Artist Workshop

Article about our new exhibit from "The Shopper"

“A Love Story in Painting and Letters” Eldredge Summer Exhibition at the Miller Art Center”

Submitted by VT Journal on Tue, 07/10/2012 - 4:54pm

By

Julia Lloyd Wright

SPRINGFIELD, VT -A love story between two artists, their art and careers during the early1930s plays out on the walls of the Springfield Miller Art   Center’s summer exhibition of paintings which opens on
Thursday, July12, 2012 and continues through Monday, October 8, 2012.
  Entitled ‘A Love Story in Paintings and Letters’ the works on display depict the burgeoning art careers of Springfield artists Stuart Eldredge and his wife to be Marion Schumann during the years when they
first met as students in New York in the early 1930s and entered the art world.
  Marion was born in Brooklyn in 1903, she graduated with a bachelors degree in Costume Illustration from Columbia University Teacher’s College in 1924 then worked as a fashion artist at Bergdorf Goodman. 
She met Stuart while taking night courses at the Art Students League.
  Stuart was born in South Bend, Indiana in 1902, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1924 with a degree in English. He returned home to work in art and design for Wyman’s Department Store owned by his family. Many of his paintings are landscapes of the Mid-West showing farming activities. But he wanted to study in New York and subsequently enrolled at the Art Students League where he met Marion
and their friendship began.
  The couple’s letters were discovered in a box, tied with ribbon, when their daughter Betsy and her husband Denis Rydjeski were insulating the attic of the family farm in Springfield. The Eldridge family has
retained a number of their parents’ early works and from the letters matched them with the paintings and illustrations the artists discussed and were working on in the early 1930s.
  Excerpts from the letters are exhibited alongside the works so visitors can read of progress, or lack of, trouble painting trees -- Stuart admires Marion’s expertise, Stuart taking his paints out in a boat and the time taken for oils to dry. Some illustrations in the letters show how work progresses; visitors can then view the finished piece.
  Their work is prolific; Marion has several portraits and paintings of people and trees. Stuart paints still lifes, landscapes and nature. Stick insects and praying mantis interest the couple, caterpillars and
chrysalis. In 1932 Stuart received a Fellowship at the Tiffany Foundation in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The couple wrote to each other almost every day and the letters follow their friendship as it develops.
  Their styles also develop with both artists painting abstracts. Stuart began work on advertising for New York stores and received commissions for book jackets, a couple of which are on display.
  They were married on Christmas Day in 1933.
  Stuart taught at Cooper Union and the Art Students League, he had studied at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design Mural Atelier and painted murals for private homes and offices. He also painted for the textile building of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, later the mural of Springfield at the current Employment Office and the circus mural at the Springfield Library.
  The Hood Museum at Dartmouth is home to one of his paintings as are many public and private collections. He was a member of the National Society of Mural Painters, Academic Artists, and the National Watercolor Society.
  The couple moved to Vermont where they painted, farmed and raised their four daughters. Marion recorded the growth of their daughters in drawings and paintings, but she also painted Vermont landscapes,
flowers from her garden and belonged to the Southern Vermont Art Center where she exhibited as well as other galleries throughout the region.
  Not to be missed at the exhibit in a small upstairs room is Marion’s 1924 Columbia Yearbook when she was Art Editor of the Year.
  Visit the exhibit to learn and appreciate more about the art and lives of this Springfield couple.
  The summer opening hours for the exhibit are: Thursday evening 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays through July, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For viewing by appointment call 802-885-4826
or the Miller Art Center 802-885-2415."

This article is from "The Shopper" and can be found here. The photos below are from the opening reception held on July 12th.

New Exhibit - "A Love Story in Paintings and Letters"

Stuart Eldredge, 1954

Opening for the 2012 Season - New Hours

The Springfield Art and Historical Society will host an opening reception for the annual Student Art Show on May 10th from 5:00 to 7:30pm. The show will be on exhibit from May 10th to May 31st. 

Come out and support your local student artists!

Please note - Due to staffing and financial restraints, we have changed our hours of operation for this year. Starting May 10th we will be open Thursday nights from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, Friday 11:00am to 4:00pm, and Saturdays 11:00am to 3:00pm. From mid June to mid October we will be open on Saturdays only. If you are coming from out of town we strongly suggest you call ahead. We can make special arrangements to be open for appointments.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Thank you.

Plein Air Workshop with Peter Granucci

The Springfield Art and Historical Society at the Miller Art Center is proud to sponsor a six week plein air workshop taught by New Hampshire artist Peter Granucci. Peter is an accomplished portrait, figurative, and landscape painter who studied at the Paier School of Art in New Haven and graduated in 1975 from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Peter lives in Gilsum, New Hampshire and teaches a variety of classes and offers individual instruction.

The first class will meet Saturday, June 23rd from 9am to 1pm at the Miller Art Center in downtown Springfield. Each class thereafter will be at a different (though nearby) location so students can focus on a specific natural feature. This series of classes will provide a period of instruction in techniques specific to the day's topic, followed by a period of practice under the guidance of the artist, and concluded with a group discussion.

The size of this workshop is being limited to 12 individuals to allow for individualized instruction, and is open to all skill levels. Individual styles are encouraged and the class will look at various approaches and methods that will enable you to develop your skills as well as your own style.

Registration closes June 1st. The cost for this series of six courses is $300 ($50 per class). Please register by contacting Teresa Janiszyn at teresajaniszyn@hotmail.com, or by calling (802)376-9737.

Asahel Lynde Powers - American Painter, 1813 to 1843

Asahel Lynde Powers was born on February 28, 1813, in Springfield, Vermont. Powers began his painting career at a young age. At 18 years old, Powers was already well-known . Many of his earliest painting were made in the Springfield, Vermont area. The portrait of Dr. Joel Green of Rutland, Vermont (seen below) on display at the SAHS, is among the earliest known signed and dated painting by Powers. The portrait of Dr. Green was loaned to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, located in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1973 and was displayed during their exhibit of early American primitive painters. The painting was loaned again in 200_ to the Southern Vermont Arts Center, located in Manchester, Vermont for a similar exhibition.

Dr Joel Green of Rutland, Vt, 1831 by Asahel Lynde Powers (American, 1813-1843), SAHS collection. The painting is on permanent display at the SAHS along with paintings of the Chase family, also by Powers.

Like many early 19th century American paintings, Powers' early works were oil on wide wood  panels. All five of the Powers paintings owned by the SAHS are done on wood panels. As a traveling artist, Powers eventually switched to canvas as canvas would have been far more portable than heavy wooden panels. His early work is known for its strong outlines, colorful details and facial delineation.  The clothing and accessories of the sitters are painted with a bold hand. Powers experimented with different colors in the backgrounds of his paintings throughout his career which helps in dating his work as many of his portraits were not signed or dated.

Powers traveled throughout Vermont and New York painting his portraits. In 1840 his was living in New York with his wife, Elizabeth M. Powers. Powers later moved to Illinois where he died in 1843.

Two paintings sold by Peggy McClard Antiques Americana & Folk Art (seen below) are of Daniel Griswold and his daughter and Louisa Griswold Field, both of Springfield, Vermont. The green dress worn by Louisa is believed to be her wedding dress. She married Abner Field of Springfield on February 16, 1832 and together they had four children. Louisa died in Springfield on August 15, 1884. Powers painted her when she was about 27 years old, her father was 73.

Louisa Griswold Field age 27 of Springfield, Vt

Daniel Griswol, age 73, of Springfield, Vt

Below is portrait a of handsome young gentleman believed to have been painted by Powers in the 1830s.

 

Portrait of a Young Gentleman. Unsigned. Oil on poplar panel, c. 1830. Attributed to Asahel Lynde Powers. Sold by Skinner Inc.

Eliza Ann Farrar by Asahel Lynde Powers

For additional information on Asahel Lynde Powers:
Art Blog - It's About Time

Little, Nina Fletcher, Asahel Powers-Painter of Vermont Faces.  The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1973.  Plates 37 & 38, pages 38-39. 

"Seeing America:painting and sculpture from the collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester"