And from 2008 ....

We're gearing up for our annual Halloween show at the Green Door Studio and looking for fellow artists and creative folks to join in the collaborative exhibit to be held October 30 through November 2nd. Contact Athena for more information. We've already lined up a sound installation for the event, but are still gathering ideas and art work for our trademark outlandish and scary Halloween show. And don't forget the costume party on the 31st. Come join in the fun and be part of our annual event.

The Green Door Studio was in the news again... this time in the September/October 2008 issue of Artscope - New England's Culture Magazine in an article by Alexandra Tursi. You can read the lead paragraph on line. The entire article is available in print form.

Greg Davis is organizing an occasional acoustic concert series at the Green Door again this fall. The first event features:

- Audrey Chen (solo voice and improvised cello)
- Ashley Paul and Eli Keszler (percussion, reed instruments, electronic and other sound devices)
- rise set twilight (electronic based improvisations)

Wednesday, September 24th, 8:00 pm; on the patio if weather permits.

Art Hop 2008

We're getting ourselves ready for Art Hop 2008. In the central gallery, there will be plenty of photography, paintings, drawings and lots of handmade paper and book art. Several examples from the Combat Paper project will also be on display. The Combat Paper Project is a collaborative project of veterans, artists and activists utilizing uniforms that were worn in combat. They are cut, pulped and recreated into sheets of paper that are then used in print and book art.

And outside on the patio, three bands are lined up for Friday evening, beginning at 7:30 pm. Michael Jackson and the Beatles, My Dearest Darling and the Vacant Lots, have all signed on for the party!

And on Saturday, we open the studio and patio for our traditional hands on beginning papermaking workshop, a real hit with kids and families.

Throughout the weekend, the Green Door Studio will also be featuring larger works (paintings and large handmade paper pieces) at an annex building at 688 Pine Street, formerly Woodbury's Wood Crafts.

If you're an Art Hop 'regular', you know our Friday night party is the place to be. If you're new to Art Hop, then don't miss us. All your friends will be here!



And from the day after....

Check out our web page highlighting this year's events and festivities. The Radiator ran a live broadcast of our musical offerings on Friday night while all our friends and Art Hoppers gathered round the patio. And the kids making paper art on Saturday afternoon was a sight to behold. We hope you were able to stop by.

While you were out Art Hopping we hope you got a chance to stop in to the Pursuit Gallery (One Steele Street) to see the "In and out and over" exhibit. Pursuit owners Seth Neary and Skye Chalmers are moving on and the doors at the gallery have closed. Our own Clark Derbes was featured in the farewell show. It ran through September 15th.

The Combat Paper Project has launched its own web site! We've been happy to host their web pages this last year and help them on their way to national recognition. This will also allow them to develop their own aesthetic presence in cyberspace without having to conform to our traditional green and black format. Be sure to pay them a visit at combatpaper.org. We'll try to update the old Green Door links so they'll take you to the new site. But for frequent Combat Paper visitors you may wish to 'bookmark' their new homepage.

The Combat Paper Project traveled to Martha's Vineyard in July for a week of papermaking workshops and Warrior Writer workshops. Catch the July 17th article on the event from the Martha's Vineyard Times.

Sara Nesson's film in progress was also shown at the July 26th fundraiser.

And for those who missed the event....

There is a follow-up story from the Vineyard Gazette Online, along with viewer's feedback.

Clark Derbes and Wylie Garcia are back in town. Clark has returned to the studio, to continue his eclectic work in paper, wax and color. Stop by to say hello.

Tom Lascell returned to the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport, ME in July for a second master class in Alternative Photographic Processes with Christopher James. He also showed images from his kallitype collection in a community exhibit at the Creative Spirit Art Center in Potsdam, NY in July.

Drew Matott's People's Portraits of Bush is featured in an article by Jae Rossman in the spring edition of the Journal of Artist's Books. The article is entitled "Reading Outside the Lines: Paratextual Analysis and Artists' Books". It discusses how artists' books break the usual conventions and patterns of traditional books to add meaning and encourage a closer, sometimes tactile, inspection of a book's content.

Drew is currently doing a six month 'artist in residency' at the BluSeed Studio in Saranac Lake, NY through November. He hopes to establish a community based paper and book arts studio to serve the central Adirondack region, to include paper arts and book making, letter press printing and binding. He also expects to teach several art courses at North Country Community College in the fall.

A five minute edit of Sara Nesson's Iraq Paper Scissors trailer appeared on Grit TV on May 15th. She has also teamed up with producer Patricia Foulkrod (maker of The Ground Truth) and the International Documentary Association to transform her work on the Combat Paper and Warrior Writers Projects into a feature length documentary film. To better manage the venture and accept donations to help complete the project, she has launched a new website iraqpaperscissors.com. Donations are tax deductible.

An interview with Drew Matott aired on Chicago's public radio station on May 11th, highlighting his work with the Combat Paper Project. He also spoke about his role as an artist promoting social change.

An April 25th Dard Hunter blogspot posting (a site for serious papermakers) makes mention of the Combat Paper tour to Santa Barbara last month and includes a link to Sara Nesson's trailer Iraq Paper Scissors. It's nice to get national recognition for the project. And if you do a google search on "Combat Paper" you'll find a whole host of blogs and references to recent CP events and artists.

Drew Cameron, and our friend Aaron Hughes, made the April 22nd edition of the Boston Globe, in an article entitled "The Power in their Pain: Iraq War Veterans Create Art to Protest". The article highlights their anti-war performance art and makes prominent mention of the Green Door Studio, as well as the Combat Paper and Warrior Writers Projects.

Congrats to Drew Matott who has completed his MFA at Columbia College in Chicago! At the MFA Thesis Exhibit at the Hokin Gallery, Drew exhibited book and paper art made by Iraq War veterans by pulping their combat uniforms, as well as original work derived from Drew's journal of the recent Combat Paper Tour. The show ran from May 2nd thru the 24th.

At the opening of the exhibit on May 2nd, artists Drew Matott and John La Falce, with combat veterans Drew Cameron, Jon Michael Turner, Phil Aliff and Andrew Kotchman presented, performed and discussed their experiences as having been a part of the ongoing Combat Paper Project. Paper and book art was on exhibit along with a segment of Sara Nesson's documentary Iraq Paper Scissors. In addition, John La Falce exhibited portraits of the vets within the western landscape, drawn while on their most recent tour.

There was a book release for the latest Warrior Writers edition, Re-making Sense on April 21st at 6:00 pm at the Ira Allen Chapel on the University of Vermont campus. The public was invited. The event featured readings and performances by contributing authors of the new anthology. Copies of this latest edition of the Warrior Writers series are also available for purchase at Speeder & Earl's on Pine Street. Recent work from the Combat Paper Project was also on exhibit.

Phil Gingrow taught a Large Format photography class at the Firehouse in April/May. The class filled quickly. But if you misssed it and are interested in attending one of Phil's classes in the future, let him know so he can alert you to an encore presentation.

The Suffolk Art League and Suffolk Museum (Suffolk, VA) accepted four artist books for their juried exhibit this past spring, Beyond Reading: Books as Art. The show ran from April 25th through June 7th. Warrior Writers: Combat Paper, Ravages of Time, and Deep Fried Books are all collaborative books by Drew Luan Matott and other Green Door artists. People's Portraits of Bush is a solo project by Matott, featuring pulp and silk screen printing created as part of his interactive street art series.

Drew Matott taught a two-day workshop on Pulp Printing at the San Francisco Center for the Book on March 28-29.

Sara Nesson attended the "Breaking the Silence" exhibit in Philly in February and has re-edited her Iraq Paper Scissors trailer to include new scenes from the event.

The Combat Paper Project went on the road. Members of the local combat paper troupe conducted an east coast swing through New York City, Washington, DC and did a series of classes and presentations at Longwood College in Virginia in February. Then in March, the troupe traveled to the west coast for a series of workshops and presentations, including Fresno City College, UC Santa Barbara and the Arizona State University, hoping to teach other IVAW vets the art of papermaking. Check out the tour schedule.

A series of pulp prints on combat paper, as well as a copy of Warrior Writers: Move, Shoot and Communicate, was shown in St. Louis at The Imbedded Image: Current Work in Hand Papermaking exhibit at Craft Alliance. The show was curated by Tom Lang.

Also shown this spring... in the Fine Arts Gallery at SUNY Oneonta, Ravages of Time, as part of the Outrageous Pages: Ingenious Artists' Books exhibit from January 21 - March 7, 2008. This is a collaborative book project by photographer Tom Lascell and book artist Drew Matott. In addition, several copies of the Deep Fried Books (the result of a recent performance by John La Falce and Drew Matott) were on exhibit along with a video of the "frying" at Burlington's Art Hop event last September.

We're only a week into the new year and already the studio is hopping. Over the last few days, the paper studio has had a face lift. Equipment has been rearranged to permit more people to work simultaneously, sinks have been relocated, new plumbing installed. Two batches of linen based paper were pulled on Friday, each especially formulated for photographic alternative process work.

On Saturday, the community darkroom entryway was revamped. Out came the old light trap maze; in went a dry work room complete with counter and storage cabinets underneath. And in the paper studio, 5x5 foot sheets of paper made from shredded money was being crafted. Yes, they were lucre green and wading was involved.

And then on Sunday, some of the recent combat paper pieces were hung at Speeder & Earl's at 412 Pine Street, just around the corner from the studio. This is the same work that has shown at Mills College and the San Francisco Center for the Book and is part of the permanent collection at the Library of Congress. The show will be up throughout January. So stop by, get yourself a double latte and check out the art work. You might also want to catch a trailer of Sara Nesson's documentary film about the combat paper process; she has been following the emerging story since summer.

Masha Stern showed recent work at Mirabelles Cafe on Main Street in January. This was a solo show featuring 'liquid light' images from Asia on handcrafted paper and a few silver gelatin prints from Europe.

 

And from 2007 ....

 

We hope you joined in the revelry to celebrate the UVM student art magazine publication this month. Vantage Point's release party was held be at the Green Door on December 7th including a reception with UVM faculty, selected tidbits from the magazine and intro remarks from the editors.

 

Drew Matott has just returned from Boston University where he joined Dr. Eric Avery in an AIDS awareness project. Students made paper from BU administrators' donated shirts to create a pulp questionnaire that challenged students to become leaders on HIV/AIDS issues. Check out the fstop journal audio/slide show and a video of the event.

 

Laurel Fulton has recently joined the studio. She works primarily with oils on canvas, although incorporates other surfaces on occasion and is looking forward to expanding into a more three dimensional aesthetic in the future. Be sure to stick your head into her studio the next time you stop in to say Hi! and see what she's working on.

 

There's a new beater in town! The People's Republic of Paper is now home to a new two pound beater built by David Reina of Reina Designs, Brooklyn, NY. The new piece of equipment replaces our aging 1935 Valley Hollander style pulp beater, doubling our capacity. The Valley has been the paper studio workhorse since the studio's beginning in 2002. The new Reina is especially designed for hand papermaking and will be a boon to community classes in the paper and book arts. When both beaters are running simultaneously, it is a sight to behold and fills a paper maker's heart with glee.

 

And for those of you who haven't stopped by the studio in recent days, you'll notice a change to our outdoor patio. Our tree has gone. For years, it has provided shade in summer and protection from the elements in winter... and a certain ambiance that will be missed at our outdoor musical events. As homage, we've created a scrap wood sculpture. Not the same, but a remembrance, none-the-less.

 

Say hello to Masha Stern who has returned to the darkroom after a long absence. She was here at the beginning... and created our initial website design. Also joining us is Kelsey Wilson. Both Masha and Kelsey work with traditional B&W silver gelatin processes. Stop by to meet them both, when you get a chance.

And a heartfelt so long to Clark and Wylie who are relocating to Houston, TX. They have been an energetic pair in the studio; we'll miss them both.

 

With all the recent hoopla about the appropriateness of "political art" at Art Hop 2007 you may have missed the latest edition of Warrior Writers at the Green Door. Started as a collaborative project during the summer, Drew Cameron, Drew Matott and members of Iraq Veterans Against the War joined forces to create "combat paper", paper made from military uniforms, that was then incorporated into anti-war pulp paintings. A sextet of paintings were shown at the Green Door during Art Hop. For more information about the project, contact Drew Cameron.

 

Drew Matott presented Pulp Politics: Dissent and Intervention at the Friends of Dard Hunter Annual Meeting in Washington, DC on October 19-20. The presentation featured his experiences conducting street interventions using pulp as an interactive medium. He also performed his People's Portraits of Bush "street intervention" on October 18th at the Pyramid Atlantic Center. These presentations continue Drew's artistic theme of using street art media and community centers as a means to produce political, dissenting and interventionist art.

Drew will also be showing his collaborative artist books this autumn and winter. He has been selected to exhibit at Northern Kentucky University (September 27 - October 26) at its "On Its Feet: Contemporary Letterpress Book Art - A National Invitational Exhibit", and has been invited to show at the Fine Arts Gallery at SUNY Oneonta ("Outrageous Pages: Ingenious Artists' Books") from January 21 - March 7, 2008. In addition Ravages of Time was shown in exhibit at the University of Alabama from September 28 - October 28. The exhibit opening also featured a live webcast of Deep Fried Books from Columbia College.

 

Art Hop 2007

Art Hop is over for another year, although the central gallery will be open for viewing for a little while yet. This was our sixth year; each year has been a little different, each year a little better. Friday night featured Lis Howland's interactive community mural in the alley, books being deep fried under the lights, and six bands playing on the outdoor patio.

Deep Fried Books - John La Falce and Drew Luan Matott conducted some street performance art that invited the public to create altered books by battering and deep frying them. Participants were encouraged to create books from a selection of oils and different batters (oreos to matzo). The project is a commentary on America's obsession with an unhealthy lifestyle, unstable foreign policy and blatant disregard for intellectualism. Fried books were vacuum wrapped and given to each participant. Folks were encouragesd to bring their own books to be fried. The Burlington Free Press web site has a short video clip of the frying and Lauren Ober's article has spawned some controversial feedback. If you had a book fried on Friday, why not weigh in with your thoughts and what the book frying meant to you.

Then on Saturday, more interactive street performance by Drew Matott, this time pulp painting with a focus on global warming, while Drew Cameron offered a beginning papermaking workshop on the patio.

 

This has been a busy summer for the studio. Several of our members have been traveling - Tom to Maine, Wylie to China, Drew Cameron to California. Even a tag sale to clear out some of our dusty corners. And our group show at the BluSeed in June was a real treat.

We're excited about our group show at the BluSeed Studio in Saranac Lake, NY. We all gathered for the opening reception to celebrate our eclectic offering of black and white photography, colorful paintings, window installations and wire sculpture. We featured seven artists' books along with the original art that inspired them.

- John La Falce deep fried books as part of his ongoing performance art series at the opening reception on June 21st.

- Phil Gingrow took large format color polaroid portraits of art goers during the opening festivities.

The show ran through July 13, 2007.

 

Our friend Alex Wilson appeared as Felix Sonnyboy at the Champlain Valley Folk Festival in August.

 

Tom Lascell attended a master class in "Alternative & Non-silver Processes" with Christopher James at the Maine Photographic Workshops in July.

 

Wylie Garcia was in Beijing, China in June for a painting residency at the Contemporary Fine Arts Academy with John Walker and Zuo Yuan.

 

The Purple Hearts exhibit was immediately followed by "Re-making Sense", an exhibit of photographs, paintings and installation by local Iraq Veterans Against the War vets. IVAW members presented selected readings and performances at the opening on April 21st. The "Re-making Sense" exhibit continues through May 3rd. A handmade book, "Warrior Writers: Move, Shoot and Communicate", a collection of writings by IVAW members created in collaboration with The People's Republic of Paper, was also released on the 21st and is available for sale to benefit the Warrior Writers project.

Both Drew Cameron and Aaron Hughes, "co-conspiritors" of the event, are quoted in an April 15, 2007 Washington Post article about art as therapy for returning Iraq vets as a means of personal healing.

"Veterans with traumatic combat injuries often find healing power in art. They communicate through pencil and charcoal drawings, sculpture and painting. Their images range from calm, colorful landscapes to mangled vehicles, prisoners and carnage. It's a therapy recognized as especially helpful to those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."

- Jackie Spinner, Staff Writer for the Washington Post

Our thanks to Margot Harrison for highlighting both "Re-making Sense" and the Purple Hearts exhibit in her "state of the arts" column in the April 18th issue of Seven Days.

The Warrior Writers project is an opportunity for veterans to come together and connect. The ability to reconcile and heal through sharing their works with each other and you is enabled through the purchase of the "Warrior Writers" book. The funds generated pay for veterans from around the country to travel to upcoming workshops in New York City and Chicago. Contact Drew Cameron for more information, or to purchase a copy of the handmade book for your collection.

 

The Green Door Studio was pleased to host the traveling exhibit, the Purple Hearts project, a series of photographic portraits and interviews with American soldiers who were wounded in Iraq. The exhibit ran from April 6 thru 19. This was the first time the exhibit had been shown in Vermont.

 

Past studio member Elisabeth Howland showed a series of sepia photographs at the Art Space at Cynthea's Spa in Burlington. The exhibit ran through May 12th. She also presented a show, "Crepuscule Vespers", comprised of lith-printed silver gelatin photographs, at the Community Darkroom in the Firehouse. The show ran through June.

 

Drew Matott continued his interactive paper arts performance experiments in the windy city. His most recent foray into the streets invited Chicago pedestrians to pulp paint portraits of Jesus Christ.

Drew also teamed up with Buffalo artist John La Falce at the TICTOC Performance Art Series on May 11th to "deep fry" books as part of the Manifest urban arts festival.

 

We hope you caught Clark Derbes' newest art installation, "Life in the Slow Lane" at the Sanctuary Artsite (in the JDK Design Studio building @ 47 Maple Street). Clark transformed a room with cardboard and paint; all presented in primary colors, enough to make a kid of any age grin from ear to ear. The show ran through March 30th. You can read a review of the show in the April edition of the Burlington Art Map brochure.

Clark also showed some of his new work at the Pursuit Gallery (Wing Building on the Waterfront, April 6 - 12), as part of their "4X4" series.

 

Say hello to our newest members when you next stop by the studio. Michael C. Scott and Gemma Perretta come to us from Boston, via Rochester, NY. Gemma is a photographer and film maker; Michael a painter.

 

This spring Drew Matott is collaborating with three other artists (Lydia Bright, painter; Drew Cameron, paper artist and Tom Lascell, photographer) to create a series of artist's books. Each limited edition book will feature the work of the artist bound in a unique book format; each individually designed and produced by hand. The three separate volumes are expected by summer and will be featured at a group show at the BluSeed Studio in Saranac Lake, NY in June.

Drew also received the 2007-8 Caxton Award offered by the Caxton Club of Chicago for his collaborative book It Will All Return Again with Lydia. The limited edition artist book will feature colored photographs of Lydia's work printed on mylar, interspersed with poetic text pages printed on handmade paper.

 

 

And from 2006 ....

 

Tom Lascell recently showed several images from his Rustic Weather series at the Creative Spirit Arts Center in Potsdam, NY. The commmunity based show ran through January 6, 2007.

 

Shoebox Diorama-O-Rama

Community artists were invited to submit a work no bigger than a shoe box for a competition at Green Door Studio on Friday, November 17, 2006. The winner, Martha Hull, was determined by popular vote later that night at the group showing. The show ran through the December First Friday Art Walk. The event also made the November 26th Burlington Free Press Living section. Check out the feature story to learn more about the show. There was also an article from Seven Days about the event...

To quote Meghan Dewald of the Burlington Free Press, "looking back ... at the well-lit studio, with its garage door open and people milling about, I saw a life-sized diorama full of folks who know how to put the art in party".

 

Drew Matott recently presented an exhibition of People's Portraits of Bush and invited gallery goers to participate in his ongoing performance art series. He has exhibited excerpts from the 'portraits' in Chicago, IL, Burlington, VT and Michigan City, IN and documented the performance art process in a limited edition artist's book.

 

Halloween Show and Party!

Monday, October 30th. The theme was "Scary". Performances by Harriet Tubman Overdrive and Green Door's Pink Bacon. Installations, scary art work, food and mayhem. Community artists joined in the fun and collaborated on some truly "scary" work. Costumes were encouraged. The show ran through the November First Friday Art Walk. Our thanks to Athena for pulling this all together. Perhaps we'll do it again next year....

 

Wylie Garcia of E-1 Collective (at the other end of the alley) has been working in our darkroom over the summer. Her photos of the Vermont Painted Theatre Curtain Project were on display at the Pickering Room of the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington through October.

 

Art Hop 2006

And yes, we're getting enthusiastic about Art Hop on September 8-9. This will be our 5th year; each year seems to offer new excitement. Plenty of current artwork will be hanging inside the studio and gallery space, and Saturday afternoon (noon to 3:00) Drew Cameron will offer an informal paper making demo and workshop. And on Friday night, food and drink (no, we don't have a menu yet, but it's bound to be pretty eclectic and yummy!) and live music on the patio.

The musical lineup looks like this:

Hammer & Saw (olde timey) leads off at 5:00
Tobi Aronson & Sara-Paule Koehler (classical-ish) at 5:30
Home Items (eclectic kitchen pop) at 6:00
Ryan Power (solo indie) at 6:30
Magic Sparkle (eclectic rock) at 7:00
The Smittens (pop) at 7:30
Party Star (rock) at 8:00
The Cripples (indie) at 8:30
Nest Material ("unique") at 9:15
The Cush (psychedelic rock) at 10:00.

Seems like a "tight" schedule, but they all want to play at the party! Last year we had music on the patio from 6:00 until these nice men in uniform asked us to "shut it down" sometime way after dark. This year, we're trying to be more considerate. Stop by and be more considerate with us.

Note from the Day After:

What a wonderful party! Great art, great sounds, great people. Check out our Art Hop at the Green Door page for a few of the highlights. The music went off without a hitch (actually eleven bands in about seven hours) and no nasty visits from our public servants in blue. The art remained hanging through September.

 

Amber Sulick has left the darkroom for a while to attend Ryerson's Photographic Preservation and Collections Management graduate program in Toronto. She hopes to do her second year internship at the George Eastman House Museum in Rochester, NY.

 

We hope you saw our latest group effort, Behind the Green Door, which showed at the Community College of Vermont, 110 Cherry Street, Burlington, 3rd Floor Gallery, from June 4th through August 25th. This was an eclectic offering of recent work by studio members. Our thanks to Marc Awodey for doing a Seven Days spotlight.

 

Phil Gingrow attended a large format photo workshop in Pennsylvania this past spring, and Tom Lascell did an 'environmental portrait' workshop in June at Snow Farm in Massachusetts, and another workshop (Exploring a Personal Vision) at the Maine Photographic Workshops in August.

 

Welcome to our newest member, Clark Derbes, a painter, most recently from Baton Rouge, LA, who returned to the area after an absence of several years. We look forward to having Clark join the studio. We hope you didn't miss his solo show at the gallery in August. There was also a feature story on Clark in the August 31st issue of Seven Days.

 

Drew Matott was 'back in town' for the summer, teaching papermaking classes and workshops, both in Burlington and in Saranac Lake. He is currently an MFA student at Columbia College in Chicago. He teamed up with Drew Cameron to teach a four week class with Burlington City Arts and a weekend workshop at the BluSeed Studios in Saranac Lake, NY. More information on papermaking classes and workshops.

 

Bread & Puppet Theater held a fundraiser in late May utilizing the studio and E-1 Collective at the other end of the alley as their anchor stages for performances. Tom Lascell's Katmandu Bazaar: An Exhibition of Faces was still hanging as a backdrop for the evening. We're glad we could help promote the event and encourage community art in all its forms.

 

 

Feel free to stop by the studio anytime

Gallery Open First Friday of Month
5-8 pm
Or by Appointment

 

contact: Drew Matott