MIDDLEBURY — On Thursday, Oct. 31, from 4 to 8 p.m. photographer George Bouret will bring his portable pop up studio to the Vermont Folklife Center headquarters building at 88 Main St. in Middlebury to capture the antic quality of Halloween in spontaneous portraiture. All are invited to come in costume or use on-site props to bring out another dimension of your real self in a portrait image that will become a family keepsake. Prints will be sold for a modest fee.
Bouret’s portable studio is an extension of a project that began when he teamed up with artist Roy Egg to create an old-time photo studio for Pawlet’s Olden Days fair — complete with painted backdrop, wooden costume cut outs, and other accessories. Since then Bouret has been shooting impromptu portraits at fairs, festivals, and other busy public events. The combination of an improbable setting and slightly absurd props has often produced surprising results.
A selection of Bouret’s uniquely revealing portraits, titled “Portraits at the Fair,” is on display at the Vermont Folklife Center through Nov. 23.
George Bouret is a freelance artist specializing in documentary and architectural photography. He graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in 1991, where he has also taught large format photography and lighting. He was recently the project photographer for the expansion of the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum in Boston.
On Halloween Bouret will be shooting portraits on a walk-in basis. Prints will be available for a modest fee. For more information visit our Web site www.vermontfolklifecenter.org or call (802) 388-4964.
The Vermont Folklife Center’s mission is to broaden, strengthen, and deepen our understanding of Vermont and the surrounding region; to assure a repository for our collective cultural memory; and to strengthen communities by building connections among the diverse peoples of Vermont.