Ken Picard

Burlington

Staff Writer at Seven Days

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Articles

‘The Space Between’ Blends Music, Art, Film and Meditation

1 week ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge Evan Premo's music has much in common with the paintings of Jan Sandman. Both artists create haunting and ethereal compositions that seem to embody chrysalism — that cozy tranquility one feels while watching a thunderstorm from the safety of indoors.
Book Review: 'The Jackal's Mistress,' Chris Bohjalian

1 week ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge The 25th novel from best-selling Weybridge author Chris Bohjalian, The Jackal's Mistress, is all the more compelling given that it spins a Civil War tale partially based on the true story of a Vermonter. As the story opens, it's September 1864 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and young bride Libby Steadman doesn't know whether Peter, her Confederate soldier husband, is alive or dead.
A New Ad Campaign Aims to Heal Fraying U.S.-Canada Relations

1 week ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge Feeling skittish about visiting Vermont's provincial neighbor to the north because of President Donald Trump's remarks about annexing Canada as a 51st state? Have you found yourself instinctively apologizing to anyone sporting a red-and-white maple leaf or wearing a Canadiens hockey jersey? Are you ordering more poutine in restaurants as a silent act of international solidarity?
Shweebee, a Flying Disc Game, Aims to Be the Next Cornhole

2 weeks ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge Ask Middlebury's Clint Bierman about Shweebee, a flying disc game that he's been obsessed with for more than 20 years, and his eyes widen with enthusiasm that borders on religious fervor. This is the face of a true believer: Bierman is convinced that Shweebee is a million-dollar idea. But for him, the game isn't some get-rich-quick scheme.
Sparky Potter Has Made Some of Vermont's Most Iconic Signs

3 weeks ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge Help us pay for in-depth stories like this one by becoming a Seven Days Super Reader. Sparky Potter isn't a name you're likely to see in lights. That's more the purview of his celebrity daughter, singer-songwriter Grace Potter. But in his field, Sparky is a rock star in his own right. Anyone who has spent time in Vermont has undoubtedly seen his artistic creations without even knowing it.
'Vermont Extended Universe' Anthology Invents Faux Folklore

1 month ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge Few Vermonters are old enough to remember the summer of 1937, when sweltering temperatures and scant rainfall sparked a brief but intense fad of public nudity. It was started, surprisingly, by a Rutland minister who encouraged his flock to beat the heat in their birthday suits and "enter the world as God made them."Can't recall that local history lesson?
Remembering World-Renowned Warren Architect Dave Sellers

1 month ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge Dave Sellers (September 7, 1938-February 9, 2025) often said, "If you're not having fun, it's not worth doing." That ethos defined his personal life and career as a convention-busting architect, designer, builder and inventor. For Dave, building houses was less about the science of home construction than it was about vision, experimentation and creativity.
DOGE Looks to Gut Vermont Humanities, Terminate Grants

2 months ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge Another week, another attack on the arts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE's latest target: Vermont Humanities, which supports an array of arts and cultural programming including early literacy classes, veterans' reading groups, teacher trainings and traveling history exhibits.
Artist Chris Cleary Plans to Spread 'HOPE' Through Vermont

2 months ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge The way sculptor Chris Cleary sees it, optimism is a sentiment that's been in short supply of late. So his newest work aims to spread more of it. The Jericho Center artist and three-time winner of the Seven Daysies readers' choice award for best sculptor has been busy on his latest roadside project: "HOPE." Its four letters stand seven feet tall, 25 feet wide in total and are "larger than life," he said.
Tax Resistance Is Booming After Gaza and Trump's Reelection

2 months ago | sevendaysvt.com | Ken Picard

click to enlarge For more than half a century, Joanne Sheehan has refused to give her tax dollars to the U.S. to pay for war. The 76-year-old trainer in nonviolent civil disobedience moved from New York City to Norwich, Conn., in the 1970s, just to make it easier for her to protest the company that builds nuclear submarines for the U.S. Navy. Sheehan has been arrested many times for her activism.