Artists and musicians work together during Rockingham Arts Month

By BILL LOCKWOOD
Special to the Eagle Times
Printer Jeanette Staley is coordinator of a continuing themed collaborative event at the Flat Iron in Bellows Falls that includes musicians and some political action along with many of the same artists and venues called The Arts of Resistance. This event continues through July.

Staley said that art shows are usually just groups of artists but this event is collaboration between artists and a group of musicians with all of them focusing on a specific issue which is the political climate right now. Staley said after doing an event on a similar theme last year she and the artists were left asking what they would do this year. Having had a strong reaction to the last national election Staley says she was looking for support and a way to respond in a visual way “because that is what I do.” Staley invited the participants to create work in reaction to the current political and social climate, and she encouraged students and those who do not consider themselves “artists” to participate as well.

There was an official opening event on June 15, 5 to 8 p.m. at 33 Bridge Street gallery and performance space in Bellows Falls. It featured the Cold River Ranters and Pete Simoneaux. 33 Bridge Street will be the location again for a closing on July 20, 5 to 8 p.m. with Veranda Porch and Patti Carpenter, an all-woman band. 

Two projects are specifically political. Staley is repeating a postcard writing project that the artists did last year. They sent postcards of their works to the White House. Staley reports that so far there has been no response from Washington, but some of this year’s participants are going to do it again.

There is also a Bill of Rights project. Students and artists were asked to create a response to the Bill of Rights smaller than 8 X 8.  So far this project has had “not a huge response”, and some teachers have reported that they just can’t get their students interested in it.

The June and July events are focused less in Bellows Falls. Main Street Arts in Saxtons River is also hosting showings by five artists, and the organization is constructing a themed float for the Saxtons River Fourth of July parade. Artistic Director David Stern says, “Main Street Arts is excited to be a part of what it means to exist.” Staley would like to do similar collaborative events more than once a year with this or “perhaps a different groups each time” on other specific issues.

May was Arts Month in Rockingham. Organized by RAMP, Rockingham Arts and Museum Project, it was a collaborative of diverse local artists and was tied in with a state-wide Open Studio Weekend at the end of the month that included the Project Space 9 in the Exner Block, The Canal Street Gallery, and the 33 Bridge Street Gallery as well as the artist’s own studios. 

Eight of the 32 Windham County open studios were in Bellows Falls. RAMP Founding Director Robert McBride said, “Bellows Falls is a village that respects and values its artists. Over the last 25 years they have contributed significantly to its revitalization.” 

The participants were a diverse group of artists working with glass, wood and metal sculpture, floorcloths, prints, paintings, and drawings. Other events through the month included a play, “Charlotte’s Webb’ at Main Street Arts, Jo Jenks at Stone Church Arts, Mike Donovan at Stage 33, the film “The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene” at the Bellows Falls Opera House, and an open drumming group across from Project Space 9. Jana Bryan of the Flat Iron Exchange, a coffee shop on the Square in Bellows Falls, hosted the inaugural event.

The Flat Iron presented a month-long showing of work by 10 local artists who also held open studios, and the Greater Falls Regional Chamber of Commerce held a mixer there at the same time. Bryan says they had a “really large crowd”. She feels that of such collaborative events that, “It’s great for the community, and a lot of people were impressed by the range and styles of art.”

McBride said he was glad that so many artists participated and that so many people turned out for the showings and events, a result of the area’s tradition of collaboration between artists, businesses, and the community. Staley said, “the collaborating between all the artists, musicians, and performers is what’s exciting to me.”