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Good Housekeeping
BY MARC AWODEY
EXHIBIT: "Full House," an annual group exhibition of fine art and fine furniture by Vermont artists. Chaffee Art Center, Rutland. Through September 26.
Photo: Marc Awodey
ARTWORK: Paintings by Richard Weis, dining set by McGuire Family Furniture Makers
Rutland businessman George Thrall Chaffee called the Victorian mansion he built in 1893 Sunny Gables. In its heyday, Harry Houdini and Harpo Marx were among Chaffee’s houseguests. Nowadays it’s the Chaffee Art Center, but 16 South Main Street still seems more like someone’s home than a museum. That’s especially true during the annual "Full House" exhibition, which recalls the Chaffee’s domestic past by filling the galleries with furniture as well as fine art. |
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This year’s show features work by three painters, a pastel artist and four photographers, as well as selections from master craftsmen in the Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers. The exhibition is designed to give equal billing to fine furniture and visual art. The concept works well. The furniture also complements many of the finish-carpentry details of the mansion.
A tiger-maple dining table and four chairs by McGuire Family Furniture Makers are installed in what was probably once a formal dining room. Eleven abstract paintings and banners by Vermont College professor Richard Weis add elegance to the space. His "Samulnori: four part percussion" is an oil with swirling primary hues seemingly anchored by black and white. "The Stone Above the Sea" is a more naturalistic abstraction dominated by earthier colors.
The gallery east of the dining room includes superb pastels by Jim Boughton, the Chaffee Art Center’s gallery director. Many of his works are influenced by Surrealism; others are more akin to nature photography. "Held Together" portrays a cracked, standing, conical stone wrapped with red ribbon; "Piled" is simply a precise rendering of stones. Among the furniture pieces in this gallery is Robert Gasperetti’s Spalted Burl Pedestal Table, which has dramatically craggy natural details.
The west side of the dining room is dominated by North Bennington photographer Jane Glesne’s 15 color photos, which capture intriguing details and visual textures. "Door Yard Delight" is a close-up of a succulent plant with brown spiky leaves dotted with drops of dew. Sharing the space with Glesne’s photos is a contemporary Arts and Crafts Pedestal Table by William LaBarge. It’s made of cherry with ebony inlay, and its round top and architectonic base harmonize with the parquet floor of the round alcove in which it sits.
Susan Wacker’s eight color photos are displayed in the hall at the foot of the staircase. The Pittsfield photographer finds geometric abstraction in everyday forms. "Barn Red" is a minimalist shot of a curved snow bank in front of a red barn; a white window frame in the red wall contrasts with the curved crest of the snow.
More than 20 vibrant color photos by Rosamond Orford line the stairs and second-floor landing of the Chaffee. Most of these images are on the theme of water — her book of such photos is aptly entitled Water Colours.
In the Chaffee’s Gallery for the Young Artist, "Full House" continues with more than 25 portraits of adolescents by Montpelier photographer Carley Stevens-Mclaughlin. A visual essay about the individuality of "typical" teens, they suggest "before-and-after" shots: In one photo, each poser is shown in hip "street" attire — often including makeup and piercings — and in another, wearing "normal" clothes that would make June Cleaver proud.
Upstairs, George Chaffee’s old bedroom has a new bed: Walt Stanley’s Vermont Sleigh Bed is a red-birch masterpiece, and its bird’s-eye maple details match those in the room’s windowsill and doorway. Arlington painter Russ Housman’s 10 oils hang on the walls around the bed. "River Ice Revisited version two" has a naturalistic theme but is rooted in abstraction; the gray ice is heavily textured by built-up paint. Housman’s "Summer Blossoms version one" is a horizontal collection of bright circles of varied intensities.
The adjacent room has a studio feel, thanks in part to James Becker’s Contemporary Windsor High Back Stool in cherry and oak and his Paine Standing Desk in cherry. Middlebury painter Mimi Love’s acrylic canvasses are on the walls. Decorative in the Matissian sense, these are sophisticated abstractions rich with patterning and pastel hues.
When the Rutland Area Art Association bought the Chaffee mansion in 1982, it was wise to ignore the building’s nickname — not one of George Chaffee’s most creative ideas. "Sunny Gables Art Center"? That sounds more like a place in Dade, than in Rutland, County.
© Seven Days Newspaper, 2004
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