The Central Vermont Medical Center currently features an exhibit of work by humorous illustrator Hal Mayforth, “Works From a Messy Studio.” “The vibrant colors and lightheartedness of this show draws smiles and comments from visitors, staff and patients,” stated CVMC president and CEO Judy Tartaglia.
Hal was born and raised in Vermont. He was lucky to have graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Fine Art because he spent most of his four years playing rock and roll in bars. He started his illustration career in Boston and returned to Vermont where he lives with his wife and three sons.
Hal has been the recipient of many awards and honors including a swimming award at Camp Abnaki in the early '60's. In addition to drawing little guys with big eyes and big noses for money, he is also serious about drawing in his sketchbooks every morning and fashioning those drawings into paintings
Hal Mayforth’s paintings have been featured in exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States. As a nationally recognized humorous illustrator, Mayforth’s work is published in national magazines and newspapers.
“To be honest,” said Hal, “there is not a lot of philosophical hokum behind these paintings. They all started out as drawings in my sketchbooks in which I have been drawing in earnest since 1973. At present I have completed enough of them to fill the trunk of a luxury automobile and am working on filling a small U-Haul. I try to set aside an hour every morning to draw for myself, to brainstorm with pen on paper. I seldom start drawing with preconceived notions and I never know where it will take me. I bring a free ranging intellect to the process. That, and considerable enthusiasm.”
“From these sessions,” continued Hal, “concepts for paintings emerge; ideas are formed by my love of petroglyphs of the Southwest, outsider and self-taught artists, sideshow banners, vintage cartoons and comics and automatic drawing. What holds these influences together is a certain off-kilter sensibility that I am told goes way back many generations in my family history.”
Works From a Messy Studio will be on exhibit through November 8.