A snippit from Artscope:

Two young Vermonters are redefining the parameters of the “art of community” — both on their own terms

Twenty-somethings Christy Mitchell and Ned Castle could hardly be more different. One is a Savannah College of Art and Design grad, who moonlights as a lighting designer as she builds a small arts empire on Burlington’s South End; the other is a largely self-taught photographer, who finally found his passion for ethnographic work when he met two young men from Rwanda. Both make community an integral part of their artistic lives.

A self-proclaimed dabbler in the arts, Mitchell graduated in 2003 with a concentration in metals and jewelry. Post-graduation, she made a pilgrimage to Vermont upon the urging of a good friend. Immediately, she found a home in Burlington’s South End arts district, where local studio and gallery owners took her under their wings. When she started designing lights for Steven Conant, owner of Conant Metal & Light, the metaphoric light bulb went off in her head: she wanted to open a gallery space in the empty caverns of the former soda plant building, a ginger ale bottling factory in a former life. Conant, one of the first members of the South End Arts and Business Association (SEABA), gave her the green light in August 2008.

Now, Mitchell’s S.P.A.C.E. Gallery (which stands for Soda Plant Artist Collective Environment) is home to 12 artists — including sculptor John Brickels and internationally-known doll artist Beth Robinson — and hosts monthly shows of new art from up-and-coming talent. The business model is simple: Studio artists rent the space, which allows Mitchell the freedom to host shows not bound by sales. This is of great importance as she is dedicated to providing new artists with an opportunity and an audience. With audience numbers topping off at 2,000, it’s a fantastic vehicle for exposure.

July will bring “Robots and Rayguns” to the gallery, a group show built around Brickels and including artisan Jonathan Ward, illustrator Dan Made, painter and illustrator Justin Atherton and painter Martha Hull. August will bring the gallery’s second-annual art auction, including artists from New England and Montreal. And Mitchell is already brainstorming for the celebrated South End Art Hop, coming up in September. By then, she hopes a new 1,500 square foot addition will be ready for prime time. Works by textile artist Wyle Sofia Garcia and fiber installation artist Mary Admasian are in progress.

By September, Ned Castle will have toured his show “The HIGHLOW Project” through three Vermont cities — Burlington, Brattleboro and Stowe. A series of serendipitous moments led Castle in the direction of these large-scale photographs that reflect high and low moments in the lives of Vermont teens who are either homeless, runaway or considered youth-at-risk. The project is funded by the Vermont Coalition of Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs (VCHRYP), which comprises 13 community agencies.

Castle comes to photography via a circuitous route. He developed film in the basement of a biology building at Williams College; then, in his junior year, a trip to Florence and time spent with a photography mentor helped him hone his craft. When he returned to Vermont, he befriended two young men from Rwanda and created a photo essay about their lives. That got him involved with Vermont’s refugee resettlement agency and resulted in the show “In Their Own Words,” a photographic retrospective that melded imagery with first-person narratives from Eastern European and African refugees….”

Source: ArtScope Magazine July 2010