Recognizing the power of art on a community’s understanding of itself and its members, Proctor Academy’s Visual Arts Department, under the leadership of Interim Chair and Art Curator Molly Leith, continues to curate exhibits on campus of local artists. Read more about the latest exhibits on display on Proctor’s campus. 

Photo: Ben Conant

Chris and Leah Reid: Plein Air Artists on Display 

Located in the Brown Dining Commons upstairs exhibit, the en plein air landscape art of Chris and Leah Reid, a mother/daughter artist duo, is now on display. Molly met Chris at a Plein Air painting weekend at the Fells Estate during the summer of 2022 and is excited to feature both Chris and Leah’s pastels and video/sound installation in the Brown Dining Commons from January-May 2023. Chris will visit Proctor’s studio art classes during the Spring Term. 

The installation on display, Sounding Landscapes—Bee Conservancy, is a collaborative installation by Chris and Leah Reid. The installation brings together visual and sonic art forms, combining a painted landscape with an immersive soundscape composition. The work highlights pollinator gardens and the important creatures that live among us. The visual portion of the work was painted by Chris Reid and consists of a large, life-size 3-panel plein air landscape of Chris’ gardens. The work is filled with an explosion of vibrant floral colors and textures. The sound portion of the work, composed by Leah Reid, comprises a 20-minute composition that encapsulates sounds of Jaffrey center—the historic meeting house’s bell ringing in the distance, the sound of bees, hornets, and insects humming and buzzing, geese flying south, birds, and trees swaying in the wind. In the piece, these sounds are combined with Chris speaking about her inspirations, garden, and the sounds and rhythms of her painting en plein air. The listener hears Chris’ unique stroke work and the process of completing the piece from underpainting to final touches.

Chris Reid is an internationally respected New Hampshire artist known for her landscapes and still life paintings. Her work is noted for its intense color and masterful use of light. Art New England describes Reid’s work as being “rich in color” and her landscapes have been praised for their “powerful abstract elements.” Reid has been the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including: the “Best in Show” from the National Northeast Pastel Exhibition, the Jack Richeson & Company Award V at the Connecticut Pastel Society’s 34th Annual Members Exhibit, the Lovely Lines Award at the Pastel Societies of NH and VT’s joint show, the Pastel Journal Award from Maine’s 7th Annual International Juried Exhibit, the Dick Blick Award from the 4th Annual Northeast Pastel Exhibition, and the Artist Clean Air Award, the Passion for Pastels Award, the People's Choice Award, the Mary Costigan Award for Excellence in Still Life Award and the Seacoast Pastel Painters Award from the Pastel Society of New Hampshire's Member's Exhibitions, among many others. Reid’s work can be found in galleries across New England and in homes around the world. For additional information, please visit www.chrisreidstudio.com.

Leah Reid is a composer, sound artist, researcher, and educator, whose works range from opera, chamber, and vocal music, to acousmatic, electroacoustic works, and interactive sound installations. Winner of a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship, Reid has also won the American Prize in Composition, first prize in the KLANG! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition, Sound of the Year’s Composed with Sound Award, the International Alliance for Women in Music’s Pauline Oliveros Award, and prizes in the Iannis Xenakis International Electronic Music Competition and the International Destellos Competition. She has received fellowships from the Guerilla Opera Company, Transient Canvas, the Hambidge Center, MacDowell, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Ucross Foundation, and Yaddo. Her compositions have been presented at festivals, conferences, and major venues throughout the world. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the University of Virginia. Additional information may be found at www.leahreidmusic.com.

Art Acquisitions: Misoo Bang 

Last spring, Proctor’s Head of School Brian Thomas acquired the school’s first painting from artist Richard Haynes. This winter, the school announces the acquisition to two additional pieces, one, Misoo Bang’s Giant Asian Girl, JiYoung, purchased and donated by Brian Thomas and the second, Giant Asian Girl 10, was purchased by the school. Misoo’s artwork has been on display in the Lovejoy Library throughout the Fall of 2022. She was born in the Bronx and moved to Korea when she was one. She presently lives in South Burlington, VT and teaches art and art history at UVM. She was selected as one of the Emerging Artists of New England in 2019 and Vermont Artist to Watch in 2020.

Her work is deeply personal and is about empowering young women, particularly young Asian women. Her mixed media approach integrates childhood memories with her highly technical and beautifully rendered figures. This style, coupled with her voice of empowerment, is what initially drew me to her work. Her work invites viewers to reconsider the perception that, in her perspective, "... Asian women being perceived as delicate, erotic and submissive..." 

Amy Fortier: Contemporary Mandalas Exhibit January 2023-May 2023

Looking ahead to the new year, Amy Fortier’s contemporary mandala work will be on exhibit in the Lovejoy Library from January 2023 - May of 2023. Amy is an artist inspired by color, henna tattoos, Moroccan tile work, mandalas, and patterns of all kinds. I specialize in detailed mandala images and coloring posters. She has been doodling, crafting, and dabbling in art since she could first hold a crayon, but did not start to show her work publicly until she applied to paint, of all things, a 4 foot tall fiberglass pig as part of Hanover, NH’s 250th Anniversary celebration in 2011. 

When not creating or teaching art, Amy is a personal trainer at the River Valley Club in Lebanon, NH, sings with Gerry Grimo’s East Bay Jazz Ensemble, and volunteers the rest of her spare time with North Country Community Theatre’s Teen Program, as well as performing in their summer productions.