Early delivery of my new work means the paintings
are being hung today at Edgewater Gallery on the Green!
If you can’t make the opening night reception and want
to see the paintings, please stop by the gallery from 10-5 pm
most days. (check the website for more information)
Please join me October 5 from 5-6:30 pm at Edgewater Gallery on the Green for an opening reception to celebrate my new oil paintings. The show will run from October 3 to November 14.
I painted this collection from a vantage point of wistful stillness. My aim was to keep the concept of wabi sabi in mind; to explore the beauty in humble simplicity, to honor and accept flaws and imperfections and embrace aging.
I’ve loved Vermont’s buildings for years, wondering at those windows and doors set in odd corners, the wood surfaces worn to a soft patina. With these oil paintings I’ve circled back to study some favorite subjects: cupolas crowning old grandee barns, the gleam of sunlight on a metal roof, the fields giving their gold away.
My color inspiration was a group of Gee’s Bend Quilt notecards strung along my studio wall.
I’m never done with looking.
“I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.
Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around
as though with your arms open.”
–Mary Oliver
note: I mistakenly had the wrong date for my initial posting. Thursday, October 5 from 5-6:30 is the correct information. Please accept my apologies for any confusion!
The ‘Stay at Home, Stay Safe’ directive from Vermont’s governor is in effect and we all want to do our part to reduce the spread of the Covid19 virus. Our joint three-woman show at Edgewater Gallery has just been hung at the Gallery on the Green and Director Theresa Harris plans a virtual show with some ongoing interviews with each of the contributing artists.
In these challenging times it may help to enjoy a virtual sightseeing tour!
I want to share with you a small book I just produced with some of my favorite new paintings. Each painting is paired with part of a favorite Mary Oliver poem. Her death this past January was such a great loss, and her work is a source of inspiration. I recite to myself quite often part of her poem “My Work is Loving the World:”
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
Mary Oliver continues to teach me how to live.
Please click here to view a pdf of my new book!
I’d love to see you at the opening reception (copies of the book will be available there).
Edgewater Gallery on the Green
Friday, May 10
5:00-7:00 pm
For more images and purchasing information, please go to my website kathrynmilillo.com
or the Edgewater Gallery website.
About the title ‘As It Were’
This funny phrase is about a handful of smoke, a wished-for reality, an undefined place and time where non-fact reigns. It isn’t what was, it’s what might be. It is nebulous and indistinct, and beguiles me. It reminds me of the way I like to paint, with softened edges and room for the viewer to fill in the details.
Kathryn
Edgewater Gallery on the Green
May 10
5:30-7:30 pm
I hope you will save the date and plan to join me at a solo show of my new collection of paintings!
As It Were
This funny phrase is a handful of smoke, a wished-for reality, an undefined place and time where non-fact reigns. It is nebulous and indistinct, and beguiles me. It reminds me of the way I like to paint, with softened edges and plenty of room for the viewer to fill in the details.
Once all the paintings are framed and photographed, I’ll be including more images and information on the Edgewater Gallery website and on my website!
Expanding the availability of framed and unframed giclees
as well as prints — it’s a time-consuming process when
all hats are worn by the artist. It’s my little cottage industry,
allowing me to share my paintings and hopefully add something
of value to someone’s day.
I’m very happy to be showing prints and notecards
at Frog Hollow Gallery on Church Street in Burlington, Vermont.
This gallery represents Vermont artists from all over the state, and
I’m honored to be included in their roster of artisans. Frog Hollow is
recognized as the first state craft center in the nation, and has
actively supported artists since 1971 — before I moved here in 1988!
Along with Frog Hollow, I also have prints and notecards at
Art on Main in Bristol, Vermont and The Brandon Artists Guild
in Brandon, Vermont. And Edgewater Gallery is where you can find
my original oil paintings. (Just thought I would give them a shout-out
too!)
The walls were filled with art!
Edgewater Gallery staff worked around the clock from March 29-April 2 showing off the amazing artist collection they had curated. My six new works, as well as others from the gallery, were “very well received and sold well” so I’m once again looking at my easel and trying to get more paintings out there for interested collectors. It is a great, and surprising, feeling to discover that the Big Apple likes my work.
March 29 through April 2, Edgewater Gallery is taking my work to the Big Apple!
The Affordable Art Fair in New York City will be held at the Metropolitan Pavilion 125 West 18th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues) and I hope to be there on Wednesday, the opening night.
If you can make the journey to the city, there will by around 70 galleries from around the world displaying artists’ work. I hear it is an amazing experience!
I call this collection of six paintings In the Shelter of Each Other. As I painted, I discovered Pádraig Ó Tuama through an On Being podcast, and followed up by listening to every talk he has posted on the web. The wisdom to find a way to remain in a room with those we perceive to be our enemies reminds me of so many Buddhist teachings about non-discrimination and equanimity. These are concepts I hope to learn someday.
Pádraig Ó Tuama quotes an Irish proverb:
‘It is in the shelter of each other that the people live’
I will continue to paint about the shelters, and the shadows, that help us to live together.
Stand Still oil on linen 24×24
March 30-April 2 will be exciting! I hope you can get to see the amazing artists at the Affordable Art Fair. I hear there will be around 9000 artists’ work on display, and some of my paintings will be there, too. I’ve got six new pieces almost ready for viewing and Edgewater Gallery will be bringing them to the big city along with work by Dennis Campay, Helen Shulman, Rory Jackson, Homer Wells, Charlotte Foust, Timothy Horn and Jeff Bye. Awesome company!
This autumn is a quiet fallow time, a time to plant rye and feed the soil for the next harvest. This little oil sketch of white and ochre pumpkins is my first foray back in the studio since an event-filled September which included my daughter’s wedding and a featured artist show. I am truly grateful for the support I received from Edgewater Gallery and so many friends and patrons who viewed — and even purchased — my paintings.
I have begun thinking about words that might lead to paintings: vicissitude, iteration, this and that, faraway, sanctuary, remembrance. Each word is a universe. As I ponder words, I am more impressed than ever at poetry’s spareness and the skill it takes to create such wise and intangible works of art.
Mary Oliver’s poem ‘Messenger’ is my newest project to memorize as I jog in the morning. The part of the poem I love the most is
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young and still not
half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and
learning to be
astonished.
I thought I’d share some photos of the new collection now that they are hanging at the gallery. I couldn’t have asked for better curating of the paintings, and there are some red dots going up!
I love that Stephen Procter’s vessels are set by my paintings. These sentinels seem to stand guard wherever they are placed, positive energy pulsing through the simple forms. And I love Tom Marrinson’s colorful bowls, too — I think I may need one as an objet d’art at home.
(That’s my very supportive husband standing by my side, by the way. He has made this artist’s life possible for me, and I know I am a very lucky woman.)
The opening is just over a week away and I hope to see you then!
Part of the pleasure of painting is that it is non-verbal. And yet. Because I also love the English language and beautiful writing, I’ve collected some of my favorite poems and quotes. I’ll let these masters speak for me and enhance my own experience of a painting, much like sprinkling great aged parmesan cheese, an umami flavor enhancer, on a simple spaghetti dinner.
The little 32 page book of paintings is available through Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury, the Brandon Artists Guild, and Art on Main in Bristol, Vermont. The cost is $20.
Here are two sample pages with poetry:
Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens
with a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.
— HÁfez
In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through the wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
“Live in the layers,
not on the litter.”
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.
— Stanley Kunitz from “The Layers”
Please mark your calendars for a featured artist show at Edgewater Gallery on the Green this September. I will have 17 new paintings and some small studies on view in early September.
Because my daughter will be getting married on September 10 (what was I thinking?) I won’t be having an artist’s reception until September 17 — but I will be happy to meet with anyone interested in my work on that day! I’ll be there between 4 and 6 pm that Saturday afternoon, and I hope to see you there.
This group of paintings was a gateway to learning about new poets, favorite 19th century writers, activists and philosophers. I spent hours listening to Krista Tippett interviews.
The thread I followed was compassion, and I ended up with Kindsight.
I hope you will enjoy the show.
Kindsight Triptych, 30×75, oil on canvas
What a great honor to have prints of three of my paintings installed in February, 2016 in the entrance hallway of the Rutland Regional Medical Center! I’ve always walked into institutions like this hospital and marveled at the art on the walls, and now I can’t quite believe my good fortune. I want to thank all the people who helped me: Don Ross Photography, whose reproduction skills are a true art form; and Jennifer Koch of Frames for You and Mona Lisa Too — her frames are professional works of lasting beauty. And I truly appreciate the people who work at the hospital, and who made this experience so delightful: Althea Bilodeau, my hospital muse and advocate; Mary Cadoret, who carefully installed the work; Jan Buxton, who seamlessly arranged for us all to meet at the same place and time; and most of all, Vice President Mary Nemeth for her continued support of the arts.
It’s October 1st and eight new paintings are now at Edgewater Gallery on the Green in Middlebury, Vermont.
This collection of paintings focus on my summer travels to Cape Cod and Lake George (with the addition of one completed study from last summer on the Jersey Shore). I think of these paintings as a continuation of my never-ending Mountain Solid/Water Reflecting contemplation. I learned to become more connected to the earth, and more capable of looking inward to understand my feelings and thoughts, through Thich Nhat Hanh’s suggested mantra, which in its entirety includes Flower Fresh/Mountain Solid/Water Reflecting/Space Free. To be able to smile like a flower, rooted to the earth through any weather, capable of stilling the mind to see into the depths below, breathing deeply to be fully alive: this combination is guaranteed to bring me a sense of peace. I hope to convey that peacefulness in my paintings.
Please join me at Edgewater Gallery on July 24th from 5 to 7 pm to celebrate the opening of the newest addition to Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont, located at the former Ski Haus building on the corner of the green. My newest large paintings will be on display at the new gallery.
I hope you will stop by to see the new, larger gallery, along with the original Edgewater Gallery on Mill Street!
July 1, 2015
And they’re off! The paintings are in transit, headed to Bridgehampton. Time to start painting again.
Signed, sealed and delivered! By Friday afternoon, June 21, five signed, framed paintings were delivered to Edgewater Gallery and the gallery is currently displaying some of my ‘big girls’ until they have to be packed up for the trip south to the Hamptons.
Since late April I’ve been focused on these large paintings, and if you happen to be on Long Island from July 2-5, I hope you will check out Edgewater Gallery’s booth at the ‘opulent private estate’ where ArtHamptons is showcasing 70 galleries from around the world. It sounds amazing!
Meanwhile if you are interested in seeing the paintings before they head south, please stop by the gallery before June 29. Two of the paintings are hanging now, and the gallery will be happy to show all five to any interested folks. Please give Edgewater Gallery a call at 802-458-0098 for a private showing and pricing information! They are at 1 Mill Street, Middlebury, Vermont.
I’m happy — and a little sad –because it has been such a whirlwind and I might not see them again. (That’s counting my chickens before they are hatched, I know, but it is a possibility that they will stay in the Hamptons and I’ll never see them again…)
The ArtHamptons fine art fair will run from July 2-5, 2015. Historically, the fair has about 14,000 attendees, and this year the art fair is going to be located at a private estate at 900 Lumber Lane Reserve, Bridgehampton. Yikes.
past posts:
April 26, 2015
My first painting is 40″x40″ and returns me to the very first barn painting I worked on, one that brings me home to my true core every time I study it. I have a ways to go, but the early underglow of colors has me excited to keep working. I can see the twirl of the universe in the shadow on the barn.
May 21, 2015
Progress (I think!) as I slowly build up the color on the Cadwell barn’s shadowed and sunlit architecture, and try to capture how luminous the sky appears on a clear, cold spring day. I think I have a title, too — A Carousel of Time — which brings me full circle from that first barn painting more than 20 years ago. I named the first painting ‘Grace’ because I knew, after many years of struggle and loss, that I had come to exactly the right place in my life. Now, as I try to live mindfully, with as much lovingkindness as I can muster, I can see the spinning years in the twirl of that shadow on this remarkable old barn.
Here’s another 40″x40″ painting of fishing shacks I’m working on from a pencil sketch and smaller painting I worked on last September at the shore near Atlantic City. The five new paintings have been a meditation on the inevitability of change, and I particularly love the satellite dish on the simple little camp. I love the flat bright light of mornings by the water when the air is almost iridescent, and I hope to capture the quiet peace of that moment when the earth is still and the moisture is rising up into the sky.
This 30″x40″ study of surfaces and light has me returning to the brilliance of a backlit white barn on a summer afternoon.
I thought about equanimity all through the winter as I painted this collection of paintings, and now I watch my feelings vary like the early spring weather as the opening reception draws closer. I had a chance to visit Edgewater Gallery in early April and the show is beautifully curated with other talented artists like Stephen Procter (ceramics), Richard Haver and Dale Helms (furniture), and Jen Violette (glass sculpture) enhancing my paintings.
I’m not an extrovert, and if I had my druthers, I’d be invisible for the evening of the opening, with only a Cheshire cat smile revealing that I am present.
But, come what may, I will be there!
Please join me if you can.
Four years ago I attended a great two-day workshop offered by the
Vermont Arts Council called “Breaking Into Business.”
The workshop was a hands-on learning experience —
presented by Dee Boyle-Clapp and Maren Brown from the
UMass Arts Extension Service, it introduced me to new artist
compatriots from around Vermont and taught me new ways to
deal with my Janus-faced double life as an artist and businesswoman.
Now, I am one of the faces seen in a new brochure published
by the UMass Arts Extension Service to promote their Arts
Entrepreneurship Initiative.
check out http://www.umass.edu/aes to learn more about the program.
The canvases are beginning to collect around the studio!
I am delighted that I was asked to create paintings for another
featured artist show this April at Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury.
I will be thinking about mindful light, working from studies
of Vermont and Lake George.
Season’s greetings and a healthy, happy new year to you
and your family.
Now available at the Brandon Artists Guild (and by request via my email address), four recent paintings are available as 5×7 notecards. 
Rock on with an original painted rocking chair!
This vintage rocker
will be auctioned off
at the Town Hall
on August 23, 7 pm
in Brandon, Vermont.
There are 30+ artfully hand-painted
rocking chairs painted by members
of the Brandon Artists Guild.
Visit their website,
Brandonartistsguild.org
to see all of the rocking chairs.
This was my first attempt to paint on a chair (instead of painting about chairs).
I used my archive-quality oil paints and then covered the surface with a matte spar varnish.
To my eyes, the chair has echoes of Egyptian pharoah furniture —
but that may be hard for others to see.
I had a wonderful time painting this piece and am delighted to donate the work to benefit
the art teachers in the Brandon area.
May 24-25, 2014
Grange Hall
3 Middle Road
North Chittenden, Vermont 05763
This was my fifth year joining five other artists at the North Chittenden Grange Hall, showing our work in a beautiful old building that is being slowly and carefully renovated by North Chittenden citizens with Karen Webster’s leadership. Thanks to everyone who stopped by — and we will be picking the raffle winner very soon!
Studio tour site map numbers 97 through 102
for more information about open studio weekend: vermontcraftscouncil.com
artists at the Grange Hall are:
Bonnie Baird
Althea Bilodeau
M.E.H. Holland
Gabrielle McDermit
Kathryn Milillo
Jeannie Podolak
click the image below to download our poster:
For an Edgewater Gallery pdf with all the paintings and prices,
click: Edgewater preview
Let It Be
Mountain solid
water reflecting
space free
Through a contemplative lens, using muted colors, soft edges and a slow build-up of thin layers of oil paint, this collection of oil paintings gazes at the land, lakes and barns of Vermont and nearby Lake George. Squinting at narrow doorways, light-filled cupolas and skylit windows, I ponder the meaning of physical and emotional space. Barns help me resolve love and loss. In their inexorable decline, they abide, mute and unflinching, as beautiful as any cathedral. Change is inevitable; barns teach me how to let go. Landscapes reminds me that I am connected to the earth, rooted to my surroundings and conscious of the gentle comedy of a chorus line of trees on tiptoe. Watching the fresh water that manifests my busy mind, I imagine what lies beneath, strive to understand what is reflected on the surface and angle toward stillness and clarity. As I dab and brush, scumble and glaze, I appreciate the simple blessings of seeing and being.
Opening Reception
May 9, 5-7 pm
Edgewater Gallery
1 Mill Street, Middlebury, Vermont 05753
802.458.0098
A note about the opening reception:
My heartfelt thanks for helping to make the opening reception such a success. I will savor the friendship and support I felt that night for a very long time.
In a strange way, I am sad about the success I’ve had with this show. So many paintings have sold (twelve to date) that there aren’t many paintings left to see, and for people traveling a distance it will be a disappointingly small show to see. My imagined collection of paintings in one space was a very ephemeral experience.
I’ll just have to keep painting!
Showing for the fourth year
Memorial Day weekend, May 25 and 26
The Grange Hall
3 Middle Road
North Chittenden, Vermont
Six artists displayed our work in a remarkable old building.
We had many visitors this year, despite the cold, rain, snow
and wind all over the state — thank you so much for braving the
elements to visit us!
Look for us in the Vermont Crafts Council’s website: vermontcrafts.com
As a member of the North Chittenden Women’s Art Collective,
I am delighted that we are showing the work of all ten
talented artists at the new downtown location of the
Chaffee Art Center.
March 29-April 27
Chaffee Art Center’s downtown location,
75 Merchants Row, Rutland, Vermont
802 775 0356
Gallery hours:
Tuesday through Thursday, 11 to 6 pm
Friday -Saturday, 11 to 7 pm
Please join me at the opening reception
Friday, March 29
5-8 pm
For me, the art of practice involves quick sketches before
I begin to paint a large oil painting. These studies often
begin as thumbnail charcoal value studies, colored
pencil sketches or quick small oil paintings, and
sometimes as fully realized preliminary paintings.
In addition, I continue to study subjects that
fill space in a beautiful way (paraphrasing Arthur Dow),
returning with ‘new mind’ to the same mountain view
or arrestingly spare arrangement of doors and windows
in a Vermont barn.
5×7 oil on board study for Homeward Bound
The North Chittenden Women’s Art Collective is comprised of:
Bonnie Baird
Althea Bilodeau
Marion Campbell
Gabrielle McDermit
Julie Kuhn Fredette
M. Elizabeth H. Holland
Kathryn Milillo
Jane Munroe
Jeannie Podolak
Elizabeth Sojourner
Please join me for an opening reception
Friday, March 1, 5-7 pm
at the Brandon Artists Guild
7 Center Street
Brandon, Vermont
802-247-4956
VermontScapes is a member’s show of fine
and mixed media art with an emphasis on
Vermont landscapes.
The show runs
March 1 to April 30.
please join us for an opening reception
Friday Dec. 7, 6 – 8 pm
Left Bank Home and Garden
127 Bank Street
Burlington, Vermont
802 862 1001
Barns and Landscapes
Nov 1 – Jan 31
The Left Bank Home and Garden offers a unique
collection of furniture, accessories, lighting and art,
along with an eclectic array of vintage pieces and
garden items.
http://facebook.com/pages/Left-Bank-Home-Garden/115604145165631
Please join me
November 10
5-7 pm
Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont
Featuring work from over 20 gallery artists
and catering from Otter Creek Bakery.
Come enjoy a glass of wine and a cupcake
to celebrate their third birthday and their
wonderful artists.
September 4 through November 1, 2012
A new show along with two wonderful artists at
Edgewater Gallery
One Mill Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
802 458 0098
From the Edgewater Gallery postcard:
“As summer stretches the last of its legs, Edgewater turns its focus to the warmth of home andinteriors. While golden sunbeams shear across windows and shadows play tricks on on the eyes, artists Cynthia Kirkwood, Kathr yn Milillo, and Jan V. Roy investigate the quiet moments, exploring the curiosity of color, shape, and light that bring beauty and joy to life.”
front images, l-r: Kathryn Milillo, ‘limoncello,’ Cynthia Kirkwood, ‘Three Yellow Zinnias,’ Jan V. Roy, ‘From the Meadow’
My first review!
“…Milillo begins her art with word thoughts — for example, ‘happiness,’ ‘gratitude,’ and ‘refuge,’ to bring emotional power to her oil paintings. Her barnscapes and landscapes have a simple serene beauty, achieved by skilled composition and muted colors, soft edges and a slow building up of paint. Her barn and house images have a solid, ‘forever,’ robust quality — total clarity, but as seen through a slightly dense atmosphere, bringing an idyllic resonance to the scenes.”
The Brandon Artists Guild
7 Center Street
(downtown Brandon, Vermont)
Now extended through Labor Day!
July 4 – September 3, 2012
Kathryn Milillo
and
Susan Shannon
Brandon Artists Guild
802 247 4956
Open Daily 10 – 5
brandonartistsguild.org
Click here to download postcard.
Thank you to everyone who attended
the reception Friday, July 6!
The Jackson Gallery
at the Middlebury
Town Hall Theater
Now extended an extra week:
June 29 – August 20
July 13 Opening Reception
5 to 7 pm
gallery talk from
7 to 8 pm
Featuring six women artists from the
North Chittenden Women’s Art Collective: