Masked Photos
Adele West-Fisher, Heidi Swevens, Becky Hatfield
Burdena Hopps
My Head
Papier Mache, yarn, paint
12” x 8”
2020
Described By: Katie Miller
This sculptural work is of a person’s head and neck. It is constructed out of paper mache and foam, and features decorative elements of paint, yarn, and glitter. The skin is a pale beige, the eyes large and brown, and the hair is teal and black.
MASKED: Show Description
MASKED features visual artwork by 22 Vermont artists with disabilities. Each piece offers the artist’s creative expression of the title – which arose in the early moments of the global pandemic. The work included is as complex and layered as the meaning of the word “masked” itself. The artists explore protection, disguise, veiling, all that is enshrouded, and what lies beneath.
MASKED is a program of Inclusive Arts Vermont. The exhibition is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the VT Humanities Council, and the Fountain Fund.
Our mission is to engage the capabilities and enhance the confidence of children and adults with disabilities.
To learn more, visit www.inclusiveartsvermont.org.
Bob Joly, Kat Redniss, Heidi Swevens
Bob Joly, Kat Redniss
Kate Adams
Hidden Grandmother
photographic collage
17" x 25"
2021
Described By: Marianne Barthel
This photographic collage is 17 inches wide by 25 inches tall. It features 4 rectangular black framed photos within a large black circular frame. In the center of the 4 rectangular framed photos is a small photo in a circular frame. Open spaces within the circular frame are empty. Hanging from the bottom of the circular frame is a white wide cord with knots, red beads, and four deer hooves attached. Also hanging from the frame is a braid of red, yellow, and white strings.
Berry Bandit
Photograph
8” x 10”
2021
Described By: Becky Hatfield
This is an 8 x 10 inch wildlife photograph. In the foreground of this nature scene is one Cedar Waxwing bird sitting on a branch. The bird is surrounded by entwined leaves, branches and berries with sky light peeking through the greenery.
Callie Coffman
Me and My Dog
Drawing/Marker on Paper
4.5” x 5.5”
2021
Described By: Kat Redniss
A vertical line drawing, black marker on white paper. Inside a drawn rectangle frame, at top, in all capital letters, handwritten, it says, “ME AND MY DOG.” The main image is of a person standing next to a dog, with their hand on the dog’s head. Both human and dog have shaggy bangs that cover their eyes.
Eva Seyller
Is It Safe to Come Out?
Prismacolor pencil on paper 2021
11” x 14”
Described By: Ava Warren
This portrait-oriented piece is separated into two pointed arches, filling the entire page with shades of gray and black. Starting at the top is the dark gray background, leading down to a light gray arch, which is over top the black arch.
Inside the arch are four sets of eyes. Closest to the top of the black arch is a set of yellow eyes pointed in an upward slant. Directly underneath this set is a nearly identical set of eyes. Next to each other underneath both sets of pointed eyes are two sets of circular eyes looking upward towards the eyes above.
Elijah Jenson
Fall is Coming!
Paint Sticks on Watercolor Paper
6” x 8”
2020
Described By: Deana Mallory
This abstract painting includes three colors: purple, orange, and yellow. The background is purple, the next layer is orange, and the topmost layer is yellow. The colors remain distinct from one another, without blending. An unpainted border creates a white frame around the image.
In some areas, the orange paint looks as though it was applied using a screen. Elsewhere, it looks as though it was applied using a sponge. In one such section, the purple layer shows through in a series of waves, which are repeated in orange below.
Carol Langstaff
cover up
Digital photographs on ribbon
4” x 28”
2021
Described By: Katie Miller
This is a collection of five square, color photographs, each 4 inches square, mounted in a ladder formation on gray ribbon. Each image is of a different manhole cover viewed from above.
The ribbon binding all of the images together is double the length of the piece and folded over to form a long u-shape at the top of the ladder, with two four-inch tails of ribbon coming out from the bottom.
Top:
Karen J. Lloyd Promise of Tomorrow Photograph 8” x 10” 2020 Described By: Marianne Barthel This photograph is 8 inches high by 10 inches wide. It features a leafless tree in the center of a field with some taller grasses and brush surrounding the tree, and a blue, partly cloudy sky above. A break in the clouds forms a V-shape, with the bottom of the V lining up with the tree. In the distance along the entire horizon line are more leafless trees.
Bottom:
Paul Betz Mossy Crevice Digital Photograph 8” x 10” 2021 Described by: Abby Paige Mossy Crevice is a horizontal digital photograph of a lush forested landscape whose focal point is the narrow vertical seam between two rocks, perhaps the entrance to a cave. Our attention is immediately drawn to the bottom-left quadrant of the image by the dark slit of the crevice, and the contrast between the smooth darkness of the opening and the warm, rough texture of the stone on either side of it. Above and around the cave is verdant greenery: moss, vines, leaves, and the trunks of trees.
Cristina Clarimon
Life upside down #1
Mixed Media Collage
16” x 20”
2020
Described By: Katie Miller
This is a mixed media collage that is 20 inches tall and 16 inches wide. The piece features cut outs from Life magazine on an electric blue background. None of the collaged items go to the edge of the frame, leaving a thick border of blue paint around the edge. The work’s most prominent images are various flowers, including daisies and roses, medical fabric, gloves, and masks, and the face of a man and a woman.
Sherridan Rose
Grandsons Visit
Watercolor
18” x 22”
2020
Described By: Katie Miller
This watercolor painting depicts a room whose floor is covered with various toys. In the middle of the floor is the image of a child, laying down against a green pillow. The entire frame is filled with layers of characters of varying sizes. At left, a potted plant sits on a stool.
Tenebraria Akele
See Out
Encaustic mixed media
12” x 12”
Summer/Fall 2020
Described By: Deana Mallory
In this highly textured, encaustic mixed media work, a woman’s eyes peer out at the viewer through abstract surroundings of red, blue, green, brown, black, and yellow splotches.
Around the woman’s face, colors blend together in mottled splotches.
A repeating pattern of milky-colored eye shapes around a square give texture to the entire painting. The arrangement of the eye shapes creates the impression of a circle.
The way the face is framed by the more abstract colors makes it look as though the woman is partially hidden behind something, perhaps a veil, or as if she is peering out from behind foliage.
Liam Malone
End Paige
Mixed media digital collage
16” x 20”
2021
Described By: Kat Redniss
A horizontal mixed media collage. At left, a pale-skinned hand pulls back a deep red theatrical curtain to show us a background of a faint image of pink, yellow, purple roses with conical white flowers, all gathered in a bouquet. This image has been painted over with the scene of the person walking. The setting of the piece is a reflection pool at a historic church in downtown Boston. The person is carrying a bag and walking on a sidewalk next to water, which flows to their left. The shadow of their legs and the bag and one hand are visible. Overlaid over different parts of the image, it says, “The Best We Could,” and then “But this doesn’t tell the full story because they’ve bloomed to survive.” The artist’s intention with the text is for it to be read, “But this doesn’t tell the full story, because they’ve bloomed to survive the best we could.”
Aurora Berger
Fibrosis (Covered in Tulle)
Digital Photograph
20” x 30”
2018
Described By: Katie Miller
Fibrosis (Covered in Tulle) is a 20” by 30” horizontal, black and white, digital photograph. It features the seated, nude body of a woman wrapped in tulle against a black background. The fabric wraps and crinkles around the torso and legs, which are folded into a butterfly pose.
David Roy
Wandering Eyes
Collage
7” x 9 1/2”
2020
Described By: Alyssa Luongo
This is a vertical grey-toned collage measuring 7 inches wide and 9 and a half inches tall. The background of the collage is of a forest, with tall leafless trees and a leaf covered path that goes back through the center of the collage. In the center foreground of the collage is a group of three female-presenting dancers all wearing ballet shoes, and are dressed in old-fashioned long black dresses with white bibs and bonnet-like white cloths tied around their heads. They are each standing in different dance positions. Above the group, are an array of sketch-like faces that have been cut out individually and arranged on the collage in an arch-like formation in the upper and mid section of the piece, hanging over the dancers in the bottom half of the piece.
Persephone Ringgenberg
Panic
Acrylic on Canvas Board
8” x 10”
2020
Described By: Alyssa Luongo
This is a vertical acrylic painting done on canvas board. The piece is 8 inches wide and 10 inches tall. The piece is very abstract and consists of an array of multi-colored thick brush strokes that cover the entirety of the canvas board. The colors of the many paint strokes include bright red, deep yellows, dark and light greens, deep red-brown, black, purple, light blue, and teal.
Sarah Senese
Wish Poems
Printed book, drawings and poems, marker and colored pencils on paper
8” x 10”, 76 pages
2021
Described By: Kat Redniss
This is a 76-page book of drawing done mostly in marker with poems connected to the majority of drawings. The drawings are of clouds and skies and houses, with some drawings of people and clothing and animals and other daily life items like Pepsi or jewelry. The poems are reflections related to the drawings, observations on weather and nature and life. The colors of the book vary, but the artist frequently uses different shades of the same color to create vibrant patchwork skies and backgrounds, utilizing blues, browns, purples, and greens a good deal. The cloud motif is relatively consistent throughout the book either as actual clouds in the sky or as a shape framing an item of focus.
Lissa Nilsson
inVisible illness: Behind the Smile
Mixed media on papers
20” x 20”
2021
Described By: Katie Miller
This work is a 20-inch square of mixed media including acrylic, colored pencil, embroidery thread, and computer graphics on multiple papers. It has a black square frame with white matting. In the center is a gray silhouette of the profile of a head and face. Aligned over it, a cut-out of a painted face profile is raised up on foam board. Underneath, the back half of the head is missing to reveal a pink brain filled with words. The brainstem is connected by threads to a black panel with two rows of red and orange symbols on the bottom. The background has four swaths of pastel colors, each with its own seasonal symbol.
Cowface
Children Who Look Like Left Handed Cigarettes
Oil on canvas
16” x 20”
2021
Described By: Katie Miller
This artwork is a 16 inches wide by 20 inches tall painting using oil on canvas. It features an abstracted face and hands against a light aqua background. An orange pill bottle, with one pill inside, enters the face through an empty eye socket and is viewed again through an open mouth.
Jill Harvey
Portrait of a Horse
11” x 14”
2020
Markers on Bristol Paper
Described By: Ava Warren
This landscape piece presents layered abstract animal-like shapes with vibrant colors. Starting in the upper left quadrant with a bright orange circular shape over a dark blue background and a teal snake with a blue eye. On top of the snake is a dark blue and teal bean-shaped creature with a darker blue eye. Under the snake is a golden yellow shape with a blue circle on the far-right side. In the lower-left quadrant is a pink circular creature with a blue eye. Using the most space on the page is a brown horse with an orange tail, hooves, and inner ear. Visible is one of the horse’s black eyes. On the horse’s backside two dark blue hook shapes connect the horse to the abstract shapes around them. In the upper right quadrant is a bright pink foundation underneath a black shape with a blue circular eye, a teal fish-shaped animal with a darker blue eye, and an orange and brown butterfly with four brown spots on its wings. Moving to the lower right quadrant an orange plant-like shape underlays dark blue and black creatures.
Bob Gold
New York City
Digital Art on Paper
8.5” x 11”
2021
Described by: Abby Paige
New York City is a horizontal, digital image of a Times Square streetscape rendered in vibrant colors that resemble the neon signs that dominate this iconic intersection. The photo, taken from street level, is crowded with signage, storefronts, scaffolding, pavement, vehicles, and pedestrians, but the artist has heavily edited and altered the image to make its colors louder-than-life, while softening its focus to blur the details into a vibrating clutter of shapes and lines, approaching abstraction.
Dominik John Gabrielsen
Masks and Brushstrokes
Oil, acrylic, papier mache
48” x 48”
2021
This piece is made up of painted papier-mache masks mounted on a large square of black foam core adhered to wood. The masks are all similar in shape, either child or adult size, with open almond-shaped eye holes, an angular, pointed nose, and a closed mouth in a neutral expression. There are 25 masks, arranged in five rows, or arcs. The masks are painted in combinations of orange, chrome, grey, gold, cobalt, light blue, and sage green.