Artist Pitch Project Ideas

Details

Created on Wednesday, 09 March 2022 20:00

Written by Hailey Morgan

ST. JOHNSBURY-The Town of St. Johnsbury has been working on its downtown renovations over time. But Catamount Arts is working to put a new addition downtown that will attract visitors to a local historic landmark.

"In talking with folks about the honking tunnel which is the connector, people just said oh it's just so creepy and dark." Educational director Anne Campbell explained, last spring Catamount applied for a grant of 10,000 dollars to fund a public art project that transformed ST. Johnsbury's honking tunnel into a more appealing attraction. Their ultimate goal was to find a creative way to connect the downtown area to its trail head. Catamount put a call out to Vermont artists to conduct the project, and three finalists were selected.

A presentation was put on over the weekend to hear each artist's ideas, so an art council can make their final decision on whose art project makes the cut. All artists were expected to incorporate some kind of light into their project as well. Tara Goreau, who specializes in mural work was one of the three finalists, and is a local in ST. J. She was encouraged by Catamount Arts to apply for the project, as she has done some work with the organization before. "They just brought it to my attention, and said that I should apply because I am a public artist."

Goreau's project idea is to create a giant turtle along the wall that stands outside the end of the tunnel. Due to the railroad owning the tunnel, no artist is allowed to put the art inside the tunnel because of future renovations. She wants to put local history of St. J inside the turtle shell. "In each shell section of the turtles back is a different vignette of St. Johnsbury history. Then the whole turtle will be outlined and traced in LED rope lights that glow." Goreau went to the St. Johnsbury History and Heritage Center to collect her information. She spent half a day going through old postcards.

Goreau hopes her project is something that locals and visitors can relate to, and said her inspiration for the project came from a memory of Vermont's wildlife. "I was crossing the railroad street bridge last summer and I looked down and I saw this huge thing moving in the water. I'm like, 'what is that, trash, or rock, or something?' It turns out it was this huge turtle, like huge. I was just like, it's a monster, and I was like dang, it's a sign."

"So I run a little lighting business out of Burlington Vermont. I make wooden based lighting, and an assortment of hardwired lighting, table lamps, chandeliers." Artist Clay Mohrman explained, and Morhman heard about the project through social media. "I just thought the scope of the project was really cool. I was also excited about the location, and check out different parts of Vermont."

His inspiration for his idea came from the Doppler Effect. An increase or decrease in the frequency of sound or light. "I was looking at honking and the idea of sound moving through the space. The Doppler Effect is similar to an ambulance noise and how the sound changes when it moves." He's hoping to create a wooden model of rings that are supposed to replicate what this effect looks like.

He plans on putting a light in the middle of the rings, and could be making multiple models or two huge ones. "So they are closer together on one side, and further apart on the other. I just thought it would be really cool just to elaborate on that shape and that design," Morhman explained. He hopes that people will have a genuine reaction based on the simplicity of the project. "Just having a visual response based on how it brings someone joy."

Noa Younse is an architect and has lived in Vermont for the last two years, as he thought it would be a good place to bring his family. He has done several art projects before that all incorporate light into each piece. He works independently and heard about the contest through websites that tell local artists about projects going on in the state. "It seemed like a fun project, also an interesting location." Younse decided to get involved so he could contribute to the community.

"What I am proposing to do is to essentially bring some lit zones that are programmable, and something I can animate." Younse's idea came from many hiking spots surrounding St. J, as he has taken the shape of each spot and set them up like a map. "Utilizing the geographic area of St. Johnsbury in the immediate area. So I was proposing to take some of the geography of the surrounding hillsides. Like Saddleback Mountain, The Knob, Harris Hill, and Pro Hill," he explained. He hopes his design will bring some education and happiness to people when they go through the tunnel.

Many locals and even tourists attended the event, and many liked the diversity in each design. "Oh I thought they were all really fascinating, so different. Coming from completely different sources and different ideas. Some more abstract, some more realistic," Campbell said. "I thought the presentations were excellent. It was wonderful to see how everybody put so much effort into thinking about it. Coming up with really unique interesting ideas," local Cynthia Spring-Burak said. Others said the projects were all very good, and the decision was going to be hard. The selected art council will be picking one of the three in the next couple of weeks, and the location will not be closed while the project is being completed.