Waterbury Studios dedicates gallery, opens exhibit on Friday
January 31, 2024 | By Sandy Yusen | Correspondent 
The Phoenix Gallery & Music Hall on Stowe Street. Photo by Sandy Yusen
This Friday evening at the Waterbury Studios overlooking Stowe Street, a special event is planned that honors a figure beloved by its founders while toasting a present-day artist and inspiration.
The studios gallery is located at 7 Stowe Street above The Phoenix Gallery & Music Hall and from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, it hosts both a naming dedication ceremony and an exhibition opening reception.
The second-floor gallery of the art and music venue, which opened last June, will be named “The Hesterly Black” after Hesterly Fearing Black, a longtime Stowe resident and grandmother of Anna Black, who co-owns The Phoenix along with business partner and husband Joseph Pensak. Friday’s event will also celebrate the opening of the gallery’s first exhibit, featuring artist Athena Tasiopoulos.
Hesterly Black: a strong creative presence
The Waterbury Studios gallery space will be named “The Hesterly Black” to honor the legacy of Hesterly Fearing Black. Courtesy photo
Hesterly Fearing Black, 1933-2023. Courtesy photo
Described in her obituary as “feisty, beautiful, and intelligent,” Hesterly Black grew up in Boston and Austria. She met her husband while visiting Vermont and moved to Stowe in the 1950s where she raised her family. She passed away this past October at age 90.
Anna Black describes her as a “very strong woman, strong presence, and strong role model, and someone I’ve always looked up to.” Black wanted to do something to honor her after her passing, and Pensak suggested dedicating the space. Black ran it by her father and his siblings, who all supported the idea.
Black recalls that her grandmother’s house was always filled with animals (the elder Black’s betta fish has been rehomed at The Phoenix), as well as art and photography. American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler is rumored to be a distant relative. “She had really great style and was always bright and colorful and fun,” Black said.
“To me, she’s always been about strength and love and community,” Black shares, recalling family Thanksgivings with many cousins. “She really was the gatherer, and always opened doors and welcomed everybody to be part of the family and part of the community.”
Black says this welcoming approach is what she and Pensak aim to foster at The Phoenix and Waterbury Studios. She cites Pensak’s approach to art as “raising the bar and lowering the barrier,” adding, “We don’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable at all or be intimidated about coming into an art gallery. We just want everybody to have a fun space to be and to be with people and feel comfortable and have fun and maybe learn some new things or be inspired by something.”
Art by Athena Tasiopoulos on exhibit
'Emerge,' a mixed-media collage by Athena Tasiopoulos.
Athena Tasiopoulos’ exhibit, entitled “Saunter,” fits with the gallery’s guiding mission, “Discovering Visionary Modern Art.” Tasiopoulos is a mixed media collage artist and fine art photographer. Originally from Pennsylvania, she works in Barre, Vermont and is represented by Soapbox Arts gallery in Burlington. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and featured in publications around the world. In her artist statement, she says, “I see my practice as a meditation on transience, transformation, and the beauty of imperfection.”
Pensak met Tasiopoulos while running New City Galerie on Church Street in Burlington, where the artist had a six month residency and worked in exchange for studio space. After Tasiopoulos’s work was included in The Phoenix’s grand opening event, she and Pensak began discussing plans for a solo show in the upstairs gallery.
Pensak said he thought Tasiopoulous would be the perfect artist to pair with the naming ceremony. He describes the artist as a fierce presence, and a leader in the Vermont art community who models how to make a living as an artist. “She’s just got a great reputation not only for her art being amazing but also the business side of art,” Pensak said. “A lot of people don’t know how to do that, and she just does. And so I love that, having this really strong leader and woman artist as the opening for the naming ceremony.”
A home for a creative community
Anna Black and Joseph Pensak, co-owners of Waterbury Studios at The Phoenix Gallery & Music Hall, at the gallery space to be named The Hesterly Black at a dedication ceremony on Feb. 2. Photo by Sandy Yusen
Waterbury Studios includes four rental spaces that serve as private art studios for creative small businesses. Anchoring the studios are two adjacent rooms that comprise the gallery, one of which is set up as a lounge area with a cubby kitchen. Tall windows allow ample natural light into both rooms.
Since he began leasing the space from WDEV, located next door, Pensak undertook extensive renovations, working with local contractors to reconstruct and repaint the stairwell, add reclaimed carpeting, paint rooms, restore flooring, redo the bathroom, add track lighting, set up internet connectivity, and more.
Currently four artist businesses occupy the studios. Pensak says, “It’s a little community up there,” describing the camaraderie and cross-pollination of inspiration. “It feels like a very magical thing,” he says.
Black and Pensak moved from South Burlington to Waterbury in April and now live and work in the village. “This is where we belong and where we want to be,” Black said. “It’s such a strong community, and we feel incredibly happy here. We’ve really enjoyed getting to know Waterbury both living right in the village and then having this space, so we’ve gotten to know both the business community and the community of people that live right downtown.”
Black and Pensak said that they hope the studios continues to be a community space that inspires art and hosts local artists.
The public is invited to the gallery dedication and artist reception which are free and will include brief remarks by Hesterly Black’s family, an unveiling of commemorative signage, and refreshments. The exhibit runs through April 26 and all of the artwork will be available for purchase. Guided tours of the gallery are also available during regular hours at The Phoenix. More information at: thephoenixvt.com.
Sandy Yusen is a freelance writer and Waterbury resident.