Driving for Art in Vermont
VT Artist Henry Isaacs Opens at Highland Center for the Arts
August 11, 2024
Greensboro, VT — If you want to see good art in Vermont, get ready for a country drive.
Yesterday, Vermont artist Henry Isaacs exposed a new collection of his abstracted works of nature at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro, Vermont. His show, titled Swimming Holes & Gathering Places — Vermont and Beyond, will remain up through September 15th. Isaacs’ subject matter ranges from Nepal to New York, Barnard to Barnet, the coast of Maine to the wooded areas of Vermont, a beaver whacking its tail on a pond, a duck and a fox in Rorschach-like communion, and numerous other works capturing the natural world special to this artist of long standing.
As my partner and I made the drive from North Thetford to Greensboro, winding our way through Fairlee, Peacham, and Danville, with a side trip to St. Johnsbury en route to the opening I wondered, “Who’s gonna make this drive to a remote Vermont outpost to see visual art?” My question was answered upon arrival with people a-plenty who made the trip from all over the state and the region. It seems Isaacs has a following, and for good reason. His art conjures feelings of oneness with our natural world, buoyed by colors he helped field test long ago in a move away from petrochemically-produced oil paints to ones based in vegetable oil. A kind of environmental coup one would expect from a Vermonter. Not only are Isaacs’ colors vibrant, but the way he mixes them on palette and canvas produce brilliant splashes of joy to draw the viewer into his re-imagined world.
Some have coined Isaacs’ painting style as one of broken brushstrokes. I characterize it as protracted pointillism. Either way, having watched him work against a foreground of pond, forest, and wild Vermont sky, I can attest to his formidable pulses of energy with each brushstroke he lets fly. His eager curiosity to peer into light and reality captures nature’s beauty through an abstracted Vermont dimensionality of active being that merges seamlessly into the elemental life forces of water, air, light, wind, and the shadowed underbellies of leaves and fauna that come so beautifully alive in his work.
I suggest making tracks to Greensboro for this Isaacs show, his first in Vermont in twenty-five years. While you’re there, enjoy all the Highland Center for the Arts has to offer, including walking its beautiful grounds and playing a round of mini golf(!), not to mention exploring its extraordinary theatre and art gallery, cafe and outdoor dining patio area. It’s about a 35-mile ride from Montpelier, a bit closer from St. Johnsbury, and worth the drive from just about anywhere.
Images of Isaacs’ work may also be found on his website at This Link.
Opening Reception and Artist Talk photos follow:
Dave Celone, a former gallerist and curator of dozens of visual art shows, is vice president of alumni relations & development for Vermont Law and Graduate School. He writes from Sharon, Vermont.