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Like the majority of businesses in Wilmington, VT the ACG did not have flood insurance. In order to replace the gallery that was completely swept away by Irene's flood water's on 8/28/11, Ann & Joe would like to raise $100K. A long time friend of Ms. Coleman initiated the Ann Coleman Gallery Rebirth Fund soon after the disaster. “Initially we did not have a 501 c3 status which would make contributions tax deductible,” explains Ann, “and it would also encourage matched contributions by donors’ employers.” Recognizing the need, the Whitingham-Halifax Lions have stepped in to bridge that gap. “I am so pleased that we are going to be able to make a significant difference to help Ann get back into her own gallery by simply having donations made through our club," says W-H Lions club president Jen Betit-Engel. Checks can be made out to ...Read More Whitingham-Halifax Lions Club with a memo notation: Ann Coleman Gallery Rebirth Fund. The mailing address is: Whitingham/Halifax Lions Club, PO Box 367, Jacksonville, VT 05342 You don't have to travel far to still see work of local artist Ann Coleman. Thanks to Lilias Hart of Quaigh Designs, Ann was given a room on the second floor of her neighbors shop 4 doors east of where her Ann Coleman Gallery once stood. On August 28, Topical storm Irene's raging floodwaters picked up her entire newly renovated Gallery and plunged it into the river, dispersing it more than 5 miles down Lake Whitingham. Quaigh design has been a Downtown Wilmington, VT merchant for over 44 years, and is still renovating from Irenes flood damage. They carry handmade products from Vermont to Scotland. Their 11 West Main street location is open from 11-5 Friday - Sunday and Open everyday for the Holidays starting Dec 15th. Ann's work can also be seen and ordered by going to her website: www.artistAnnColeman.com If you'd like to stop in and say Hi to Ann and hear about her plans to rebuild, she will be available at Quaigh Design this coming Sunday, November 27 from Noon to 4PM.
ABC News did an interview with a local who lives in Vermont, Ann Coleman who had an art Gallery lost everything and now she is help her friends. What a brave soul, strong! A student of art from an early age, Ann Coleman did her degree work at Salzburg College, Austria, the Salzburg Art Academy and Skidmore College where she received a BS in Studio Art. Since that time Ann has focused primarily on watercolors and pastels; her works have been displayed throughout the eastern U.S. A resident of a small community in southern Vermont, Ann indulges in other passions: skiing, sailing and flower gardening, which naturally show up as subjects of her vibrant paintings. Her works include an impressive array of finely detailed portraitures done in watercolor. Ann is always open to discussing new ideas for commissioned works. Visit www.artistanncoleman.com to find out more. “Human kindness overflowing/ And I think its going to rain today” Randy Newman Human kindness can overflow. I have seen it, experienced it, profited by it, been oblivious to it and still got more. Oh at times I am sure I was undeserving but a Mother’s love knows no bounds. Eileen Sanderson. Most of her life- Eileen Specht. Why is that it takes a loss to realize the importance of a person? Oh its not that I didn’t know for quite sometime that my mom was an extraordinary being. No it’s just that I was not totally aware of the sheer magnitude of her greatness. She was a tower of quiet power and Oh so patient! Patience she had that in abundance. Raised 9 children. Yes, NINE! To call her a hard worker is an understatement. On the one hand she was Jesus, Buddha and Mother Teresa all rolled into one. And then she was as strong as any tuff guy played by Jimmy Cagney or Sylvester Stallone minus the brashness or harshness- I guess more like Jimmy Stewart in “Rear Window”. Amazingly even tempered- I cannot remember her getting angry. Her quiet, even-keeled demeanor was the perfect foil for my Dad’s tempestuousness. In her younger days, before kids, she was a model for JC Penneys. She was an attractive lady with a great smile. Why I even remember whistling at her when I was still a green-behind-the-ears kid as she came into to say goodnight to me in high heels and lipstick ready for a rare night out. Her life was a continuing Tai Chi. No matter if she was scrubbing the floor, baking a pie (How was it that she could possibly have the time or energy to BAKE? - something that she did often!) or helping with homework- it was all in fluid motion. There were no stops and starts. She just flowed. We like the image of flowing water. It’s peaceful and soothing. But water on Steroids is a whole other thing. August 2011. Tropical Storm Irene was a demon bitch that spewed fury throughout the entire state of Vermont. She took roads, trees, riverbanks, towns, cars, cows, horses, businesses and homes and sadly even some people and washed them away. It was a 500 year storm that some meteorologists say will return much sooner than 2511. In a few hours time she took a few lives and altered those of thousands of others. Ann and I fall into the latter category. Since 2009 Ann & I have been renovating an old derelict building on main St, Wilmington. Once a liquor store it was an unassuming 1-½ story, 720 sq ft. frame structure built in the early 60’s. It never looked better inside or out. And as the home of the Ann Coleman Gallery it never had more beautiful contents. By August we were millimeters away from being done. But on Aug 28 Irene finished it all. Picked up the entire building including its 6” concrete slab and took it for a ride. After the slab fell off the rest of the building was deposited into Lake Whitingham. On that fateful trip was almost Ann’s entire collection of art- 38 originals spanning 33 years and some 400 prints. “Something’s lost and something’s gained/ in living everyday”. Guess that the degree of those losses and gains just vary. The experience of living in a disaster area has been like no other I have ever experienced. Downtown Wilmington was blocked off for week by the National Guard. Special passes were required in order to access it. Debris and rubble was strewn about, lawns and sidewalks ripped up, picture windows blown out. It was a ghostly scene that resembled a war zone. When the water receded it left behind an ugly gunk that is a lethal mixture of river sediment, washed out septic systems, propane, gasoline, oil and probably just about every nasty chemical known to mankind, (the local supply store was 2 miles upriver from town and most of its contents were swept into the maelstrom and spread here there and everywhere.) As I write this it is almost 4 months since the incident. Only a handful businesses on West Main St have been able to get back up and running. The rebuilding will continue for months to come. One certainty is that the “new” downtown Wilmington will certainly be different than the one that we knew. Human kindness has overflowed. People have reached out from all over the country. Even before Ann’s best friend started the Ann Coleman Gallery Rebirth Fund people were sending money. Artists have sent their own works so that Ann could sell them. Someone in Florida donated their vacation home on the gulf so that we could take a break (still waiting on that opportunity). 3 young girls emptied their piggy banks and sent it all to Ann! Orders for Ann Coleman prints went off the charts. The generosity of people has humbled us. In some cases those who reached out to us were people we did not know and probably never will. So our lives have been very full. Chaos and wonder. Loss and gain. Love and pain. In the end nobody wants their life to be measured by loss. I think that 10% of living is how you act and the remaining 90 is how you react. Ann has been an inspiration to me. And also to others. In this defining moment she has come back with courage and grace. And so armed, we go forward…… -- JS, Christmas 2011
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The Ann Coleman Gallery: Her studio just before Irene hit
