September 2007

Since 2002, The MacDowell Colony has brought the work of more than 60 accomplished artists into the local community through its MacDowell Downtown program. Aiming to facilitate interaction between MacDowell artists-in-residence and the public, this community outreach program offers a free artist presentation monthly from September to May. Readings, lectures, film screenings, and performances by oftentimes renowned artists from a variety of artistic backgrounds are presented for anyone who wishes to find out more about what goes on in the 32 artist studios at MacDowell.

MacDowell regularly brings together its artists and the public in other ways, too. Artists-in-residence proffer their experience and knowledge to area students through MacDowell in the Schools, and visitors from near and far catch a glimpse of the inner workings of the Colony every year during the annual Medal Day ceremony and open house in August.

Being the 100th birthday of MacDowell, this year has enabled the Colony to bring together its artists and the public in new and unique ways. The public art project Landlines, for instance — created by MacDowell interdisciplinary artist Anna Schuleit and unveiled over Medal Day weekend this year — was a vast undertaking that involved the active participation of more than 300 community volunteers.

The first presentation of the 2007-2008 MacDowell Downtown season will spotlight the artist responsible for one of the newest and more visible contributions the Colony has made to the town it calls home. As part of MacDowell’s Peterborough Projects centennial program (which aims to engage local citizens with the making and appreciation of contemporary art), visual artist Peter Edlund recently spent two months in residence at MacDowell creating a mural depicting the confluence of the Contoocook and Nubanusit Rivers in Peterborough. Gifted to the Peterborough Town Library and funded by both MacDowell and the A. Erland and Hazel Goyette Fund, the painting — titled Butternut-Tree-River-In-Little-Summer-Place and now permanently installed in the library’s portico ceiling — pays homage to the American Indians who once presided in the area, and the place names they left behind.

Edlund, who has been exploring the meaning and translation of American Indian names through his work since 2005, took direction for the visual representations in this painting from the translations of the American Indian words Contoocook (which can mean either Crow Land or Butternut Tree River) and Nubanusit (which means Little Summer Place). A native of Connecticut, he began research for this current series of work there, starting with places located near the area where he grew up. When he heard about the call for artists for Peterborough Projects, however, he saw an opportunity to expand, yet remain faithful to, the work he was already doing.

“During my first residency at MacDowell in 1997, I was told that the natives of the area never lived in Peterborough,” said Edlund in his Peterborough Project proposal. “They only came there to do their ceremonies because the place was too powerful to live in. I felt that power in the summer of ’97. And I never forgot it.”

Returning to Peterborough for September’s MacDowell Downtown event, Edlund will offer a slideshow presentation of his work and talk about its genesis. For this month only, MacDowell Downtown will take place at the Peterborough Town Library to enable viewing and discussion of Butternut-Tree-River-In-Little-Summer-Place. “This project is an expression of honor and respect to the American Indians who once inhabited the area,” exclaims Edlund, “and a thank you to the Colony and the town of Peterborough for all the creative good that has come out of my stays at MacDowell.”