Artists’ town meetings in Bellows Falls are a continuing collaboration

By BILL LOCKWOOD
Special to the Eagle Times
BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. — Artists, crafters, and other creators often practice their craft working on solitary projects. One could ask, do they ever get together and share their ideas? RAMP, the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project, in Bellows Falls, Vermont has been holding roughly quarterly artists’ town meetings that include potluck dinners for the last 10 years. 

RAMP founding Director Robert McBride promotes them as, “A way of bringing creative people together to share ideas and a meal.” He also notes the importance of such meetings saying, “The more we know each other and can identify ourselves as a constituency the more strength and credibility we have.” 

The most recent town meeting was held on Sept. 20 at 33 Bridge Street in Bellows Falls, which is the location of several artists’ studios and the studio of local WOOL-FM radio. More than a dozen local “creators” and Gary Fox from the town development office turned out for this meeting. And the potluck items they brought included everything from vanilla wafers to a corn-on-the-cob casserole, bow-tie pasta in a crock pot, salad, and chips and dip. 

Among the artists and crafters were Heather Geoffrey, who is also the new managing director of Main Street Arts in Saxtons River, as well as Liz Guzynski, who is one of their art teachers; glass crafters Chris Sherwin and Nick Kepic; Charles Norris Brown, who writes and illustrates children’s books; art teacher Jean Cannon, who is also associated with the Bellows Falls Bike Project; a number of portrait and other painters; Joseph Romano, a musician and also the current Amtrak train greeter at the train depot; and Ross, a graffiti artist and painter who is opening a new gallery in the former church at 66 Atkinson Street with a New Moon celebration on election night. 

The group, seated in a circle, started the meeting with introductions going around, and each participant adding a thing or two about themselves and what they are doing. There was an agenda for discussion with a debriefing of the recently passed Arts Month in May that was followed by the Open Studio Tour on Memorial Day weekend, among other items. 

The discussion ranged much wider than that. Fox — of the town development office — noted that “Arts are a huge part of our development.” McBride noted that 9 percent of all jobs in Vermont are categorized as ‘creatives’.” And glass crafter Sherwin noted that after 12 or so years of doing artist’s open house tours, “We have put Bellows Falls on the map.” Guzynski noted that, “All my big sales were to out of towners … If we can get them here, they’re the people with money to spend.” And Kepic pointed out that a town with a large number of open-studio locations could be a better draw. The group seemed enthused about the next coming open-house tour scheduled for the weekend after Columbus Day in October. In another part of the agenda McBride solicited suggestions for RAMP sponsoring one of the classic movie nights at the Bellows Falls Opera House. No decision was made.

The group also discussed resources and opportunities. Scott Morgan, a painter who also paints houses and does other jobs such as garden work, suggested a directory of such resources since, “in Vermont we all do things other than our art … We should support each other and make a directory of odd jobs.”

McBride offered the RAMP Google Group as such a resource. That led the discussion to the need to coordinate statewide events so as not to create conflicts and compete to draw participants and potential customers. The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) website was suggested as a venue for doing that. 

McBride also noted that he and Fox have explored vacant spaces downtown and on the island in order to provide a list of studio resources for artists coming to town. In their introductions the majority of the participants noted that they had recently, or in the past, moved to Bellows Falls from as near as Walpole, just across the river, and from Chester, just up the road, to McBride himself who came from faraway San Francisco by way of New York. 

Among other things discussed Fox noted that a five-year economic strategy is now being developed for the town, and he invited artist input prior to the final plan that will be put together in November. He also noted an upcoming infrastructure project that will involve repairing the steps that go form downtown to Hetty Green Park. It was suggested that a mural project could be incorporated into that, which would include the work of local artists. Fox also mentioned that there would also be an request for proposals sent out for bids from artists when the old Robertson’s Paper Company building is torn down on the island. Historical preservation rules require that some of the remnants of the demolition must be kept in a kiosk, and local artists may make proposals as to how the remains will be re-fabricated and what it will be.

McBride was pleased with the results of another successful meeting. Guzynski, herself a relatively recent arrival, sees the meetings and all the efforts as, “participating and creating a real arts community.”