Arts Education Grant Will Benefit Local School Aged Children

Arts Education Grant Will Benefit

 Local School Aged Children

            A collaborative project between two of St. Johnsbury’s cultural institutions that is intended to benefit the school aged children of the area will soon become a reality as a result of a generous grant from the Canaday Family Charitable Trust.

            The New York Trust recently announced that a three year grant in the amount of $103,500.00  has been awarded to Catamount Arts for the development of a children’s arts education program in collaboration with the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum.

            Beginning in September, representatives of Catamount and the Athenaeum will begin work on the project which will utilize the facilities and resources of both institutions.

            The goal of the project is to begin offering a series of arts education classes in the fall of 2013 to children from area elementary age school children.

            During the 2012-2013 school year, the collaborators, working with a consultant, will develop a specific curriculum of courses and secure a coordinator and instructors for the two-year pilot program of arts education classes.

            It is hoped that this arts education program will result in a variety of affordable arts classes  being made available to a wide range of area children, according to Jody Fried, executive director of Catamount Arts.

            “We are excited about working with the Canaday Charitable Trust and the Athenaeum to develop this program,” Fried said recently. “It offers a unique opportunity to help area children access the great cultural and artistic wealth available in our community.”

            Matt Powers, the executive director of the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, is also looking forward to this collaborative effort and what it means for area school aged children.

            “The Canaday Trust has given our local children a wonderful opportunity to study the great cultural legacy of the Fairbanks Family and to become familiar with the other artistic resources available at the Athenaeum as well as at Catamount Arts,” Powers added.

            The primary purpose of the Canaday Family Charitable Trust is to encourage and support not-for-profit organizations that work in Vermont to improve the lives of children and families, promote environmental education and conservation, and preserve the environment.

The foundation seeks to fund innovative programs with clear, measurable goals for creating unique and significant improvements in the lives of children and in the environment.

The Canadays, Ward Murphey and Mariam Coffin, became residents of Toledo, Ohio in 1916. In 1935 Mr. Canaday took over and revived the ailing Willys Overland Corporation, a local car manufacturer, and in 1940 he led the effort to develop what became its most famous product, the JEEP.

Mrs. Canaday was a poet, classical scholar and patron of the arts. They began a program of charitable giving in 1945, supporting educational and artistic endeavors at home and abroad.

After their deaths, this tradition was continued by their family and now is carried on through the work of The Canaday Family Charitable Trust. The Trust's current focus on Vermont reflects the Canadays' long-term attachment to the state where they spent many summers.

That tradition also was valued and retained by the family, some of whom have become yearround residents in the state.

 A third valued Canaday tradition that has endured through subsequent generations is the principle of partnership, of encouraging differing interests to work together to achieve a common, sustainable philanthropic goal.

“With our collaboration on this unique and valuable arts education program for area children,” added Fried, “both the Athenaeum and Catamount are proud to continue the Canaday tradition of cooperation and working toward a common, sustainable goal.”

In Search of the Perfect Human Diet - Special Edition DVD

By special arrangement with the filmmaker we have a limited supply of Special Edition DVD’s of “In Search of the Perfect Human Diet” available to order now - with pick-up at Catamount Arts Aug. 3-9.

In addition to the 90 min. documentary this Special Edition DVD contains special unedited interview selects with; Dr. Boyd Eaton, Robb Wolf, Dr. Lane Sebring, David Getoff (Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation), the Official Film Trailer and the Directors “Thank You" to the many people who contributed to the films completion - about 60 more minutes of extras. 



This Special Edition DVD is not for sale to the public except via Official Film Screenings or Filmmaker Special Events.

Just click the ADD TO CART button below to buy your copy today!

Academy Fine Arts Teacher to Hold Photography Show at Catamount Arts

Academy Fine Arts Teacher to Hold

Photography Show at Catamount Arts

Rosie Prevost, Fine Arts department chair at St. Johnsbury Academy and photography instructor, will hold a show at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury from May 3 to 31. Entitled “Landscapes”, the exhibition features landscape photographs from here at home and Prevost’s recent travel to New Zealand, Alaska, North Carolina, Montana, and Maine.

            “I have been fortunate, in the last few years, to have done some traveling. It’s always thrilling to me, the visual delight of seeing a new place for the first time,” says Prevost. “People who travel with me know that I usually have no idea where I actually am because all of my attention is on the nature of the landscape in front of me. My intention with these landscapes was to capture a sense of the grace for each particular place.”

Prevost is a professional photographer who began her career in the commercial field. She has operated her own studio Woodside Photography, since 1992 and is a supporter of Catamount Arts in St Johnsbury. She was a member of the 215 College Gallery in Burlington, Vermont from its inception in 2005 to its closing in 2011.

Prevost is Fine Arts Department Chair at St. Johnsbury Academy where she teaches photographic principles, visual literacy, and critique rooted in traditional silver-based materials and processes. Returning to her own photographic origin, she works strictly with black and white film, processing and printing all of her images in the darkroom.

“Making images has been a part of my life for a long time and I remain intrigued and engaged with the power and implication of isolating a moment of time and the magical alchemy of handcrafting prints in the darkroom,” she says. “Currently, I’m working with several formats: Hasselblad X-pan, a 645 medium format Mamiya, and Holga cameras. At the moment my lens gravitates to the landscape and place.”

            Rosie studied photography at Endicott College and received her BA from Vermont College. She has taught at the Academy since 2001, and resides in St. Johnsbury with her husband and two sons. 

            Profits from the May show will go to a student scholarship fund for the 2014 St. Johnsbury Academy New Zealand trip. Prevost recently returned from backpacking in New Zealand with St. Johnsbury Academy Outing Club students and faculty.

 Catamount Arts is located on Eastern Avenue in St. Johnsbury. Go to www.catamountarts.com.

A great article from Vermont Magazine about the Arts in our corner of the state.

Getting Inspired for the Arts - Vermont Magazine May - June 2012

ROBERT SWARTZ SELECTED NEK CHAMBER CITIZEN OF YEAR

NORTHEAST KINGDOM – A man who has devoted three decades of service to Catamount Arts and health education causes has been selected the Northeast Kingdom Chamber 2012 Citizen of the Year, one of the region’s most distinguished awards.

St. Johnsbury resident Robert “Bob” Swartz received the honor for his extensive commitment to Catamount, as well as a host of other organizations, including the Danville School Board, Green Mountain United Way, North Congregational Church, Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, Northern Counties Health Care and the Osher Lifelong Learning Lecture Series. Swartz has also served on a number of Town of St. Johnsbury boards, including the St. Johnsbury Design Control District Board, the St. Johnsbury Design Committee and town plan committee.

Swartz, born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has had a tie to Vermont dating back to his childhood, noting his parents owned a camp on Lake Champlain during the war. Due to his father being a Presbyterian minister, the Swartz family moved to Morgantown, W. Va. when he was a boy, where his dad served as a student pastor at West Virginia University. Realizing the importance of a good education, his parents saved early for his schooling, allowing Swartz to attend Westtown School in West Chester, Pa., one of five generations of his family to attend the institution.

After graduating from Westtown, Swartz attended West Virginia University where he studied psychology and human resources before transferring to Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., where he graduated with an English degree. Following college, Swartz jumped at the opportunity to go to Oxford, England, where he taught at a preparatory school for a year prior to returning to the states to teach English and French at Oakwood School in Poughkeepsie. It was at Oakwood, not Oxford, where he met his English-borne wife, Pat.

Once married, the couple moved to the Northeast Kingdom for Swartz’s new job as an English teacher at St. Johnsbury Academy, a position he held for 27 years. While at the academy, Swartz helped to start the English as a Second Language Program, the International Club and was instrumental in establishing technical writing classes at the school.

Not content to immerse himself in his education duties alone, Swartz became very active on the Northern Counties Health Care Board and Catamount Arts. Swartz served as president of the Northern Counties board when the organization decided to merge with Caledonia Home Health Care in the 1980s.

“Bob is someone you can always count on for effective follow through when it comes to hard work or difficult and complicated challenges,” said NVRH’s Paul Bengston, a Citizen of the Year recipient in 2001, commenting on the many organizations Swartz has been involved in over the years. “He is someone who makes things happen and makes sure important ideas are shared and implemented.”

Swartz has never ventured far from an interest in the health-care field, serving as a corporator for NVRH for many years and working as the education resource coordinator for Northeastern Vermont Area Health Education Center since its start in 1997, whose main mission has been to attract and retain health-care professionals in rural areas.

“Bob Swartz’s community spirit embodies the true meaning of civic commitment and is an inspiration to all those fortunate enough to work with him,” said Margaret Trautz, an AHEC colleague. “Bob is a person of many gifts who has never hesitated to share them with his family and neighbors, his community and professional colleagues and with a multitude of community organizations.”

As strong as his devotion to health causes are, Swartz is perhaps best known for his many years of service on the Catamount Arts board, serving as a board member and president of the organization during its move to its new building on Eastern Avenue and the subsequent capital fund-raising campaign. Sixteen of his fellow Catamount Arts board members, in fact, endorsed his bid to become Citizen of the Year.

“His leadership is a labor of love for the community and an inspiration to us all,” said the board in its nomination packet. “No one can say ‘no’ to Bob. His enthusiasm for the project (the move) and Catamount’s mission and vision buoyed the board through countless campaign hurdles.”

In addition to his Catamount work, Swartz has also played a leadership role in the North Congregational Church, serving as a moderator, deacon, executive council member and the founding chair of the Archives Committee. He has been lauded for his “intelligence, thoroughness and collegial leadership,” said the Rev. Jay Sprout.

Whether it was his tenure on the Osher Steering Committee, time teaching at Springfield College or Community College of Vermont or his service on a multitude of town and civic boards, Swartz has been praised by all for his fairness, good humor, common sense, follow through and diligence to completing a task, no matter how difficult.

“I can think of no greater enthusiast for life in the Northeast Kingdom than Bob Swartz, and Bob is someone who acts on this enthusiasm and works hard to make our communities absolutely the best places to live,” said a friend.

Past Citizen of the Year recipients have included Doug Kitchel, H. Stanwood Brooks, Dr. Howard Farmer, George Young, Mildred H. Smith, Wesley Calderwood, Durward Ellis, Joseph Sherman, Rosalie Harris, Kay Ellis, R.J. (Pete) Brisson, William T. Costa Jr., Sterry R. Waterman, George M. Crosby, Ernie Begin, William Stowe, William P. Kennedy, G. Julian Butler, Howard K. Gieselman, Bernier L. Mayo, Donald Mullally, Alfreda (Freddie) King, Barbara McKay Smith, Dr. John H. Elliott, B.J. Murphy, Dr. John A. Stetson, Doug Drown, Dr. Frederick C. Silloway, the Rev. Mel Richardson, Brent W. Beck, Paul R. Bengtson, Joan Wollrath, Donald E. Bostic, Richard Lawrence, Dale Wells, Fred Laferriere, Reeve Lindbergh/Nat Tripp, Elwin Cross,  A. Richard Boera, Greg MacDonald and David Keenan.

Bob has been married to wife Pat for 46 years and is the father of three daughters, Rebecca Butcher, Rachel Smith and Anne Cornish. He is also the proud grandfather of six, Ben and Kate Butcher, Hayden and Nick Smith and Burke and Hannah Cornish.

The Northeast Kingdom Chamber Citizen of the Year Award is presented each year to a Northeast Kingdom resident who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and extensive community involvement beyond the candidate’s normal occupation. Local civic, social and town leaders comprise the committee that selects the recipient.

The Citizen of the Year dinner is being tentatively planned for Friday, May 4, with the location and dinner cost still to be determined. Friends and family members are encouraged to send congratulatory cards to the chamber so they can be included in a memory book for the award recipient. Details of the dinner will be posted on the chamber web site,www.nekchamber, as soon as they are finalized.

For more information on this event or to reserve a spot, contact the NEK Chamber at 2000 Memorial Drive-Ste. 11, St. Johnsbury, VT  05819; call 802-748-3678; or e-mail atnekinfo@nekchamber.com.

ST. JOHNSBURY’S ART & CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS LAUNCH BANNER PROJECT

ST. JOHNSBURY’S ART & CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS

LAUNCH BANNER PROJECT

Group is seeking student artwork for the banners

ST.  JOHNSBURY, VERMONT – Four nonprofits dedicated to the arts and culture in St. Johnsbury —Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury Academy, and St. Johnsbury Athenaeum — will work with St. Johnsbury’s schools to produce colorful banners that reflect the community’s unique character.  Banners will celebrate the “Arts & Culture Campus” on Main Street and Eastern Avenue as well as the Railroad Street business district.

            The St. Johnsbury Arts & Culture Alliance is working with the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce and Town Office to create banners that highlight the distinctive architecture, rich heritage and cultural life of the community.  

            Jody Fried, executive director of Catamount Arts explains. “We’re eager to make a visible difference in a way that can be enjoyed by everyone and excited about working with students in St. Johnsbury’s schools to showcase the dynamic arts scene that exists already.”

            The banners will be colorful markers that define a distinctive arts and culture district, along Main Street from the Fairbanks Museum to St. Johnsbury Academy and along Eastern Avenue from the Athenaeum to Catamount Arts and beyond.

            Banner designs will relate to St. Johnsbury’s architecture, community life, iconic parks, or distinctive statues.  

            Joe Healy of St. Johnsbury Academy says, “This is a way to highlight our cultural heritage and call attention to the many treasures in our town.” His thoughts are echoed by Jeff Moore, president of the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce, who adds, “We’re delighted to be working with this group to tap into the creative spirit of this community.”

            The St. Johnsbury’s Arts & Culture Alliance was formed last year to enhance St. Johnsbury’s cultural climate and creative economy. The Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation provided a grant to support this banner project and the work of the St. Johnsbury Arts & Culture Alliance.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Joe Healy, St. Johnsbury Academy, jhealy@stjacademy.org

Jody Fried, Catamount Arts, jfried@catamountarts.org

Anna Rubin, Fairbanks Museum, arubin@fairbanksmuseum.org

Mary Ellen Reis, St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, mreis@stjathenaeum.org

Catamount Gallery Group Annual Exhibit

The Northeast Kingdom is rich in a wide variety of talented and gifted artists who will have the opportunity to share their visions and their works with area residents this March when Catamount Arts presents its annual Gallery Group exhibit. Each March, Catamount dedicates its main gallery to a presentation of art works by more than 30 Northeast Kingdom artists who each choose one of their best or favorite works from the past year to share with the public. This year’s spotlight exhibit will feature oils, watercolors, photos and sculpture by such artists as Emiko Sawaragi Gilbert, Mark Nielsen, Muffin Ray, Rosie Prevost, Naomi Bossom, Claire Van Vliet, Roderick Wells, Joan Harlowe, Bill Tulp, Judith Unger Murphy, Ann Young and many others. A special reception honoring these artists and their accomplishments will be held from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Friday, March 9, at the Catamount Arts center on Eastern Avenue in St. Johnsbury. The reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Many of the individual artists will be present to discuss their works.

The Catamount Gallery Group, which exists to promote and encourage artistic talent in the Northeast Kingdom, was created by Patty Mucha and Lois Whitmore in 1993-1994 under the direction of Phil Reynolds, who was then the executive director of Catamount Arts. The initial group was composed of twenty local artists from northern Vermont and New Hampshire. The membership of the group has now increased to more than 80 artists from the area. The Gallery Group’s show each March is one of the largest and most highly anticipated exhibits in the Northeast Kingdom. This year, as in recent years, the show will be curated by Bob Manning, a local artist and art historian who is also a member of Catamount’s Board of Directors. This year’s Catamount Gallery Group show will be on display through Sunday, April 1. Catamount’s galleries are open free to the public from 11:00 am – 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday and before and after each film screening.

Tonight's Blue Grass Jam

A brief clip from tonight's Blue Grass Jam here at the art center.

The cabaret was packed with an enthusiastic crowd of blue grass lovers.

If you couldn't make it to tonight's performance, be sure to keep an eye here on the blog or on our website at catamountarts.org for information on the next Blue Grass Jam.

The Comedy of Errors from the National Theatre of London

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS broadcast to cinemas worldwide as part of
National Theatre Live

5 Stars ‘Wall-to-wall joy. Sublime.’ Daily Mail
5 Stars ‘Fabulous fun… Dominic Cooke’s imaginative, superbly acted contemporary production’ Mail on Sunday
William Shakespeare’s THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, directed by Dominic Cooke, with Lenny Henry as Antipholus of Syracuse, will be filmed live at the National’s Olivier Theatre and broadcast as part of NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE  to cinemas and performing arts venues around the UK and Europe on 1 March, and varying dates internationally (see  HYPERLINK "http://www.ntlive.com" www.ntlive.com for other international dates).
Two sets of twins separated at birth collide in the same city without meeting for one crazy day, as multiple mistaken identities lead to confusion on a grand scale. 

Shakespeare’s furiously paced comedy is staged in a contemporary world into which walk three prohibited foreigners who see everything for the first time.

Lenny Henry made his Shakespearean debut in the title role of Othello for Northern Broadsides/West Yorkshire Playhouse, which transferred to the West End and for which he won the 2009 Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer Award. He has toured worldwide with his stand-up comedy shows, and has appeared in and presented innumerable television dramas, comedies and documentaries, including Three of a Kind, The Lenny Henry Show, Alive and Kicking, Chef!, Hope & Glory and Lenny Henry in Pieces.  His many awards include the Lifetime Achievement - Performance Award at the 2003 British Comedy Awards, and a Golden Rose at the Montreux Television Festival.

Dominic Cooke is  Artistic Director of the Royal Court, where his productions have included Chicken Soup with Barley, Clybourne Park (also West End) and The Pain and the Itch. He was Associate Director of the RSC from 2002-06, where his work included Arabian Nights, Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, The Crucible (Olivier Awards for Best Director and Best Revival), As You Like It and Cymbeline.

The cast also includes Marcus Adolphy, Tom Anderson, Paul Bentall, Claudie Blakley, Ian Burfield, Silas Carson, Clare Cathcart, Adrian Hood, Chris Jarman, Lucian Msamati, Yvonne Newman, Pamela Nomvete, Rhiannon Oliver, Jude Owusu, Simon Parish, Daniel Poyser, Grace Thurgood, Amit Shah, Michelle Terry, Everal A Walsh and Rene Zagger. The production is designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Paule Constable, music by Gary Yershon, movement by Ann Yee, sound by Christopher Shutt and fight direction by Kate Waters.

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE performances are filmed live in high definition and broadcast via satellite to over 700 cinemas around the world, live in the UK and Europe and time delayed in countries further afield.  There are over 120 venues in the UK alongside venues in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, India, Scandinavia and Europe.  The performances at the National are
nominated in advance to allow cameras greater freedom in the auditorium.  

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE is presented in partnership with Aviva.

Notes to editors

The National Theatre
The National Theatre, founded in 1963, and established on the South Bank of the River Thames in London in 1976, has three theatres – the Olivier, the Lyttelton and the Cottesloe. It presents an eclectic mix of new plays and classics, with seven or eight productions in repertory (sharing the stages) at any one time. Actors often appear in more than one play during a season or return to the National regularly. The National aims constantly to re-energise the great traditions of the British stage and to expand the horizons of audiences and artists alike, and aspires to reflect in its repertoire the diversity of the nation’s culture. With its extensive programme of Platform performances, backstage tours, foyer music, exhibitions, and free outdoor entertainment the National recognises that the theatre doesn’t begin and end with the rise and fall of the curtain.  By touring – and now, National Theatre Live - it shares its work with audiences in the UK and abroad. 

National Theatre Live events are distributed outside the U.K. through New York-based BY Experience, Inc, the pioneer of global live “alternative content” digital cinema events.  For more information visit   "http://www.byexperience.net" www.byexperience.net

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS runs for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

21 February 2012

Bluegrass Revisited at Catamount Arts

BLUEGRASS REVISTED, a bluegrass band from Lamoille County Vermont,will be featured at this month's Catamount Arts Bluegrass Jam,Saturday February 25th, at 7 P.M. in the Catamount Cabaret room of the Catamount building, 115 Eastern Ave., in St. Johnsbury.

Bluegrass Revisited features Larry Longley on banjo, Neal Brown on bass, Alan Gratton on mandolin, and Bob Robtoy on guitar. The CA JAM's host band favorites THE BLUEGRASS VOLUNTEERS will also appear. As always, the Catamount Bluegrass Jam is a free event, but with donations glady and graciously accepted.

Dance Lovers' Delight

Dear Friends of the Arts,

Please consider joining us this Sunday, February 26th, for what promises to be one of the most amazing dance performances ever to be held in the Northeast Kingdom.  Produced by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and presented by Kingdom County Productions in association with Catamount Arts, this show will feature the world's premier ballet dance company performing the work of their legendary namesake and choreographer, Balanchine prodigy Suzanne Farrell.  You do NOT want to miss this show!

In order to bring dance productions of this quality and magnitude to rural Vermont, it is imperative that we fill each show with an enthusiastic audience.  We need your help to spread the word and fill the seats.  Please pass this message along and invite your friends and family to join us at this very special event.  Tickets are available online or by calling the Catamount Regional Box Office at 802/748-2600.  

Thank you for supporting the Arts!

Cheers, Jody

Jody Fried, Executive Director

Catamount Film & Arts

P.O. Box 324

115 Eastern Avenue

St. Johnsbury, VT  05819

802-748-2600 x105 (phone)

802-748-0852 (fax)

www.catamountarts.org

Produced by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Suzanne Farrell Ballet 7:00 PM Sunday, February 26th at Lyndon Institute

"Understated glamour, alluring reserve, and attention to detail" is how The New York Times describes The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, led by the legendary New York City Ballet principal whose career of three decades made her the most influential American ballerina of the late 20th century. One of 20th century master choreographer George Balanchine's most celebrated muses, Farrell has staged Balanchine's acclaimed dances for a range on companies, including the Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Berlin Opera Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, and Bolshoi Ballet. Produced by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet will perform an all-Balanchine program that includes some of this dance master's most cherished works. "Stravinsky once remarked to Balanchine that the young Ms. Farrell was the most musically intelligent dancer he had ever seen. Now she is passing that quality on."   - Alastair Macaulay, New York Times "Too distinctive, too juicy, too fabulously fearless to pass up."     - Washington Post Watch a Video Listen to a Podcast Tickets & Information Suzanne Farrell Ballet  Sunday, February 26th 7:00 PM Lyndon Institute  Lyndonville, VT   Tickets   $29, $44, $54                    Regular  $27, $42, $52                    Members  $22                                     Students   Tickets are available online, by phone, or in person at the Catamount Arts Box Office.    Online (24 Hours): CatamountTix  By Phone: 802-748-2600 In Person:   115 Eastern Avenue  St. Johnsbury, VT 05819 Box Office Hours: Monday - Saturday 11:00AM - 6:00PM

Bob Amos CD Release Concert and Catamount Arts Benefit

From 1988-2003 Bob Amos was lead vocalist, guitarist, songwriter and frontman for SUGAR HILL recording artists FRONT RANGE, one of the world's top bluegrass bands. Front Range toured throughout North America and Europe, and their songs, mostly penned by Amos, were mainstays of the bluegrass radio charts. In 1995 Amos's song "One Beautiful Day" was awarded "Bluegrass Gospel Recording of the Year" by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has called Bob "top of the Bluegrass songwriting class"  and SingOut! magazine reviewer John Lupton labeled Bob as "one of the most consistently intelligent and interesting songwriters in American music."

            After pursuing other musical endeavors Amos has now returned to the fold with his first all-Bluegrass project in nearly eight years. The new CD, "Borrowed Time" includes eleven songs written by Amos, plus a new Bluegrass arrangement of a Robert Johnson blues classic. An impressive group of Bluegrass notables joined Bob for this recording project, including IBMA mandolinist of the year Jesse Brock, former Front Range bassist Bob Dick, and Vermont favorites Patti Casey, Colin McCaffrey and Freeman Corey.

            To celebrate the release of "Borrowed Time" Amos's all-star Vermont bluegrass band "Catamount Crossing" (with Patti Casey, Colin McCaffrey, Freeman Corey, Adam Buchwald and Mike Santosusso) will present a concert featuring the new album material,  plus other music, in the "Mason's Hall" at the Catamount Arts building, 115 Eastern Avenue, St. Johnsbury VT, 7:30 P.M. on  Saturday April 7th. Tickets ($12 members, $15 general public) are available in advance, 802-748-2600, www.Catamount Arts.org. Proceeds will benefit Catamount Arts.

Coming in March

We have some fantastic films coming up at Catamount Arts in the month of March.  We'll update you on dates and show times once they are finalized.

The Descendents - A land baron tries to re-connect with his two daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident.  Nominated for 5 Academy Awards as well as winning 35 other awards.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6.  Nominated for 3 Academy Awards as well as winning 10 other awards.

The Artist - Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.  Nominated for 10 Academy Awards as well as winning 59 other awards.

Presentations On Connections Between Religion and Dance

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AT ST. JOHNSBURY ACADEMY:

Presentations On Connections
Between Religion and Dance

A leading scholar on the interconnection of dance and religion will offer public presentations Monday and Tuesday, February 20-21 at 3:30 p.m. in St. Johnsbury Academy’s Grace Stuart Orcutt Library, located in the Mayo Center. The events are free and open to the public.
Philosopher, dancer and author Kimerer LaMothe, who taught modern Western Philosophy and religion for six years at Brown and Harvard Universities, will also conduct three days of workshops for Academy students.
During her visit, Lamothe will discuss “perspectives on dance and religion as evidenced in the works of Nietzsche, Martha Graham, and Isodora Duncan,” Academy Dance instructor Marianne Handy Hraibi said.
The author of four award-winning books, Lamothe holds a doctorate in Theology of the Modern West from Harvard and also is the recipient of fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the Center for the Study of World Religions.
Her books include Nietzsche’s Dancers: Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and the Revaluation of Christian Values (2011); Between Dancing and Writing: The Practice of Religious Studies (2004), What A Body Knows: Finding Wisdom in Desire (2009); and the forthcoming Family Planting: A Farm-fed Philosophy of Human Relations. She also writes a blog for the Psychology Today magazine Website.
Copies of writings that will be discussed during the public presentations will be available at the Academy library the week of February 13-17.

From one of our members

One of our members who had come in to see "Gotterdammerung" this afternoon gave me a link to a blog that I thought I'd share.
The blog is about a performance piece the daughter of our member is doing.  The concept is pretty interesting and reminds me a lot of the idea of "not-doing" in the writings of Carlos Castaneda, where the object is to disrupt, even momentarily, the normal flow of perception to help open yourself to the large possibilities in the universe.

In the Gallery - Terry Ekasala

The bright, bold works of area artist Terry Ekasala will offer the perfect antidote to the dreary days of winter as they fill the main gallery at Catamount Arts for the entire month of February. A special reception honoring the Weymouth, Massachusetts native, who now makes her home in the Northeast Kingdom, will be held from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Friday, February 10, at the Catamount Arts Center on Eastern Avenue in St. Johnsbury. The reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Ekasala took an interest in drawing and art became her path at a very young age. In 1982 after receiving an Associate’s Degree in Advertising from the Art Institute in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, she began working as a freelance artist in the field. Drawn to the domain of fine arts she set up her first studio in 1983 in an abandoned frame shop, part of the Clay hotel and youth hostel on Espanola Way, Miami Beach, Florida. This was a huge step into the wide world of art and life. Miami Beach was at that time a broken down palace of art deco dreams, inhabited mostly by the elderly, refugees, the unsuspecting youth hostel guests and scattered young creators whom began to gather on Espanola Way and Lincoln Road. This scene lent a rich and diverse inspiration to a young open mind. Ekasala worked in the figurative manner at this time, primarily drawing and painting as medium. Here she became a member of the Artifacts Art Group. This group staged weekly events at the hot 80’s Miami nightclub “Fire and Ice” as well as organized exhibits and finally opened their own gallery on the corner of Lincoln Road and Michigan, Miami Beach. She was also among a number of artists who took to the streets doing graffiti on boarded up abandoned buildings and her work was featured on the cover of the Sunday edition of the Miami Herald as well as in a national Coke a Cola commercial. In 1987 Ekasala visited Paris for the second time and she decided to stay. She worked as a cook in a Tea Salon, all the while painting in her tiny apartment. In 1990 she set up a studio in Belleville, Paris’ colorful 20th Arrondissement at La Forge, a little artist community made up of diverse nationalities. In the beginning La Forge was a squat and eventually became the first “Artist squat” to become legal in Paris due to the diligence, seriousness and hard work of this group of artists. This is where she painted until 2001. During these years her style and medium underwent many changes. Her figurative subject slowly transformed to abstract figurative, eventually to become entirely abstract. In the eleven years at La Forge she participated in the annual “Open Studio” of Belleville, allowing her the opportunity to sell her work directly to the public. During these years she showed her work in personal and group expositions in and around Paris as well as Berlin, Germany and New York City. In 2001 she moved to the Northeast Kingdom, Vermont. She set up her studio in the center of of Lyndonville. In September, 2003, she had a personal exposition of her new abstract, large format oil paintings at the Metalstone Gallery in NYC. In 2004 her son Zack was born. For a short period of time she worked with acrylic on board in small format as a direct result of limited lengths of painting time with a newborn baby. This work was also shown at the Metalstone Gallery as a personal exposition entitled “Subsequent Development, an Assembly of Small Paintings” in March of 2005. Ekasala took a few years break from painting until 2010 when she completed several large abstract paintings in her basement. In May, 2011, she found her “dream” studio in West Burke where she now paints. She resides in East Burke with her family. Her philosophy of painting is just as personal as her style. “For me abstract painting is an act of balancing the juxtaposition of color, line, texture and form,” she said recently. “I try to empty my mind. The observer in me can then take the wind out of the sails of contrived thought allowing the moment’s mysterious impulse to be seized as a child might do. The images are the consequential vibrational energy from the clashing of all this.” “Do they meaning anything?” Ekasala concluded. “No, just like a flower doesn’t mean anything.” The abstract paintings of Terry Ekasala will be on view at Catamount through February 29. The galleries at Catamount Arts are open to the public free of charge from 11 am – 6 pm Monday through Saturday and before and after each film screening.

 

February Films

We are not quite half way through January, but we've already got of film schedule for February lined up.  Coming up next month are a number of films that have been nominated for Golden Globes.  Be sure to root for them this Sunday when the awards are announced.

Here is the list of the upcoming films in order of their show dates.  Hope to see you at the movies!


February 3 - February 9
My Week with Marilyn:
In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of 'The Prince and the Showgirl'. The film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Aurthur Miller (Dougray Scott). Nearly 40 years on, his diary account The Prince, the Showgirl and Me was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as My Week with Marilyn - this is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work. -- (C) Weinstein
Nominated for Golden Globes for- Best Picture, Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical (Michelle Williams), Best Supporting Actor (Kenneth Branagh)

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance:
The full story of this groundbreaking dance company, from their founding in 1956 to the present. The Joffrey is considered the first truly 'American' ballet company and was the first to perform at the White House and the first company to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine. Narrated by Mandy Patinkin, the film shows how the Joffrey transformed American dance by combining modern dance with classical ballet and by working with cutting edge choreographers like Twyla Tharp, Laura Dean and others. Features famed former Joffrey stars Kevin McKenzie, Gary Chryst, Helgi Tomasson, Trinette Singleton and Adam Sklute. (c) IMDB - Anonymous

February 10 - February 16
Young Adult:
Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn't quite gotten over high school, either. -- (C) Paramount
Nominated for Golden Globes - Best Actress Comedy or Musical (Charlize Theron)

Tomboy:
A French family with two daughters, 10-year-old Laure and 6-year-old Jeanne, moves to a new neighborhood during the summer holidays. With her Jean Seberg haircut and tomboy ways, Laure is immediately mistaken for a boy by the local kids and passes herself off as Michael. Filmmaker Céline Sciamma brings a light and charming touch to this drama of childhood gender confusion. Zoe Heran as Laure/Michael and Malonn Levanna as Jeanne are nothing less than brilliant. This is a relationship movie: relationships between children, and the even more complicated one between one's heart and body. -- (C) Rocket Releasing

February 17 - February 23
Drive:
Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can't help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac). After a heist intended to pay off Standard's protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals. But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they're coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense. -- (C) FilmDistrict
Nominated for Golden Globe - Best Supporting Actor (Albert Brooks)

Weekend:
“Weekend,” Andrew Haigh’s astonishingly self-assured, unassumingly profound second feature.... In its matter-of-fact, tightly focused observation of two young men who find their one-night stand growing into something more serious, the movie ranges over vast, often neglected regions of 21st-century life. It is about the paradoxes and puzzlements of gay identity in a post-identity-politics era, and also about the enduring mystery of sexual attraction and its consequences. (c) New York Times

February 24 - March 1
A Dangerous Method:
Seduced by the challenge of an impossible case, the driven Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) takes the unbalanced yet beautiful Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) as his patient in A Dangerous Method. Jung's weapon is the method of his master, the renowned Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Both men fall under Sabina's spell. -- (C) Sony Pictures Classics
Nominated for Golden Globe - Best Supporting Actor (Viggo Mortensen)

Norwegian Wood:
Tokyo, the late 1960s...Students around the world are uniting to overthrow the establishment and Toru Watanabe's personal life is similarly in tumult. At heart, he is deeply devoted to his first love, Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman. But their complex bond has been forged by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Watanabe lives with the influence of death everywhere. That is, until Midori, a girl who is everything that Naoko is not - outgoing, vivacious, supremely self-confident - marches into his life and Watanabe must choose between his past and his future. -- (C) Official Site