36 COLLEGE STREET: THE OFFICIAL VERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS BLOG

MFA Writing Thesis Turned Successful Middle Grade Novel

Jen Gennari, ’06, MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults, used the beginnings of her just-released middle grade novel, My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer (Houghton Mifflin, 2012) as part of her application to Vermont College of Fine Arts. But once she got here, her focus changed.

“I thought it was ‘done,’ so I began working on a young adult novel,” said Jen. "But I learned so much about craft that by my last semester I was eager to apply what I had learned to Berry Blue Summer.” The revised manuscript ended-up being her VCFA critical thesis.

The book was inspired by the reaction of some people in her daughters’ school district toward families with same sex parents. “I was outraged, and it fueled my desire to write this book.” My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summe
r focuses on June, a confident 12-year-old, whose summer pie-making plans get muddled when her mother decides to marry her girlfriend when Vermont legalized civil unions in 2000. “I love strong female characters, and I wanted to write a story about a girl who finds her inner strength, who learns how to be herself and to stand up for her new family.”

Jen is now working on a novel she started in her last semester at VCFA. “It’s a road trip book about a girl, a gun and a grandma. That’s all I can say for now!” She is living on a houseboat in Sausalito and trying to carve out time to write from a busy life of working, raising teenagers, and kayaking. “I’m so grateful to VCFA. My experience there was an incredible time to read, write, listen and practice.”

Back to the Future: Rediscovering the Archives of Vermont College

One afternoon last week my colleague Tony Pagani and I visited the balcony level of the VCFA Library, the temporary home of the Vermont College archives. What kind of archives can a four-year-old college have, you wonder? Well, let me tell you, this campus has a long and rich history, and Tony and I were up to our elbows in it. But we were surprised at the depth of what we found.

The collection of photos, documents, mementos and publications are waiting in their temporary home to be processed by an archivist and eventually be displayed properly so that all can see.  But in the interim we were working on a project that necessitated some vintage artwork of the campus’s 178 year history, so we ambled across College Street to immerse ourselves in the campus’ history. We carefully sifted through an incredible range of photographs, from black and white images of bouffant-haired co-eds from the early 1960’s to ambrotype student portraits printed on glass and framed in embossed metal. We yelped to each other with each discovery—a V.C. student stewardess by a 1950’s plane! A group of period dressed women taking art class!—and the pile to scan got larger and larger.

There are vintage beanies and jester costumes from the winter ball, diaries from students in 1860, and crumbling wartime newspapers. And it took all our self-control not to tear open the time capsule box from the Adult Degree Program undergraduate class of 1983. Two hours passed in a blink and we found it hard to pull ourselves out of the past and back to the modern tasks of scanners and Photoshop. As we made our way back to College Hall, I couldn’t help but wonder if one day a future Director of Alumni Affairs will come across a photo of VCFA President Tom Greene and remark on his period dress, or an image of a MFA in Visual Arts exhibition and admire its historical importance.

We look forward to the day when these items can be enjoyed by all, but in the meantime Tony and I will blow the dust off the Queen of the Winter Ball, place her face down on the scanner’s glass surface, and respectfully place her in a page of the Historical Walking Tour book so she can tell you her story.  How fortunate are we to write and create in a place that is filled with 178 years of people’s stories?

 

--Ann Hagman Cardinal, '07, Alumni Affairs Director

We are the champions, my friends...

Forget the Final Four, this season’s big news is that VCFA is the winner of the CRW MFA Tournament, 2012! Hosted by authors Bill Roorbach and David Gessner on their fabulous writing-themed blog, Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour, this competition pits the top sixteen MFA in Writing Programs in the country against each other in a battle for the rank of “The greatest writing program in the country.”  And today it was announced the Vermont College of Fine Arts, a program they called ” unseeded, non-traditional, low-res, upstart” managed to “CRUSH the competition at every juncture.”

This good-spirited race featured the MFA in Writing Programs from heavy-hitters such as Iowa and Ashland. Bill and Dave must have been wearing plaid jackets and sporting pomaded comb-overs because they provided their best sportscaster blow-by-blows to summarize the process:

Ashland and Virginia tech played a nailbiter, but in the end it was scrappy Ashland who prevailed, and maybe got a little cocky: because here came the Monster from Montpelier!  Who’da thunk Vermont could take on OSU?  But they did so with ease, garnering more votes than their whole half of the bracket combined.

Bill and Dave are speechless, but the system has spoken.  Best MFA program in the land?  Vermont College of Fine Arts, ladies and gentlemen, VERMONT!

This is the last word, of course, at least for 2012.  Bill and Dave’s has spoken.  All other rankings are obsolete, refer to them no more.  Let’s celebrate in the comments column.  And don’t forget to drink responsibly.  Riot police are standing by.

We at VCFA are proud to have won this prestigious and entertaining distinction, and owe it all to our loyal and enthusiastic alums, students and faculty. As the blog authors say when comparing this contest to the more tradition Poets & Writers Magazine rankings, “Unlike in the Abramson system, these voters have tasted the food, baby.”  Perhaps we should issue each and every voter a VCFA foam finger.

The Top 16 programs in the country according to Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hours’ scientific and foolproof methodology:

1. Vermont: 192
2. Bama: 64
3. OSU: 51
4. McNeese: 44
5. Goddard: 43 (a spate of late votes would have made G number 3, but…..)
6. George Mason: 35
7. UNCW: 23
8. Ashland: 22
9. SDSU: 21
10. Virginia Tech: 15
11. Arizona State: 13
12. BGSU: 9
13. New School: 7
14. Arizona: 7
15. Iowa: 7
16.  Penn State RIP: 5

Vermont College of Fine Arts Summer 2012 Residency in Slovenia

 

Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing Program is preparing for its Summer 2012 Residency in Slovenia. 

(pictured above, VCFA students and faculty in 2009)

This optional 9-day Residency, based in the lovely medieval town of ̌Škofja Loka, is comprised of excursions to a number of literary and cultural sites around the country, including the capital Ljubljana, workshops, lectures, writing time as well as visits with Slovenia writers Tomaž Šalamun and Suzana Tratnik. Tomaž is one of the foremost figures of the Eastern European poetical avant-garde. His books have been translated into twenty one languages and nine of his thirty-seven books of poetry have been published in English. Suzana Tratnik, a writer, journalist, essayist and gay activist, is the co-editor of L, An Anthology of the Lesbian Movement in Slovenia, 1984-1995, and one of the organizers of the Gay/Lesbian Film Festival in Ljubljana. She is the author of two short story collections as well as a novel and has translated several books of British and American fiction and nonfiction for different publishers. 

Sue William Silverman on How Memoir Will Improve One's Life

VCFA's MFA in Writing faculty Sue William Silverman's latest essay, "Five Reasons Why Your Life Will Improve by Writing Memoir" appears on the blog Write Now!

In it, the award-winning creative nonfiction writer says:

Before I began to write, I didn’t fully understand the effects of the past on the present.  Instead, for years, the past appeared in my mind’s eye like faded black-and-white photographs, in which no one, especially me, seemed to be fully alive.

Then I started putting words on the page.  Finally, I chose to examine my past.

Sue William Silverman’s memoir Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction is also a Lifetime TV movie. Her memoir Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You won the AWP Award. Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir won honorable mention from ForeWord Review. Her poetry collection is Hieroglyphics in Neon. She teaches in the MFA Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts
. 

 

Studio Place Arts: Call to Artists

Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing alumna Lori Stroutsos is seeking artists for two upcoming exhibitions at Studio Place Arts (SPA) in Barre, Vermont:

s-EYE-nce:  a science/visual arts fusion
Lots of the visuals that come out of scientific inquiry, like photomicrographs of the mouthparts of tiny insects or traces of elementary particles like quarks,  are both beautiful and compelling.  Some artists are using and modifying such images; others are using the techniques (recording transformations), processes (such as repeating sequences and patterns), and methods (observation and replication) of science to inform their art. Artists are encouraged to explore the evolution and discoveries of science from all sides: existing and emerging sciences and fantastical takes on science. Cool gadgets and equipment get bonus points!
Show Dates:  June 5 – July 7, 2012
Deadline:  April 20, 2012

Off the Wall
This main gallery show will pulse with a wide variety of bold, sculptural works made from wire, paper, fabric, stainless steel, fiber, duct tape and more - hanging from the ceilings and walls, and standing on pedestals around the floor. There will be a mix of abstract forms and figures - animals, insects and people. The concept behind the sculptures should emphasize motion, action, and gesture. (SPA has an annual stone sculpture show: this exhibit would invite 3-D work from artists in other media.)
Show Dates:  July 17 – Sept. 8, 2012
Deadline:  June 8, 2012

For details on submitting work to either exhibition, click here.

SPA is a non-profit community arts center founded in 2000 by VCFA alumna Nancy Hanson of the MFA in Visual Art program. One of the only local, contemporary art spaces in the Montpelier vicinity, SPA hosts free exhibitions of a broad range of contemporary artwork by artists from Vermont and beyond and offers a wide array of art classes and workshops. SPA is a great community success story in our area, and a fantastic testament to the wonderful projects VCFA alumi often engage in. Submit a proposal and stop by to visit the next time you're on campus!

MFA in Visual Art Faculty Ashley Hunt at Museum of Modern Art

VCFA MFA in Music Comp Faculty Rick Baitz's Latest Film Scoring

As you’ll recall from a recent blog post, Rick Baitz, MFA in Music Composition faculty member, composed the soundtrack for the new feature documentary film by Dan Habib, “Who Cares About Kelsey.” The film follows Kelsey through her senior year of high school as she faces emotional/behavioral challenges, difficult relationships, and an uncertain future. Along the way, a team of trusted adults meets with her weekly. With them she plans a future she might never have let herself picture a few years earlier. The following video is from the film’s title sequence and features Rick’s original music with guitarist Kevin Kuhn, bassist Keith Lentin, and drummer Steve Holley.

VCFA Music Faculty Rick Baitz Scores New Film

 

Rick Baitz, MFA in Music Composition faculty, wrote the score for Dan Habib’s new documentary “Who Cares About Kelsey,” which will have its Vermont premiere on Wednesday, April 11 at 3:30pm at the Burlington Hilton.

“The film follows Kelsey through her senior year of high school as she faces emotional/behavioral challenges, difficult relationships, and an uncertain future. Along the way, a team of trusted adults meets with her weekly. With them she plans a future she might never have let herself picture a few years earlier. Who Cares About Kelsey? will make viewers reconsider the “problem kids” in their own high schools and spark new conversations about an education revolution that’s about empowering–not overpowering–our most emotionally and behaviorally challenged youth.”

Admission to the screening is free, but advance registration is required. Click here for more information. 

Faculty Member Sue William Silverman Nominated for a Pushcart Prize

MFA in Writing faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Sue William Silverman, was nominated by Pushcart’s Board of Contributing Editors for a Pushcart Prize for her essay, “Prepositioning John Travolta." The essay is published in the current issue of Ninth Letter.

Sue's memoir Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction (W. W. Norton) is also a Lifetime television original movie (nominated for two PRISM Awards). Her first memoir, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You (Univ. of Georgia Press), won the Association of Writers and Writing Programs award in creative nonfiction. Her most recent book is Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir (Univ. of Georgia Press), and her poetry collection is Hieroglyphics in Neon (Orchises Press). One of her personal essays appears in The Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to the Present (Simon & Schuster), while three other essays won contests with Hotel Amerika, Mid-American Review, and Water~Stone Review. Other poems, essays, and short stories (four nominated for a Pushcart Prize) have appeared in such places as Prairie Schooner, Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, Redbook, The Caribbean Writer, Brevity, Arts & Letters, and River Teeth. Sue was featured in an interview in The Writer’s Chronicle, and she has appeared on various national radio and television programs such as “The View,” “Anderson Cooper—360,” and “CNN-Headline News,” as well as the Discovery Channel. She is associate editor of Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction, and has an honorary doctorate from Aquinas College for her work in literature and child abuse victim advocacy. Her current writing project, The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew, focuses on cultural personal essays. For more information, please visit www.suewilliamsilverman.com.

Congratulations, Sue!