Name/Title
Storage Silos in MonktonEntry/Object ID
1998.22.26Description
Oil on canvas painting depicting several metal-clad tubes (silos) painted in shades of blue with red piping. A black streetlight illuminates the bottom-left corner. The artist's signature appears below the streetlight.Type of Painting
EaselArtwork Details
Medium
OilSubject
SilosSubject Place
Town
MonktonCounty
Addison CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaContext
This stark image depicts the kaolin silos at the Vermont Kaolin Corporation in Monkton, Vermont. Kaolin, the ingredient used to make porcelain, was mined in Monkton from the 1790s through the 1960s. The plant pictured here was built in 1959 to take advantage of a new mine site. Ultimately the kaolin from this site was deemed sub-standard and the plant was closed and dismantled in 1965. The old mine area is part of a proposed town forest. It's likely that Ruth Mould's husband Willis, a mining engineer, was employed by this venture.
Vermont artist Ruth G. Mould was born in Morrisville, Vermont on May 22, 1894. She was a graduate of local schools, Peoples Academy and Johnson Normal School, which prepared her for an early career as a teacher in the Cadys Falls district school house, teaching Grades 1 - 8. The visual arts, however, commanded her interest as a young woman, and an uncle sponsored her further studies at the Institute of Art in St. Paul, Minnesota, from which she graduated with honors. From there, she went on to study at the Art Students League in New York City, before she married Willis Mould in 1919, and returned to Vermont.
Throughout her married life and beyond, whether she was teaching art students at Johnson Normal School, tutoring private art students, and while she was raising her son, Channing, Ruth Mould's husband made sure she had her own private art studio wherever his work as a mining engineer took his family. They lived in Vermont in Morristown, Monkton, Johnson, Williamstown and Barre, and in New York State in Keysville.
Mould was one of two artists whose work represented the State of Vermont at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. However, she was best known for her portraits, including a posthumous portrait of Edna Beard, first female member of both the Vermont House and Senate, which hangs in the State House, and portraits of three Vermont Chief Justices in the Vermont Supreme Court Building.
In addition to some book illustration, Mould also wrote a book on Refinishing and Decorating Furniture (1953.) She was a member of the Northern Vermont Artist Association and an honorary lifetime member of the Art Students League in New York.
Ruth Mould died on February 13, 1979.Acquisition
Accession
1998.22Source or Donor
Mould, ChanningAcquisition Method
GiftMade/Created
Artist
Mould, Ruth Greene (1894-1979)Date made
Apr 1961Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
PaintingNomenclature Class
ArtNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsDimensions
Dimension Description
OverallHeight
25 inWidth
24 in