By STEVEN JUPITER
ORWELL—Between Route 30 and Lake Champlain lie a string of small, rural communities full of farms and artists. And sometimes they’re one in the same.
Take Cindy Watrous of Say Wat Farm in Orwell. She tends a flock of 50 sheep, whose yarn she shears, cards, dyes, and turns into beautiful felted-wool “paintings.” Watrous is just one of the artists who came out on Saturday for the first Orwell Art Fair on the green in Orwell village.
The show was put on by the Orwell Artists Group, an informal collective of artists living and practicing in Orwell and the surrounding communities.
“Besides Orwell, we’ve got artists from Addison, Benson, Shoreham, and Bomoseen,” said Stacey Stanhope Dundon, a potter who lives in Orwell and is also the President of the Brandon Artists Guild Gallery. “I’ve met people I never would’ve known otherwise.” Stanhope Dundon was at the fair with ceramic platters, vases, and mugs that bear her instantly recognizable stylized animals.
“I’d seen other festivals and wanted to do something similar here,” said painter George Macedo, Orwell resident and one of the group’s organizers. “For a small town, Orwell has a lot of artists. This could eventually grow into an annual event.”
Another of the group’s organizers is Andy Snyder. Snyder represented Brandon and Pittsford in the VT House of Representatives back in the 90s and is now the owner of Mud Puppy Pottery.
“The group was founded in 2016 and has over 20 artists. We meet on a monthly basis,” said Snyder. “We encourage each other when creativity is lacking. We critique each other’s work. We’d like to keep a critical mass of artists in town. This fair feels really good.”
Snyder had been preparing to perform on what appeared to be a mandolin with State Representative Joe Andriano on a hurdy gurdy that sounded remarkably like a bagpipe. Andriano has just completed his first term representing many of these small communities: Orwell, Shoreham, Whiting, Sudbury, and Hubbardton.
Peter Root is a newcomer to the area, having moved to Orwell from Massachusetts mere weeks ago. But Root has wasted no time making connections to the local art community, showing his meticulous watercolor studies of trees and expressive multimedia portraits.
Painter and pastelist Lynn Austin has lived in Orwell for 8 years and recently joined the Brandon Artists Guild.
“The Orwell group encouraged me to apply to the Guild,” said Austin next to her expressive pastels of farm scenes and animals. A horse in blue pastel was particularly striking.
Inside the Town Offices was Muffy Kashkin Grollier, another fiber artist who makes exquisite felted-wool paintings and is a member of the Brandon Artists Guild.
The Orwell Free Library, right across the street, had set up a tent for kids to make art and string beads.
These smaller towns along the lake are often overlooked, but the artists in the Orwell Artists Group are determined to draw some attention to themselves.
Anyone interested in joining or getting more information should contact the group through its Facebook page: facebook.com/Orwellartists.
