Confluence, a new gallery in the historic E.J. Bullock Building, will have its opening May 6 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m.
Regular hours will be Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sunday noon to 4 p.m., and by appointment. The gallery's debut show will consist of work by five women photographers inspired by the beauty of their local environment: Sue Hartman, Jeanette Eckert, Stacy Birch, Nicki Steel, and Ann Floriani.
Hartman, a 30-year resident of Readsboro, previously ran her own plant business, serving local landscapers and gardeners. She says she “enjoys capturing the inherent beauty of nature with photography and manipulating those images by process and decoration to enhance the man-made environment."
Eckert grew up in Massachusetts, spent many summers in Maine, and moved to Vermont in 2000. “The charm and character of New England landscapes, flora and wildlife are always a delight to my senses,” Eckert says. This is her fifth year professionally showing her work, mostly in art and craft shows under her trade name, Moments in Time Photography. She is based in East Dover.
From Birch's website comes this description of her work: “Nature and landscape photography are my passion, but I enjoy taking portraits too. Authenticity is what I aim to capture. People belong outside, let nature be the studio, and let people be people. Mother Nature did a great job creating the backdrop for life. My mission is to take pictures of the beauty in the great outdoors and the many ways people interface with it.”
Steele resides in Wilmington and says she started her photography business, Mostly Local, in the late 1990s, photographing nature, “whether it's 'the big picture' of New England scenery, a leaf detail, or a farm animal.”
Floriani, a resident of Readsboro, only recently took up photography but has already had her work on exhibit in Adams, Mass., featuring nighttime landscapes.
Confluence, Readsboro's first gallery, is located in a historic three-story building on Main Street in this town tucked into the southern reaches of the Green Mountains, with the Deerfield River cascading through it.
Once a bustling town where logging - and products from that industry such as cardboard box manufacturing, were economic drivers - Readsboro has struggled in more recent decades. Several years ago, however, Readsboro Hometown Redevelopment, Inc., bought the E.J. Bullock building, which had been abandoned for many years, and is working on refurbishing the building.
The building was built in the style of French Empire, with a mansard roof and other fine architectural features. The open-layout first floor has been fixed up and painted and is being used for meetings and community functions.
Now, Readsboro Arts has opened a new space in the building, a milestone that signals Readsboro and nearby hill towns, replete with artists and crafters of all stripes - some of whom are known nationally and internationally - may finally have a permanent place to show off the fruits of their talent.