Crafts Council website, vermontcrafts.com. It is easy to plan a tour with the Open Studio map: Just choose a section of the state to explore and find studios along the way. The destination might be a classic Vermont village with a number of nearby studios. Or, a tour can be fashioned by looking for studios with a favorite art form like pottery or woodturning or photography. Those who prefer spontaneity can look for Open Studio yellow signs along the roads and follow them to studio locations. Visitors will find appealing works of all kinds: traditional and cutting edge, functional and aesthetic, simple and sophisticated.

Martha Fitch, Director of the Crafts Council, says Open Studio is a great event because people have the flexibility to spend as much time as they want, whether on an interesting activity for a few hours or two full days of exploration. “It's a chance to meet the artisans, share their passions and enjoy their hospitality,” says Fitch. “What better way to learn about Vermont than through the lives and works of its artists?”

The Vermont Crafts Council, which organizes the event, publishes a free map booklet available at Vermont welcome centers, galleries, and community centers that gives people an easy way to plan an individualized tour route. Regional information centers are highlighted in the guide as places to give studio explorers an overview of a particular area. Each studio is numbered with the location shown on the Open Studio map/guide. Directions, addresses and contact information are also listed. A map can be requested on the Vermont Crafts Council website (www.vermontcrafts.com/), where an online version is available. Maps can also be obtained by calling (802) 223-3380 or emailing vt1crafts@aol.com.

Vermont Open Studio Weekend is a statewide celebration of the visual arts and the creative process in which Vermont artists and craftspeople invite the public to visit them in their studios. Open Studio Weekend is also a featured event during American Craft Week, a nationwide celebration of American craft over ten days in early October.

The Vermont Crafts Council launched Open Studio Weekend in 1993 as a way to increase the visibility of artists and craftspeople in Vermont. The event's goal is to foster an appreciation for the creative process and the role that artists and craftspeople play in the vitality of Vermont's communities.

The Vermont Crafts Council is a non-profit organization serving the Vermont visual arts community. Open Studio Weekend is supported by the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Byways Program.

Press Release from the Vermont Crafts Council

August Art Walk!

Pinch Pot Pals in Progress!

Pottery is an ancient art form.  People around the world use pottery every day for eating and drinking.  Even though we might each like to eat different kinds of food, all creatures need food to live.  Students each created a "pinch pot pal" with a different creature’s face.  First grade artists used ceramic techniques including pinching a pot, forming pieces of clay and attaching the pieces with scoring and slip.  We will fire our pottery in a kiln and then glaze it in a few weeks!