The Vermont Studio Center (VSC) is a non-profit arts organization located in the town of
Johnson, Vermont
Johnson is a town in Lamoille County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,491 at the 2020 census. The town is home to Northern Vermont University-Johnson, a part the Vermont State Colleges system. The Vermont Studio Center is locate ...
. It conducts the largest fine arts and writing residency program in the United States, with a significant population of international
artists in residency.
The center operates two-, three- and four-week sessions throughout the year, with 20-30 visual artists and writers in residence at a time. The programs are highly selective and include a broad variety of media, cultures, and ages.
History
The center was founded in 1984 by Jonathan Gregg, Frederick Osborne, and Louise Von Weise. In January 2007, George Pearlman succeeded Jonathan Gregg as VSC's executive director, and Pearlman was succeeded by long-time development director Gary Clark as president in 2013. In June 2019, Clark transitioned to
President Emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
and Ellen McCullough-Lovell stepped in as interim executive director.
In July 2020, Elyzabeth Holford was hired as executive director.
About
The campus consists of twenty studio and residence buildings clustered along the Gihon River in the village of Johnson. Several of the buildings date to the nineteenth century and their restoration have won awards from the
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...
and the
Preservation Trust of Vermont
The Preservation Trust of Vermont, founded in 1980, is a nonprofit, charitable, organization designed to preserve and protect the architectural heritage of the U.S. state of Vermont. The Trust provides assistance to individuals, groups, and other ...
.
Visiting artists and writers visit the center each session. They include established writers, painters, printmakers, and sculptors. Visiting artists interact with residents on a daily basis through readings, craft talks, slide presentations and one-on-one studio visits and writing conferences.
Intercultural emphasis
The center attracts residents from more than 40 countries and all of the U.S. states. VSC fellowships emphasize intercultural exchange, and are organized around the following cultural programs: The Triangle Arts Trust Africa/Arab World; The Freeman Foundation Asian Artists; Central America; ArtNexus Latin America Artist Award; Reed Foundation Caribbean Basin Fellowships; and CEC ArtsLink Central Europe, Russia and Eurasia. Specific international fellowships focus upon Ireland, Italy, and Mexico.
Notable authors who have been granted residencies at the Vermont Studio Center include
Un Sio San
Un Sio San is a Chinese poet and writer from Macau. She has published six collections of poetry, and her work has won several honors, including the inaugural New Star–People's Literature Prize of Poetry in China, and the Henry Luce Foundation Ch ...
(Macau),
Rachel Valdés
Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her au ...
(Cuba),
Cherie Jones
Cherie Jones is a Barbadian attorney and writer. Her debut novel, ''How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House'', was short-listed for the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction.
Biography
Cherie Jones was born in 1974. After receiving her LLB from the ...
(Barbados), and
Shira Erlichman
Shira may refer to:
Geography
*Shira, or Sira, Karnataka, a taluk in Tumkur district, Karnataka, India
*Shira, Iran, in Mazandaran Province
*Shira, Nigeria
*Shira, Russia, a rural locality (''selo'') in Shirinsky District, Republic of Khakassia, ...
(Israel).
References
Further reading
* Vermont Studio Center Press. ''A Catalog of Prints Created by Distinguished Artists at Vermont Studio Center''. Press: Hank Murta Adams...
t Al.
T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...
1998.
* VSCPress. ''VSCPress: Print Collaborations, 2000''. Johnson, Vt: VSCPress, 2001.
External links
Vermont Studio Center website
{{Authority control
Vermont culture
Artist colonies
Writing groups and collectives
Artist residencies