By Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
One of Peggy Kannenstine’s Unique Collages on Display at AVA exhibit “Collages: Reuse, Recycle”
The exhibition of “Collages: Reuse, Recycle” by local resident Margaret “Peggy” L. Kannenstine is a series of collages created from her old works on paper, a new form of artwork unique to this expressionist painter.
“Usually when people make collages, they’re from sections of magazines or other sources like antique papers in order to make something new,” said Kannenstine in a recent interview. “They’re making an image out of something that already exists.
Mine are made completely out of my old works on paper.”
Working in her art studio built onto her Rivendell house toward the brook garden on River Road, Kannenstine’s collages — and indeed many other paintings — are most often developed from what she sees around her on her farm or on jaunts around the region to sketch.
“I have a deep sense of connection with the land and its plants, animals and people,” Kannenstine once said in a previous interview. “The changes I see around the year, the variation in light, the quiet in winter, and the bustle of spring all feed into my work.”
Color is central to her perception as an artist and to her work, she noted.
“I’m not really an expressionist but that term is closer to the truth because I do carry emotion in my work and in my response to what I see,” Kannenstine said.
She has taken her older paintings and monotypes and made new images out of them, a process that is compelling and interesting because it’s similar to a puzzle by putting pieces of work together that results in a new and unique image. Importantly, her work is centered on the use of color to describe both place and feeling.
“If I’m doing a landscape, for example, I’m making it from other landscapes,” said Kannenstine. “But the source of the images doesn’t really matter because it’s what I make of the new pieces in a new way.”
Kannenstine began creating collages about five years ago because her brother-in-law gave her some architectural plans for fancy European gardens and told her to “play with these.”
“He wanted me to do something fun with them, and I enjoyed it,” Kannenstine said. “Then I began to get further into it using my own work. It’s basically recreating my own work. The end results are different than those of my past works that have always been toward abstraction. Now, this takes that a couple of steps further — further from super realistic painting.”
Kannenstine explained that she “marvels to see what happens when (she) puts old piece together to make new images.”
“Most of the time, I’m very pleased with the outcome,” she said. “My images are very simple.”
The roughly 25 pieces that will be on display at the AVA Gallery and Art Center range from six square inches to some that are 30-by-44 inches.
“The number will depend on the nod of the curator,” said Kannenstine. “I’m hoping that all of the works will be displayed.”
One of Peggy Kannenstine’s Unique Collages on Display at AVA exhibit “Collages: Reuse, Recycle” titled “In the Green Mountains.”
Her volunteer work for the arts has also included the Vermont Arts Council; New England Foundation for the Arts; and National Assembly of States Arts Agencies where she also served as secretary for five years.
Kannenstine shows widely through New England and the United States. Her work is in numerous corporate and private collections. Selected museum collections include the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio; the Springfield Museum in Missouri; the Fleming Museum in Burlington; and the Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, New Hampshire.
A reception, free and open to the public, will take place on Friday, Jan. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. Kannenstine will give a gallery talk on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 3 p.m. The talk is also free and open to the public.
Her exhibit, which will be held in the Elizabeth Rowland Mayor Gallery at AVA Gallery and Art Center, will close on Feb. 3.
This article first appeared in the January 5, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.