Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Curious George Nature Trail to Get a Facelift This Summer

Dave Gaudioso of Like Father, Like Son Landscaping
preparing the trail for resurfacing.

With generous support from Eagle Scout candidate Ian McKinnon, the Town of Waterville Valley, Dave Gaudioso of Like Father, Like Son Landscaping, as well as other local businesses, the Curious George Nature Trail will soon once again be an accessible place to learn about and experience the ecology of the forests that surround us. The Curious George Nature Trail was originally created in 2004 as a tribute to Curious George authors and former Waterville Valley residents, Margret and H.A. Rey and was designed to be an outdoor classroom for learning about local ecology. The Margret and H.A. Rey Center uses the trail for its many hands-on science and nature programs with schools and families, and the trail is open to the public to explore and enjoy.

Before Dave started, you couldn't even see this
section of trail!
The Trail was originally designed to be wheelchair accessible but had become very overgrown in the last 10 years. This summer’s project will be done in stages with the first stage being done by Dave Gaudioso of Like Father, Like Son Landscaping and the second stage being done by Eagle Scout candidate Ian McKinnon. The first stage includes reestablishing and resurfacing the trail. Dave Gaudioso began this stage of the project by cutting back the vegetation that had encroached on the trail to bring the trail back to its original width and will then resurface the trail with ledge pack to create an even and level surface. Like Father, Like Son Landscaping is generously donating the labor costs associated with this stage of the project and have kindly offered to support Eagle Scout candidate Ian McKinnon with his stage of the project as well.

Once the resurfacing is complete, Ian McKinnon will oversee the next stage of the project in partial fulfillment of the Eagle Scout community service project requirement. This stage of the project will include repairing the large bridge near the start of the trail, reestablishing the section of trail removed during the relocation of the Curious George Cottage in 2010, sealing and sanding the benches along the trail, removing hazards such as dead and downed trees and vegetation near the trail, and redefining two drainage channels that are supposed to move standing water away from the sides of the trail. Ian will certainly have his work cut out for him this summer! Contact the Rey Center if you are interested in volunteering your time and talents to be a part of this great project (603-236-3308 or TheReyCenter.org). We invite you to take a lap around the Curious George Nature Trail a few times this summer and watch the transformation happen! 

Rey Center Garden Volunteer Day


On Saturday, June 15 several volunteers joined Rey Center staff for Garden Volunteer Day at the Curious George Cottage. Projects for the day included creating the new Noon Peak Road entrance to the Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens, installing the new community gardens hand-painted sign, lots and lots of weeding and fluffing of mulch, and relocation of a few shrubs and plants.

Thank you to the volunteers who joined us, without them there would be no Garden Volunteer Day! Thank you to Maryellen Sakura, Sylvia Taub, Rael Glietsman, Birdie Britton, Will Twombley, and Dave Gaudioso of Like Father, Like Son Landscaping.
Pictured from L to R: Leigh Ann Reynolds (staff), Maryellen Sakura, Birdie Britton,
Sylvia Taub, Rael Glietsman and Denise Siraco (staff) in front of the new garden sign.

The project of creating the new garden entrance got a huge helping hand from Dave Gaudioso of Like
Father, Like Son Landscaping who brought his skid steer over to remove the section of berm between the garden and the road that is now the new entrance. Dave really saved the day, as we were planning to do this by hand with shovels. We might still be over there digging if it weren’t for his help! The new entrance will provide accessible access to the community gardens for everyone. Like Father, Like Son Landscaping is also donating granite curbing to outline the berm along the road and help define the new entrance. Along with the new Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens sign, hand made and hand painted by the Rey Center’s Denise Siraco, which was installed on the berm, the garden entrance is really coming together. Stop by the gardens located next to the Curious George Cottage on Noon Peak Road to see the improvements. The Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens provide community members the opportunity to grow vegetables, flowers and herbs and to share that experience with others. The Town of Waterville Valley, the Bierbrier Family, Like Father, Like Son Landscaping, and Environmental to Residential Landscaping are proud sponsors of the community gardens.

Other projects for the day included weeding the perennial beds around the Curious George Cottage and the berm in front of the community gardens along Noon Peak Road. The weeds were winning the war, but by lunchtime the volunteers had successfully reclaimed the perennial gardens and the berm, and the plants and shrubs will certainly be happier for it. Now we just need to stay one step ahead of those weeds…let us know if you want to volunteer a hand to help out!




Thank you again to all the volunteers who made this day a success! To learn more about the Margret and H.A. Rey Center or the Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens visit TheReyCenter.org or stop by the Rey Center on the second level of Waterville Valley’s Town Square.


Friday, June 7, 2013

New Exhibit in the Rey Center Gallery

 

-->
WATERVILLE VALLEY, NH – The Margret and H.A. Rey Center Art Gallery opens an exciting new art exhibit on Saturday June 29, 2013. The exhibit entitled “Nature Interpreted: A Printmaker’s View” is a collection of work from some of the area’s most talented printmakers. This exciting new exhibit will feature a variety of printing techniques as each artist interprets nature through their own eyes and using their own process. The exhibit also includes an exciting printmaking workshop with Golden Artist Colors, Inc. on Saturday August 3rd from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. The exhibit runs from June 29 through September 1, 2013. There will be a gallery reception on Saturday, July 6 from 6:30–8:00 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday–Saturday 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Meet the artists:
Arlington, MA artist, Adria Arch, is a non-representational painter and mixed media artist whose work features strong graphic elements and vivid color. Her recent work explores the representation of energy through the human mark, in particular the doodles we all make while in a state of reverie. Adria is a technical consultant for GOLDEN Artist Colors. She teaches privately and at local museums and art centers and will be conducting the printmaking workshop at the Rey Center in August. She lives with her family and dog in Arlington, MA.
            Plymouth State University Adjunct Faculty Member, Anita Dillman, is a visual artist with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Experimental Studios from Syracuse University School of Visual and Performing Arts. She is primarily a printmaker and draftsperson, although her interests move in many directions. She has taught virtually all ages, from pre-school to 78 year olds, and believes that everyone has artistic potential and that living artfully is a worthy ambition. Anita has won awards for her prints as well as (antithetically) having had her lithograph, “Vote Issues not Image,” banned from a pre-presidential election show in Berkeley, CA. She has exhibited in national venues and has given workshops in stone lithography at a cooperative studio in New England.
Peterborough, NH artist, Soosen Dunholter, is often inspired by images that are fleeting and frequently overlooked. Her works on paper investigate images snatched from those final moments before waking when you grasp the vagueness and mystery of those last uncertain threads of the dream state with futile attempts to remember the fading fragments of reverie. She likes to bring order to her world by collecting, sorting, organizing and categorizing things into their proper place. Soosen creates calm in her universe by orchestrating the chaos around her until all the diverse elements find their perfect fit and coexist in harmony.
Professor of Art Annette Mitchell is Coordinator of the Drawing Program at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire. She is known for creative innovations in the areas of printmaking and art quilting. American Artist Magazine published an article titled "Creating Elegant Prints From A Foam Plate" about her work. Annette has published articles in many academic publications including SchoolArts Magazine as well as publishing a book, DVD, and video about the foam plate printing process that she uses. Foam Is Where The Art Is--New Ways To Print has become a popular resource for studio artists, art teachers, and art quilters alike.
Kimberly Anderson Ritchie is an artist and teacher. She is the Printmaking Coordinator and Instructor at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Ritchie is constantly reading, researching, collecting, and exploring the natural world. Her love and respect for the natural environment has directed her artwork. Her current work evolves around an in-depth study of environmental issues, from global climate change affecting Colorado glacial retreat to algae blooms in the Gulf. The artwork is a response to the research; some works simply use the issue as a starting point while other work clearly displays the concern. Kimberly is trying to bring the beauty, mystery, curiosity, and conservation of the land back into our daily focus through the image-making process. The artwork is her way of internalizing the natural world and expressing her concern. 
Waterville resident and artist, Maryellen Sakura, is a practicing artist who has over 38 years of teaching experience. She has exhibited her work at the Rey Center and in galleries in New Mexico, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Her work is in collections in Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan as well as this country.
Boston artist, Anne Silber, was born in New Jersey and studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and has lived and worked in the Boston area since 1977. Silber's work has been shown in numerous one-person and group exhibitions around the U.S. and Europe, and her prints are included in many corporate and museum collections. Her work has also appeared on the sets of a large number of television series and major motion pictures.
Cambridge artist, Susan Wood, has had a life-long interest in the visual arts, but it was not until the spring of 2008 that she took her first drawing course at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE). The following year she took her first printmaking class, also at CCAE. Since retiring in December 2009, she has made art her primary occupation, continuing with classes in drawing, printmaking, and watercolor at CCAE, but also adding classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Kaji Aso Studio in Boston, and workshops in the US and abroad. Susan has showed at several juried and invitational shows in Cambridge, MA and Delaware.
            Also showing: Woodprint artist, Matt Brown, PSU’s Karl Drerup Gallery Director, John (Terry) Downs, and PSU’s, Henreike Strecker.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Wildflower Walk with WVES K-2 Class

Each year the Margret and H.A. Rey Center works with Waterville Valley Elementary School to provide their students with hands-on science programs. Join me on photo journey of a wildflower walk with the Kindergarten-2nd grade class.

The first wildflower spotted was Trillium!



We continue up the trail...
Investigating the flowers on a tree.





















        
We add Lady-slippers to the list!        

Looking closely at moss and Starflowers.
Who lives in that hole?










Heading down to look at the BIG Pines!




On the hunt for more wildflowers...
K-2 Class