Shedding Light on the Working Forest

Shedding Light on the Working Forest celebrates the forest landscape and those who have honed their skills and made a living there. The exhibition project is founded on the artistic friendship of a painter and a poet who are committed to subjects that have been largely overlooked by others in the arts. In this exhibition Kolb and Porche react as humanists—with open minds, sensitivity, and a bit of awe—as they peer into the working forest.  Most of the visual work in the show is on loan from various collectors, so affords a unique opportunity to see this body of work in one place.  The majority of the work for this project by both Kolb and Porche is set in Addison County, VT.  While local people may easily recognize landmarks and neighbors the themes are common throughout the northern forest.

Kathleen Kolb evokes what is solid, luminous yet ephemeral in the scenes she gathers and painstakingly paints. She talks about a moment of “emotional ignition” kindling a work of art.

As a writing partner, Verandah Porche befriends, questions, and listens to unearth and preserve the poetry embedded in lived experience.  She calls this process “finding the verse in conversation.”

Morning Work on the Landing

Bristol Saw Mill

Harvesting Red Osier

THREE ARTISTS IN THE WORKING FOREST

CONVERSATION ON ART, DOCUMENTARY, AND REPRESENTATION WITH KATHLEEN KOLB, VERANDAH PORCHE, AND GEORGE BELLEROSE

A panel conversation on art, documentary, and representation with Kathleen Kolb, Verandah Porche, and George Bellerose that was moderated by the Vermont Folklife Center on February 5th, 2016—and sought to illuminate how these three working artists approach the representation of their subjects from the vantage point of artistic creators, storytellers, and ethnographers.