Founder’s Focus

November Visiting Artists:

A Selection of Recent Resident Portraits:

Photos by Howard Romero

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November Residents:

Photo by Howard Romero

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November International Residents:

Photo by Howard Romero

Sookoon Ang, Singapore Alexis Avlamis, Greece Leo Babsky, United Kingdom Irma Gutierrez, Mexico Kitty Hoffman, Canada Chih-Chi Hsu, Taiwan Yu-Hang Huang, Taiwan Zlata Kalusova, Czech Republic Nirmala Karuppiah, Malaysia

Beth Letain, Canada Jia-Jen Lin, Korea Sofia Maldonado, Cuba Nguyen Xuan Huy, Vietnam Ki-Jin Park, Korea Rocio Rodriguez Salceda, Spain Tomasz Rozycki, Poland Tam Kar Wing, Hong Kong Zheng Xuewu, China

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Susan Bruce, a recent VSC resident from Australia, created this video during her residency at the Studio Center.  She says of the work “it is a short piece that uses feet, legs and text to talk about a bi-national relationship.  The feet caress each other and look like puppets performing in a playful way.”

To see more of Susan Bruce’s work, click here

“in-between” 2 min, colour, 2009 ©

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Dear VSC Friends,
Happy Thanksgiving.  There is a lot of thanks given by artists and writers at the Studio Center, everyday of the year, from those who are thankful to be doing exactly what they most want to do in their lives…..spend  8 to 10 distraction free hours a day in the studio,  being served 3 excellent meals each day ( made by someone else ) in a beautiful natural setting, in the collegial, non-competitive company of 75 fellow makers from many cultures and countries.

Jon Gregg, Founder

Note : The letter which follows,  from distinguished Chinese poet, Ouyang Jianghe,  at the Studio Center as part of our Literature in Translation program,  offers a lovely exposition of time spent at VSC.

Dear VSC,
I’ve spent a lovely time here in Vermont. My life here has been a quartet of writing, walking, thinking, and talking. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a night sky as beautiful as this, heard the autumn breeze whispering in the trees, water playing in the brook, stars above—it seems as if they’ve been waiting here for me since time immemorial, waiting for these two weeks (during which, as it happens, I celebrated my 53rd birthday) to enter my poetry, to cleanse my mind and spirit, my eyes and my ears. During my time here, I’ve felt touched by an older time, the time of the Chinese ancients, and the work I’ve produced here is resonant with that feeling. I could not have written it anywhere else. I’ve been moved deeply by the landscape, the air, the sky, the river, the trees, the people, the ideas exchanged, the myth-like story of the place. I am deeply grateful to VSC for everything it has given me. I hope that in the future many more Chinese authors, poets, and artists will have the chance to come to VSC. Whether from the creative work itself or the life experience a stay at VSC provides, a brief month here could very well change the course of a lifetime.

Sincerely,
Ouyang Jianghe

我从遥远的中国来到VERMONT，度过了非常美好的两周时间。我在这里的生活，是由写作，散步，思考，交谈构成的一个四重奏。我已经多年没有看到像VERMONT这么美丽和安宁的星空。树林里的秋风，河里流动的流水，天空中的星辰，它们古已有之，它们选择VERMONT这个地方，选择我53岁生日，进入我的诗作，清空我的头脑和心灵，洗涤我的眼睛和耳朵。我在这里感受到的古老触动，写出的诗作，是在其他任何地方和时刻感受不到，写不出来的。这里的风景，空气，天空，河流，树木，人心，对话，还有它传奇般的故事，让我深深感动。谢谢VSC给予我的一切。我希望，中国以后会有更多的作家，诗人，艺术家有机会来到VSC。给更多的人机会吧，无论从写作，创作的角度，还是从感受生命的角度看，VSC短暂的一个月，很可能会影响一生。

Ouyang Jianghe, is a VSC Literature in Translation Program Poet from China who came to VSC in September with an American translator, Austin Woerner. To read about Ouyang Jianghe more click here. To read more on the VSC LiT program, click here.

The 2009 Visiting LiT Poet is Ouyang Jianghe, from China, who came to VSC with the American translator, Austin Woerner. We are happy for the opportunity Oujang has extended for us to share his work here on the blog, and to show Austin’s work in translation here, as well. The video below shows the two: Oujang reads his poem, “Handgun,” in Chinese, and Austin translates it into English.

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Ouyang Jianghe’s Poem, “Handgun,” with a translation by Austin Woerner:

手枪 手枪可以拆开 拆作两件不相关的东西 一件是手，一件是枪 枪变长可以成为一个党 手涂黑可以成为另一个党 而东西本身可以再拆 直到成为相反的向度 世界在无穷的拆字法中分离 人用一只眼睛寻求爱情 另一只眼睛压进枪膛 子弹眉来眼去 鼻子对准敌人的客厅 政治向左倾斜 一个人朝东方开枪 另一个人在西方倒下 黑手党戴上白手套 长枪党改用短枪 永远的维纳斯站在石头里 她的手拒绝了人类 从她的胸脯拉出两只抽屉 里面有两粒子弹，一枝枪 要扣响时成为玩具 谋杀，一次哑火

Handgun you can take a- part a handgun, break it in two, into a hand a gun paint the hand black, you’ve got a faction— put the gun on a boat: that’s a means of persuasion you can take apart a faction into further partitions parties ambitions you can break it into act, or action— the world divides in infinite fissions one eye you aim at love; the other you ram into the barrel of a gun the bullets ogle you level your nose at your enemies’ parlors: persuasion becomes sinidextrous. you take your hand- gun, shoot into the west— in the east a man falls the Black Hand put on white gloves gunboats volley in private rooms in stone, eternal Venus stands her hands rejecting humanity from her breasts she pulls a pair of drawers— two bullets a gun pull the trigger: it becomes a toy snap silence

The Literature in Translation Program (LiT) , launched in 2009 by the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics (ALSC) together with VSC, is an exciting new addition to the Studio Center’s growing Writing Program. LiT brings writers and translators to the Vermont Studio Center for month-long residencies of intensive solitary work, collaboration, creative fellowship, and bilingual readings. To read more about the LiT progam and upcoming events, click here.