WORKSHOP/RESIDENCY PROJECT

In 1999, artist and organizer Anni Mackay initiated the Rochester Intergenerational Art on the Park Project, a participatory, site-responsive program that activated the town green as a space for collective making. Designed as an accessible, low-cost offering, the project convened participants across generations in a series of hands-on activities—from the construction of a 20-foot dragon using recycled materials to the creation of a mural for the local library and the facilitation of live model drawing sessions. The project foregrounded process over product, emphasizing shared authorship, material reuse, and the social dimensions of artistic practice.

Over the past quarter century, Mackay’s work has evolved into a sustained inquiry into the role of art within rural civic life. In 2003, she founded BigTown Gallery as a platform for contemporary art in a regional context, followed by the establishment of BigTown Projects, Inc. in 2012, a nonprofit initiative extending this vision through education, residency, and community engagement. Together, these entities articulate a model of cultural production that is both locally embedded and outward-facing.

In 2024, BigTown Projects launched a pilot workshop and residency program, reaffirming its commitment to arts education as a catalyst for creative exchange. A cohort of regional participants—including emerging and student artists—engaged in a 10-day photography intensive led by Jim Dow and Cassandra Klos. The program emphasized close observation, technical rigor, and dialogue, situating photographic practice within the rhythms and textures of rural Vermont. The resulting experience fostered both individual exploration and collective inquiry.

Continuing in 2026, the workshop builds upon this foundation, again convening Dow and Klos with a new group of participants. As both a pedagogical framework and a communal experience, the program advances BigTown’s ongoing mission: to cultivate artistic practice as a means of connection, reflection, and shared cultural vitality.

MY PLACE Photography Workshop 2026

Wednesday, Aug 6, 2026 - Sunday, Aug 16, 2026

REGISTER

BigTown Gallery

99 North Main St, Rochester, VT 05767

PAST WORKSHOPS

MY PLACE Photography Workshop PILOT SUMMER 2024

with JIM DOW & CASSANDRA KLOS

and special guests VIRGINIA BEAHAN & PETER MORIARTY

How do you show such a place through photography to someone who has never been there?

MY PLACE Photography Workshop focused on visual meaning through photography. The participants were asked to think of the subject matter, a place (physical or metaphorical) that is meaningful to them, as an extension of themselves — their interests and idea — with total freedom to represent it as they wished. The core of this process was to think about something, in this case, to think through looking, employing the resulting images to convey the meaning(s) that you intend.

Thanks to the hard work of our instructors, master photographers Jim Dow and Cassandra Klos, and the incredible enthusiasm of our five diverse participants, this pilot workshop exceeded our expectaitons. After 10 days of intensive, self-directed work, the MY PLACE participants came to Rochester the weekend of the 18th to work on their projects. With wonderful guidance, they left with their hard-won confidence from the reward of learning, looking and thinking deeply about the science and nature of photography. AND were so proud to exhibit the results of their time with us in the Projects Space gallery.

In conjunction with the AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY exhibition that ran JULY 5 - SEPTEMBER 15, 2024.