By Kate Mueller

The Art Resource Association, a central Vermont arts organization, was officially born on Nov. 17, 1975, when cofounders Patricia de Gogorza and her husband James Gahagan registered the ARA as a nonprofit with the state of Vermont. 

De Gogorza and Gahagan moved to Vermont in 1971 from New York City, settling into the house they bought in 1964, on Dog Pond Road in South Woodbury. In the city they had been an active part of a dynamic art community. Gahagan, an abstract expressionist painter, was associate director of the Hans Hofmann School and taught painting at Pratt Institute, while de Gogorza, a printmaker and a sculptor, taught art at Bard College. 

The couple soon realized the many artists living and working in the hills of Vermont needed a way to connect. 

“I think of artists in Vermont like raisins in a cookie. They’re separated, may not know about each other’s existence, but still they’re all together in the same cookie, Vermont,” notes de Gogorza.

The ARA would offer education and exhibition opportunities while also providing a source of income for the two cofounders and other artists. They got a three-year grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and also secured funding from Comprehensive Employment and Training Act and the Vermont Council on the Arts. Artists paid a yearly two-dollar fee to join the organization.

These days the ARA is more egalitarian — welcoming anyone with an interest in making art. But in its early days, the ARA was more selective about who could join. Prospective members had to submit résumés, slides of their artwork, and a biography. Whereas today, group shows are only occasionally juried, exhibits then were always juried.

A key part of the ARA’s early days was running workshops, taught by both local and visiting artists. The workshops included sessions on glass blowing, printmaking, blacksmithing, casting in bronze, and painting murals. 

The ARA made certain to pay instructors. “We made it a rule that you can’t have artists working for nothing,” says de Gogorza. Thanks to the NEA funding, the ARA was able to pay instructors 10 dollars an hour and assistants five dollars — respectable sums in the mid-1970s. 

Along with grants from the VCA and NEA, the ARA raised money during the late 1970s and early 1980s by holding an Art and Zucchini Auction every August. Dick Hathaway, a history professor at Goddard College, served as the auctioneer. Hathaway was well known for his clever auctioneering repartee, and the auctions did well, raising nearly a thousand dollars from artwork donated by members. 

For a time the ARA’s address was that of de Gogorza and Gahagan’s house in South Woodbury. Classes and some of the workshops were held there, affectionately called “Crazy Acres,” but often they had to be held elsewhere, such as artists’ studios. Work was exhibited wherever the ARA could find space; favored places were the Wood Art Gallery (now known as the T.W. Wood Museum), the Mad River Barn, and the Pyralisk Gallery.

Members dreamed of a building of their own, where the ARA could hold workshops and exhibitions in one central location. In 1978, the dream seemed about to come true with the purchase of an old schoolhouse in Maple Corner. It was a big disappointment when the purchase fell through, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. De Gogorza notes today that the ARA would likely have not survived had it been saddled with the overhead of a bricks-and-mortar location. 

In 1982, de Gogorza stepped away from her role as president, which she had held for seven years. A succession of presidents soon followed. Funding from the NEA having dried up, the organization became all volunteer. 

Among the many ARA presidents, Jane Pincus is a standout, having led the ARA for nearly 11 years (2000–2011) with, she says, “all my heart and soul.” The organization is currently helmed by Linda Hogan, who has been president since 2015. The ARA continues its mission of hosting workshops and providing artists with opportunities to exhibit their work.

Through the years scores of local artists have been members of the ARA at one time or another, many of them well known to the community. Among them are (in no particular order): Robert Fisher, Delia Robinson, Frank Woods, Bill Brauer, Sarah Munro, Eddie Epstein, Mary Admasian, Sam Thurston, Janet Van Fleet, Fred Varney, Marie La-Pre Grabon, David Smith, Jill Waxman, Lois Eby, Ed Levin, Regis Cummings, Nicholas Hecht, Marilyn Ruseckas, Jim Sardonis, Janet MacLeod, Phil Osgatharp … and the list goes on.

This lean and flexible organization with no fixed physical address is much valued and loved by the central Vermont arts community and has continued to this day thanks to the devoted efforts of its artist members.

A more complete history can be found at the ARA website, aravt.space, where you can also find information about the organization and becoming a member. 

Kate Mueller serves on the board of the Art Resource Association. Mueller, a visual artist, freelance editor, and graphic designer, lives in Montpelier.