Hi neighbors! My name is Joseph Pensak and I'm the co-owner (with my wife and business partner Anna Black) and director/curator of Waterbury Studios. We're loving living in the village--moved here two months ago--and we're thrilled to share our newest venture with all of you--The Phoenix Gallery & Music Hall in the heart of the village at 5 Stowe Street. In November 2022 we started Waterbury Studios, private art studios for rent above the (now old) Axel's Frame Shop location--they have moved across the street if you haven't been downtown in a bit. So far we've hosted two art openings upstairs with open studios--at these openings you can meet the artists creating work upstairs and see their studios. We're currently showing Benjamin Aleshire's blueprint cyanotype portraits, and he'll be giving an art talk about the process of making the cyanotypes this Friday at 7pm.

The main event on Friday is the grand opening of The Phoenix, with a reception for ART IS CANDY, a group show featuring five Vermont contemporary art luminaries--Will Patlove, Steve Budington, Athena Tasiopoulos, Will Gebhard and Frank Tamasi. Visit www.thephonenixvt.com for more details about that show and a curator's statement telling you more about it!

The Phoenix Gallery & Music Hall is meant to fill a much needed village-center space. Instead of a bar, we are resurrecting the turn of the century soda fountain and candy counter that originally occupied this building until the 60's. Many of you will remember Al's Candy Kitchen (also Gilman's Jewelry which shared the space), and it was in our research of this building that we stumbled on this idea. It was just too good to pass up, and we'd much rather enjoy beer and food at Pro Pig, Hen of the Wood, Blackback Pub, KC's and Stowe Street Cafe. We will also be selling T.R. Risk's furniture and art in the Green Room Gallery, accessible through our space or via the back alley door. T.R. is known all over the country as a premier furniture maker and artist, and has work in homes from California to Maine to Philadelphia. We are over the moon to be his exclusive Vermont seller and agent for commission work--any piece of T.R.'s being used in our space can be made on commission for your home or business. Lastly, our Music Hall: we are partnering with Anne Decker (of TURNmusic, who puts on Music in the Alley among many other concerts throughout the state) to co-curate our music calendar. Because Anna and I have put our entire life savings into all the renovations we've done so far, including sound attenuation units, a SoundCraft soundboard and a custom made cabinet (by Waterbury's own Steve Lotspeich) to house it, we have maxed out our capacity for now. So the Music Hall will function for a while as an all acoustic space until we can afford to add PA speakers, chairs for concerts, music stands, mics, stage lights, etc etc.

So come support this new family-owned business by buying art, candy, soda, furniture, and reserving the space for your next party, business event or non-profit social gathering. With your support, we'll be able to add these essential pieces to our physical space so we can start hosting fully amplified and lit up concerts! We are suuuuper psyched that our grand opening will coincide with the first date of Music in the Alley with Michael Chorney and Freeway Clyde.

Any questions, please email me at joseph@waterburystudios.com. And check us out on Instagram and Facebook @thephoenix______. Our website is www.thephoenixvt.com.

Thanks and hope to see you Friday, 5-9pm! 5 Stowe Street in Waterbury Village.

--Joseph Pensak

Event Info

Nov 18, 2024, 7 to 8 PM

Nov 21, 2024, 6:30 to 7:30 PM

Nov 22, 2024