The work of three different artisans — three different ways of interacting with the natural world — will be on view at Art on Main in Bristol from Oct. 13-Nov. 12 in the new exhibit “Bringing the Outside In.” An artist reception will be open to the public on Friday, Oct. 13, from 5-7 p.m.
Susan Goldstein, Krista Cheney and Aurora Davidson all work directly with live natural materials; however, what they each do with their materials is unique to their own particular curiosity and artistic vision.
Susan Goldstein, Muddy Toes Terrariums creates small there-dimensional worlds inside glass containers. They range from small hand-blown glass globes with artfully place succulents, rocks, moss and other natural elements to large, window-like containers which bring the outside in for a more intimate view.
Goldstein, started the Bristol Sprout House in the early 1980s and lived in Addison County for many years before moving north to Burlington. Two years ago she started Muddy Toes Terrariums.
“They’re small miniature worlds where you can let your imagination roam,” she said. “I do a lot in glass, but am also moving into wooden boxes.”
Goldstein said she forages as much as she can locally. She gathers stones from Lake Champlain, makes her own soil and buys the tropical and succulent plans (not native to Vermont) from local garden centers.
“I think about being in a small world,” she explained. “Sometimes when I’m out in nature I see the way plants nudge up to stone or overlap each other, and that inspires me. I try to create a world that you could see in nature somewhere else.”
Krista Cheney, of St. George, is a fine-art photographer who approaches her subjects a bit like a mad scientist — exploring the unpredictable interaction of flowers and frozen water — ultimately creating beautiful, mysterious, other-worldly images of plants and flowers.
Aurora Davidson, Green Angel Arts, collects natural materials and combines them to make a kind of botanical collage, which she then photographs. Scenes of fields, forests and mountains shine from her images with the intimacy of the materials themselves –—like walking through a meadow to gaze at a view. The original pieces which are too fragile to display and sell are kept safely in a climate controlled space. Davidson lives in Huntington.