Outboard motor expert Rod Scott and LCMM's Dean Percival
select motors from the Unsworth collection for the new exhibition.
Antique Outboard Motors: The First Hundred Years
Opens July 9, 2011
More than 50 vintage outboard motors,
donated to LCMM in 2010 by the late
Raymond R. Unsworth, inspired a
new exhibition at LCMM. Outboard
Motors - The First Hundred Years will
be dedicated on Saturday, July 9 at 2pm,
during LCMM's Small Boat Festival.
Lake Champlain was a major force in Ray Unsworth's life. From childhood he owned, built and refurbished a variety of boats. During the summer he explored, fished and raced, winning trophies for both power and sail races. During the winter he enjoyed ice boating. Many of these motors were used by the Unsworth family … and then joined one of Ray's many, varied collections. Born in Burlington, Vermont on January 7, 1919, Ray graduated from Burlington High School in 1936 and Middlebury College, Class of 1941. In June 1944 he married Norma Winberg. He served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, commanding an anti-submarine ship stationed in Key West, Florida. He then was on the crew of a Navy troop ship, bringing American troops from France for the planned invasion of Japan.
The year Ray was born his father built a "camp" on the shore of Lake Champlain in Shelburne, Vermont, and until 2009, with the exception of the war years, Ray spent at least part of every summer at camp. The camp is now owned by his children, whom he taught to love the lake.
Small engines are also the theme for this year’s Small Boat Festival on July 9-10, 2011, which features members of the Antique Outboard Motor Club, Captain Jeff Brewster of Tugboat Trilogy (see his graphic arts and photos in Boats • Water • On the Water, described below), on-water activities for all ages, and an opportunity to learn swing dancing.
(top to bottom) Jeff Brewster's Reflections;
Photo of tug C.L. Churchill and schooner Lois McClure;
Artist Jeff Brewster discusses his technique.
Boats • Water • On the Water
Graphic Arts & Photos by Jeff Brewster
July 9 through August 21
When artist and educator Jeff Brewster talks about "the three Rs," he means Reflection, Rotation, and Repetition. "My current work is inspired by natural reflections on the water," comments the graphic artist. "Working with repetitive elements has been a consistent interest in a much of my work over the years."
In this series, Brewster identifies both vertical and horizontal patterns that are then rotated, repeated, scaled and rescaled to create visual progressions from the natural image. Colors may be manipulated or removed as the design process evolves. The resulting compositions are simple and yet complex, and may incorporate multiple images. Brewster grew up in Vermont and New England, with degrees in art and education. His lifetime interest has been imagery of the natural world, in the mountains and on the waterways in a variety of vessels. In recent years, as Captain of tug Trilogy, Brewster traveled many of the same waterways as LCMM schooner Lois McClure, using his camera as a sketchbook to capture material that would later be transformed in his studio. "Since the mid-90s, I have been involved with graphic image products and web design," Brewster commented, "My ongoing search for unique images, along with creative/inventive use of software, has generated this most recent body of fine art that continues from my early foundation in serigraphy (paper stencil silk screen process)."
Meet Tugboat Captain and Graphic Artist Jeff Brewster and enjoy his images and stories in a narrated presentation at 1pm and a gallery tour of the new exhibition Boats-Water-On the Water at 3pm.
Lake Champlain Through the Lens
Photo Show
The many seasons and moods of Lake Champlain are beautifully reflected in this exhibit of outstanding work by professional and amateur photographers. Comments from the panel of judges illuminate the details. Come and cast your vote for the “People’s Choice Award.”
Want to get involved? Read our Call for Entries; then deliver your ready-to-hang photographs to the museum in August.
Opening Reception: Sunday, September 4, 2-4pm
Special Exhibit Archive
From the Page's Edge: Water in Literature and Art
On view May 28 through June 26, 2011
Although flooding is undeniably devastating, water is a timeless attraction that draws people to waterfront areas, and inspires writers and artists. From the Page’s Edge: Water in Literature and Art reveals a wide array of personal connections between art, literature, and the natural world. In this fascinating interdisciplinary exhibit, nineteen contemporary artists present their artwork and share some of the literary sources and life experiences that inspired them.
Curator Virginia Creighton, a New York City artist with family connections in Ripton, Vermont, recalls childhood adventures in a flooded yard: “My sister and I were tomboys. We went out the side door . . . straight to the flooded low ground next to the garage. We then proceeded to wade in amongst the growing stalks of rhubarb.” Creighton’s painting “Kid’s House” was her response to that memory and the poem “in Just” by e. e. cummings, in which the poet evokes a child’s-eye view of Spring “when the world was mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful.”
Creighton gathered nineteen artists, half from the New York City area, and others from Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Jersey, Maryland, and upstate New York. Their artworks are diverse in style (from representational to abstract), as well as in media (oil, acrylic, watercolor, dyes, or mixed media, on paper, canvas or panel). The literature is as well-known as an essay by Thoreau, and as private as personal poetry. Lake Champlain’s shipwrecks inspired the poetry of UVM professor Daniel Lusk and the painting “That Which Endures,” by Vergennes artist Eloise Beil.
Creighton and several of the artists will be at the Opening Reception on Sunday May 29 from 2-4pm. From the Page’s Edge will be on view at LCMM through June 26, and then travels to the Albany Institute of History and Art and the William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ.
View the color catalog of the exhibition.