T W Wood Gallery

 

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On August 8, 1895 the T W Wood Gallery of Art was created by a “deed of gift in trust” of forty-two paintings, watercolors and etchin.gs for the city of Montpelier.

In 1896, Wood’s friend Professor John W Burgess felt that the gallery deserved its own building. Professor Burgess, who taught at Columbia College, was a summer resident of Montpelier living at Redstone and was married to Montpelier native Ruth Payne who was a student of Wood. Burgess financed the purchase of the property on State Street (part of the site of today’s Capitol Plaza). The Gallery had its opening reception in its new building on July 27, 1897.

The original gift of forty-two works of art began to grow almost immediately. Soon Wood donated more of his work including copies of many of the Great Masters which Wood had painted for the edification of his fellow Vermonters. His friendships with other artists of his day were reflected in gifts from Fredrick S Church, Asher B Durand, William Beard, J G Brown and many others. Upon Wood’s death in 1903, the bulk of his estate and works were left to the Gallery. Following the Great Depression, the Gallery was chosen as the only official Vermont repository for the art work from the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Source: Edited from Montpelier Treasures 2008, Section A History by Joyce Mandeville

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In 2012 Wood moved from the Vermont College of Fine Arts to its current location at 46 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT with the purchase of St Michael’s School and Convent by joining with The River Rock School and Monteverdi Music School. Each one has a 1/3 interest in the land and building. The new location is called The Center for Arts and Learning.

At the beginning of the year, they had $19,993 in assets. Through the sale of deaccessioned art totaling $383,851 their assets totaled $354,776; this included a down payment of approximately $40,000 for their share in the Building.

At the end of August 2017, total assets equaled $149,311 including equity in the building of $49,657.

Over this four year period, assets decreased by over $200,000 mainly due to operating expenses and at this point more art is wrongly being put up for auction.