MacDowell Colony - Annual Medal Day

-
The MacDowell Colony is an artists' colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds. She led the colony for almost 25 years, against a background of two world wars, the Great Depression, and other challenges.
The mission of The MacDowell Colony is to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which they can produce enduring works of the imagination.
Over the years, an estimated 7,700 artists have been supported in residence, including the winners of at least 79 Pulitzer Prizes, 781 Guggenheim Fellowships, 100 Rome Prizes, 30 National Book Awards, 26 Tony Awards, 24 MacArthur Fellowships, 9 Grammys, 8 Oscars, and 8 National Medals for the Arts.[3] The colony has accepted visual and interdisciplinary artists, architects, filmmakers, composers, playwrights, poets, and writers, both well-known and unknown - Wikipedia
Once a year the colony awards the Edward MacDowell Medal to one person who has made an outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts. These photos were taken when the award was given to jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins  on August 15, 2010. The event is called Medal Day and is the only day in the year that the public is invited to visit the artists studios.

Examples of the various cabins at the colony. Artists work in private, lunch is delivered to the cabins and dropped off in picnic baskets. Dinner is a communal meal. 
Medal awardee Sonny Rollins signs an autograph



Picnic lunch on Medal Day

I opted to not buy lunch which usually is pretty expensive


In the communal dining area, artists tag their liquors and wines

Main building

Nice organic garden with oyster shell paths. They have chickens too

Some smooth jazz

A visual artist explains her craft


Outside amphitheater with a view of Mount Monadanock (left out of frame)
Nice working place with great light


 www.poltrack.net

Location: Peterborough, NH 03458, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

I'd like to hear from you

Popular posts from this blog

I've Moved On

-
Image
  Forwarding Address I used Blogger as my first foray into the world of online writing in December 2006. Over the years I created several other blogs and a few websites. I finally settled down a bit and decided to put my energy into a self-hosted Wordpress site named My Strange Life . The Orphans What was to become of these sites after I stopped adding content? Nothing at all. Everything on the internet seems to last forever, or at least in the span of a lifetime. There are multiple orphans and WebCrawlers dutifully work their way through the internet finding links and keywords. I won't delete this blog but want want to freshen it up a bit with new information. My Strange Life Below is a RSS "ticker tape" of my latest postings on my website My Strange Life. This are recent postings.https://poltrack.net/feed
Read more

Snow Squall

-
Image
  ALERT! At 3:00 PM I received a text alert on my phone about a a snow squall. I didn't pay much attention because these things are only a problem if you are on the road.  I remember a time when I was working in Acton, MA, I left work in the afternoon traveling along Route 119. The sun was out and the roads were clear. All at once the snow came. Visibility was down to nothing, the roads became slick. I creeped along following the tracks of the car in front of me. Thankfully I am now retired, so I can look out at the chaos without being part of the story. It is eerie how fast this came on, One minute the sun was out and then it was a white out. The birds didn't care, they are tough. Fifteen minutes later the sun returned. I'll be happy when Spring is here.
Read more

Caturday (Analog Edition)

-
Image
Saturday is Caturday Saturday is Caturday , a time to post photos and videos of our feline companions. While reviewing some of my scanned slides and negatives I found this purr-fect collection to share. Our old friend Mojo didn't mind being dressed up. He was a gentle soul who could actually play catch with corks We had a black and white cat when we lived in an apartment in 1973. This cat was hit by a car and I now suspect he suffered from congenital sensorineural deafness which is common with blue eyed white cats. In the Navy I was stationed in California. I spotted this guy in a flower bed. In the 1960s my sister found a kitten which she called Andrew, Eventually that became Fat Andrew. Fat Andrew wasn't fat she was pregnant. Like all cats she did her best to disrupt any desktop activity I was involved with. In this photo I was working on a Linocut  for a Christmas card. My mom had a Siamese she named Abigail, a beautiful creature with deadly claws
Read more