- Gayleen Aiken
Gayleen Aiken (1934-2005,
Barre, VT ) [http://stirusfreeus.com/aiken.html] was anartist ,musician , andhistorian of her hometown Barre, Vermont.Sometimes referred to as the "Grandma Moses" of Vermont [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2005/04/03/gayleen_aiken_artist_called_vermonts_grandma_moses/] , Gayleen Aiken produced a body of work that often combined texts and images; her themes include
music andmusical instruments , the large oldfarmhouse where she grew up, the lyricism of Vermont’s seasons, thegranite industry, and the pleasures and ordeals of rural life. These themes are threaded together by a cast of characters, members of an imaginary extended family, which she called "The Raimbilli Cousins ".The work of Gayleen Aiken has been featured in exhibitions at the
American Visionary Museum , theFairbanks Museum , theVermont Granite Museum , andKS Art . Her work is in the permanent collection of theAbby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of American Folk Art ,Williamsburg, VA and theSmithsonian American Art Museum ,Washington, D.C. [http://stirusfreeus.com/aiken.html] . In 2007, the artist and friendPeter Gallo organized the first posthumous exhibition of her work at SUNDAY in New York [http://stirusfreeus.com/aiken_aiken.html] .She is the subject of
Jay Craven ’s award winning film, "Gayleen ", and was a recipient of a Vermont Council on the Arts fellowship. In 1997,Harry B. Abrams, Inc. released "Moonlight and Music: The Enchanted World of Gayleen Aiken". Her artwork has been featured inThe New York Times ,Raw Vision , andThe Boston Globe .External links
* [http://brooklynrail.org/2007/02/artseen/gayleen-aiken Review: Gayleen Aiken @ SUNDAY in the Brooklyn Rail]
* [http://stirusfreeus.com/aiken_aiken.html SUNDAY, NYC (images)]
* [http://www.stirusfreeus.com/aiken.html Official Bio @ SUNDAY, NYC]
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