"Abenaki Moose"
by
Sue Westin
Sponsored by CTC/Vermont Color Labs and the Bennington Center for the Natural and Cultural Arts
Sue Westinis an award winning artist of the international Society Of Animal Artists. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of the Bennington Center for the Natural and Cultural Arts, The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and the Worrell Collection. Well-known for her paintings of shorebirds and buffalo, she is now painting equine and farm scenes as well as human and animal portraits. Sue and her artist husband John C. Pitcher have their home and studios on the beautiful Dorset Marsh, where they operate the Gallery On The Marsh. Visitors are welcome. (802)867-5565
The Abenaki Moose is very unlike Sue's usual art. To create it she first had to learn how to use automotive finishing products to change the body form, making the neck and legs thicker and the muzzle longer and adding a raised mask on the face. She then painted the main portion of the body with a faux finish appearance of white marble. Another faux finish makes the antlers look like soapstone. Both stones are found naturally in Vermont. The Abenaki mask on the moose is adorned with real fur, feathers and horse hair ... one lock donated from a Morgan horse, the breed that originated in Vermont. On the sides of the moose are paintings inspired by actual petroglyphs and pictographs found in New England. Sue used those figures to tell the Abenaki story of the moose, the wolf, and the spirit Pudjinks-skwes. At the BCA Sue has provided further information about the story and the locations of "glyphs."
You may see Sue Westin's art at http://suewestin.com or e-mail her at goldleaf@vermontel.net
Sponsor: Name
CTC/Vermont Color Labs 254 Benmont Avenue Bennington, Vermont
http://www.vermontcolor.com
Bennington Center for the Natural and Cultural Arts
Vermont Route 9 West at Gypsy Lane Bennington, Vermont
http://www.benningtoncenterforthearts.org
Location: Bennington Center for the Arts, Rte 9 West at Gypsy Lane, Bennington
