Plastic is everywhere: from the top of Mount Everest to the placenta of unborn babies. But what can we really do about it and why? On Sunday, October 1 at 2 PM the Southern Vermont Art Center will host an afternoon of conversation with noted environmentalist Bill McKibben, former regional EPA administrator and Beyond Plastics founder Judith Enck and the humorist author of Year of No Garbage Eve O. Schaub, moderated by WAMC’s Joe Donahue.
Co-sponsored by the Northshire Bookstore and the Southern Vermont Art Center, tickets are $10 per person and available on Eventbrite. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the anti-plastic-waste non-profit Beyond Plastics. Tickets for a quilt raffle benefitting Beyond Plastics will also be available.
EveNSteve artists are extremely pleased to announce that their artwork entitled Each One a Soul has been acquired by the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont. Part of an ongoing series entitled “The Battlefield,” Each One a Soul is a multi-panel photograph with hand-sewing and handwritten text that depicts scenes from the site of the Battle of Bennington and imagines a series of voices speaking about the battle from various points of view: from a combatant stealing a pocket watch, to a brass cannon that was named Molly Stark, to the earth of the field itself.
Each One a Soul has been acquired by the Bennington Museum
“(Each One a Soul) bring(s) a nearly 250 year old event, which was the impetus for the Museum’s founding, into the present day,” says Jamie Franklin, Director of Exhibitions and Collections. “We ⎼ as a Society, Country, and Community ⎼ continue to grapple with some of the same issues that concerned the soldiers who fought and lost their lives to guarantee us all ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ nearly 250 years ago. As we approach the 250th anniversaries of America’s founding, the Revolutionary War, and the Battle of Bennington in the coming years, this work will help Bennington Museum bring history to life and make it relevant for contemporary audiences.”
Movie poster for the short film Each One a Soul
EveNSteve is the husband and wife team of author Eve O. Schaub and artist Stephen Schaub who are based in Pawlet, Vermont. As a Marine Gulf War Veteran, and recipient of the Navy Achievement Medal, Stephen Schaub brings to “The Battlefield” series a particular lived experience. 2021 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the First Gulf War. This milestone represents a pivotal moment in Schaub’s desire to grapple with the meaning of his own experience of both honor and trauma, through the frame of history and art.
Eve Schaub hand-applying text to the artwork
The Battle of Bennington took place on August 16, 1777, and was a small but significant Revolutionary War skirmish on the border of New York and Vermont.
Battlefield sites are preserved to connect us with the past. “The Battlefield” series invites viewers to ask: what has been learned? Does the land carry the memory of a battle the way a body carries trauma? Can it be used to heal? Using imagery of the site and text based on the battle’s history, filmmaker-artists EveNSteve invite the viewer to investigate and reimagine the battlefield as a place of ritual, healing and rebirth.
“The importance of studying history is recognizing the way that past decisions and actions affect us in the present,” says Bennington Museum Collections Manager Callie Raspuzzi. “This work asks important questions in a compelling and visually beautiful way.”
A short film is available on EveNSteve’s website that features Eve reading the text of the artwork while panning over the imagery, as well as images documenting the making of the artwork. For this and more information, please visit: EveNSteve.com
EveNSteve is excited to announce the opening of their newest outdoor exhibition, An Echo of Affection, which takes as its subject the covered bridges of Vermont and the stories we tell about them.
The exhibit is at the Hayfield Art Gallery at 671 River Road in Pawlet, Vermont, which is open dawn till dusk, free and open to the public. Works may be viewed by driving by or by walking the mown trail through the field. A response to the isolation demands of the pandemic, the Hayfield Art Gallery is the creation of EveNSteve, the husband and wife team of author Eve O. Schaub and artist Stephen Schaub.
Covered Bridges are the subject of the newest exhibition in Pawlet
“We wanted to focus on covered bridges in these new artworks,” says artist Stephen Schaub, “because they are special places; they are an unusual hybrid of indoors and out. They have a particular feeling to them, almost like a sacred space. And they represent transition: the moving from one stage to another. Which is very fitting, I think, for this moment in time.”
The artworks feature monumental photographs, “in-camera colleges on film” as Schaub terms them, coupled with brightly colored, hand-painted text which floats in and around the imagery. The photographs are mounted on large placards in the field so as to hold up to the elements and be visible from a distance.
One of five monumental artworks in the Hayfield Art Gallery
Also part of the exhibition, the Schaubs have installed what they call “the smallest covered bridge in the world,” which sits mid-exhibition and features information about the exhibit, as well as a shady spot to pause.
“We hope everyone will come out to see the exhibit whether just driving by, stopping for a walk, or bringing a picnic to enjoy the artwork and the landscape by the side of the beautiful Mettawee River,” says Eve Schaub.
It was in May of 2020 EveNSteve installed their first hayfield artwork entitled “My Heart is Very Big” on the land across the street from their home and art studio, as “a gift to our friends, neighbors, and community.” Over time the installation grew to encompass five monumental outdoor artworks in the field.
“What began as a temporary solution to reach viewers during quarantine has evolved,” Eve Schaub explains. “Now it is an exciting and creative way to reach new audiences. It brings our art out of the gallery and into everyday life.”
World’s Smallest Covered Bridge. Probably.
The Hayfield Art Gallery has been the subject of news stories on NBC Boston News 10, New England Cable News, WTEN Albany ABC, and WCAX Burlington CBS, as well as articles in Seven Days, the Rutland Herald, and the Times Argus.
EveNSteve’s outdoor art gallery is free and open to the public, open dawn till dusk; it is located at 671 River Road in Pawlet Vermont. An Echo of Affection will be on display until Spring of 2023. For more information visit their website at www.evensteve.com or call 802-287-0287.
If you live in Pawlet, no doubt by now you’ve heard of the proposal to erect a monument on the Town Green in commemoration of a pivotal Revolutionary War moment known as “The Pawlet Expedition.” This idea will be voted upon in the upcoming election on March 1 under the final article on the ballot, Article #32.
No doubt you, like I did, have questions. Here are a few answers:
Artist’s rendering of the proposed monument. The figure is for scale and will not look exactly like this
How big is the proposed monument?
Including the pedestal, approximately seven and a half feet tall. A bit taller than a person.
Will it overwhelm the Town Green?
This is an important question because, as Town Greens go, ours is certainly on the small side. But to get a feel for what it might be like, check out this image of the proposed monument in place (below).
This image is to demonstrate monument scale, but not necessarily placement
Does Pawlet already have a monument to the Pawlet Expedition?
Yes. There is a large rock with a plaque on it, which sits in front of the North Pawlet schoolhouse which houses collections of the Pawlet Historical Society.
So isn’t one monument enough?
Here’s the problem: who sees that monument, exactly? Have you ever stopped by to read it? I’ve lived in Pawlet for the last 25 years, including several years I was a member of the historical society board which met in that very schoolhouse. I’ve never read it. I’ve never seen anyone reading it.
Because the placement of this plaque is on fast-moving Route 30, with no place for visitors to park or any real reason to stop, this monument doesn’t really function the way a monument should: which is to draw our attention to a piece of history.
The article as it appears on the ballot for March 1
Is this history worth emphasizing?
This is the real question. And really, it’s a very subjective question, because whether or not one feels we should be highlighting this moment in history depends on a whole bunch of individual questions: how do we feel about war? How do we feel about this particular war? How much do we want to focus on Pawlet’s history as opposed to our present or future?
My personal feeling is this: history is important. Like, really, really important. And this particular moment is history is worth talking about, and worth sharing with visitors to our community. History is also complicated. What I like about the plan to build this monument is that it will encourage complicated conversations about our history that might not have happened otherwise.
Monuments can be very controversial things these days. But, I don’t believe we have to give up on them entirely, or silence the conversations they engender- quite the opposite. We should welcome the open discussion of history and all the fallible, complicated people in it.
What will it cost?
Probably a whole pile of money. BUT! due to fundraising and grant-writing efforts of volunteers, there will be no cost to town taxpayers.
I know this is important so let me say that again: there will be nocost to town taxpayers.
Sure, but what are the hidden costs?
Well, what have been the hidden costs of the rock with the plaque at the North Pawlet Schoolhouse? I’m guessing none. Maybe someone will have to spray it with a hose after mud season, but as I understand it, bronze is pretty durable.
Does the Pawlett Historical Society support this?
They do not officially support this proposal. But with all due respect, I can’t remember the last time they supported anything, can you?
Does the Pawlet Select Board support this?
The fact that it’s on the ballot should tell you one thing: that they want to know what the voters think before deciding.
So what’s the upshot?
During the course of my time in Pawlet, I’ve noticed that the town seems to go through these cycles regularly. We ask questions, raise ideas, and try to plan for our future. Questions like: do we want to invest in turning the three-room schoolhouse into the new public library? Do we want to support school choice for all who live here? Do we want to put the effort in to restore our historic Town Hall?
All three of these questions were, at one time, highly divisive and controversial in our community, but I’d argue that, once carried out, all of these investments in our town have made it a better, more engaging, equitable, and interesting place to live. And that’s my opinion about the proposed monument as well.
Want to know more?
Here’s the proposed plaque text, which is not finalized, but gives you a good idea of the history and its importance:
The public is invited to a free Artist Walk and Talk on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 3PM at the Hayfield Art Gallery at 671 River Road in Pawlet. Early arrivers are welcome to picnic or stroll along the picturesque Mettawee River. Viewers of all ages are invited to come enjoy The Dollhouse Family and the Black Strawberry, currently on display.
The outdoor art gallery is the creation of EveNSteve, the husband and wife team of author Eve O. Schaub and artist Stephen Schaub, and was installed in the hayfield across the street from their home and art studio during 2020, as “a gift to our friends, neighbors, and community.”
“Art helps us to make sense of the world,” Eve Schaub said. “We both felt strongly that during times of uncertainty we need art more than ever.”
The artworks featured are monumental film photographs taken by Stephen, hand-painted with text written by Eve, and then attached to outdoor scaffolding to withstand the Vermont elements as best they can. They include one that reaches thirteen feet in height and another that is thirty-four feet long.
Since opening in 2020, the Hayfield Art Gallery has been the subject of news stories on NBC Boston News at Ten, New England Cable News, WTEN Albany ABC, WCAX Burlington CBS, and articles in Seven Days, the Rutland Herald, and the Times Argus.
The Dollhouse and the Black Strawberry, composed of six monumental works, is on display through spring of 2022.
“During the last year, our world, like that of so many people, had shrunk until it became more or less restricted to the size of our house.” Eve says. “We wanted to make a series of artworks that spoke to this unusual and fraught time, and my old childhood dollhouse reminded us that the process of play has much in common with the process of making art.”
Each work in the series features a different character from the Dollhouse Family and addresses a different theme: of looking outward, of looking inward, of transformation and revelation.\
The event will take place on Sept. 18 at 3 PM rain or shine. The Hayfield Art Gallery is free and open to the public. For more information please visit evensteve.com or call 802-287-0287.
Monuments to Now, a popular outdoor art exhibit in a hayfield in Pawlet, Vermont will be closing on May 1. Conceived of in response to safety concerns of the pandemic, the exhibit features five monumental artworks which may be safely viewed by car, but viewers are also welcome to park in the adjacent gallery parking lot and walk the mown path connecting the artworks.
The outdoor art gallery is the creation of EveNSteve, the husband and wife team of author Eve O. Schaub and artist Stephen Schaub. The first artwork “My Heart is Very Big” was installed in the hayfield across the street from their home and art studio last May, as “a gift to our friends, neighbors, and community.”
“Art helps us to make sense of the world,” Eve Schaub said. “We both felt strongly that during times of uncertainty we need art more than ever.”
Since then four more artworks have been added, including one that reaches thirteen feet in height and another that is thirty-four feet long. Photographs taken by Stephen are hand-painted with text written by Eve, and then attached to outdoor scaffolding to withstand the Vermont elements as best they can.
“In fact, they’ve defied our expectations and held up remarkably well,” Stephen says. “There has been some fading and color shift, but we take that as all part of the life of the piece.”
What began as a temporary solution to reach viewers during quarantine and isolation has evolved for these artists into a creative way to reach new audiences, bringing their art out of the gallery and into everyday life.
“Folks would make a point to stop and thank us for creating this, or to tell us they drove from two hours away just to see it,” Eve said. “It’s extremely humbling and gratifying.”
Because of the overwhelmingly positive response to the outdoor exhibit they have plans to continue it.
“We’re at work right now on the next exhibit for the outdoor gallery.” Stephen explains. “We plan to have it installed by June.” The theme of the new exhibit has yet to be announced.
The free outdoor art gallery has enjoyed attention as a positive news story during a year that has held more than its share of tragedy. The Hayfield Art Gallery has been the subject of news stories on NBC Boston News at Ten, New England Cable News, WTEN Albany ABC, and WCAX Burlington CBS, as well as articles in Seven Days, the Rutland Herald, and the Times Argus.
EveNSteve’s outdoor art gallery is free and open to the public; it is located at 671 River Road in Pawlet Vermont. For more information visit their website at http://www.evensteve.com.
pawletvermont.com 