Past Events
Vermont Wax Cylinder day
NOVEMBER 2, 2019
In honor of the first anniversary of Old Mill Road Recording, 1761 Arts partnered with the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the Thomas Edison National Historical Park to showcase the evolution and revolutionary technology of sound. Guest artists (recorded on both wax cylinder and in the state-of-the-art studio) included: Two-time TONY AWARD Winning composer, Adam Guettel and Vermont’s dynamic duo, Dwight & Nicole.
MISSING: Lea Ehrich
In the mid-20th century, Arlington, Vermont was home to a remarkable creative colony:
Five celebrated Saturday Evening Post Illustrators (Norman Rockwell, Mead Schaeffer, George Hughes, Gene Pelham, and John Atherton); Best-selling Author and Social Activist Dorothy Canfield Fisher; Cartoonist Don Trachte; and Composer Carl Ruggles. One town over (seven minutes South) lived poet Robert Frost. Publisher Robert Haas (of Random House) split his time between NYC and Arlington. Just a decade or two earlier, Rockwell Kent called Arlington home
10 of the 11 names on the list are men. There is a 12th name missing: Lea Ehrich.
Like so many women of the mid-20th Century, Lea Ehrich was much more complex than she was allowed to demonstrate publicly. Despite being a member of the Southern Vermont Arts Center for 52 years (1945-1997), best friends with Kacy Hughes (George Hughes’ wife), and a respected fine artist (particularly adept at capturing the nuances of nature), Lea had not been recognized as part of the famed Arlington Artists’ Colony – until July 2019, when 1761 Arts sponsored an exhibition / pop-up gallery at Old Mill Road Gallery, featuring rotating Ehrich art, the first solo show of the artist’s work in over 20 years.
MAGIC ROCKS! WITH LEON ETIENNE
From "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and "America's Got Talent" to Radio City Music Hall, Leon Etienne has dazzled audiences around the world and been hailed by critics as "America's Rock Illusionist." In November 2019, Leon performed two intimate, family friendly, magic shows in East Arlington, Vermont for 1761 Arts.
CONCERT: GRANT MALOY SMITH
Grant Maloy Smith® is a singer and songwriter of COUNTRY/ROOTS music - an artful blend of country, bluegrass, folk, and pop music. His album "Dust Bowl - American Stories" spent 17 weeks on the Billboard charts, including 10 weeks in the TOP 10 of the Americana/Folk Album Sales Chart, and reached as high as #12 on the Country Album Sales Chart, and #2 on the Heatseekers Chart (across all genres).
Grant performed for 1761 Arts in November 2018.
CONCERT: ELI WEST
Ben Winship and Eli West play Brother duets, both original and traditional. They have a sonic span that reflects and defies their geography. While both are rooted in the West, Ben in the Tetons and Eli in the PNW, they each have been moved by the traditions of SW Virginia, the Carter family fold, and broader fiddle tune traditions with pockets all over.
Eli performed for 1761 Arts in 2018.
ROCKWELL THE MUSICAL
In 1942, illustrators enjoyed celebrity status – and Norman Rockwell was a superstar. He was too old to enlist, but still wanted to do his part, so he volunteered his services to The War Department to paint a series of posters inspired by F.D.R.’s Four Freedoms Speech. Despite his fame, Rockwell was flat-out rejected. They told him: “In the last war, we used illustrators like you. This time around, we want fine arts men. You know… real artists.” Using this episode as a framework, the musical ROCKWELL explores Rockwell’s life, loves, insecurities, and resilience.
Performed in the Summer of 2018 as part of the 1st ever 4 Freedoms Festival, sponsored by 1761 Arts!
4 FREEDOMS FESTIVAL℠
In June 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued their Atlantic Charter, in which they described 4 essential human rights: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear.
At home, in Arlington, Vermont, the legendary artist Norman Rockwell was inspired. Rockwell was too old to enlist, but he wanted to make a statement in pictures why Americans were sending their boys to war. His wife suggested he “paint the ideas, not the words.”