Nobushi spent his formative years in a village in the mountains of Nagano, Japan before moving to US.

He studied photography with William A. Garnett at U.C. Berkeley while pursuing a degree in architecture, and during summer breaks he joined forces with the owner/ publisher and the executive editor of then-fledgling Tokyo-based publication, Global Architecture (GA) as the editorial/photography assistant and the travel coordinator/translator. What was meant to be a job for a few summers became a career of photojournalism in architecture that lasted for 30 years. Acting both as an editor and a photographer for GA, he traveled globally and produced numerous publications.

Amongst his peers, Nobushi has been known for his adept use of “available light” in creating architectural images. Lately he has taken the notion further in his Vermont images collectively titled Exquisite Vermont. In it he captures and reveals the hue, luminosity and translucency inherent in rural Vermont landscape that are nuanced by the ever so changing seasonal light.

Sources of inspiration for Nobushi include the works of ancient Japanese artists like Hokusai, Hiroshige and Koetsu to which he had been exposed since early child- hood. The most influential though was the work of 17th C. haiku master Basho, known for The Narrow Road to the Interior, a travelogue peppered with haiku, that he had kept as he journeyed on foot inland and across central Japan. Young Nobushi appreciated the brevity of haiku with which Basho masterly and often wittily illustrated
the journal. It exhibited Basho’s keen astuteness of the places he visited and experiences he encountered, and it taught Nobushi the way to see attributes in situations and to capture essences that are often hidden below the surfaces.

The road Basho traveled on in 1691 passed by the area where the village Nobushi spent his childhood lay. Today Nobushi is settled in the hills (not unlike that of Nagano) of Southern Vermont since 1981, and devotes himself to making Exquisite Vermont images which he regards as visual haiku (haiga). The first collection of images is titled Exquiste Vermont: Back Roads To A Hidden Valley in homage to Basho.

Welcome to The Village Green Gallery online! Read about our resident artists below and check out the blog to catch up on recent gallery happenings! If you have any questions or would like to place an order, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Chikako was born and raised in Hokkaido, Japan  Although she is an accomplished artist, she received no formal art training.  During a particularly difficult time in her early childhood, she was confined to a plaster cast from the waist and spent her days entertaining herself by drawing, painting, making things with her hands and mechanical tools, exploring the details of her world and surrounding herself with color.  This curiosity and a sensitivity to the world around her has continued throughout her life  and has served her well in her art and life. After she graduated from the University of Tokyo she moved to the United States where she attended graduate school at the University of Massachusetts. During the 1970’s, she spent several years traveling in Europe and North Africa.

While living in Livorno, Italy, she discovered Amedeo Modigliani (b. 1884 and d. 1920) and was inspired by his contemporary style known for its economy of composition and neutral backgrounds that evoke a certain elegance that crosses peoples cultural and educational backgrounds. She began sketching and when a few years later she settled in New York, she began to create larger pieces to enhance the walls of her apartment.

Chikako Suginome  reflects the spirit of an “outsider artist.” “Outsider artists” are self-taught, not trained in traditional art forms and they are not limited by tradition leaving  them free to express themselves in the manner in which they choose. Their work is at once inspiring and visually exciting. In these artists one can truly see the limitlessness of human expression.  Outsider Artists have gained much deserved recognition over the last three decades.

In her own words, Chikako explains, “my objective in creating art is to surround myself in bright colors and textures, so that I am living in the space where I feel visually stimulated no matter where I am, what I am doing, or what the weather is.   I like to create art using geometric lines because I can express simplicity and movement at the same time.  I use fabrics as a medium to create the warmth that we need to go through the dark days of winter in Vermont.   I also use rice paper uniquely produced in Japan that resembles the texture of fiber to create a feel of warmth and softness.  It’s not the physical size of the space rather it’s the feel of the space that matters.   We are constantly dealing with illusions as we decide the size of space, color and texture to our surroundings.   To me, art is a work and creation of visual illusion.”

Since I was a child I collected the seashells and stones that I now incorporate into my jewelry. I take objects that are not thought of as valuable and by treating them as precious reveal the natural beauty of their color, texture, and shape. Growing up in New England I could explore beaches, mountains and river valleys – always searching for the lovely surprise of a piece of sea glass, a beautiful river stone, or a unique fossil or shell.

Now I search the shores of Lake Champlain for stones, natural buttons or arrowheads, and beaches in Cape Cod and Maine for sea glass and shells. People have sent me found objects from around the world to make into jewelry that has personal meaning.

I was accepted to Rhode Island School of Design and studied Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design. I graduated with a BFA in 1997, and now live in Brandon, VT with my husband and two children. My studio is located in the renovated Granary that also houses local painters, sculptors, and potters.

Every piece of jewelry I create is unique. I am always inspired by a new found object, or the history of an old button or tintype photograph. Initially, one may see the beauty of a stone or an elegant composition, but the true value of a piece of jewelry is the special meaning it keeps for the wearer.

Nicholas Kekic was born in Canandaigua, New York in 1972 into a glassmaking family. His grandfather worked at an industrial glass makings facility for General Electric for forty-two years and his father, Thomas, was an artist, teacher and craftsman who helped start the glass program at Rochester Institute of Technology during the 60’s. Kekic grew up during the early studio glass movement in America and was surrounded by hand-made objects and people using raw and natural materials. His rich heritage led him to begin experimenting with glass at an early age. He now creates colorful and functional objects such as cups, vases, and bowls. His works hold sculptural aspects and present a modern décor broadcasting lively colors such as ruby orange, saffron, lime, emerald green and turquoise. Furthermore, his glass exposes a handmade creative expression that adds warmth, color, and a human touch to an industrialized world.

Nick emphasizes the glassmaking process, “glassblowing, for me has become a process of taking this super hot liquid and freezing it to room temperature in a controlled but sometimes precarious balancing act of heat, gravity, timing and human intervention.” Some examples of Nick’s eclectic work include wine decanters, slanted vases which roll around in circles in order to facilitate wine’s breathing process, and “squarbles,” square-shaped marbles with glass blown designs inside that can be used as paperweights, stocking stuffers, and worry stones.

At the age of nineteen, Nick began attending the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. There he took a beginner’s glassblowing class and discovered the importance of the creative process which brings the objects to life. Through practicing his newly learned techniques, Kekic explored relationships with light, fluidity, and color, “it was there that I developed a new relationship with glass, one where I began to rediscover the value of finely crafted handmade things, not only as useful and beautiful objects but valuable for the one gets in making them.” Nick went on to operate a private glass blowing studio in Baskerville NC, work at North River Glass in Shelburne Falls, MA, and also assist glassblower, John Chiles in Weston, VT. He and his wife, Tamasin, opened Tsuga Studios in Chester, VT in 2000, where he continues to create and display his glassworks.

For over twenty years I have enjoyed a fulfilling career creating wood objects. I have been very fortunate to make a living producing the quality of Design and Workmanship that is both challenging and rewarding. While my work has evolved, most noticeably in size, from accessory pieces to furniture and Architectural installations, I still choose to work directly with a variety of hand tools. This approach allows me to find a clean, unadorned, form accentuating the figure of the wood. My furniture is often described in sculptural terms because of the perception of movement in the piece.

Materials are carefully selected for figure and color. Although I work in a variety of domestic and exotic hardwoods, both solid and veneer, I most often use Cheery, Walnut, Mahogany and Figured Maple. A hand-rubbed, Tung Oil Varnish finish is used on all pieces. Tabletops are top coated with a Poly-Varnish for added durability. These images represent the scope of my work. I look forward to each new project, whether it involves one or several pieces for my original design or collaboration.

Lochlin Revere Smith was born in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1947, the son of prominent Westchester County, New York painter, portrait artist and illustrator Lawrence Beall Smith, and Winn Revere Smith, also a talented visual artist.  Early in life, Lochlin realized that artistic expression and hand work were in his blood, and that 9-5 jobs were not.  In 1968, he moved to New York City to attend classes at the School of Visual Arts, where he focused on abstract painting.

In 1972, he escaped the intensity of the city and found serenity on a mountaintop in Vermont.  He set up a studio space in an old barn and began painting, sculpting and designing art jewelry.  He twisted, torched, pounded and shaped bronze rods and sheets into unusual, one-of-a-kind earrings, bracelets, pins and necklaces.

Lochlin draws inspiration from his own Celtic ancestry, as well as from Aztec, Egyptian and aboriginal artisans ~ reinterpreting, never copying, the visions of these ancient masters.  The natural world has always captured and held his imagination as well, as evidenced by the organic twists and turns of the metal.

His current work, created in his Montpelier design and metal-smithing studio, has evolved to include several lines of jewelry, watches, key rings, clocks and mobiles.

All styles are created in bronze, and given a variety of finishes including natural bronze, antique silver over bronze (which gives a pewter-like effect) and several colored patinas ~ verdigre, ocean blue, burnt orange and moss green.  Surface treatments are also achieved using torching and hammering techniques.

He employs his own original methods, bringing a primitive, yet sophisticated feel to his trademark hand-forged line, which includes spirals and freestyle glyph-like shapes.  He has designed his own tools to wrap beach stones, collected by Lochlin and his partner on the beautiful beaches of New England.  All the materials he uses, including welded-link chain, seamless beads, and semiprecious gemstones, are of the highest quality available, giving years of enjoyment to his customers.

Art, Science and Asian Culture has been her passion since childhood and the major themes o her life. Lucy studied art at the California College of Arts, was a student of the Italian glass masters and has studied Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, and Plant Spirit Medicine here in Vermont. She is also an avid gardener, with a fascination for cultivating the wild medicinal herbs. She opened Vitriesse Glass in Vermont in 1983. It has been a successful wholesale/retail business for over twenty years. She also practices as a small town herbalist part time.

Lucy is as passionate about glass as she is about science. Strongly influenced by forms in nature, by the human body and by the imagery of cell structure and DNA, she tries to combine these things with the Asian influence, Feng Shui, the acceptance and fascination of energy and its interactive dance as the spirit, and incorporate these diverse influences in each piece.

Her blown forms are fluid, sculptural and timeless. Her latticino vessels are an intricate process of blowing, pulling and twisting glass rods or canes with multiple colors entwined. The canes are then joined and shaped into their desired form- resulting in an exquisite depth and luminescence. In addition to her vessel forms, she has developed a line of glass beads using a similar process of pulling cane. The canes are cut into beads, fire polished into brilliant gems, and then assembled to create her jewelry line.

Lucy has participated in many one- woman and group shows in galleries from Canada, throughout the United States and Japan. Her work is included in a number of private and public collections, including the Smithsonian. From 1998 to 2004 she sat on the board of the Glass Art Society, the international organization for glass art.

Lucy now lives on a 25-acre farm in West Pawlet Vermont with her family, many animals, plants, and trees both domestic and wild. The inspiration is endless.

Mary stone, a whistle maker for almost 20 years, has worked with clay throughout her adult life with special emphasis on hand-formed “pinch” potter. Her clay whistles are lovingly sculpted figures and animals, each a unique exploration of the creatures essence expressed in a range of clays, firing techniques and glazing. Many people are initially drawn to Mary’s work visually and are surprised to learn that these charming sculptures are also musical. Indeed, part of the appeal of whistle- making for Mary is that the sound invites touch and brings the form to life.

Traditionally, clay whistles (or ocarinas) took the form of small birds. Mary has observed that people have a strong connection to different animals and has expanded the art by sculpting a variety of animals, from large polar bears to tiny creatures that can be worn around one’s neck. All are whistles- some are “tweeters” making wonderful thrilling bird sounds and simple tunes, and some are tunes to our conventional musical scale. The process of tuning the whistles requires constant care in retuning each sculpture as it dries prior to firing. Mary’s tuned whistles come with a fingering chart so anyone can learn to play them.

Born and raised in Central Vermont, Mary studied art and geology at the University of Vermont, traveled throughout South America, and returned in the early 1980’s to raise her family in Easy Montpelier. There she was introduced to the Mildred MacKenzie technique of producing musical sound from a pinch pot. “Whistle making allows me to work at home in a creative and intentional way. There is not end to the possibilities of from and sound.”

Because each piece is individually handmade, Mary’s work is sold at a limited number of fine craft guilds and shows in New York and Vermont, in the widest selection a the Artisans Hand Craft Gallery in Montpelier.