On Friday, April 3rd, VNRC will host a reception for local artist Tom Leytham in conjunction with Montpelier Art Walk. Tom’s exhibit, “Outside Lies the Magic”, features national award-winning transparent watercolors capturing the quickly disappearing world around us, including remnants of a working landscape in Vermont that once held factories, granaries, mills and mines. A Montpelier resident, Tom will be on-site to discuss the technique and inspiration behind his work.

First drawn and then rendered in watercolor, Tom’s paintings use the whiteness of the paper to “magnify the elements of construction and deconstruction and to focus on telling details”. He is “especially drawn to relics of everyday life that are hiding in plain sight, be it junked vehicles, old stone walls, abandoned buildings, bridges and structures, but also life cycles of bugs, flowers and other phenomena in the process of transition”.

In addition to his exhibit at VNRC, many of Tom’s works are on display in the permanent collection of the Vermont Statehouse as well as in private collections across the state and beyond.

Doors will be open to the public between 4:00 and 7:00 pm. Light refreshments, including homemade baked goods, will be served while supplies last. Additional visiting hours for “Outside Lies the Magic” can be found on our public calendar. Contact Alex Connizzo, Special Projects Coordinator, at (802)-223-2328 x126 or art@vnrc.org for more information, to inquire about sharing your work, or to schedule a visit.

Whether you are beginning or ending your Art Walk experience at VNRC, make sure to stop at the Vermont Supreme Court Gallery for “Heart and Eye — World Photography”, a ten-year retrospective by Middlesex photographer Elliot Burg. These photographs taken across the globe include candid images of sporting events, political unrest, and portraits of people in Argentina and in the Gambia. An opening reception will be held from 4:30 to 7:00 pm on Friday, with artist remarks at 6:00 pm. The exhibit will be on display at the Supreme Court until June 26.

“Outside Lies the Magic” – Additional Information

LUNA MOTHS
Luna moths lose their color over the course of their two-week lifespan.
Learn more: Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE)

ELIZABETH COPPER MINE
The Elizabeth Mine in South Strafford, Vermont, was one of the largest copper mines in the USA.  It was declared an EPA Superfund site and remediated between 2003 and 2021.  The site was a series of 6 miles of mine tunnels, open pit mine and tailings pile.  The waste was capped and the tunnels closed.  The tailings have been encased and it is now a solar farm.
Learn more: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | Town of Strafford | Vermont Historical Society | The Nature Conservancy

VERMONT ASBESTOS
Known by many names, this mine operated by the Vermont Asbestos Group on a dirt road in Eden, Vermont, has a series of six-story buildings and an 800-foot high tailings mountain with a covered conveyor belt system to bring the ore to the processing plant.  It is Vermont’s Chinese Great Wall. Residents in Eden and Lowell voted down a resolution to designate the abandoned mine as a Superfund site, but it continues to be monitored by the State.
Learn more: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | Brave Little State Podcast | WCAX

PIKE HILL COPPER MINE
This copper mine in Corinth, Vermont, was declared an EPA Superfund site in 2001, but remains in process of being remediated. The mine tunnels will be remediated and preserved for bat habitat as the the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis, federally endangered and state endangered), the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus, state endangered), and the eastern small-footed bat (Myotis leibii, state threatened) have been found in the vicinity.
Learn more: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | Town of Corinth | Vermont Public

WITTE MARINE SALVAGE
South of Staten Island is a marine salvage yard, at one time home to over 400 sinking ships, now down to about hundred.  Coal powered tugboats and ferries were scrapped and left to fall apart into the bay at the south end of Staten Island.  Under new ownership, the boats are being recycled and are only accessible via kayak or canoe.
Learn more: WNYC | Abandoned Spaces

TRACTOR DANCE
The Farmall Fixit in Randolph, Vermont is surrounded by a field of junked tractors in a weed filled field.  They look like they are some kind of devilish dance.

CALEDONIA SPIRITS STILL
The first still at Caledonia Spirits is a wonder in Vermont invention. This 15-gallon copper still distilled gin from raw honey was located at the company’s original distillery in Hardwick, Vermont.
Learn more: Caledonia Spirits

TUNBRIDGE MILL
The owner is restoring the building and intends to install an electric turbine generator to power the homes in Tunbridge village.