Meet the Artists

Robert H. Way, Watching (Pastured Cows)

This evening, the Cornish Colony Museum will host the inaugural event of the Cornish Colony Artists' Guild. The Artists' Guild continues the artistic tradition of the Cornish Colony by promoting artists, authors, performers, musicians and other creative individuals who are continuing the artistic spirit of the Colony.

This evening, five artists will be inducted into the Cornish Colony Artists' Guild: Jane R. Ashley, William B. Hoyt, Gary Milek, Lawrence J. Nowlan and Robert H. Way. Ms. Ashley, Mr. Hoyt, Mr. Milek and Mr. Nowlan are all exceptional local artists. Mr. Way is today active in North Carolina, and utilizes the distinctive technique of Cornish Colony artist Maxfield Parrish to create his paintings. The inspiration and influence of the Cornish Colony artists is evident in the works of all five of these talented artists, and it is a pleasure to welcome them into the Cornish Colony Artists' Guild as Founding Artist Members.

"Meet the Artists: The Cornish Colony Artists' Guild" will take place in the Cornish Colony Museum from 5:00pm to 7:00pm this evening (Saturday, July 3rd). A reception will accompany the viewing of the work of these artists and the presentation of the Guild certificates.

Tradition and Innovation

Summer is here, and the Cornish Colony Museum is open and celebrating the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Cornish Colony! Tradition and Innovation: 125 Years of the Arts in Cornish features works by Cornish Colony artists Maxfield Parrish, Everett Shinn, Marguerite and William Zorach, Frances Grimes, Paul Manship, Charles Platt, John White Alexander and Stephen Parrish, as well as works by current artists active in the area today, including Gary Milek, Robert Way, Jane Ashley, Lawrence Nowlan and Jim Schubert.

In 1885, lawyer Charles Beaman convinced sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to summer in Cornish, New Hampshire. Though lured to the area by the promise of "Lincoln-shaped men" to model for his statue of Abraham Lincoln, Saint-Gaudens quickly fell in love with the landscape, the peaceful atmosphere, and the spirit of rural New England. Not only did Saint-Gaudens return the following summer, but he persuaded his many friends and colleagues to join him. 1885 was the unassuming beginning of one of America's most influential and inclusive art colonies.

Visit the museum this summer and learn more about the beginning of the Cornish Colony, its development into a community of creative individuals, and the distinctive art, poetry, research and progress which the Colony produced.

(pictured: Stephen Parrish, Summer Landscape)

Focus on the Colony Artists: Abraham Walkowitz and Isadora Duncan

Abraham Walkowitz, an American Modernist painter, created more than 5,000 watercolor paintings of the famous "Mother of Modern Dance," Isadora Duncan. Both artists were members of the Cornish Colony in the early 20th century, where Isadora Duncan entertained her fellow Colony members at dinner parties across Cornish and Plainfield, New Hampshire. She enchanted audiences wherever she went, and the Cornish Colony was no exception.

"Isadora is movement. I watched her dances, and I never had her pose, I just watched the movement," explained Abraham Walkowitz. "She was a Muse. She had no laws. She didn't dance according to the rules. She created. Her body was music."

Abraham Walkowitz, Isadora Duncan I and II, c.1910. Watercolor, pen and ink.

The Summer Exhibit - Women's Work: The Artistry of the Women of the Cornish Colony

Can you spot a Pulitzer Prize winner?

An artist whose works sell in the millions?

One of the most successful women sculptors in American history?

An inspirational writer whose works are still in print?

A First Lady and also an accomplished artist?

A local actress who was the first woman to appear on the cover of Time Magazine?

If not, then perhaps you should plan on visiting the Cornish Colony Museum sometime this summer and see and learn about the many accomplishments of the women artists, sculptors, writers, and actresses of this area.


The summer exhibit, Women's Work: The Artistry of the Women of the Cornish Colony, is in full swing at the Cornish Colony Museum. Drop in and see featured works by some of the finest Gilded Age artists: Bessie Potter Vonnoh, Edith Prellwitz, Annetta St. Gaudens, Helen Mears, Frances Grimes and Laura Gardin Fraser. You'll also learn about the many performing artists, authors, politicians and activists featured in the exhibit.


Open all summer, Wednesday through Sunday, 11am to 5pm.


Never fear – we have not neglected the men of the Cornish Colony. Also on exhibit are works by James Earle Fraser, Frederic Remington, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Paul Manship and, of course, Maxfield Parrish.

We look forward to seeing you at the Museum!

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog of the Cornish Colony Museum! There are exciting things happening at the museum and we thought this could be a great way to share. For those of you familiar with the museum we are hoping this can be another way to keep you posted. For those unfamiliar, you can also go to the museum website for more information.

Movies at the Museum

“MOVIES IN WINDSOR!!!!!” SCHEDULE

When: 2ND AND 4TH THURSDAYS FROM 6:30 TO 8:30.
Where: ROOM 104, Cornish Colony Museum, 147 Main St. Windsor, VT
Cost: $5 includes a brief introduction about the relevance of the film to the Cornish Colony as well as the movie. Refreshments will be sold. Fee benefits the Cornish Colony Museum Community Education Program. Please keep this schedule for reference. It will only be advertised to our subscribers and members. Come spend an enjoyable evening with your friends while supporting the museum itself.

JAN. 22 “Inherit the Wind”. Spencer Tracy and Frederic March. Winner of
four academy award nominations. Depicts the titanic courtroom battle of the 20th century. Come learn of Wm. Jennings Bryan's connection to Maxfield Parrish.

FEB. 12 “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing”. Ray Milland, Joan Collins, Farley Granger. The controversy of Saint-Gaudens' famous Diana sculpture which resulted in the death of renowned architect Stanford White.

FEB. 26 “Anna Christie”. Greta Garbo and Marie Dressler. The first talkie film (1930) with famed Swedish actress Garbo being billed as “Garbo Talks!”

MAR. 12 “Isadora”. Vanessa Redgrave in the life of famous dancer and member of the Cornish Colony, Isadora Duncan

MAR. 26 “Dinner at Eight”. Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, John Barrymore and Wallace Beery. A 1933 society comedy starring four famed names in motion pictures. This picture quickly became a satirical classic about the moneyed classes and their problems.

APR. 9 “Glory”. Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington. Reenactment of Col. Robert Shaw’s Civil War battalion which inspired Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial Monument.

APR. 23 “Min and Bill”. Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. The movie that won Dressler an Oscar for “Best Actress”. A marvelously accomplished story (for 1930) set into film.

MAY 14 “The Spiral Staircase”. Dorothy McGuire, Ethel Barrymore and George Brent. A superb Hitchcock-like thriller from 1945.

MAY 28 “Queen Christina”. Greta Garbo stars in 1933 as the powerful queen of Sweden who was a scholar, warrior and superb horsewoman trained in sword fighting and politics. Just in time to celebrate the museum’s summer exhibit: Woman’s Work: the Artistry of the Women of Cornish

JUNE 11. “The Secret Garden”. Kate Maberly and Maggie Smith star in the 1993 remake of the beloved story written in 1911 by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Just in time to set the mood for the museum’s Historic Gardens of the Cornish Colony tour.

JUNE 25. “Tugboat Annie”. Marie Dressler. The 1933 classic movie with Wallace Beery and Robert Young was done the year before Marie’s death while she was already very ill from the cancer which would soon claim her life.

Upcoming films for the second half of the year: “The Great Gatsby” with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow; “Portrait of Jennie” with Jennifer Jones and Ethel Barrymore, “Young at Heart” with Doris Day, Frank Sinatra and Ethel Barrymore and the perennial classic: “Little Women”. The list of other classic movies scheduled to be shown in Windsor at the Cornish Colony Museum will be published later in the year. The series is made possible by a generous gift from Harvey and Christina Hill for the equipment, Richard and Paula Vial for the chairs and Alma Gilbert for the licensing of the films being shown so that the museum can continue its Community Education Program.