PUTNEY — The Putney Artists Residency, a new annual artists-in-residence program, has brought two artists to work in town on a project related to community resilience, positive solutions to oil depletion and climate change, and strengthening local economies.
In its inaugural summer residency program, two California artists, Katie Bachler and Frances Garretson, will work in town with Putney residents to produce their project through July 15. Transition Putney hosted a welcoming program at the Putney Library on June 20.
This summer, the program, initiated by John Burt, Christopher Irion and Paul LeVasseur, invited artists whose artistic inquiry related to the themes at hand to engage in a collaborative project of the artist's design.
Formerly of Putney, Bachler, now of Los Angeles, has danced with the site-specific dance troupe, bodycity, for eight years, bringing audiences to locations all over L.A. In a related geographical practice, she creates maps that document both historical and psychological information about place, blurring the lines between subjective and objective reality, past and present.
She considers her role as artist to be that of a facilitator, working with participants to create take-away tools to reframe the local.
Frances Garretson is a Los Angeles artist whose work straddles painting, drawing, installation, and celebration. Her work is centered in an attempt to reveal the invisible and promote a feeling of bemusement among viewers.
Recent work includes a series of papîer machè trees that reference the human body; indigo-dye; mural commissions; participatory events featuring food, plants, and fermentation; and forays into dance.
Bachler and Garretson will work out of a studio donated by Paul LeVasseur and Tim Cowles in the Putney village across from the General Store. Yellow Barn Music School and Festival has donated a meal plan to both artists so they can join the resident Yellow Barn musicians at their Greenwood School campus.
To learn more about the program, contact Irion (415-643-8986) or LeVasseur (802-387-4102).