mi Chelle Vara

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Nancy O’Brien Nancy O’Brien – nobrien@poststar.com miChelle Vara works to install her sculpture, “Life,” in City Park in Glens Falls on July 1.

GLENS FALLS – A small group of people gathered at the corner of Maple and Ridge streets on Thursday for a public unveiling of the first piece of sculpture in City Park, but instead of a traditional curtain or sheet to unveil, they watched as artist miChelle Vara and Chad Willson slid the 1,000 pound metal sculpture off a trailer and onto the ground, and then onto two round concrete circles in the park.
“When I read in the paper that the sculpture would be unveiled at 2 o’clock, I expected a curtain or a sheet, but this is much more fun,” said Chris Scoville, of Scoville Jewelers, who walked to the park to see the new piece.
Vara owns Ballard Road Art Studio Gallery in Wilton, and she approached the city about creating the sculpture about a year ago.
“I did the formal application to the council, and my idea was to begin a dialog with the city to have new sculptures in the park,” Vara said. “I’d like to see rotating artists and rotating pieces in the park, but the first step is to expose Glens Falls to its first piece of public art.”
Vara considers Glens Falls her hometown, even though she doesn’t live here.
“I eat here. I shop here. All my friends are here,” she said. “Glens Falls has no public art – art you can see anytime, with no fee – art that is accessible to everyone.” She said studies have shown that communities with public art feel ‘culture elevated.’
“Public art increases revenues. It improves attitudes and increases visitors’ interest,” she said.
The sculpture is rusted metal, sort of like a girder that has been bent and twisted into a unique shape. Vara calls it “Life.”
“All pieces of art should be interpreted by the viewer, but my own personal point of view is that life intertwines. There are patterns to life – ups and downs,” she said. “I wanted to put this piece in the park first because it is the most easily accepted; people don’t find it abrasive or obnoxious, and I didn’t want to start with anything with a negative connotation.”
“It’s interesting, to say the least,” said Glens Falls Mayor John “Jack” Diamond. “It complements the park nicely, and we’re going to do more, but in a controlled manner.” The city is forming a committee to organize a call to artists for new pieces of sculpture to be placed in the park, perhaps for a year at a time. Vara’s “Life” will be in City Park through October.

The Post Star Local / Regional on Thursday July 1st
Glens Falls City Park is getting some new Life today, in the form of its first metal sculpture appropriately titled, “Life.”
Artist miChelle M. Vara, who runs an art studio in Wilton, has created a ten foot tall sculpture out of I- beams. It will be unveiled Thursday at 2 pm near the corner of Ridge and Maple streets in City Park Glens Falls. Vara says the rusted metal sculpture took her a total of four months to create, although she said she spent a lot of time bending it and re-bending it until she got “a good flow.” It wasn’t saying what she wanted it to say.” She said of all the modifications.
Artist Likes Placement of Piece
Vara said the piece is intended to “reveal the ins and outs of the life that we live.”
She said she selected Glens Falls as the location for the sculpture because she sees the city as the hub of the North Country and a place open to the growth of the arts and culture. She said she’d like the placement of this piece of art in City Park to lead to a more interactive cultural base in Glens Falls.
-Mark Mahoney

The city officials unanimously decided to allow sculpture to be displayed at the City Park in Glens Falls NY. miChelle M. Vara of 6 Ballard Road Art Studio Wilton, will be installing the first metal sculpture called “Life” to ever be displayed by the city on July 1st at 2 pm on Ridge St. Throughout the application process miChelle met many residents that fully supported the cultural project and plan to attend the Home Town excitement.

miChelle is in hopes that this introduction to public sculpture will allow everyone in the community and visitors to interact with art on a personal level. miChelle’s intentions are to create a draft and following for a yearly sculpture show of Glens Falls, supported by the city and community.
We are glad to invite everyone to this new metalsome experience!

[/caption
Henry Hudson - 114"h x 72"d x 60"w

Henry Hudson’s stolen Ship was re-built.
Over one year ago the Half Moon was stolen off Henry Hudsons Map in Kingston NY-
Henry Hudson and the Half Moon sculpture, was on display for the Arts Society of Kingston when the sculpture was robbed of the integral 18” Half Moon ship displayed on the map.
The sculpture is made of re-claimed metal, depicting references to the historical story of Henry Hudson and his adventure.
2 years ago I hade been intrigued by the explorer called Henry Hudson.
His findings, his perseverance, the times and how he made things happen even through harsh adversity and successes. With this in mind I became driven to capture the man and the history thru sculpture. Henry Hudson is made from a years labor and hand picked re-claimed metal articles, welded together in a painted finish. The parts were chosen for their past life's function tying the story together with connotations of things left behind and new beginnings. The existing shapes were also a strong consideration for the subliminal story told. Such as Bicycles as his breast lapels - Henry Hudson was driven by simple travel.
His eyes made of ships rings. The hats brim the nuts and bolts of his operation his mind. The Map Stand is a crate portraying the merchandise he was to deliver. And so on.

Now Artist miChelle M. Vara has re-made the ship and will be installing the sculpture on Thursday 17th at 1pm, to be displayed at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, 50 Rondout Landing - Kingston, NY.
][caption id="attachment_1174" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Henry Hudson catalog"]

Artist miChelle has made 2 ships reminiscent of the Half Moon sculpture that was stolen, Now available for purchase.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13640&id=1556950262&l=388ab

May 20th 2010 6-8pm at
Scoville Jewelers 167 Glen Street, Glens Falls NY
miChelle has just completed a new body of small delicate sculptures incorporating polished gemstones and welded stainless steel.
The sculpture has captured spirit through light in a powerful dazzling way.
Please feel free to join us at the opening reception and the sculpture will be on display until June 15th 2010. Feel free to contact us at 518-587-8706 or you can call Scoville Jewelers at 518-793-0151.

We enjoyed a visit to the Circle Museum.
Made new art friends, and enjoyed the day-
Go to the you tube link posted to see the sculpture.
The Circle Museum is a registered Columbia County Museum consisting of over 100 large-scale works of sculpture. In this location for 25 years, BIjan Mahmoodi is the owner of the museum and the artist. His art reflects his fascination with hard-to-find Industrial Era fabricated metals and bronze casting. Inside the artist’s studio, also on the property, is a collection of Bijan’s oil paintings that explore the circle motif you see in most of his sculptures.

Why is it called the Circle Museum? Bijan explains…. “Because our planet is based on the circle – the sun, the planets, the moon and life itself is cyclical.The circle is what inspires me.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM0jC3h3Pjs

http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2008/08/27/the-circle-museum

2010 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition-
We invite international creative’s to participate in the annual Upstate New York Sculpture Exhibition
at the Hovey Pond Botanical Garden of Glens Falls New York.
Application Deadline April 30 2010, postmarked.
Sculpture installs in May and runs 1 full year, April 2011.
This project is supported by the town/friends of Glens Falls NY.
3 jurors to review applications offer a broad spectrum of experiences.
Opening reception, catalog, Publication dates and times to be announced.
The Gardens at Hovey Pond
Hovey Pond in the Town of Queensbury was the site of the Hovey Ice Company for many years and was also the site of a brick company, which extracted clay from the area around the current park. Hovey Pond Park opened in 1993 and the gardens were begun the same year. The gardens were the vision of Robert Eddy, chairman of the Queensbury beautification committee, who was inspired by the flower gardens at Wisley in Great Britain and realized the need for a public garden in the area. The gardens have grown slowly and evolved from a few flower beds to a group of diverse gardens encompassing approximately 1 & ½ acres. The gardens include a central mixed border, the blue garden, the white garden, the herb garden, a vegetable garden and a native plants garden. The garden is maintained exclusively by volunteers who work each Wednesday from April until October. The garden is funded by donations overseen by Friends of Hovey Pond, a not for profit established to ensure the garden’s continued existence. Infrastructure needs such as hardscaping are funded by the Town of Queensbury. Hovey Pond Park is on the most heavily utilized parks in the Town of Queensbury and each year thousands of people visit the park and gardens. Over the last few years the gardens have undergone extensive renovations to change traffic flows, add more plant diversity and create visual interest throughout the seasons.
Application

https://acrobat.com/#d=N-BFEO10b46RfCesPXV05Q

Please forward limited questions to ballardrdart@nycap.rr.com

http://www.adirondackbotanicalgarden.org/id4.html

http://www.ecologicconsulting.net/id12.html

MiChelle has moved in a different direction than her normal metal sculpture. For this series “Displacement of the American Dream”
she is working with mixed media on board.
MiChelle is in hopes of further pursuing her commentary as she has much to visually say on the subject.

By ANN MARIE FRENCH 2/15/2010
WILTON — To the average homebuyer, a small house located near a junkyard on a road with high traffic would seem a turnoff, but for mi Chelle Vara it was ideal. Now 20 years later, she could not be more pleased with her decision.

Vara is an artist, first and foremost, with every other aspect of her life falling into place behind or around her art. She makes no apologies for this and instead takes great pride in the life she has created for herself.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to pigeonhole Vara’s art. While she might best be known for her sculptures, Vara’s work covers a broader spectrum including drawing, painting and photography.

“Each part artistically feeds a certain part of my personality,” she said. “It is an endless flow.”

At the heart of her art is her sketchbook. It is a constant companion, pulled out during meetings to capture “the perfect eyebrows” or to get down an idea bouncing around in her head. The sketchbook fills up quickly and Vara has amassed a rather large collection — more than 8,000.

Vara has had numerous shows in the local area and greater New England, but her work has also made its way across the country through exhibits, shows and collectors. Her studio and a sculpture park are located at the corner of Ballard Road and Route 50.

“It’s open to the public,” she said. “I’d like more people to stop in and walk around.” Vara welcomes the opportunity for visitors. Always willing to answer questions and share her knowledge, Vara said she finds most people are surprised to find her skills go beyond sculpting to include airbrushing, lettering, and painting.

Vara has used her considerable welding skills to craft gussets used in the construction of a home, build a race car frame, and mount gears on a motorcycle.

“I do everything that doesn’t fit any where else,” she said. “It’s old world, old school art.”

Working with a wide variety of clients from personal collectors to nonprofits to governments, Vara is comfortable in any setting, dressed up or down, and with all types of people, talking about abstract art, the environment, or vehicle engines.

Vara credits her ability to connect with people to her natural curiosity and to the example set by her father early in life.

Growing up as a dyslexic child before the term was even coined, Vara found it hard to communicate and felt completely displaced.

“I had a phenomenal father who told me this is a gift I would grow into,” she said. “He told me over and over I was special.”

Decades later, Vara believes her father was right. Her clinical disability is a crossed optic lobe. This forces incoming information to go into the visual part of her brain first. It is, she says, her greatest birth gift.

In addition to his words, Vara’s father also provided her with an opportunity to completely grow as an individual. The family traveled internationally and placed value on stepping out of their comfort zone and meeting new people.

Her education has been non-traditional, a combination of Montessori Schooling and one-on-one specialists. Vara never felt compelled to pursue a formal education to advance her art. Instead she regularly researches trends and techniques and reaches out to other artists to learn from them.

Vara isn’t shy about sharing her experiences and knowledge when it comes to her art either. In addition to teaching a variety of classes, she has offered her expertise to art students, inviting them to join her for a few days of intensive study.

As nontraditional as Vara is, she does believe in the happily ever after.

“Every single day I get to create something for someone or an expression of myself,” she said. “If there is a fairytale I get to live it every day.”

http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/02/15/wglife/doc4b747c076f9a8539468965.txt

Photo by: Darrell Hoerauf From Galaway

I spoke to the couple that purchased the sculpture very briefly and their comment was “It’s the only piece with personality here”

I greatly enjoyed the event and the comment!
Thank you, goes to all who were involved!

Letter from organizer-
Dear Artists,

Thanks so very much for your artwork and helping to make our benefit art event such a smashing success. We raised over $40,000, with 350 in attendance. We already decided to do this event again next year. (Gulp.)

First, we always like to put buyer and artist together but it will take me a little time. A volunteer tossed out the photocopies during clean up so I have to go back through work-by-work to get the info.

Please feel free to call me with questions. Processing an art auction always takes time but I’m happy to chat.

All my gratitude,

Quang Bao
The Rema Hort Mann Foundation