Then and now: Floodgates project returns to document community healing through art
August 30, 2021 | By MK Monley 
MK Monley and Michael Valente at the 2012 exhibit of the Floodgates Art Project, one year after Tropical Storm Irene. File photo by Gordon Miller
There are so many stories to tell in regard to what life was like for those of us living in Waterbury, Vermont after Irene. The story I'll share is about meeting Michael Valente in August of 2012. I was part of the crew that was organizing the After Irene Floodgates Art project. I was the art teacher at Thatcher Brook Primary School and had held our school art show in the flooded-out building on Elm Street that was Federated Auto Parts in June of 2012. (Today it’s home to the Craft Beer Cellar.) I thought it would be a great place to hold the After Irene Floodgates Art Project that was spearheaded by Sarah-Lee Terrat.
I believe the deadline for submitting tiles to the exhibition was August 1, 2012. We gave ourselves four weeks to set up the show to have it ready for the one-year anniversary of Irene on August 28, 2012. On August 2, I received a message on my answering machine from Michael, asking who was in charge of this project. He wanted to know if he could still submit the tiles of the houses he painted. (Those tiles are now near Town Clerk Carla Lawrence's desk at the town office. But I digress.)
When I met him for the first time, he insisted that he help set up the gallery space. What he really meant was that he would now be in charge of setting up the gallery space. I thought, who is this guy? Who does he think he is? Little did I know that a brilliant artist and designer had just stepped into our lives at the exact moment we needed him. Within days, Michael became my new best friend. I couldn't believe that we'd lived in Waterbury at the same time for over 20 years and had never met.
Michael spent the entire month of August working countless hours to create a gallery space that was as poignant as the pieces of art submitted in response to this disaster. There were many people who helped put the show together but it was under Michael's direction from the start. More than once I complained that Michael was being too particular, too exacting, too bossy.
"My kindergarten report card said, ‘Michael does not play well with others,’" he told me. I remember Jack Carter came over to help with the lighting and I was complaining to him about Michael. He looked at me and said something like: I would never question anything Michael is asking to be done here. He knows what he is doing and is brilliant.
We lost Michael to cancer in October 2017. I was lucky to have him as my new best friend for five years.
Today, as we mark a decade since Irene, the "After Irene Floodgates Art Project Revisited" exhibition is on display at Axel's Gallery through September 23. When I was preparing to speak at the opening, Michael's partner Bob Paolini offered to share photos that Michael took of the gallery at the 2012 show.
In amongst the photos we happened to find a 17-minute video. Neither of us had ever watched it. What I leave you with is a link to that video.
Art helps heal in so many ways and thanks to our friend Michael Valente, we have this video to remember the healing that came after Irene.
Waterbury resident MK Monley retired in June from teaching art at Thatcher Brook Primary School. She continues her art education at MakerSphere and with Waterbury Arts.