Name: Robert Waldo Brunelle Jr.
Age: 62
Hometown: I was born in Rutland in 1958. My family has lived there since 1905. My folks still live there today!
How would you describe yourself in three words? Creative. Antiquarian. Humorous.
What’s something not a lot of people know about you? I suffer from many odd phobias, as well as a touch of OCD.
How do you start your day? Often by going to my studio to draw a cartoon I dreamed up during the night. I try to do at least one creative thing before breakfast daily.
What is the most adventurous thing you’ve done in your life? Taught art to middle school aged children every school day for 31 years.
What’s your favorite food? Dark chocolate.
Do you have a day job? I retired from teaching art in public school in 2012. I am now a painter, sculptor, freelance art educator, book illustrator and political cartoonist, so every day I am doing one or the other of those things.
What mediums do you work in? I paint mostly with acrylics nowadays. My cartoon strip and book illustrations are drawn on a computer using a graphic tablet, and my sculptures are made of wood, foam core and acrylic paints.
Why these mediums? When I began painting back in 1978 I used oils, however I switched to acrylics in the mid 1990’s because they are less toxic, and I don’t need to use smelly paint thinners. When I began my cartoon strip Mr. Brunelle Explains It All in 1997 I used pen and ink on paper, but I switched to drawing them digitally in the early 2000’s. It is much easier and faster to draw them digitally, and I can email them to my editors rather than relying on snail mail. I started making kinetic sculptures out of scraps of wood and foam core back when I was teaching because that was what I had laying around my art classroom.
What inspired you / how did it start? I’ve been drawing since I was a small child. Fortunately, my parents kept me well supplied with lots of paper and pencils, and encouraged me to keep at it. When I was in the 8th grade my teachers began to recognize my talent, and they also encouraged me. I was also lucky to meet two professors when I was at St. Michael’s College, Lance Richbourg and Roy Kennedy, both of whom set me on my path to becoming a professional artist. Lance taught me painting and art history, and Roy taught me sculpture and printmaking. I shared a studio with Lance after I graduated, and we are still friends today.
Do you have a process for creating? I am a bit obsessive/compulsive, so I must do something creative every day or I can’t sleep at night. I have two studios in my home, a large one for making sculptures and prints, and a small one where I paint and draw my cartoons and book illustrations. I always have one or two paintings in progress at all times, and I like to finish at least two every month. Every year I choose a theme, and then try to create at least two dozen variations on that theme ( I’ve discovered over the years that 25 paintings is the perfect number for a solo art show). As for the cartoon strip, I draw at least three per week, and once a month I send them all to the editors of Funny Times and Humor Times. It is a political strip, so I watch the news every evening, and jot down ideas based on current events. My kinetic sculptures are much more labor intensive, so I only make two or three of those each year.
When are you most inspired / what’s your favorite time of day to work? I generally do my cartoons first thing in the morning, and I do my paintings after supper in the early evening. I got into that habit when I was a teacher, because when I got home in the afternoon I was usually too tired to do anything!
Which artists inspire you? My paintings are often compared to those of my hero Edward Hopper. His painting “Early Sunday Morning” which I first saw in a college art history class, is what made me want to become a painter. Other artists and cartoonists who inspire me include Charles Addams, Robert Crumb, Goya, Edward Gorey, Daumier, Breughel, Gluyas Williams, Renoir, Roy Lichtenstein, Kandinsky (my sculptures are abstract) T.H. Benton, Winsor McCay, Peter Arno and Gary Trudeau.
What do you listen to when you work? I prefer to work in silence. I suffer from chronic migraines and I am slightly deaf, so sounds distract me. When I am not working however, I enjoy listening to classical music, or early (pre-1950) jazz. I play the fiddle, and I like listening to bluegrass and Old Time fiddle bands as well.
What are your thoughts about being an artist in Rutland? I visit Rutland every month, and my folks keep me updated as to artistic happenings there, but I haven’t lived in Rutland since 1980, so I’m afraid I couldn’t comment on that. However, I do applaud the efforts of the Chaffee to promote visual arts in the area.
What is your earliest memories of making art in Rutland? The very first time I exhibited my art in public was in a group art show at the Chaffee, back in the mid 1970’s! I’ve also exhibited my art at the Moon Brook Gallery, and in the lobby of the newly renovated Paramount Theater, and I had a solo show at the Chaffee in 1992. When I was a teen I worked at the Rutland Historical Society (I was both an art and a history major in college), and I helped them put together the book Rutland In Retrospect (I collect vintage photographs, and some from my collection appear in the book. I also wrote the pages about the history of automobiles in Rutland). My roots in Rutland go back generations, and old photos of Rutland have inspired many of my paintings.
Which arts organizations in town are you currently involved with? At the moment my only connection with the Rutland art scene is via my membership with the Chaffee. I was delighted to have several of my Dropped Foods paintings in (the) recent show The Five Senses, and I look forward to participating in future shows.
What’s your favorite art exhibit / project you’ve seen in Rutland? I used to participate in the Art In The Park shows back in the 1980’s, which I think are a wonderful way to bring art to the general public.
What would you like to see for the future of the arts in Rutland? Because I am both an artist and a historian, I would love to see some sort of art project or show that deals with Rutland’s rich history!
...Lynn D. Pratt
Name: Lynn D. Pratt
Age: 40
Hometown: Pawlet, VT
How would you describe yourself in three words? Creative. Loved. Driven.
What’s something not a lot of people know about you? My family and I like to do obstacle course races like Spartan and Savage races and we have obstacles built all over inside our house.
How do you start your day? I start my day first with Coffee, then getting my kids up for school and sitting down at my desk to paint.
What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done in your life? When I was in college I studied abroad in France and backpacked to over 20 countries, often on my own. Either that or closing a successful architecture practice and deciding to try out painting for a living.
What’s your favorite food? Candy corn or cheeseburgers, it’s a toss-up.
Do you have a day job? Yes, painting. lol
What medium do you work in? Watercolor primarily and I dabble in alcohol inks and plan to start colored pencils as well.
Why this medium? I love the way you can control watercolor while it also has its own mind. I also love the vibrance of the colors that their transparency creates. You really don’t get that with many other mediums.
What inspired you / how did it start? I started painting as a hobby and quickly became obsessed with it. I would paint right when I was done working for the day and often late into the evenings. I slowly took less and less clients for my architectural firm and painted more and more until I finally started painting full time and closed my architectural practice completely.
Do you have a process for creating? I start with something that interests me or catches my eye, then I take about 100-200 photos of the subject, usually in different orientations. I use photoshop to edit the photos and usually combine multiple images to form the perfect reference photo. I then paint from that image.
When are you the most inspired / what’s your favorite time of day to work? I love mornings. I have a fresh cup of coffee, my husband goes to work and my kids are at school (or at remote school in their rooms these days) and I have a quiet house to listen to music and create in.
Which artists inspire you? One of my favorite artists is Peter Huntoon. I not only love his paintings, but he is also a super inspiring person to talk to. When I first started painting, he gave me wonderful advice and encouraged me to stick with it. Another is Robert O’Brien. I paint in a very similar style to him and he was the first artist I got to know who didn’t think painting in a realistic style with watercolor was wrong!
What do you listen to when you work? I like to listen to hard rock and EDM mostly with some rap and pop music mixed in. Definitely something fast paced with a good beat.
What are your thoughts on being an artist in Rutland? Living out in the country makes it a little harder to sell art and teach classes so having Rutland so close by makes it a lot easier for me.
What’s your earliest memory of making art in Rutland? One of the first shows I ever did was Art in the Park in Rutland through Chaffee Art Center. I absolutely loved it and have gone back every year!
Why do you think artists are attracted to Rutland? Rutland is a great centrally located area in the middle of many smaller towns making it a great place to gather and create!
Which arts organizations in town are you involved with and how has it impacted you? I am a member of the Chaffee Art Gallery in Rutland and do many shows, classes and activities with them. They have been wonderful!
What’s your favorite art exhibit/project you’ve seen in Rutland? I always enjoy the variety of artists that come to Art in the Park in Rutland. It’s a great community of creative and talented people.
What would you like to see for the future of the arts in Rutland? I would love for there to be more art classes available in Rutland. We need a large, open, centrally located space to hold them and I think many teachers and students would go there.
Scroll down to meet more Vermont Creatives as they answer 22 QUESTIONS with writer, Janelle Faignant.
...Kerry O. Furlani
Name Kerry O. Furlani
Age Not answered
Hometown Growing up in a military family, we moved often so the word 'hometown' is a slippery one for me! My father was a marine corp pilot and was stationed, and then retired, in Oceanside, California. I learned to surf as a teenager and it seeded my awe of the ocean and my love for sport and physical expression. When I went surfing, I was often the only female out in the water competing with males for waves. It often made me feel uncomfortable and awakened me to gender politics - a theme which continues to resonate in my work today.
How would you describe yourself in three words? How about five? Curious. Sensitive. Disciplined. Obsessive. Compassionate.
What’s something not a lot of people know about you? After college, I was obsessive about living in Italy before starting any career. I moved to Rome, and later Florence, and worked for families as an "alla pari." This intimate cultural experience awakened me to my long held fascination with cultural nuance and differences. Living in these ancient cities also seeded my love affair with ancient sculpture and carving.
How do you start your day? Not answered
What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done in your life? I was working as an aspiring journalist for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper. I was on a career track to work abroad as a freelance writer. A close cousin of mine was living in Dublin, Ireland, at the time. One day, I received a letter from her inviting me to come join her. Though I did not feel ready to work as a freelancer, I said "yes" to this adventure to live and work abroad. What I recall most about this decisive career juncture was a repeated mantra that was resounding inside me: "What you don't know is better than what you know." After months living in Dublin, chasing the AP wire for stories, I recognized that my plan to pursue journalism was gradually being eclipsed by something that was alive in my heart: a yearning to explore the materials of sculpture. I found a sculpture supply shop in the city and picked up some materials. And for the next two years, in Dublin, alone in my apartment, I worked with these materials and explored the human form. Eventually, in this solitude, I hit a wall, recognizing my need for dialogue -- with teachers, mentors and fellow students. In time, I discovered and then enrolled at the Frink School of Figurative Sculpture, in Longton, England.
What’s your favorite food? Not answered
Do you have a day job? Along with producing a body of studio work, I teach slate carving workshops to community members and students from nearby middle schools, high schools, and colleges. In 2010, with the help of a grant from the Vermont Arts Council, I headed to Wales to train with John Neilson, a master letter carver. This experience gave me the skills and confidence to teach and take on lettering work. Today, I teach techniques of lettercarving and also work with clients designing and carving custom memorials in slate and marble.
What medium do you work in? I have an affinity for working with natural materials: Stone, wood, and plaster. Since moving to Vermont, I have focused on the exploration of this region's slate. In recent years, I have returned to three dimensional work in plaster and wood. I am currently working on a body of standing female forms in wood. (I am on my fourth). My central aim, with this work, is to explore the nature of female energy in sculptural form.
Why this medium? As long as I can remember I've been pulled to natural materials and the natural world. I was a sensitive and anxious child. I have an early childhood memory of finding solace and awakening to my first real sense of "me" in nature. One day, I was walking alone in my neighborhood and came upon a familiar patch of woods. For whatever reason, that day, I went deeper into these woods and rearranged fallen objects within this space to create a 'room of my own'. I returned to this space again and again. It was private and personal and fed something in me that seemed bigger than myself - and my family - that was true about who I was and what I loved. It was a "room" where I felt most at home. Upon each visit, I relished observing the changing details of the natural world. My solitude in this world seemed to be about an utter goodness and innocence and filled me with light and hope and peace. And fed my sense of wonder. All of this is what I feel today when I am alone in my studio, lost in my process of making sculpture with natural materials.
What inspired you / how did it start? Not answered/included above
Do you have a process for creating? Not answered
When are you the most inspired / what’s your favorite time of day to work? Not answered
Which artists inspire you? I continue to fuel and enlarge my sculptural vocabulary looking at abstract figurative works from a wide swath of sources: ancient civilizations, Africa and Oceania, and sculpture from my heroes of the early 20th century who broke from representational work but remained with the figure: Brancusi, Arp, Henri Laurens, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Noguchi.
What do you listen to when you work? Not answered
What are your thoughts on being an artist in Rutland? I have loved this region for its good people and beautiful landscape.
What’s your earliest memory of making art in Rutland? I gifted a lettering stone to the Chaffee for its outside garden. It reads, "And All Shall Be Well."
Why do you think artists are attracted to Rutland? Not answered
Which arts organizations in town are you involved with and how has it impacted you? Not answered
What’s your favorite art exhibit/project you’ve seen in Rutland? Not answered
What would you like to see for the future of the arts in Rutland? I'd like to see the continuation of public works integrated into the landscape and downtowns of our region. Public art is vital to our quality of life! It inspires engagement and a sense of belonging.