Art Map Burlington, February 2007

ART VENUE

Artpath Gallery
Ellis Jacobson’s Gift to Burlington

While looking for parking to dine at a lakeside restaurant or taking a stroll down the bike path, take a break from the spectacular lake scenery, and locate the Wing Building. Its undulating aluminum exterior caresses the Burlington Bike Path from Main to King Streets, gazing West toward the Ferry and the distant Adirondacks. Owned by the Main Street Landing Company, the Wing Building is just one example of the Company’s active courtship of artistic culture in our city.

In 2002 artist Ellis Jacobson approached the Main Street Landing Company’s Melinda Moulton about exhibiting in the then-empty corridor of the Wing Building. Hoping to finance an art studio/exhibition space for his own sculpture, Jacobson proposed curating exhibits in the long corridor which runs the length of the building. Jacobson has seen his work featured from the Europe to Oaxaca. According to him, he saw “an opportunity to exhibit fine artwork that was not primarily defined by commerce--an opportunity for Vermont artists to help express and evolve our collective psyche.” Far from a tourist-netting, high-end consumer mill, Ellis wanted to share the “creation of something tangible out of mere energy and imagination.” Once the name Artpath came to him, he was, in his own words, hooked. While he has yet to get that studio, he considers his exhibition space a success.

One need only read the glowing reviews in the pages of our local weekly and daily newspapers to find agreement.

The current show features paintings by Kenji Katakura, paint and mixed-media collages by Jane Pincus, pastels by Helene Amses and a monumental mask by Ellis Jacobson himself. Final Gift is a four-by-five foot mask-like, bas-relief. Though it took a quarter ton of clay to make, the sculpture itself is made of papier mâché. Inspired by the artist’s own experience with end-of-life care, the heavily-furrowed lines in the old woman’s face reveal pain and old age competing with the hard-won humor and warm resilience of a long life well lived. Just one half of a work in progress, Final Gift will eventually include another mask and a nurturing arm, cradling the loveworn head now on display at the Wing Building.

What began in the pursuit of an exhibition place for his own work has become for Ellis Jacobson rich grounds for networking, artistic growth and the expansion of possibilities for local artists. He says that Artpath has actually changed lives by granting beginning artists the opportunity to exhibit; thereby inspiring them to pursue art full time. The “Gift” is all Burlington’s to enjoy: a hallway made colorfully and texturally vibrant by an ever-changing exhibition space.

LEE FREEMAN

Art Map Burlington ARTICLE
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Final Gift by Ellis Jacobson 4’x5’x8” papier mâché Artpath Gallery Wing Building on the Waterfront 1 Steele Street (802) 563-2273		ART VENUE Artpath Gallery Ellis Jacobson’s Gift to Burlington While looking for parking to dine at a lakeside restaurant or taking a stroll down the bike path, take a break from the spectacular lake scenery, and locate the Wing Building. Its undulating aluminum exterior caresses the Burlington Bike Path from Main to King Streets, gazing West toward the Ferry and the distant Adirondacks. Owned by the Main Street Landing Company, the Wing Building is just one example of the Company’s active courtship of artistic culture in our city. In 2002 artist Ellis Jacobson approached the Main Street Landing Company’s Melinda Moulton about exhibiting in the then-empty corridor of the Wing Building. Hoping to finance an art studio/exhibition space for his own sculpture, Jacobson proposed curating exhibits in the long corridor which runs the length of the building. Jacobson has seen his work featured from the Europe to Oaxaca. According to him, he saw “an opportunity to exhibit fine artwork that was not primarily defined by commerce--an opportunity for Vermont artists to help express and evolve our collective psyche.” Far from a tourist-netting, high-end consumer mill, Ellis wanted to share the “creation of something tangible out of mere energy and imagination.” Once the name Artpath came to him, he was, in his own words, hooked. While he has yet to get that studio, he considers his exhibition space a success. One need only read the glowing reviews in the pages of our local weekly and daily newspapers to find agreement. The current show features paintings by Kenji Katakura, paint and mixed-media collages by Jane Pincus, pastels by Helene Amses and a monumental mask by Ellis Jacobson himself. Final Gift is a four-by-five foot mask-like, bas-relief. Though it took a quarter ton of clay to make, the sculpture itself is made of papier mâché. Inspired by the artist’s own experience with end-of-life care, the heavily-furrowed lines in the old woman’s face reveal pain and old age competing with the hard-won humor and warm resilience of a long life well lived. Just one half of a work in progress, Final Gift will eventually include another mask and a nurturing arm, cradling the loveworn head now on display at the Wing Building. What began in the pursuit of an exhibition place for his own work has become for Ellis Jacobson rich grounds for networking, artistic growth and the expansion of possibilities for local artists. He says that Artpath has actually changed lives by granting beginning artists the opportunity to exhibit; thereby inspiring them to pursue art full time. The “Gift” is all Burlington’s to enjoy: a hallway made colorfully and texturally vibrant by an ever-changing exhibition space. LEE FREEMAN

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