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Windsor Post-Pastoral: The Changing Landscape of the Birthplace of Vermont Print E-mail

May 28, 2007

Windsor Post-Pastoral: The Changing Landscape of the Birthplace of Vermont, is a exhibit of new paintings by Charlie Hunter, a talented landscape artist from Bellows Falls VT. The exhibit will be on display at the American Precision Museum from May 26 to October 31. The opening reception for the museum's 2007 season will be Friday, June 15th from 5:30-7:30 with the artist. Hunter will also give a Gallery Talk at the museum Saturday, July 7 at 3:00 pm.

Hunter's work depicts the street corners, former factory sites and forgotten pockets of town in a straightforward style that evokes another era and the promise of change to come. One can see not only the strong influence of Edward Hopper in Hunter's work, but also echoes of painters such as Eakens, Homer, Sheeler and Eastman Johnson. Much as those American masters explored the transition of the American landscape from agrarian to industrial, Hunter traces the landscape's post-industrial evolution - suburban expansion, downtown struggle and rural retreat.

ImageEric Aho, a well-known landscape artist from Saxtons River, Vermont commented on Hunter's work. 'In Charlie Hunter's warm-toned paintings of Vermont mill and rail towns we witness the actualization and revitalization of memory. He assembles the pieces for us, and we see the unfolding of his particular imagination in an experience parallel to our own,'says Aho. 'We realize while looking at these paintings that we share the same feelings about these places, houses, streets and intersections, and we realize we are not nostalgic. We are looking at the past through Charlie Hunter's lens of the present. Looking down the line, these streets and buildings slowly reveal themselves as if seen from the dirty-sooty window of a train. These are stations and flag-stops we pass by with other destinations in mind. Only later do we realize Charlie Hunter's images have climbed onboard with us.'

"Windsor is a fascinating place to paint," says Hunter. "It's known, of course, as 'The Birthplace of Vermont' because the constitution of the Republic of Vermont was adopted here, before it became the 14th state. Windsor had such a dynamic history as one of the first industrialized sites in the state, the whole machine tool industry, which really defined our region, started here.'Hunter continues, 'I was growing up at the tail end of that and to get a chance to depict the ebb of that tide is just such an honor and so fascinating."

Art New England, in reviewing Hunter's work, had this to say. 'This is not the Vermont of fall leaves and covered bridges the tourists come to see, but the Vermont of abandoned Plymouths, lost industries and declining family farms. And Hunter captures that everyday beauty with realism and sympathy, his eye eager for the telling detail, the unusual viewpoint, and the unexpected angle.'

Windsor Post -Pastoral: The Changing Landscape of the Birthplace of Vermont will be at the American Precision Museum from May 26 through October 31.

Click here to view exhibit details
 
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