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Vermont has a thing for the arts and one thing we do every year is open our studios up to the public for the annual Vermont State Open Studio Weekend.
I suspect it's partly the fact that we are finally reaching the end of our long winters that has us throwing open our doors and kicking up our heels — just like all those happy cows newly released from their barns in spring — that makes this event so welcome to both the artists and the visitors. I also think it's a peculiarly Vermont thing to be both resolutely independent and contentedly solitary while still maintaining a staunchly strong sentiment for the value of community and a consistent, but really rather inconspicuous, no-fuss, make yourself-right-at-home-we're-glad-to-see-you, warmth of hospitality. This attitudinal lifestyle makes a perfect fit for artisans, craftsmen — and farmers — who you'll find throwing open their doors, and maybe even kicking their heels up a bit, on Open Studio Weekend, Saturday 28th and Sunday, 29th of May throughout the entire state of Vermont.
You can download a booklet and map of the more than 200 artists participating here and consider this a personal invitation from me, to you, to stop by Studio Fresca to say hello, check out the works in progress, try out the tools yourself, enjoy fresh baked goods by Hearty's, hang out on the deck or stroll the paths on 5o lovely acres at Heart Winds House in East Burke, VT. We're definitely planning on kicking OUR heels up all in the name of art, community, visitors and spring and we'd be delighted to have you join us!
MOTHER LOVE - Mosaic jewlery piece created with love for my own wonderful mother. Recovered vintage china, scrap stained glass, italian millefiore, recycled metal findings, glass beads and faux pearls, silk wrapped wire cording on gold-plated pewter metal pendant blank with unsanded grout.
As a daughter, a mother and a "wanna be" grandmother, Mother's Day means something more to me than just another corporate created occasion to send a greeting card. Mother's Day has a somewhat convoluted history and owes it's inception to a number of women who, over several generations and in several geographic locations, originally established the concept of a "special day" for mothers everywhere to come together to variously remember their children, promote peace, work toward women's rights, fight family poverty, show appreciation and gratitude toward one's own mother and celebrate the timeless bonds of motherhood.
Although many of us may not recognize the original intentions of early Mother's Day concepts in today's commercialized version, we have only to look toward our own mothers — and mothers all around the world — to see that the real reasons for celebrating Mother's Day have not changed. Mothers provide constant care for their children, they work to support them, they fight to protect them, they delight in their accomplishments, they strive to provide a better world for them. And it is my experience and strong conviction that, by and large, they do this not only for their own children, but for all the children of the world and that one does not necessarily have ever to have given birth to provide the mothering the world so desperately needs.
The old adage has it that, "A Mother's Work is Never Done" and I believe this is true. We have such high ideals, expectations and hopes for what our mothers will provide. Once you are a mother, you are a mother forever. Given all they do for their individual children, and collectively for the world, mothers certainly do have a lot to answer for and for that reason I am delighted to take this opportunty to be grateful for, and appreciative of, all that my own mother, and mothers everywhere, have done for me. So in celebration of women yesterday, today and tomorrow, I wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day!
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