The Vermont Arts Council Presents

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: John Zwick 802.828.0152; jzwick@vermontartscouncil.org

WINDSOR ARTIST STEVE GIROUX ONE OF 53 VERMONT ARTISTS FEATURED IN EXHIBITION OF SELECTED ARTWORK AS PART OF “PALETTES OF VERMONT”,
A STATEWIDE COMMUNITY ARTS PROJECT CURRENTLY UNDERWAY

Vermont Arts Council Hosts Exhibition of Selected Artwork in Montpelier to Illustrate Breadth of a Project that Covers all 14 Counties and Involves 5% of State’s Population.

The Vermont Arts Council is hosting an exhibition of work by selected artists who are participating in “Palettes of Vermont”, a yearlong, statewide project designed to unite individuals and communities through the arts. A reception for the artists representing the ‘greater community of artists’ who are registered in the Council’s online Arts Directory, is planned for Thursday 20 April 2006 from 3-6pm at the Spotlight Gallery at 136 State Street in Montpelier. The reception is open to the public and will provide an opportunity for all Vermonters to recognize the diversity of our state and its residents, and will offer a unique view into the different ways we express our creativity.

More than 135 Vermonters responded to a special invitation to create artwork on a blank artist’s palette and submit its image to the project’s Selection Committee for use as a tool to promote and market Palettes of Vermont. The work chosen by the Committee is first being shown together through the end of April in the exhibition titled “53 Flavors: Tease Your Palette”, curated by Lindsey Harty of Montpelier. “Narrowing the number of pieces down to 53 was very difficult,” says Harty, “but we feel we have a good sampling of the range of subject matter, style and technical excellence submitted by all the participants.”

Steve Giroux of Windsor Vermont has created his screen printed interpretation of Mt. Ascutney from a photograph he took from Cornish, New Hampshire. Steve began to learn screen printing as a child, cutting and peeling stencils and helping in his father’s screen printing business in Burlington, VT. “For me, being part of a project like “Palettes of Vermont” is an honor. Windsor is a cornerstone of our Vermont Heritage, and Mount Ascutney is a pretty significant piece”, says Mr. Giroux. “I feel honored to be a palettes project representative for this part of our state.”

Spearheaded by the Vermont Arts Council, Palettes of Vermont is a statewide community arts project designed to unite people and communities through the arts. The project provides 7000 maple palettes and over 30,000 paper palettes to artists and communities and encourages exhibition of finished palette art from Memorial Day through Halloween 2006. The collective exhibition of palettes during this time period promises to be the largest art show in history with venues in more than 200 communities across Vermont’s 9615 square miles.

The project makes art fun and accessible to all, and expands the definition of “community” to include a range of participants from schools, businesses, and trade associations to civic and service organizations. Palettes of Vermont places power in the hands of local communities to decide how to implement the project in a way that best suits their own needs. The project is sponsored by Chittenden Bank, Vermont Wood Manufacturers Association, Casella Waste Systems, Inc., and NRG Systems and with promotional support from the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing.

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PALETTES OF VERMONT WEBSITE