Brattleboro Museum's BEAN Micro-Grant Award Recipient

I am pleased to announce that I am the recipient of the Brattleboro Museum's BEAN Micro-Grant competition. The grant will be used to support promotion of my upcoming exhibit at Brattleboro's Gallery in the Woods this winter.

I feel much gratitude for all who came out to support me last night;
Deborah, Karen, Anne, Jim, Chris, Marcia, Joyce, & Mike, Danny Lichtenfeld & The Staff at the Brattleboro Museum , The wonderful dinner provided by The Elliot Street Café, and the room full of arts supporters who made a granting possible. It was a really wonderful night and I plan to go back to support other artists in the future.

This is an article from iBrattleboro

BEAN Micro-Grant Dinner Yields Funds for Artist Alicia Hunsicker

Attendees at the May 23 BEAN (“Brattleboro Essential Arts Network”) Micro-Grant Dinner at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center awarded a grant of $300 to artist Alicia Hunsicker of Leyden, Mass. According to Hunsicker, the funds will help cover the cost of printing and mailing a large full-color postcard advertising her upcoming exhibition at Brattleboro’s Gallery in the Woods. This was the seventh BEAN micro-grant awarded since the program began last fall, and it was the first to be given directly to an artist, as opposed to an arts organization or school group.

According to BMAC Director Danny Lichtenfeld, approximately 30 people paid $10 each to attend dinner at the museum. Over dinner, which was donated and served by Brattleboro’s Elliot Street Café, guests read and discussed six proposals submitted in advance and then voted for the one most deserving of the dinner proceeds. “I was very impressed by the thoughtful discussions that took place over dinner,” said Lichtenfeld. “Everyone took their responsibilities as philanthropists and community decision-makers very seriously.”

Several guests expressed gratitude to BMAC and the Elliot Street Café for facilitating a program that simplifies the funding process for art projects, cuts out the middle man, and enables virtually anyone to have some measure of control over the vitality of art in their community. Dinner guest Anne LaPrade Seuthe said, “Simply having the opportunity to eat a meal in an art museum is a great thing. It makes the place feel so much more accessible and inviting.”

Alicia Hunsicker’s solo exhibition, entitled “Moments of Creation,” will be held at Gallery in the Woods this coming November and December. According to Hunsicker, the exhibition consists of “paintings that explore the moment of creation, when dark matter turns to matter, when a thought manifests the spark of life.” With funds to help publicize her exhibition, Hunsicker hopes more people will visit the gallery, perhaps purchase artwork, and also “discover the many delights that Main Street has to offer.”

“Our goal with this program is to empower our community to support art projects it deems worthwhile,” said Lichtenfeld. “We look forward to partnering with the Elliot Street Café to present more BEAN Dinners in the future.” For more information about BEAN Micro-Grant Dinners, visit www.brattleboromuseum.org or the Elliot Street Café.

Brattleboro Museum's BEAN Dinner & Micro-Grant Competition

I am one of the finalists in this Micro-Grant competition. I applied for a small grant to help with postcard and advertising costs for my solo show at Gallery in the Woods this Nov./Dec.

Please come join us for a mexican inspired dinner at the Brattleboro Museum and vote for my project! :-) It will be fun!

This Sunday, May 22 at 6 to 8 p.m. at the Brattleboro Museum, enjoy a Bean Micro-Grant Dinner. This program empowers our community to take arts philanthropy into its own hands. Click on any of the links above for more information or directions to the Museum.

The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center and the Elliot Street Café are teaming up to empower our community to take arts philanthropy into its own hands!

Based on similar programs happening all around the world, BEAN Micro-Grant Dinners aim to enhance the vitality of art and artists in our community by providing artists with much-needed financial support and encouraging dialogue and collaborative decision-making between artists and the general public.BEAN (which stands for “Brattleboro Essential Arts Network”) also aims to change the face of arts funding—from a top-down model with limited interaction between funders and recipients to one that features direct, personal contact between donors and their beneficiaries, allowing virtually anyone to become a philanthropist.

HOW IT WORKS, PART 1: Eat, Discuss, Vote

For only $10 anyone can attend a Mexican-inspired dinner at BMAC provided by the Elliot Street Cafe (no, it’s not just beans!). Over dinner, guests will review and discuss funding requests for local art-related projects. At the end of the night, guests will vote for the proposal that deserves to receive the proceeds from dinner.We recommend you arrive early – BEAN dinners are first come, first serve, and capacity is limited!

Images of Osama take on new meaning at Aldrich

This is an article written about the James Esber exhibiton that I did a drawing for. There is a slide show as well located at the link below. Enjoy!

RIDGEFIELD -- In sepia and black, 157 images of Osama bin Laden are mounted in neat rows on the white walls of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

In some, the beard is all black, in others, mostly red -- in some, the red stains the black. On some, cross marks stain his cheek like scars. In others, the markings look like jet planes. One has is a faded circle over much of bin Laden's head. With only a bit of imagination, it looks like a target.
Adam Calderone, of Newtown, a student at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, saw the exhibit by artist James Esber a couple of weeks ago. He said he was interested in the technique -- how each of the 157 images, traced by 157 different people -- altered the Esber's original drawing.

Calderone revisited it Tuesday, the first time the Aldrich had been open since Navy SEALs ended bin Laden's life on Sunday. The sudden shift of history altered Calderone's perceptions about what he was seeing.

"It's different," he said. "It has more meaning."

Which doesn't surprise Esber, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

SEE MORE OF THE ARTICLE HERE

More Information
If you go What: "Your Name Here,'' an exhibit of works by James Esber, including his 157 images of Osama bin Laden Where: Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main St., Ridgefield When: Through June 5. Hours: Tuesday- Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. ADMISSION : Adults, $7, seniors/college students, $4 Free to museum members, K-12 teachers and children 18 and under; free on Tuesdays and to active military families

Cover Art for The Pioneer Valley News Magazine

I am just about finished with my new painting Spring Birches/ Spring Mana which is a 24x36" oil on cradle board. Although the finishing touches still need to be done I was invited last minute to submit a Spring time painting for the cover of the May/ June issue of the magazine The Pioneer Valley News and they loved it. It comes out Friday so keep your eyes open for a copy!

Here is some information about the magazine;
The Pioneer Valley News is a free bi-monthly newsmagazine featuring stories by talented local writers and artists,with a distribution of 5,000 to Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties, MA and beyond.

Founded in 2010, its purpose is to challenge the established press by engaging area citizens who live and work in the area to discover their experience and open up dialogue to develop positive changes in their communities when it is needed. We believe news shoud be used as and instrument for the people, not line the pockets of media moguls and their lackeys. This was not what the press was ever intended to be, but unfortunately, this is our reality today. If you feel this way, please join us!

Pioneer Valley News on FB .

This is the cover proof.

Osama Bin Laden

It seems like my participation in the James Esber "This is not a Portrait" exhibit is timely with recent the death of Osama Bin Laden.

I drove out to the Aldrich Museum this past Sunday with fellow artist Anne Seuthe. We were both pleased to see our drawings incorporated into the exhibition. Here is a close up of my drawing, and another with some of the pieces that were hung near it.

All the pieces including my own will be incorporated into a video which I hope we will be able to see on-line at some point. The Exhibition will be at the Aldrich for a few more months and will then go to another venue.

Dakin Animal Shelter: My new Studio Cat

I am in Love with my new studio mate!

This past winter I lost my 9 year old cat Jasper to a bobcat attack. It was all pretty traumatizing at the time. A few weeks later when my son Ben was really missing having a pet, I brought him to the Dakin Animal Shelter in Leverett MA to play with the cats in the Play room they have there.

Of course we went back the next day to get one!!! I was glad we took the night though to really think about which cat would be best for us.....I would like to introduce you to my new Studio Cat Lovie :-) She is a Lover! and is living up to her new name. She is even prettier in person and resembles a Raccoon....or Coon Cat and has a huge plume of a tail.

Thanks Dakin!