Artists & Communities Host Site: Rockingham Arts and Museum Project
P.O. Box 843
Bellows Falls,VT 05101
E-mail: info@ramp-vt.org
Web site: www.ramp-vt.org

Millennium Artist:
Beliz Brother
Sculptor and Installation Artist
Washington
E-mail: bbrother@seanet.com

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The early Industrial Revolution turned America into a manufacturing powerhouse, with the economies of communities across the country dedicated to the production of goods for the domestic and export market. As production methods evolved and traditional markets changed, however, it became imperative for these towns to discover new ways to sustain themselves.

Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP) partnered with Washington artist Beliz Brother in its ongoing bid to reposition Bellows Falls, Vermont from its former role as an industrial mill town to being an arts enterprise community.

Brother's early meetings with community members facilitated by RAMP identified local tourism and the redevelopment of downtown Bellows Falls as related focal points for her residency. She consequently went on to consult with residents, business leaders, and local artists, exploring ways to incorporate arts activities into municipal civic and economic development projects.

Brother's has over 10 years' experience developing the public art components for major developments throughout the Pacific Northwest area. During her four months in Vermont, Brother conducted workshops generating ideas about representative features and personalities of the region. Interpretations of this 'visual anthropology' were then presented to high school students at Vermont Academy, over the local cable television channel, to elders through the Senior Citizens Residence Project, and at the National Rural Community Assistance Partnership Conference.

Consulting with the architects developing the Bellows Falls Connecticut River Byways Waypoint Interpretive Center, Brother helped define opportunities for involving local artists in creating temporary and permanent artworks for the facility. She also established an ongoing project with the Economic Corporation of Newport (ECON) and artist Verandah Porche, partners in the New Hampshire Artists & Communities residency, to define and create new regional tourism strategies.

Brother's residency helped raise awareness of RAMP's newly-opened low cost artists' residential and studio Exner Block facility in downtown Bellows Falls. She also left behind a legacy of ideas for integrating art and artists into future civic projects.

Commenting on her residency and artistic process, Millennium Artist Beliz Brother said, "…I first get to know the make-up of the community over a period of time. My goal is to create situations of involvement that are natural and not forced. I then become sensitive to who the community really is and what they believe in, and learn of their ideas about culture, art, and community values…an artist can not only directly involve a community in creating art, but also increase understanding and instigate change."

MILLENNIUM ARTIST BIO

Beliz Brother is a sculptor, lecturer, and visiting artist whose work has been commissioned for public sites in California and throughout the Pacific Northwest. She has also undertaken a number of community residencies in Japan and Indonesia, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Japan - U.S. Friendship Commission, and by Arts International.