Shedding Light on the Working Forest

Shedding Light on the Working Forest is the deepest expression of an artistic friendship, nurtured over twenty-five years. We are filled with gratitude for the outpouring of support that has made this project, the exhibition, and catalogue possible. We pause in our thanks to acknowledge the sudden loss of Richard Coutant, Verandah Porche’s husband, in the spring of 2015, in the midst of our work. Some words from logger-storyteller Bill Torrey shift their context here.

And you want a good ending

when that tree hits the ground.

You create a bed for it.

                                *

Grieving raised the stakes of Shedding Light and connected us even more poignantly to the people who originally allowed Kathleen to shadow them at work, collecting ideas for paintings, and then, years later, allowed Verandah to gather the narrative poems presented here: John Bradley and his students, Judy Dow, Bruce Gilkerson, Joe Gilkerson, Chris Klempt, Jason and Justin Lathrop, Richard Lavigne, Joe Nelson, Dan Ober, Chris Olson, Larry and Mark Sherman and Shari Baker, Stephen Taylor, and Bill Torrey. They are at the heart of this project.

Ned Castle, Greg Sharrow and Andy Kolovos at the Vermont Folklife Center, Dave Mance III, of Northern Woodlands, who later wrote the introduction to the catalogue, Paul Forlenza who built our first website, Tracy Hewat, and Missy Holland have been crucial in the development process.

A few collectors provided the foundation for this project. We thank Simin Allison for her extraordinary generosity, warmth, and encouragement. We are especially grateful to long time patrons John and Francie Downing, who have supported and collected Kathleen’s work for over thirty years. In 2009, Lyman Orton and Janice Izzi developed a collection of works through a very ambitious program called Art of Action. It is through their vision and support that five of the paintings in this exhibition and catalogue were first created.

The lenders to this exhibition, as collectors, have provided essential support to Kathleen over many years. What a sacrifice they’ve offered. We’re honored by their trust and respect. For their gifts and the loan of their paintings, we thank Simin Allison, Robert Bernstein, Bruce and Kyla Lisman, Steve and Ann Lord, Lyman Orton and Janice Izzi, People’s United Bank, the late Eadie and Chuck Templin, the Vermont Community Foundation, the Vermont Folklife Center, the Vermont State Art Collection, Elsa and Barry Waxman, and the other private collectors.

Major funding for the catalogue was provided by the Plum Creek Foundation and the Stony Point Foundation. We are grateful for the support of the Windham Foundation, the Howard P. Colhoun Family Foundation, the Fieldstone Foundation, International Paper Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and Vermont Arts Council, the Vermont Arts Endowment Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, the A. Johnson Lumber Co., LLC, Chroma Technologies Corporation, Vermont Woodlands Association and many individual donors.