Ben Patrick
Chair, Visual and Performing Arts
Artist in Residence
Soccer Coach
bpatrickREMOVETHISBEFORESENDING@vermontcommons.org
Education
- B.A. in Fine Arts, Saint Michaels College.
- Working Towards M.Ed, Art and Design Education at Pratt Institute.
Honors and Awards
- Berkshire Eagle Scholarship
- Departmental Honors at Saint Michael’s College
- Pratt Manhattan Pilot Project
Best VCS moment
- Stretching canvas and smelling oil paints on Monday morning.
Inspirational Quote
- Any word spoken by Huckleberry Finn.
Interests and Hobbies
- Kaleidoscopes, sea shores, leaves and trees, Dadaism, Fluxus art movement
Most of my early childhood was spent on the shores of Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan. When I was eleven, I moved with my family to Hanover, NH, and four years later we moved to the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. I delivered the Berkshire Eagle for four years and went to Herberg Middle School where people identified themselves by the heavy metal band name that was sewn on the back of their jean jackets.
After graduating from The Gunnery in Washington, CT, I continued my education at St. Michael’s College. After Graduating in 1997, I set off on the road. I drove through all of the continental states and meandered through the backwoods roads to Alaska without blowing a tire. I also traveled by train through Eastern and Western Europe and was stranded in a small town called Olbia in Sardinia during a bus strike. After the strike was over, I returned to Burlington and assisted in the public school system and taught printmaking and figure drawing as an adjunct professor at Saint Michael’s College.
I have worked towards my M.Ed at Pratt Institute for the past two years and completed my thesis titled “Lexicons in the Classroom” at the end of spring, 2004. During my studies at Pratt, I created and installed an exhibition called the “Industry of Identity” and also spent a lot of time on the beach of Coney Island, as I always like to return to a large body of water.