Monday, Nov. 27, 2017

MONDAY EDITION

ADDISON COUNTY

INDEPENDENT

Vol. 29 No. 32

Middlebury, Vermont

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Monday, November 27, 2017

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40 Pages

$1.00

OVUU weighs its options Hart to lead Ilsley for elementary schools into new chapter May spread students across several towns

See the magic of Mozart

By LEE J. KAHRS BRANDON — A directive from the Otter Valley Unified Union School Board to level fund the next budget may result in a very different educational landscape in the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union.

In the face of massive shortfalls caused by state funding cuts and continued falling enrollment in an aging state, RNeSU Superintendent Jeanne Collins rolled out some “Big Ideas” and presented them to the (See Schools, Page 29)

By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Dana Hart has enjoyed the bright lights and excitement of the Big Apple for the past seven years. But she’s about to realize her longstanding dream of relocating closer to her Vermont family, thanks to her recent appointment as new director of Middlebury’s (See Ilsley librarian, Page 19)

• “Die Zauberflote,” or “The Magic Flute,” will be telecast at THT on Saturday. See Arts Beat on Page 10 for more.

Plane crashes on Thanksgiving eve • A Massachusetts man with an amazing personal history lost his life on the way to see family in Starksboro. See Page 2.

Eagle senior tops girls’ soccer list • Casey Ober earned player of the year distinction on our local all-star soccer team. See pages 20-21.

Volunteers sleep out this weekend • An overnight in tents in cold weather will raise funds for the John Graham Homeless Shelter. See Page 2.

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE STUDIO art professor Jim Butler, above, looks over the boxes of found objects he has stacked in his office. The “encyclopedia” of objects has inspired and informed his work. Butler has a solo exhibit of his art at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York City. Below, like other objects depicted in his current exhibition, Butler created the glass “Siren” figurine at John Chiles’ glass studio in Orwell. Independent photo by Trent Campbell and courtesy photo

Artist defies realism to depict an anxious world By GAEN MURPHREE Butler told the Independent. “I MIDDLEBURY/SHOREHAM think painting is closest in spirit — “I’m searching for something currently to literary fiction ... It’s that’s never been seen before,” says the ultimate analog virtual reality, painter Jim Butler, of his and I think that’s the art-making process. purpose of fiction as “Painting is For the Shoreham really about well. It’s a virtual reality, resident and co-chair of and painting is that. An the Middlebury College dreams.” actual three-dimensional — Jim Butler object is not. It is reality. studio art program, paintings provide a So painting is really glimpse into a world that both is about dreams.” and is not. Butler’s most recent paintings, “There’s a lot of reasons I paint,” (See Painter, Page 25)