Rachel Thorne Germond

In the month of October, 2023 there will be an exhibit of work titled

Three Generations of Thorne Family Artists
at The Dublin Community Center (The DubHub), 1123 Main St, Dublin, NH 03444

Opening Reception: Friday, October 13, 2023, 5:00-7:00pm

Works on Exhibit by: 
BeaTrix Thorne Sagendorph
Jane Thorne 
Christina Germond Bell 
Rachel Thorne Germond

Three Generations of Thorne Family Artists will include paintings and other works by longtime Dublin, NH residents BeaTrix Thorne Sagendorph, her daughter Jane Thorne, and her daughters: Christina Germond Bell (St Louis, MO) and Rachel Thorne Germond (Hancock, NH/Brooklyn, NY).

BeaTrix Thorne Sagendorph (1900-1985)
BeaTrix was the daughter of Chicago philanthropists George Arthur and Louise Thorne, grew up in Winnetka, IL, attended Vassar College and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. She also studied art in China, Mexico, Italy and New York. In 1928, she married Robb Sagendorph, who left the family steel business in 1930 to become a freelance writer and in 1939 became editor and publisher of the Old Farmer`s Almanac. The couple founded Yankee Magazine in 1935. BeaTrix provided the bulk of 50 years of covers for the magazine.  In May, 1965, she established the Thorne Art Gallery at Keene State College in New Hampshire in memory of her mother, later dedicated to her husband after his passing in 1970. Deeply connected to the area through her art and her family, she produced hundreds of artworks that reflect the flavor, mood, weather, history, constants and changes that define the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. This exhibit will include some of her landscapes and scenes from the Monadnock region in various media including guache and oil paint.

Jane Thorne (1930-2001)
Jane Thorne studied painting and art history while a student at Radcliffe College in the 1950's. She continued her studies with extension courses at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Sharon Arts Center and Bennington College in Vermont. Early achievements include a Currier Gallery Show (award 1959), and a major show of oil paintings at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery in Keene, NH (1969) . She exhibited with the New Hampshire Art Association from the early 1950s until the late 1990s, winning several awards at the Currier Gallery in Manchester, NH, (1959, 1992). Paintings on exhibit will be a variety of works in oil and watercolor.

Christina Germond Bell studied at the Rhode Island School of Design where she received a BFA in Textile Design in 1975 and an MAE focusing on textiles and sculpture in 1979. After teaching art for several years she worked as a studio artist doing fused glass inspired by textiles and landscapes. She was born in Peterborough, NH and currently lives in Missouri. Works on display will include drawings, paintings, fused glass, and a small textile sculpture.

Rachel Thorne Germond earned a BFA in studio art (Printmaking and Photography) from Cornell University’s College of Art, Architecture and Planning in 1986 and an MFA in Dance and Choreography from the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana (2000). Her early training included tutoring by her grandmother, mother, and father Russell Germond who was a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. After an extensive career in the Performing Arts in both Chicago, IL and New York City, she moved to the Monadnock region in 2020 and resumed her early interest in painting and drawing. She has presented her visual art in New York City, Wellfleet, MA, Bisbee, AZ and Peterborough, NH and often combines her art with performance including video projections, text, and choreography under the auspices of Rachel Thorne Germond Performance Collage (aka RTG Dance). Rachel will present recent works in oil, acrylic and watercolor.

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Rachel Thorne Germond: Influences / Family History
Here is a little bit of family history, a family that included many artists, and of which I am proud to be a part of. There are more than are listed here, including cousins, step parents, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews… but listed below are the family connections that affected my development as an artist.

I am originally from Rhode Island (born in Providence) , and the daughter of two painters, Jane Thorne Germond Kauppi and Russell Clark Germond, Jr.. I studied art seriously as an undergraduate at Cornell University, receiving dual degrees in Fine Arts (BFA) in Printmaking and Photography in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning and Comparative Literature (BA). My early training in art was with my mother, grandmother, and father. My mother and father were both professional painters and teachers- Jane Thorne Germond Kauppi and Russell Clark Germond, Jr. respectively. Russell was a professor of painting, drawing and calligraphy for 25 years at the Rhode Island School of Design.

When I moved to New York after graduated from college in the mid 1980’s, I worked for a year as an intern at Pace MacGill Gallery on 57th street and then for a few years as a photo assistant and dark room technician for commercial photographers in New York including Steve Friedman Photography and Jack Mitchell who photographed dancers primarily, and is noted for his covers on Dance Magazine. Albeit all through this time I had been dancing, mostly for exercise and fun, but in the late 1980s I was bitten in a big way by the Dance Bug and upon being asked to join a friend’s dance company and perform (Pedro Alejandro), I left the world of photography and visual art behind and went full force into dancing and creating my own dances and live performances. It was many many years later that I began incorporating more visual art aspects into the work- (around 2000 in graduate school for Dance and Choreography at the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana). Later when I lived in Chicago, I started to use my own video projections as backdrops, designing sets and costumes, etc. When I returned to New York full time again in 2014, I changed the name of my Chicago-based dance company from RTG Dance to Rachel Thorne Germond Performance Collage because I felt that it reflected the burgeoning interest I had in incorporating multi-media, multidisciplinary dimensions along with the choreography.

My maternal grandfather was Robb Sagendorph, founder of Yankee Magazine and publisher of both Yankee Magazine and The Old Farmer’s Almanac. My maternal grandmother, artist BeaTrix Thorne Sagendorph provided the bulk of 50 years of covers for Yankee Magazine. She helped to define the look and tone of the publication through the force of her personality and via design and editorial discussions and decisions.

My parents, Russell and Jane, had four children, three of us unsurprisingly went into the arts. My older sister, Christina studied at RISD and creates textile art and glass work, my younger sister Melanie and I have had careers in the performing arts as well as recently becoming active exhibiting visual artists. Based out of Eugene, OR, Melanie works collaboratively with her husband, Pete Goldlust to create site-specific art installations.

Other artists in the family that I have come to connect with as inspiration include my fathers’ aunt Grace Chamberlain Vibberts, and his third wife (my step mother) photographer Mary Ann Hansen-Germond, and of course I got to know the work of my grandmother BeaTrix’s great aunt Narcissa Niblack Thorne, known for her Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago when I was living in Chicago for many years.

Below you can read some biographical information and documentation of some of the work by this family of artists.

Jane Thorne Germond Kauppi (1930 - 2001)
Jane, the daughter of Rob and BeaTrix Sagendorph, who were the founders of Yankee Magazine, was born in 1930 and grew up in Dublin, NH and spent some of each year here throughout most of her life. Her mother Trix Sagendorph created original art for the covers of Yankee for many years — so Jane was exposed to art-making throughout her childhood. Jane studied art at Smith College before graduating from Radcliffe College in 1952. Later she continued her studies at Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University.
(more info coming soon )

Website: https://rachelthorne27.wixsite.com/jane-thorne/exhibitions

Russell Clark Germond, Jr. (1924 - 2016)   Russell was born in New Britain, CT in 1924 and his early life was filled with art from the beginning, and included a mentor, his Aunt Grace (Vibberts) , who took him on her plein air outings when he was a child.  He studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design and at the University of New Mexico.  Later, he returned to RISD as  a teacher of drawing, painting and calligraphy for over 25 years.  He moved to Bisbee in the early 1990’s, where he met photographer Mary Ann Hanson in a Rock Art class, and they married in 1994.  Their life together was filled with travels, producing and looking at art wherever they went, enjoying music and reading, and walking a lot of trails together, and with friends and family.

Website: https://rachelthorne27.wixsite.com/russellgermond

Christina Germond Bell
Bio coming soon

Melanie Germond/ Pete Goldlust
About Melanie Germond (from her website with collaborator Pete Goldlust)
Melanie is a recovering musician. Having been raised in a family of visual artists, she’s giving it a go herself now. Melanie received her Master’s in Early Music Vocal Performance from Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1998. As a singer, she recorded and performed works ranging from the medieval through the contemporary, touring extensively, and earning awards in the U.S. and Europe. She also worked as a graphic designer for 20 years, producing visual materials for classical music organizations throughout the country. She’s proud of some of that stuff, but she could tell you a few stories.

Artist Website: https://www.petegoldlust.com
Music: Liber Unusualis
Felix Virgo/Inviolata Genitrix/Ad Te Suspiramus
https://youtu.be/_EfTw2tXIp0

Grace Chamberlain Vibberts (1878 - 1945)
Grace Vibberts was born in New Britain Ct. at the family home on Franklin Square on March 9, 1878. In 1900 Grace Chamberlain married Frank Gerald Vibberts in New Britain, at her mother’s home on Franklin Square. Grace and Frank had five children: Eleanor, Frank Gerald Vibberts Jr.,  Anna , John Chamberlain, (Jack) and Grace Sophronia, (Phronsie). About 1930 Frank and Grace bought a summer home on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., in a family neighborhood known as Hart Haven, where they summered the rest of their lives.
Grace first began painting about the age of forty in 1918. She studied art under Guy Wiggins ,American Impressionist, at the Lyme Art Colony located at the Florence Griswold home in Old Lyme,Ct., now known as The Florence Griswold Museum. She also studied under Sanford Ballard Dole Low, who later became the first director of the museum now known as the New Britain Museum of American Art. Grace  also studied under Hartford artist Walter O. R. Korder, a prominent portrait painter, muralist and art teacher. Grace primarily painted in Connecticut and on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Grace was a devoted mother to her five children. Before she died on February 4, 1945 she had become a distinguished and prolific artist painting in both watercolor and oil.
Website: https://gracechamberlainvibbertsart.com/Welcome.html

Narcissa Niblack Thorne (The Thorne Rooms) - Chicago, IL (1882 -1966)
Narcissa’s interest in miniatures began early and was encouraged by trinkets sent to her by her uncle, a Rear Admiral in the US Navy. This passion continued into her adult life.
More info:
https://www.artic.edu/highlights/12/thorne-miniature-rooms

Mary Ann Hansen-Germond
Photography by Mary Ann Hansen-Germond
Bisbee, AZ