Peggy Kannenstine, of Pomfret, Vt., works on a painting of Japanese peonies at her home on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. Her exhibit of Ottauquechee River paintings has just been extended through August at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee, Vt. ( Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Valley News — Jennifer Hauck

Artist Peggy Kannenstine of Pomfret. Vt., has been using the same apron when painting for over 25 years. Her exhibit of Ottauquechee River paintings has just been extended through August at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee, Vt. ( Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Valley News photographs — Jennifer Hauck

Pomfret, Vt., artist Peggy Kannenstine at her home on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. ( Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

On the drawing table in Margaret “Peggy” Kannenstine’s Woodstock studio Monday was a work on paper depicting ample peony blossoms at the height of their beauty. The same bush, now past its prime, was visible through the window that overlooks her garden. Kannenstine thumbed through a sketchbook and found a drawing of the peony bush that she made in the spring while sitting in her garden.

As Kannenstine discussed her use of acrylic paint over oil (less toxic), she pointed to a stack of sketchbooks. “There must be hundreds of drawings in these books. I think it would be great to exhibit them one day,” she said. Each book contains the lively drawings that form the basis of her acrylic paintings, collages and prints. Kannenstine works directly from nature and draws her subjects on-site, and the immediacy of her drawings (done with Swiss water crayons) allows her to quickly capture the fleeting scenes of the Vermont landscape that she has painted for decades.

“I’m deeply attached to nature, and I want to register all of the senses when I paint — sight, smell, touch — all of it,” Kannenstine said.

Among the subjects to which Kannenstine has devoted herself is the Ottaquechee River. The Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) in Quechee is exhibiting a selection of her paintings of the Ottauquechee in the expansive Neale Pavilion through August. The exhibition presents variations on a theme, and visitors have the opportunity to see Kannenstine’s view of the river from different vantage points, in different types of light and across decades.

“My favorite spot along the river is at the junction of Otis Hill Road and River Road,” she said of a spot not far from her house on High Pastures Road. “I find myself returning to that location again and again.”

The earliest work on view is Deer In the River (1990), an acrylic and monotype on paper. A small ruddy deer stands in the distance at the center of the painting and stares directly at the viewer, perhaps in the moment directly preceding its retreat into the woods. But the star of the painting is Kannenstine’s loose, expressive brushwork. Strokes of rose, mauve and myriad rich shades of green form a lush hillside that is reflected in the gently flowing river. While the painting is loose, Kannenstine still captures the specificity of place; clusters of red sumac, a patch of light and water lilies amidst the more abstract passages.

The palette and touch recall the work of second generation abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), a painter whom Kannenstine has admired since she saw a traveling AbEx survey as an art student at Washington University in St. Louis. Mitchell’s work, as well as that of Grace Hartigan (1922-2008), made a lasting impression on Kannenstine and fortified her resolve to become a painter.

After splitting her time between New York City and Vermont since the 1960s, Kannenstine moved to Woodstock permanently over 20 years ago, and has established herself as a champion of the arts in this region, having served on several boards including the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Studio Center. In addition to an impressive exhibition history, her work is in the permanent collections of the Hood Museum in Hanover; the Bennington Museum; and the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum.

”There are definitely more opportunities for artists in Vermont and New Hampshire now than when I first moved here.” Kannenstine said.

In April Flow at Taftsville Dam, a ribbon of cerulean water pushes against the imposing gray facade of the dam. The scene is viewed from above, through four slate-colored trees in the foreground. The vantage point and exaggerated geometry push this work into the realm of abstraction, in the vein of the modernist Milton Avery (1885-1965) who, like Kannenstine, distilled the chaotic forces of nature into harmonious tableaux. This tendency to simplify is evidenced in Kannenstine’s treatment of the jagged chartreuse form that zigzags across the picture plane. Whether it’s water or land, it doesn’t quite matter, since the form itself serves the composition as an abstract pictorial element. Here, and in other works, Kannenstine creates a subtle commentary on the tension between the unbridled forces of nature as they come into contact with manmade interventions like bridges, dams and culverts.

At the lower left corner of Merganser Family Near Bridgewater Mill is a green and red tube-like structure which, at first glance, could be mistaken for some unidentified aquatic plant. However, as the artist disclosed, it is actually a drainage pipe used by the town in emergencies. The pipe stands amidst a patch of orange lilies that frames four pensive mergansers swimming through the tan, muddy river.

A similar dynamic occurs in At the North Hartland Dam. The river is calm in shades of turquoise and yellow, with ribbons of brown suggesting the shimmer of the rocks beneath the surface. The gray dam spans the width of the canvas like a medieval castle wall. In the middle ground is a rowboat with two figures, while a blue heron is perched in the foreground. Animal and human cameos are incidental, and if they happen to make an appearance while she’s working, they often make their way into the finished painting.

Kannenstine gestured toward a recent collage on her studio wall:

“They say you can’t step into the same river twice … well, you certainly can’t look at the same river twice, either.”

In addition to her current exhibition of Ottauquechee River paintings on view through Aug. 31 at VINS, Kannenstine will exhibit a series of recent collages in “Putting it Together” along with the work of Amy Schachter and Sloane Dawson at Artistree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret. The show will open on Aug. 26.

Eric Sutphin is a freelance writer. He lives in Plainfield.

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