By Mary Gow
Arts Correspondent
Individual threads of the weft, woven over and under the crosswise warp, are captured in breathtaking detail in Cindy Brabec-King’s watercolor “Unraveled,” with its stack of colorful rolled runners in their patterns of pink, green, butterscotch yellow and more.
In Caroline McKinney’s watercolor “Cook,” a young man, baseball cap in reverse, pauses in his labor at a steaming commercial griddle to meet the eyes of the viewer. Tangerines and blueberries brilliantly comingle on a tabletop in Joanne Bodnar’s still life “Rolling Out.”
The ninth annual Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition presented by Mad River Valley Arts opened in June at the Red Barn at Lareau Farm in Waitsfield, and features even more outstanding paintings than in years past. Altogether, 94 paintings from artists across the country, selected by acclaimed artist jurors, are there.
This year, it also features a show within the show, the first exhibition of the Whiskey Painters of America presented in New England. Their name offering a hint of their origin and practice, the organization is a unique society of watercolor artists painting in miniature. Twenty-five members are represented.
This combination of a full exhibition of artworks in regular format, and the compact Whiskey Painters’ work give viewers a rich experience of the scope of watercolor painting today. The exhibition will continue to July 24.
“A lot of people have a misconception about watercolors, that they are wishy-washy and pale. They think about when they painted watercolors in high school or elementary school,” Gary Eckhart, the exhibit’s curator, said. “When people walk in and see the brilliance of some of the coloring (in this exhibit) they’re absolutely amazed, and also by the detail. They are often really mesmerized by the amount of detail that can be put into a watercolor painting.”
Eckhart has served as curator for all nine exhibitions. He noted that the work of putting on the show is done completely by volunteers and takes nearly a full year of preparation.
The exhibition has grown and acquired abundant accolades, including being recognized by The Art of Watercolor, a French magazine published in French and English, as one of the finest of its type.
While the jurors typically accept 75 paintings for the show, the quality of the work was so strong this year that they extended to 96 — but with COVID travel restrictions, two pieces from Canada could not get here. Over $7,000 of donated prizes are awarded to artists this year, with Tim Saternow, a signature members of the American Watercolor Society, serving as Judge of Awards.
Artists come from around the country, with an especially strong showing from Vermont and other New England states.
“Some artists have been in several shows. It’s interesting to see how their work is evolving or changing,” Eckhart said. “Then there are some artists that you say, Wow! Their work just gets better every year. That’s a really exciting part of putting the show together.”
Watercolor is notoriously unforgiving — when the paint hits the paper, it is there to stay, unlike with oil paint that can be scraped off and reapplied.
This inflexibly makes the detail in many of these paintings even more astonishing — tiny seeds in the bisected pepper in “Chile” by Michael Ridge of Montpelier, vermillion petals of “Japonica” by Kathrena Ravenhorst-Adams of Northfield, the rust on the yellow school bus of “No School Snow Day” by Joann DiNicola of Randolph among them.
As with the full-scale show, there is also great diversity in the Whiskey Painters’ artwork — landscapes, still lifes, wildlife, portraits and more.
The Whiskey Painters’ origins are in the 1950s; the group formalized in 1962. Joe Ferriot, an artist and businessman of Akron, Ohio, traveled extensively on business, and devised a way to keep up his artwork while on the road. Using an aspirin box to house a tiny set of watercolors and, carrying a little brush and supply of pocket-sized paper, he made it a practice to paint as he sipped an adult beverage in a convenient watering hole. As he sipped he dipped his brush in the whiskey. His miniature paintings he then gave to bartenders or fellow patrons.
Ferriot encouraged his artistic peers to try their hand at this whiskey painting as well, and soon they organized into a group whose goals include promoting the fine art of painting in miniature and promoting fellowship among imbibing artists. Membership is limited to 150 qualified artists, new members requiring nomination to the group. Unwritten rules require that an applicant paint a watercolor by candlelight after 10 p.m. no larger than 4-by-5-inches, dipping their brush in some form of alcohol.
Eckhart first learned of the Whiskey Painters several years ago while in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Recently, a previous judge of the Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition nominated Eckhart, who is now the first and only member from Vermont.
There’s a lot to see in the miniatures at the exhibition. Artists could enter up to six paintings, so there are over 100 on display. It is worth taking time to get close to the works and consider them individually.
“Every one is distinctly different,” Eckhart said. “In many ways the Whisky Painters are a cross section of all the various techniques that are being used in watercolor.
“Every one has a different style and different approach,” he said. “Some are very loose and free, others are very tight. They use different types of paper — rough paper, smooth paper, synthetic paper. Some use a lot of texture; some don’t use much texture. The longer you look at them the more you see.”
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