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!  

Art Portfolio Pick-Up!

YOUR CHILD’S FALL ART PORTFOLIO

WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PICK-UP 

IN THEIR CLASSROOM 

FROM DECEMBER 16-18.

Please pick up the portfolios 

between 8:00-8:20 or after 2:45.

If you are not able to collect it 

from their classroom teacher by Wednesday, 

your child will bring it home on Thursday or Friday!

Art Walk on Friday!

Check out this Friday's Art Walk guide here!
 http://www.montpelieralive.org/assets/userfiles/files/AWguidedec13%20for%20WEB.pdf

First Grade "Special Me - Slippers with Symmetry!"

Are you …

Sweet like a kitten? 

Friendly like a puppy? 

Fast as a cheetah? 

Tough as a shark? 

Wild as a monkey?

In this lesson, first grade artists each identified a quality they have that makes them special.  They thought of animals that share that same quality.  They made slippers with the faces of the animals.  As inspiration, we read the book Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood.  This lesson affirmed that each of us is a special person with different qualities and strengths.  We learned about each other through the art project and our class discussions. 

Students were challenged to make each slipper have symmetry.  Symmetry and balance are concepts that they will revisit in their future math lessons and art lessons. 

Fifth Grade Wabi Sabi Felted Pouches

In this lesson, we explored the idea that people see the world in different ways and find different things beautiful, interesting, or mysterious. We learned about the Japanese tradition of Wabi Sabi – finding beauty in things that are imperfect, simple, comfortable, and ordinary.  We read the book Wabi Sabi written by Mark Reibstein and illustrated by Ed Young.  We thought about wabi sabi qualities as we designed and felted our pouches.

Felting is a way of compressing and matting wool fibers so that they turn into cloth.  We felted our designs by taking barbed needles and arranging wool roving on top of the felt cloth.  When we poked the needles through, the roving was pushed through the felt and was caught on the other side.  After doing this dozens of times, the roving became matted to the felt. 

We learned about contemporary nomadic peoples in Mongolia and Central Asia who felt clothing, tents and yurts today.  Students enjoyed watching a brief video of the traditional process done by modern-day Mongolian people.