The Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center, in partnership withDealer.com, unveiled on Thursday evening the first ever Floating Gallery – a collection of original artwork printed on sailboat sails. The product of an eight-month long project, Floating Gallery features work by four local artists – Scott A Campbell, Michael Sipe, Abby Manock, and Mary Lacy – all with a vision to create a one-of-a-kind waterfront experience for the Burlington community.
Scott A. Campbell
“When we embarked on this project with Dealer.com and our local artists eight months ago, we weren’t sure what exactly to expect. At the beginning, we just had an idea - to create a truly amazing project that brings together the various members of the community and showcases our Burlington culture. What we got with this Floating Gallery is so much more. Through this artwork we have created a unique waterfront experience for all to enjoy, in a way that has never been done before,” said Mark Naud, Executive Director at the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center.
Dealer.com, a strong supporter of the local arts community, has made several grants over the past few years fusing art with a functional need for its non-profit partners. As a long-time supporter of the Community Sailing Center and their Floating Classroom Program, Jill Badolato, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, concepted the first-of-its-kind Floating Gallery grant as a way to give back to the waterfront community on a multi-faceted front.Dealer.com’sP.E.A.C.E. Mission(Planet, Eat Local, Arts & Culture and Employees) represents the company’s unique approach to being a good corporate citizen.
“The CSC has a mission to celebrate and educate the community on stewardship of Lake Champlain. By using sails as a functional canvas for public art, we will bring much needed awareness to the revitalization initiatives happening on the Burlington waterfront, while paying local artists a living wage for their work. We believe that positive change comes from being a positive role model and contributor to the places in which we live and work, which is why these grants are so important,” said Jill Badolato, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Dealer.com.
Abby Manock
Through this project, the two organizations have created an experience that is creative and innovative, while honoring the cultural values of the local Burlington community. The artists involved were commissioned for their work, and asked to create a piece of art that depicts their individual style, but in a way that also represents the community. The artists’ work has been imprinted on four 24-foot Mainsails that will now be on permanent display as part of CSC’s fleet. The hope is that the Floating Gallery will continue to grow each year as more sails are added to the fleet.
A cornerstone of the Burlington community, the Sailing Center is a non-profit organization that provides lake access to over 6,000 people each year through its award-winning programs, regardless of age, ability or income. The Community Sailing Center encourages the responsible use and long-term stewardship of Lake Champlain through educational and recreational programs.
Floating Gallery
Scott A. Campbell |www.luminome.com
Born in Portland, Oregon in 1973 to French and American parents, Scott A. Campbell has lived his life in two dimensions since being big enough to wield a pencil. Seeking to be a life-long art student, Scott has supported that ambition by doing commercial work in programming (backend, UI, whole systems) and graphic design (namely branding work and rock posters for Phish, Medeski Martin & Wood, Black Crowes, Hot Tuna, etc). Scott’s design work is driven and inspired by the analog art-making process and his large format mixed-media work carries many of the approaches and types of thinking involved in design. When asked about being fused with both, Scott said, “I used to feel that art and design were in competition for my attention but it’s all drawing at the root and I find the intersection of those worlds increasingly fascinating if not always approachable”. Scott brings an ultramodern, serial architectural and playful sensibility to his work. His latest work explores scale—working on a more immersive experience for the viewer.
Abby Manock |www.abbymanock.com
Abby Manock is a multi-genre artist and designer splitting her time between her hometown of Burlington and Brooklyn, NY. Her work includes video and sculptural installation, drawing, large-scale mural projects, and interactive game-like performative sequences.All Abby's undertakings possess a color/visual code that stamps each individual component as unmistakably hers. Abby received her MFA from Columbia University in 2007. Her work has been showcased internationally and in the US. Since December, Abby has moved her studio practice back down to Brooklyn and hit the ground running with a full load of new art and design projects. In addition to teaching, she works as an artist assistant, scenic painter, muralist, prop maker, and visual designer, all the while plotting her next "mammoth" undertaking, this time, involving good luck charms and a sting of glow in the dark jellyfish.
Michael Sipe |www.michaelsipe.com
Michael Sipe, Burlington based photographer, is a resident artist who maintains a photography studio in The Hood Plant on King Street for the past 18 years. Michael specializes in primarily commercial and editorial genres of photography but is currently taking new direction into portraiture and fine art. Michael tries to bring beauty to all projects, regardless of subject, which inevitably highlights his technique and process.
Mary Lacy |www.marylacyart.com
Mary Lacy grew up in Jericho, Vermont. She started painting in high school and in her senior year she attended a small semester long art program in Napa City, California called The Oxbow School. She liked painting portraits. After getting her bachelors in history and politics, she returned to painting with a new community oriented take. Right now she is painting wildlife animals. Mary hopes to continue to paint murals in the public sphere, choosing species specific to each location. She is currently living in Jericho, having moved home last summer to pursue her art.
About Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center: A community-based non-profit organization, Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center encourages and celebrates the responsible use and long-term stewardship of Lake Champlain by providing the community with educational and recreational access to Lake Champlain. The Community Sailing Center (CSC) is a vital community resource on the Burlington Waterfront that serves over 5,000 people each year through award winning programs, which use human powered watercraft as a medium to instill a sense of ownership in one of Vermont’s most important natural resources. A cornerstone of the Burlington community for 20 years, the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center inspires lake stewardship, provides universal access to the lake and is helping preserve the beauty of Lake Champlain for future generations. To learn more about the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center, please visit:www.CommunitySailingCenter.org.
Mary Lacy
About Dealertrack Technologies (www.dealertrack.com)
Dealer.com, Dealer.com, a Dealertrack solution (Nasdaq: TRAK), delivers integrated web-based tools, services and technologies that drive efficiencies and profitability for automotive retailers, including dealers, lenders, OEMs, third-party retailers, agents and aftermarket providers. Currently, Dealertrack hosts more than 60 million unique visitors per month on 20,000 dealer websites, and operates the industry’s largest online credit transaction network, connecting more than 20,000 dealers with more than 1,500 lenders. Dealertrack’s market-leading suite of integrated solutions includeDealer Management Systems (DMS),Inventory,Sales and F&I,Digital Marketing,Registration and Titling,CRM,Fixed OperationsandIndependent Dealersolutions.