2008 downtown bennington - fall

Vermont’s Main Street Experience Fall 2008

BenningtonBenninBenninDowntown

VermontStinks!

The Southern Vermont Garlic and Herb Festival once again claims the glory and distinction of raising the biggest stink in Vermont August 30 & 31, 2008 from 10am to 5pm both Saturday and Sunday.

Join garlic lovers from throughout the northeast as they come to sample food and crafts from 50 different vendors all made from - you guessed it - garlic and herbs! Everything from garlic ice cream to garlic jelly, pickled garlic, roasted garlic, garlic braids and, of course, plain garlic bulbs of every variety will be available for sampling and purchase, along with planting and braiding dem-onstrations as well as cooking demon-strations.

Herbalists will also be on hand to take visitors on “weed walks,” where you can learn the valuable uses of every day weeds. For aspiring gardeners, garlic growers, garlic lovers or those sim-ply looking for a fun way to spend a Vermont end-of-summer day, the event promises something for everyone. Some of the activities this year will be Garlic Golf, get a hole-in-1 and win a great prize. There will also be a hay maze, face painting and hair braiding, and other great children’s activities such as inflat-able fun rides for kids. Wander around the spacious lawns sampling garlic deli-cacies and enjoy the festivities, or relax at the Beer and Wine Garden under the tent listening to live music both days.

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To compliment our historic downtown, The Sculpture Foundation and the Better Bennington Corporation announce a public outdoor sculpture exhi-bition for the summer & fall of 2008 featuring American artist J. Seward Johnson.

“Celebrating the Familiar” J Seward Johnson is well known for his life-size cast bronze sculptures. He has cre-ated over 200 different pieces of Americans engaged in ordi-nary daily activities. In a sense, Johnson is to American sculp-ture what Norman Rockwell was to painting. Johnson’s pieces have been on display in many cities throughout the U.S. and abroad and typically draw thousands of visitors who are captivated by his represen-tational works.

The Better Bennington Corporation is a private, not-for-profit entity, incorporat-ed in the state of Vermont. The BBC is affiliated with the National Main Street Program. Its mission is to build, improve and sup-port a vital Downtown that benefits our entire community.

The Creative Process Seward Johnson uses a maquette (small clay model) to fashion the gesture and

pose of a figure; which will take up to two years to reach completion. Once the pose is final and the age, narrative, and facial expression are established, the art-

ist selects a live model to come to the stu-dio to pose. Apprentices at the foundry enlarge the maquette to a life-size nude

clay and plasticine figure. Johnson then poses the live model and sculpts the face and the exact stance.

After Johnson selects appro-priate clothing for the narra-tive, each item must be disas-sembled and sewn onto the nude figure, which has been converted to plaster form. Resin is applied to stiffen all the fabrics. Johnson then arranges the folds into prop-er motion shapes, pumping air into folds and pockets for a lifelike quality. The sculp-ture dries for two days and is then carved into sections.

The true foundry process now begins. The pieces are transferred from plaster to wax by making a rubber mold of each plaster section. The wax is carefully chased, that is, all imperfections are corrected using tools simi-

lar in their precision to dentist drills. The wax is then given a ceramic shell by a repetitive dipping into a slurry solution.

Celebrating the Familiar:J. Seward Johnson Exhibition

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“Between Classes” by J Seward Johnson

photo by Jen Hathaway

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2 Downtown Bennington Fall 2008

A Hersam Acorn Newspapers Publication

Telly Halkias, contributing writer

Jen Hathaway, page design

Tri-State Pennysaver News109 South Street, Bennington, VT 05201

802-447-3381Renee Tassone, General Manager

Admission for the day is just $5.00 per person, a 2 day pass for $8, and children 12 and under are $1.00. The event will be located 1.5 miles west of the four corners in Bennington, Vermont. Celebrate the end of summer and stock up on that most “stinky” of herbs on Labor Day weekend!

For additional information, contact Joy Powell or Steve Wrathall, Festival Coordinators, at 802-368-7147.

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Vermont Stinks!

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Fall 2008 Downtown Bennington 3

By Telly Halkias

As a boy, when someone in my family had a favorite pair of shoes, they would replace the soles and heels. One of my errands was to ferry the footwear to the neighborhood cobbler when required.

I recently found myself in that familiar chore as I picked up a pair of shoes with new heels at Marra’s on North Street in Bennington. The store is somewhat of a generational crossover: the craft of shoe repair still masterfully practiced by owner Dick Torrey in the back room, while his wife Dora manages the retail store – which stocks plenty of current footwear and other gear.

“When I came to town in 1959 from Brattleboro, there were five businesses like us,” Torrey said. “Now it’s just one, but we’re very pleased at how the shop has evolved over the years.”

Marra’s carries lines such as SAS, Anna, and Spring Step, and styles for men and women from formal to casual. Other offerings include handbags, hats, gloves and socks. Torrey has also added a zipper supply and repair segment to his repertoire.

“It’s amazing the volume of zipper work we do, to include replacing sliders for a nominal coast,” Torrey said. “We do coats, jackets, work pants – anything that utilizes zippers we handle. The demand for those jobs from our customers made that a good service to take on.”

With shoes in hand, I paused at the door and took a deep breath of that distinctive aroma of leather, a bridge back to my boyhood.

Marra’s is located at 132 North St. in downtown Bennington. Its hours are: Mon. – Sat. 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Sun. Closed. For more information, call 802-442-8464.

Telly Halkias is a freelance writer and editor. E-mail: [email protected].

If the Shoe Fits: Marra’s

The Interior of Marra’s on North Street in Bennington.

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By Telly Halkias

Maybe it’s because my mother was a florist. I’ve always sent people flowers instead of cards, or a plant instead of a gift. I’m sure Nancy Myers, owner of The Flower Works in Bennington, wondered about me when we first met a decade ago, before I owned the bookstore in her building.

Now she is a seasoned veteran of my floral forays, and thinks it strange when a month goes by without two or three visits, or my frantic calls for a delivery. The thing is, I can’t think of a time that I’ve bounded into Nancy’s flower shop when she wasn’t smiling with flowers in her hands.

When my mother was in town earlier this year, she stopped by The Flower Works. Now 82 years old, Mom recounted to Nancy how her father had been a founding member of the global floral service giant, FTD. They discussed every element of the business, as if they had known each other for years.

With good reason. The Flower Works is a full service floral operation that caters to individual deliveries anywhere in the Bennington area. Myers also handles wed-dings, funerals, and any number of official ceremonies or casual gatherings that dictate the need for flowers to celebrate or com-memorate.

Separated by several generations, both Nancy Myers and my mother are connected by a strong bond. They both spent careers handling beautiful creations, and through those arrangements spread countless expres-sions of love.

The Flower Works is located at 435 Main St. in downtown Bennington. Its hours are: Mon. 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.; Tue. – Fri. 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Sat. 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.; Sun. Closed. For more information, call 802-442-0211.

Telly Halkias is a freelance writer and editor. E-mail him at: [email protected]

Always in Bloom: The Flower Works

Nancy Myers of The Flower Works works on an arrangement.

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This slurry is made of increasingly fine grains of silica flours and an aqueous silica solution that hardens in lay-ers. The wax is then burned out at a high temperature, leaving only the ceramic shell with a precise image of the original formed by the silica layers. This is called the lost-wax method of casting.

The pouring of molten bronze is the next phase of the foundry process. With the bronze reaching a temperature of 2,000 degrees F, it appears almost as poured light. Again, as in the wax stage, extensive chasing assures that all the textural details of the original will be preserved. The pieces are once more joined to form a full figure, and all welds and seams are chased. Items such as pencils and eyeglasses are modeled in bronze and attached to the figure at this time.

The final stage is patination, or the chemi-cal coloring of the surface of the bronze. The unique colors of Seward Johnson’s sculpture were developed specifically for his work by Johnson Atelier. They are a combination of tra-ditional patina chemicals and tinted lacquers. The bronze surface is heated with a hand-held acetylene torch flame, and the specific

chemicals are brush applied. The flame then “burns” the chemical color into the bronze. A thin film of incralac, a protective coating, is applied to guard against paint or scratches. The entire sculpture is then waxed, as an addi-

tional protection from climatic changes. The Johnson sculpture is now complete.The Most Frequently Asked Questions

Are there real clothes on the sculptures?No. Surprisingly each sculpture is entirely bronze. The realism of the textures and details is the hallmark of Johnson’s art, and this detail-ing is achieved with hours and hours of intense labor. Seward Johnson begins each bronze with a 12 inch tall “sketch” in clay, and then enlarges this to life scale in clay. Often delicate tex-tures, such as the skin, can be made more real with fabrics pressed into the clay at this stage. Sometimes articles of clothing are stiffened with a resin and used in the mold process, but there is no clothing on top of, or under the bronze, in the sculpture that you see today. Other times clay clothing is sculpted onto the figure by the artist using wooden and metal tools with very fine points and edges. As the figures are sawed into many parts for the casting process, there are dozens of roughly welded areas when the parts are reassembled in bronze. At this stage, the artist must replace many of the fine textures;

Celebrating the Familiarcontinued from page 4

continued on page 6“Holding Out” by J Seward Johnson

photo by Jen Hathaway

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corduroy, tweed, a cable knit sweater pattern; with an electric tool that is much like a fine dentist’s drill. This is the most time consuming part of creating these bronzes. It takes between one and two years to create one sculpture.

Who does the artist use as models?When Seward Johnson is ready to enlarge a piece from the small gesture sketch into the life size version, he will seek out just the perfect face and body type for the story of the sculpture. When he was doing a gardener, he went and talked with gardeners and landscape companies. He wanted a weathered face with sun wrinkles, and the working hands of a gardener. He used a real police officer for his work Times Up, which depicts an officer writing a ticket.

How does he get the unusual colors?Seward Johnson has been developing unique chemistry for the colors of his sculptures for years. In an effort to better fool the eye, and allow the pieces to blend suc-cessfully into our colorful world, he began to add colors about ten years ago. The skin on the pieces remains a traditional bronze patina, and the current opaque colors are achieved using the type of paints that are the most advanced technical pigments used on airplanes. They are quite resistant to climate conditions, and each sculp-

ture is also coated with a thin film of incrylac and a final coating of wax for added protection.Haven’t I seen these somewhere before?If you are a frequent traveler, it is likely that you have seen Johnson’s work in other places. New York City has several very publicly sited works, as does Washington DC, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Osaka, and even Istanbul. Cities will often arrange an exhibition of Johnson’s bronzes to bring levity to a downtown area, and museums frequently host exhibits on their grounds and parklands. You may also have seen photos of the sculptures in Architectural Digest, New Yorker Magazine, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Life Magazine, and others. Johnson has also appeared on the Tonight Show with several of his pieces, and CNN has also created a couple of inter-esting stories on the artist.

What’s Seward Johnson like?Seward Johnson is 68 this year, and has been married for over 20 years to his wife, a novelist. The Johnsons have two grown children and live in Princeton, New Jersey and on Nantucket. Seward Johnson had the unusual experience of growing up as the heir to one of America’s largest fortunes as the grandson of the founder of Johnson + Johnson. As someone who could have spent a life of leisure, Johnson is quite actively involved in

both his art and an array of other interests. He is the President of a large oceanographic research institution in Florida, the publisher of a science magazine, and the founder of an off-Broadway theater in New York. He is the past President of the International Sculpture Center of Washington, DC, and remains a vital force in encouraging and assisting with young sculptors’ careers by having created the Johnson Atelier Foundry and Technical Institute.

Personally, Seward Johnson is a charming and philo-sophical man, with a tendency toward irreverent wit. He loves to anonymously loiter around his public sculptures and make negative remarks to fellow viewers of the art to see what the real response to his work is! He loves to get into the position of having the stranger unwittingly defend the sculpture to this “hostile” art critic.

Are these one of a kind, or are there several castings? Seward Johnson will make up to seven castings of a design, and only as ordered. Therefore, although there are now many sold out editions, some works will only be made once. When the full seven are purchased by col-lectors, the artist invites all seven owners to the foundry to celebrate the ceremonial destruction of the mold. Courtesy of The Better Bennington Corporation

Celebrating the Familiarcontinued from page 5

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The Third Annual Great Pumpkin Challenge will take place on October 25th down the center of Main Street in Bennington, VT. Thousands of carved and lit pumpkins will line the streets, and be set up in creative displays throughout the downtown area.

The event will kick off with a parade at 4PM. Judging will commence around 5 or 6. Accompanying events that will occur during the afternoon / evening include: Haunted House at Bennington Banner; Costume Ball hosted by Bennington Arts Guild; pumpkin pie baking contest; carved pumpkin com-petition, judging & awards; various non-profit ven-dors; and more!!

In addition to the carved pumpkins, you can join in a worldwide attempt at beating the Guinness Book of Records for the most people simultaneously dancing “Thriller” Saturday, October 25, 2008, in Downtown Bennington, Vermont.

Bennington is now one of 37 sites around the world including London, England, Warsaw, Poland, Christchurch, New Zealand, and Edmonton, Canada.

Learn the dance by attending classes at Bennington Fire House, River Street, Bennington (a schedule can be found on www.betterbennington.com), and an instructional video will be showing on CAT TV in September and can also be viewed at www.thrill-theworld.com, where you will also find more infor-mation on the world-wide event. The dance takes place at 2PM and then reenacted at 8PM.

The Great Pumpkin Challenge has been selected by the State of Vermont as one of the “Top Ten Fall Events”.

For more information about these or other local events, call the Better Bennington Corporation at 802-442-5758, or visit www.betterbennington.com.

Courtesy of The Better Bennington Corporation

The Great Pumpkin Challenge:This Year It’s a Thriller !

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Each 3 x 3 box is outlined with a darker line. You already have a few numbers to get you started. Remember: you must not repeat the numbers 1 through 9 in the same line, column or 3 x 3 box.

HOW TO PLAY :ANSWER TO PUZZLE

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By Telly Halkias

When a longtime friend currently living in Colorado decided to go on a New England junket with her mother last fall, she called unannounced one day at lunch time and asked that I join them for lunch at one of our local restaurants.

On a day when Bennington was flood-ed with tour buses, I asked where they had managed to find a meal. My friend answered that they had been seated at the last table available at “this place with the most peculiar name.”

With only a few hours to spend in town, the ladies were lucky to have landed at Alldays and Onions on Main St. A town mainstay for over 20 years, and a consistently highly rated dining destina-tion in southwest Vermont, there is nothing peculiar about the menu at Alldays. It offers a variety of clas-sic American fare as well as an excellent range of

Continental and Eastern variations to go along with quality selection at its bar.

Current owners Dan and Julie Barker have put tre-mendous efforts into maintaining Alldays’ reputation for choice selections of meats, greens, seafood, and popular favorites. House creations also sprinkle the

assortment.

Alldays also caters for events anywhere in the region, and welcomes groups of up to 100 people to reserve the house and bring the party over. The atmosphere remains vibrant in high season like the fall when the dining room turns over several times a day. For comfort, service, and food that won’t disap-point, Alldays and Onions offers a tasty slice of Vermont.

Alldays and Onions is located at 519 Main St. in downtown Bennington, Vt. Its hours are: lunch 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday; dinner at 5:00 p.m. – Closing, Thursday through Saturday; breakfast at 7:30

– 10:30 a.m. on Saturday; brunch at 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. For more information call: 802-447-0043 or visit www.alldaysandonions.com.

Telly Halkias is a freelance writer and editor. E-mail: [email protected].

The Name’s Not the Only Thing: Alldays & Onions

A view of the exterior of Alldays & Onions on Main Street in Bennington.

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2008 downtown bennington - fall

Documents

garlic jelly

pickled garlic

roasted garlic

garlic growers

garlic braids

garlic golf

southern vermont garlic

join garlic lovers