Future space for interdisciplinary & experimental art practice, education, & exhibition.
The Painting Building & The Sculpture Building
@ Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont
Project Executive Summary
The mission of the Untitled Art Center is to foster and facilitate experimental and interdisciplinary art practice, education, exhibition, and celebration through community access to art making spaces, tools, artist-directed education courses, intensives, performances and festivals, and international artist-in-residence programs; bringing new and emerging artists to Central Vermont while nurturing the community and the creative process and increasing the accessibility of creative resources of those who make Central Vermont their home.
The Untitled Art Center is fiscally sponsored by The Global Justice Ecology Project, a non-profit organization based in Buffalo, New York. The Untitled Arts Center seeks to partner with local non-profit groups, such as the Grassroots Center in Marshfield, VT, petition for corporate and local business sponsorship, and house arts centered small businesses and makers. The project is co-directed by Montpelier-based artists Taylor McNeely and Christopher Wiersema.
The Untitled Art Center is working to reimagine the potential future of the currently idle arts buildings at Goddard College (colloquially referred to The Painting Building and The Sculpture Building) in Plainfield, Vermont.
We see these two buildings on the campus of Goddard College as living history of the experimental design/build movement in the U.S. and its historical connections and significance to Vermont. The buildings were built by John Mallery and David Sellers to house the newly formed Goddard College Design Build Program, which they co-founded and taught from 1969-77. Although they rest quietly now, these buildings are visionary and inspiring, and stand as vessels that still ring with the soul of that human connectivity cultivated inside of them through creative passion and expression shared. They stand a testament to the people of Central Vermont and Goddard College. Historical preservation of the contemporary design/build movement and its message of re-imaging, is at the core of the Untitled Art Center Project.
Through a renovation using contemporary and sustainable methods, we seek to transform these buildings into a year-round working art center, honoring the buildings’ history and actively renewing and curating the buildings’ future.
Programs & Services
Community access to arts facilities, such as— traditional film photography darkroom, book and paper arts studios, maker space and media arts lab, studios for painting and sculpture, clay studio, and multiple exhibition and gallery spaces.
International artist-in-residence programs, alongside public artist-educator courses and intensives. Artists-in-residence will have the opportunity to travel to and stay in Vermont, teach and exhibit their work, and use our facilities and spaces to create new work.
Year-round youth arts education programs, such as— Vermont Youth Documentary Lab, summer arts camps, and after school programs.
Art and documentation library— Untitled Art Center has aspirations to acquire and maintain locally significant collections and pieces.
Guest artist lecture series and community-directed arts courses.
Music and art performances, contemporary art and community exhibitions, and arts and cultural festivals.
Espresso bar— year-round art center cafe, centering as a community hub.
Vision & Goals
Historical preservation of buildings from the contemporary art design/build movement in Vermont
Community access to arts facilities, including— traditional film photography darkroom, book and paper arts studios, maker space and media arts lab, studios for painting and sculpture, and multiple exhibition spaces
International artist-in-residence programs, alongside public artist-educator courses and intensives
Music and art performances, contemporary art and community exhibitions, and arts and cultural festivals
A beautiful, simple, and open interior space, with a focus on the performance of the buildings— centering natural building methods and energy efficiency
For more information and for a copy of the full project proposal, email christopher.wiersema[at]gmail.com