WARREN KIMBLE

“High on Life”

“I really enjoy visitors seeing an environment where antiques and collectibles from the past are part of everyday modern life.” 2005

“My work may say “America” if I put a flag on it, but if it’s just trees, it has that serenity…If it makes people feel good, it’s OK.” 2008

“I remember a student at Castleton once, we were discussing drugs, and I said I’d never tried them. He said, ‘Mr. Kimble, you’re high on life.’” 2008

Born in 1935, Warren was raised in Belleville, NJ, and enjoyed family vacations on the Jersey shore and at a relative’s rural home in Monroe, NJ. His youthful energies focused on drawing, painting, and making sand sculptures. He attended Syracuse University, the first member in his family to go to college. In addition to his studies, he enjoyed life at Syracuse as President of both his junior and senior classes. He was the Head Cheerleader at Syracuse from his sophomore through his senior year. A memorable event was cheering for the football team at the 1957 Cotton Bowl, but he was disappointed with the one-point loss to Texas Christian, 28-27. Warren received his degree from then-Senator John F. Kennedy, who was the commencement speaker.

Following graduation, Warren first worked in advertising in New York, New Jersey, and Florida, then changed course and taught elementary, junior and senior high classes in New Jersey. He moved to Vermont in 1970 and took a job at Castleton State College teaching art. While teaching college courses, he continued to paint, but his artistic expression turned to rural landscapes and pastoral scenes.

His new folk art paintings were exhibited at a gallery in Woodstock, VT, where they were admired by Laurie and John Chester, owners of Wild Apple Graphics. Warren became their first licensed artist and success quickly followed. Six of the small paintings that prompted his celebrity are on display in the Cerf Gallery of the Sheldon Museum.

Warren uses as his canvas old tabletops, cupboard doors, and breadboards. His paintings have an undercoating of gesso, to which his choice of acrylic paints easily adhere, allowing the texture of the original wood to show. As he continued painting original works of folk art, more than 50 licensing partners joined with Warren from 1995 to the present to create a series of quality products in a range of categories, including artistic prints, calendars, furniture, home accents, wallpaper, dishware, and publishing. He has been ranked among License! Magazine’s top 100 leading licensors.

Warren and Lorraine, his wife and business partner whom he credits as the reason for his marketing success, live and work in the western Vermont town of Brandon, where they have been deeply involved in civic life and philanthropy for over forty years. They continue to be a strong force in community development, working together with other artists and community leaders in Brandon to start an artists’ guild, to renovate the historic town hall, and to realize a now thriving downtown.

The Warren Kimble retrospective celebrates not only his folk art, but also his creative range from a colorful still life of flowers painted at the age of 13, to an abstract black and white canvas “Hi” from 1962, to an early marionette, through the powerful folk art, to more recent themes and materials inspired during Warren’s annual week-long stays at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT. These include “Widows of War,” “Let the Sun Shine,” “House of Cards,” “Architectural and Portrait Box Assemblages,” and the current small sculptural renditions from found wood and metal, which were accomplished in May 2015.

Unique to this exhibit are several dozen items from the private collection of Waren and Lorraine Kimble, usually on display at their home. These include a collection of vintage sand pails, the kind Warren used as a child on the Jersey Shore, to sculptures inspired by historic themes, primarily Americana centered on Uncle Sam.

Warren Kimble continues to create and innovate. We look forward to his ongoing artistic expressions.

Bill Brooks, Executive Director