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Made in Vermont: Cryptcelium

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Made in Vermont: Cryptcelium


BRANDON, Vt. (WCAX) – The whimsy of the woods, captured through art.

“We struggle to explain our art when people ask us that,” said Stephany Faris, one of two people on a mission to bring the outdoors inside.

“This all started from the obsession, really, with mushrooms and nature,” said Jonathan Faris, the other half of the equation. “We’ve realized how magical it is really, and we wanted to capture that.”

When this duo isn’t at work, you can find them in the forest, foraging for unique finds on the tail end of their life. Once they have their bounty collected, they use it to create art for their business, Cryptcelium. Jonathan and Stephany call their work a collaboration with nature, with the goal of celebrating the harmony between the natural world and human creation.

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“We wanted to figure out how we could capture and preserve the life that’s in the Vermont woods,” Stephany said.

By incorporating dead and decaying elements of nature into art, the two believe they’re continuing the life cycle. Their studio is where foraged finds take on new life.

“You know the world sort of stops and you just sort of, you just get into a flow and it evolves from there,” said Stephany.

The things they make run the gamut, from wall hangings to table pieces, jewelry and candles. Each artist takes on their own projects, growing and expanding their skills a long the way to make new art.

“A lot of my pieces have accents that glow, so I have to do a lot of phosphorus,” said Jonathan. “That’s been like a steep evolutionary change.”

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As you might imagine, Jonathan and Stephany’s work for Cryptcelium turns heads wherever they go. Be it at festivals or markets, their work always draws a crowd, and sometimes, a conversation.

“A lot of nostalgia is one of the cool things, too. They see something and it brings them back to maybe something they haven’t thought of in 20 years, 30 years,” explained Jonathan.

While it’s a challenge to put their art into one category, something that remains the same across the board is the heart and soul that goes into each piece.

“We really just wanted to make it so that you could have something that you could look at when you came home and just have a sense of peace with that,” said Stephany.

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Vermont

OnLogic opens global headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont

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OnLogic opens global headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont


OnLogic, an industrial computer hardware and solutions provider, has opened its global headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont, with a ceremony attended by dignitaries including U.S. Senator Peter Welch.

OnLogic, an industrial computer hardware and solutions provider, has opened its global headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont, with a ceremony attended by dignitaries including U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), according to a press release.

The facility includes manufacturing capacity to support the design and deployment of orange systems for power manufacturing, automation, advanced agriculture, smart cities, energy management, artificial intelligence, and the industrial internet of things for a range of clients, from startups to large organizations such as NASA, Google, and Amazon.

The company’s previous Vermont headquarters opened in 2004 and was expanded in 2015. With approximately 300 employees across the U.S., The Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan, and Malaysia, OnLogic estimates the new facility will meet its needs for the next decade.

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“Innovation is at the forefront of everything we do, and we went into this project with ideas to enhance efficiency and sustainability, including geo-thermal heating and solar power, with the goal to make the facility as self-sufficient as possible,” Roland Groeneveld, co-founder at OnLogic, said in the release. “This new space gives our team of around 180 people here in Vermont the resources and room they need to most effectively collaborate. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to grow here and contribute to the thriving tech community and economic engine in Vermont.”

“It’s such an inspiring experience to see what happens when cooperation, teamwork, ingenuity, commitment, and discipline work,” Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) said in the release. “This is how all of us not only want to build a business, it’s how we want to build a community, it’s how we want to live, it’s how we want to be in the world, where we’re part of something better, when we show up for work, we’re glad to be there. I am awfully proud to be a Vermonter in this OnLogic building celebrating the success of all this hard work by so many people in this company and in this community.”



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The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, May 15-21

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The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, May 15-21


click to enlarge
  • Courtesy
  • Mehrnam Rastegari

Take a Trance on Me

Saturday 18

This year’s Bandwagon Summer Series, presented by Next Stage Arts, kicks off at the Putney Inn with an unbeatable double billing. Persian violinist and kamancheh (an Iranian bowed string instrument) player Mehrnam Rastegari (pictured) and Mediterranean psychedelic-surf trio Habbina Habbina transport audiences to the Middle East and beyond.

Golden Skate Warriors

Saturday 18
click to enlarge Green Mountain Roller Derby - COURTESY
  • Courtesy
  • Green Mountain Roller Derby

Vermonters cheer on the women and nonbinary athletes of Green Mountain Roller Derby at the team’s Back in Black Bout at Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction. Hard-hitting skaters enter a heart-pounding face-off against New York’s Salt City Roller Derby at this full-contact showdown.

Yiddish You Were Here

Thursday 16
click to enlarge Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer - COURTESY OF CLEVER SANGALAZA
  • Courtesy Of Clever Sangalaza
  • Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer

Burlington’s Ohavi Zedek Synagogue presents a benefit concert for its Full Circle Preschool featuring Boston-based trio Fun Yener Velt, Yiddish for From Another World. After wine and cheese at an art show of works donated by OZ community members, musicians Jessica Kate Meyer, Hankus Netsky and Itay Dayan perform everything from soulful Carpathian Jewish songs to joyful klezmer jams.

One-Stop Shop

Thursday 16
click to enlarge Downtown Sip + Shop - COURTESY
  • Courtesy
  • Downtown Sip + Shop

At Rutland’s Downtown Sip + Shop, more than 20 local stores pair up with Vermont beverage and food purveyors for a delicious day of drinking and supporting small businesses. Ticket holders pick up a map and commemorative tote bag before tracking down all the tastings, from mocktails at the Rutland County Pride Center to Golden Rule Mead at GreenSpell Plant Shop to Inspired Cookies’ whoopie pies at Phoenix Books.

Short Squeeze

Friday 17-Sunday 19
click to enlarge 48-Hour Film Slam - © WESTONNEYPHOTOVIDEO | DREAMSTIME
  • © Westonneyphotovideo | Dreamstime
  • 48-Hour Film Slam

Junction Arts & Media invites all White River Junction-area filmmakers to enter a race against the clock at the 48-Hour Film Slam. Beginning on Friday evening, registered teams have just two days to write, shoot and edit a short film, which will be screened to audiences at an awards ceremony on Sunday night. Start storyboarding now.

The Family Stone

Friday 17-Sunday 19
click to enlarge Pigeo n Watching - COURTESY
  • Courtesy
  • Pigeo n Watching

The William Eddy Lecture Series at St. Johnsbury’s Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium returns with artist, author and birder Rosemary Mosco‘s address “Panels and Pigeons: How Comics Help Us See Local Wildlife in New Ways.” The weekend fun continues with Mosco leading two kids’ cartoon workshops, a creative get-together over drinks at Kingdom Taproom and Table, and nature walks through Matsinger Forest in Danville.

This Is 40

Ongoing
click to enlarge "Muddy Brook" by Dianne Shullenberger - COURTESY
  • Courtesy
  • “Muddy Brook” by Dianne Shullenberger

Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville invites art lovers to party like it’s 1984 at its “40 Years Together” exhibit. Visitors are invited to break out their hair crimpers and shoulder pads for a 1980s-themed reception on May 16, where they’ll get the first look at a vast collection of modern and historical works by Vermont artists, as well as originals by gallery founder Alden Bryan and his wife, Mary.



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A breakdown of what got done during the Vt. legislative session

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A breakdown of what got done during the Vt. legislative session


MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont lawmakers wrapped up the legislative session in the early morning hours Saturday, passing an $8.6 billion state budget.

Lawmakers tackled issues like housing and flood recovery, but also passed a number of new tax increases, including a 3% tax on short-term rentals, a 6% tax on business software and a 3.4% tax when second homes are bought or sold. It comes as Vermonters will also see a 0.44% payroll tax starting July 1 that will help pay for child care.

The session started with flood recovery in the forefront of everyone’s mind but ended with clashes among the House, Senate and Gov. Phil Scott over taxes and spending.

The session was defined by big questions about the future of education and no federal stimulus money to fall back on.

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“This has been a hard session. Perhaps the hardest session of my 20 years here in the Statehouse,” said Sen. Allison Clarkson, D-Windsor County.

State lawmakers grappling with the soaring cost of education and spiking property taxes passed a plan to raise them by 13.8%.

The plan, sarcastically blasted by Senate Minority Leader Randy Brock, almost certainly faces a veto from Governor Scott.

“Most Vermonters will be happy that we’ve tamed the property tax problem by limiting this year’s increase to only double-digits,” said Brock, R-Franklin County.

Others stressed the challenges are in contrast to massive legislation last year.

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“This has been a dark year but it’s been an amazing biennium,” said Sen. Phil Baruth, D-Vt. Senate President Pro Tem.

Lawmakers also struck 11th-hour deals on retail theft, stiffer penalties for drug trafficking and Act 250 reform. The proposal is intended to balance conservation and the housing crisis.

But not everything made it, including a proposed wealth tax, a bill reforming the state Fish and Wildlife Board, another banning cellphones in the classroom and a proposal to pause the PCB testing program.

The end of the legislative biennium again put the Democratic supermajority at odds with Republican Gov. Phil Scott. In his goodbye speech to lawmakers, Scott acknowledged their differences.

“I think most of us want the same thing. We just have a different vision on how to get there. And after this session, it’s clear that we have a little more work to do,” the governor said.

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Political experts say the moderate Republican governor and Democrats are divided on what degree the state should spend and tax.

“I do think you see a deeper debate over principle here between Democrats who are willing to raise more taxes and a Republican governor who thinks it’s central to his philosophy to hold the line,” said Bert Johnson, a Middlebury College political science professor.

As Scott prepares to campaign for a fourth term, we’re tracking at least six bills on the way to his desk that could end in a veto. State lawmakers will return on June 17 to attempt to override.



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