Strafford ARTWORKS was formed in 2002 by a group of Strafford VT artists who meet regularly to network, share ideas, skills, resources and hold workshops as well as to plan and implement shows. The group is comprised of artists who live in Strafford, at least part time. We range in age from 33 to 80, and we work with oils, acrylics, clay, watercolors, pastels, crayons, photography and wood. Current membership includes Jennifer Brown, Marcia Bushnell, Micki Colbeck, Dierdre Dennis, Andrea Doughtie, Sharon Denechaud, Janet Farley, Nancy Gerlach, Nat Hemenway, Cecily Herzig, Ellen Langtree, Tinka McArdle, Michael Moore, Kate More, Jason Okai, Mary Louise Pierson, Deborah Frankel Reese, Mark Shaw, Linda Williams.

Education

We were educated at such places as the Art Institute of Boston; the Art Students’ League, New York, NY; Boston University; Colby Sawyer College; Harvard University; Haverford College; Mount Holyoke College; Rhode Island School of Design; Skidmore College; Tufts University/Museum of Fine Arts School, Boston, MA; University of New Mexico; University of North Carolina; University of Oregon; and Webster University. Our artists went for additional studies with well-known painters and photographers at such places as AVA Galleries, Lebanon, NH; International School of Photography, New York, NY; De Codova Museum School, Boston;Lowell Collins School of Art and Rice University, Houston, TX; Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA; Montclair, NJ Art Museum; National Geographic photography Workshops in Santa Fe; and The Penland School of Crafts.

Juried Shows

Our prize-winning artists have been included in juried shows across the country, including such venues as the Annual National Smallworks Exhibit in Chicago, IL; the Art Center of NJ Regional Shows; Art Space 214 Gallery, Montclair, NJ; the Artists’ Foundation of Boston; Beatrice Condé Gallery, New York, NY; Boston Printmakers, Boston, MA; Boston University Gallery; Foundation for Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, Long Beach Island, NJ; Gateway National Show in Farmington, NM; the National Painting Competition in Houston TX; and locally at AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH; Gallery 11, Woodstock, VT; Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Jct, VT; and Chaffee Visual Arts Center, Rutland, VT.

Solo Shows

As well as participating in numerous group shows across the country, our artists have had solo shows at the Art Association, Washington Depot, CT; Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM; at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ; and at various venues in Nantucket, as well as locally at AVA Gallery, Lebanon, NH the Co-op Café Gallery, Lebanon, NH; Chaffee Art Center, Rutland, VT; DAS Gallery, Lebanon, NH; the Supreme Court Building, Montpelier, VT; Washington Wood Gallery, Montpelier, NH; Lebanon,. NH; Red Roof Gallery, Enfield, NH; Dirt Cowboy Café, Hanover, NH; Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH; and Collis Center at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH...to name a few.

Published Work

Our photographers have had work published in national newspapers and magazines such as Architectural Digest; Art and Antique Magazine; the Web site of the PBS television series Theater Talk; the WNET (NY) Monthly Program Guide; on Wild World, the educational Web site sponsored by the National Geographic Society and the World Wildlife Fund;. and one was the photographer for the book The Rockefeller Family Home: Kykuit. Painter’s works have been in Vermont Life Magazine, The Valley News; cover for Blue Kitty, Vanguard Press; Parks Portrayed in Pen and Paint; Ranger Rick Magazine; Magazine of the American Museum of Natural History; and franchised by Wild Apple graphics, Woodstock, VT.  One of our members is represented in the Two Rivers Printmaking Studio Portfolio which has been purchased by collectors and New England museums.

Gallery Representation

We are currently represented by galleries including Chaffee Visual Arts Center, Rutland, VT; East End Gallery, Nantucket, MA; Marin Price Gallery in Chevy Chase, MD; Pegasus Gallery, Quechee, VT; Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT; and Woodsum Gallery, Warner, NH.

Join Us 

Any Strafford visual artist interested in joining Strafford ARTWORKS is asked to submit three slides or digital images of his or her work to Nancy Gerlach ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Debbie Reese ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)

Random Notes of Interest About Our Members

Jennifer Brown designed puzzles for Stave Puzzles for almost 20 years.

Marcia Bushnell edited the book A Little Girl's Diary: Life on a Farm in Rural Vermont, by Alice Bushnell, an ancestor of her husband's. The Bushnells live on the site where Alice and her family once lived.

Patti Cerra once helped renovate an old synagogue, and once owned a gallery and a ceramic studio in North Hartland,VT.

Micki Colbeck is a musician as well as an artist, and is part of an Olde Time Music fiddle band in Vermont. Colbeck spent six months living and painting in Croatia in 2005, and returned again in 2006.

Dierdre Dennis hiked 340 miles of the Appalachian Trail, and has used much of what she saw as inspiration for recent work.

Janet Farley recently moved to Strafford from Albequerque, NM.

Nancy Gerlach was one of the founders of the Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in White River Junction, VT.  Her work hangs regularly at Stone Soup Restaurant.

Cecily Herzig has pieces that have been auctioned off by the Human Rights Campaign, and that hang in the headquarters of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund in New York
City.  She also does lots of felting under the moniker "Good Felted Stuff" (dragons, soap, sheep, strange creatures, etc.). 

Ellen Langtree was the featured artist in the summer 1988 issue of Vermont Life, and has had her work on various local covers and calendars.

Mary Luckey is the minister at the United Church of Strafford.

Tinka McArdle was once the Director of Public Relations for the Toledo Museum of Art. Recently she has been printing some of  her photographs on silk. Her husband Joe McArdle is an extremely accomplished woodworker, and is an honorary member of ARTWORKS.  Both Joe and Andrea Doughtie bake outstanding loaves of bread.

Michael Moore, after returning from Vietnam, and in another life, spent several years at sea, fishing out of New Bedford before discovering his passion for art. Moore, who has immersed himself in the techniques of the Dutch and Italian masters, grinds and mixes his own pigments, prepares his own mediums, and stretches his own canvasses which he coats with multiple layers of rabbit-skin glue, and allows to season for a year.

Mary Louise Pierson, as the photographer in the book The Rockefeller Family Home: Kykuit,  has been in shows in New York and Boston, been featured in Architectural Digest magazine, Art and Antique Magazine, the New York Post, and was interviewed on New York Public radio/NPR. She is also a trustee of the Vermont Studio Center, and the founder of Youth, Community Gardens and the Urban Environment in New York, NY.

Deborah Frankel Reese has three pieces featured in the 2005 book ParksPortrayed in Pen and Paint (www.pen-and-paint.com), a book combining poetry and paintings celebrating The Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone. She is looking for a publisher forher book Newfangled Grandmothers.

Three of our artists currently teach art in the classroom — Jennifer Brown (Newton Elementary School); Janet Cathey (elementary school, and at Fletcher Farms School for Arts and Crafts); and Ellen Langtree (who teaches sculpture and 2D and 3D design at Hartford High School). Micki Colbeck taught in the past—(elementary, middle and secondary schools in Missouri, and Rivendale School in Fairlee,VT).

Marcia Bushnell, Andrea Doughtie and Nancy Gerlach often go out for plein air painting sessions together. Gerlach also holds regular painting sessions with friends in her studio, and Micki Colbeck has scheduled Life Drawing sessions with a model in her studio.