Events

Upcoming Events

December Montpelier Art Walk

Friday, December 6
4:00 - 8:00 pm

Magpie and Tiger
15 State Street, Montpelier, VT (enter through the main lobby)
https://www.magpieandtigervt.com/
Paintings will be shown through the middle of January 2025

Montpelier Art Walk (main page for those without Facebook) happens on the first Friday of every two months throughout the city. My offerings at Montpelier's newest shop, Magpie and Tiger, will feature ensō paintings from the last few years as well as three paintings from the Mindstream series that haven't been shown. Stop by, check out the art, and say hello!

Many of the paintings are framed and ready to hang. Support artists and buy local for the holidays!

T.W. Wood Gallery 10x10" Members' Holiday Show

Opening reception:
Montpelier Art Walk
Friday, December 6, 4:00 - 8:00 pm

T.W. Museum
6 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT (enter through the main lobby)
https://www.twwoodgallery.org
Art will be hung until January 26, 2025

Annual Holiday Show For Member Artists

Studio Place Arts
6 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT (enter through the main lobby)
https://www.studioplacearts.com
November 6 - December 28, 2024

Painting Peace

August 2, 2024 Montpelier Art Walk

Location change! New location:
T.W. Wood Gallery / Center For Arts And Learning
Adult education classroom
46 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT
1st Floor, at the back of the building under the T.W. Wood Gallery
Follow the signage

There are many ways to cultivate peace in one’s self to then bring peace into the world. Painting a Zen circle, or ensō, is an ancient Japanese practice done with brush, ink and paper. It’s speculated that it was originally something a master did to witness their own mind or possibly a master painted one for a student to recognize the wordless expression of oneness. In contemporary times, Zen circles can be painted by anyone and have become a popular visual representation of peace.

The Painting Peace project will give the Montpelier community and visitors to the city an opportunity to explore this creative practice and participate in, hold space for and witness the painting of a large ensō that will be auctioned to support the Flood Relief for Neighbors Fund through Montpelier Alive.

Project Details

A table will be set up with paper, brushes, and paints for individuals to explore present moment experience and paint their own ensō or any spontaneous expression.
A guided community peace meditation will set intention for the painting of a large ensō. Anyone present can add drops of colored paint to the paper to be included in the final painting.
The completed, colorful ensō paining (52" x 52") will be auctioned off to support the Flood Relief Fund for Neighbors through Montpelier Alive.

Event Schedule - August 2

4:30 - 5:30 Paint your own ensō or any spontaneous expression. With live music from special guest and local musician Ras Moshe Burnette from 5:00 - 5:30
5:30 - 5:45 Community meditation
5:45 - 6:15 Big ensō painting (community members can add paint to the paper before the circle is painted as a way of contributing their wishes for peace)
6:15 - 7:00 Paint your own ensō or any spontaneous expression
6:15 Auction begins

"Being Peace Ensō", Ink, pigment and incense powder on watercolor paper, 8x8"

Previous events and openings

...moment to moment...

...moment to moment..., This solo show was open for the month of July 2022 at The Front in Montpelier Vermont.

Opening Reception: July 1, 4:00 - 8:00 pm

Show Dates: July 1 - 31
The gallery is open Fridays 4-7, and Saturdays and Sundays 11 - 5. If those times don't work email Monica to set up a time for a private showing.

Location: The Front, 6 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT

Poetry Reading and Closing Reception: July 29
Monica will read a selection of sutra excerpts and from her favorite poets. In person and online via Zoom.

"Perfect in the Imperfection Ensō" Ink and mica pigment on watercolor paper, 22" x 15"

…moment to moment… is on view through the month of July and features Zen circles, or ensō, paintings inspired by Monica’s Zen art practice, a year in recovery from post-concussion syndrome, meditations on consciousness, interconnection, impermanence, intimacy, resilience of the human spirit, and her many years as a yoga practitioner. Starting in 2019, painting an ensō became a way for Monica to return to equilibrium and continued through the pandemic to come to terms with isolation, great loss, and a traumatic brain injury. Ancient Buddhist text says that a moment of perception takes seventeen seconds. Each single-brushstroke painting takes about the same amount of time to paint and yet contains everything leading up to the act of creation.

With over sixty paintings hung together, the show asks the viewer for deeper intimacy in order to consider their own relationship to time, intention, and personal experience. Each piece is poetically titled with phrases from Zen teachings, scripture, and poetry. Viewers are invited to experience the show with or without awareness of titles and dates that place the images on a timeline in relationship to the pandemic. In the ten years that Monica has been a yoga teacher, she often reads poetry and sutra excerpts in her classes much of which has inspired the artwork. All are welcome.

Many thanks to the editors of the international literary journal Mud Season Review for featuring three of my paintings in their Volume #14 Poetry section. Its a perfect pairing of words and pictures!