Springfield Reporter:
Weekly, July 9, 2003
Article from page 8:
Images from Our Town's Past
Retelling Springfield's History
by Donna Cummings
Springfield corespondent
As an art photographer, Joe brings together many worlds in his work. He feels he is able to "see thehidden worlds that are often hidden in plain sight." He sees the beauty of the world in his digital photography and "transforms that world into a unique image through a digital enhancement technique that literally reinvents the entire color palette of the photograph to produce a new and different graphic vocabulary. The image continues to evolve until an entirely new work emerges."
Joe and his wife. Maura Shaw, have been visiting towns in the area during summer trips for nearly 21, years, but had mostly "passed through" Springfield until Maura began working in Woodstock. "When we began to look for someplace to buy a second home that we hope to eventually retire to, we looked to Springfield because we were not interested in phony or gentrified places. We wanted a place that was real and had a solid history and Springfield was exactly what we were searching for."
"When we found our home here, we knew this was where we wanted to retire," he smiles. "Everyone we met was so nice and we've had so many wonderful experiences with so many very nice people in Springfield." Joe says he has always been interested in helping and when he came into Springfield he "saw an opportunity to be of service to this community. There is a lot under the surface of the town that has happened and many people have no idea of all that went into building this community."
Joe hopes that by portraying the industry that built the town through his photography he can help the community understand how so many of the thriving companies of the area were developed.
"Hartness had the forethought to recognize the ideas of some of the bright young men who worked for him in his company and he never appeared to feel threatened by their strengths," Joe says he found in his background research. "He was only in his 30s when he developed the lathe and he supported Bryant, who was about 32 as well as Fellows, another worker in his 30s. A lot of the businesses were incubated in the same building and the architecture still remains in Springfield."
Unfortunately, Joe feels the architecture has become "engulfed by industrialization of the area." He hopes that some of the images presented in the upcoming show will "bring the pride of Springfield to everyone's attention," because he feels the town has "long been overlooked for its contribution to the state."
One of his exhibits is titled "Unidentified" and depicts a variety of photographs found on one of his research trips to the Springfield Town Library. "I found these wonderful old photos, all carefully numbered, in a file titled simply 'unidentified' and thought haw interesting it might be to present them in this manner," he explained. The headshots and old sepia-toned groups of laborers demonstrate what he calls, "The dignity of laborers and the generations of people in Springfield who have worked hard with their hands to build the town. While I have researched extensively, what is presented here is really only the tip of the iceberg. I know I missed so many pieces."
"I used to have a studio in an old factory that built parts for trolleys," Joe remembers. "I saw a spot on the wood floor where footprints of long-time laborers were actually indented into the floor. Things like that are important and we can't forget the people from the past. There is an art and a dignity in the machine tool shop life. I want my work to show people something. This is the way it was."
Many of the individual pieces are montage work, combining not only digital images of architecture, machinery and equipment of the past, but also superimposed images of old post cards and other type: of correspondence from the era. "I hope that by attempting to recapture these images and teaming them with personal cards and notes the work becomes more humanized," explained the artist as he framed several of his prints for the show last week.
Joe feels it is important for people, to see Vermont as it is today, but still "draw history out in a way that can draw people into the area." He hopes his art gets the feeling across that "I work here" in a noble fashion that people can easily recognize. "People need to envision themselves being here with their families," he insists. "It would be wonderful to tie together the educational opportunities available here through the Howard Dean Center with some type of incubator business venture."
Springfield as portrayed in Joe's work was, in his words, "A town that encouraged young people to stay. The workers and town leaders from earlier times nurtured their community and encouraged internal growth." He feels that "Art can heal many of the ills that befall communities" and hopes that by working to put together this tribute to the historic past and the enduring land of Springfield more people will become aware of how strongly the town's history impacts the community of today.
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Rutland Herald Weekend Magazine
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Historic Past, Enduring Land: A Tribute to the Machine Shops and Countryside of Springfield, Vermont
When Joe Tantillo and his wife Maura chose Springfield for their Vermont second home, they had no idea that the history of the town would dovetail so perfectly with Joe's artistic interests. They chose Springfield because it was an easy commute to Maura's job as an editor in Woodstock, and they felt immediately at home at a table in the Morning Star Café. Within just a few months of buying their house on Parker Hill, Joe immersed himself in the history of the town and conceived the idea for an art exhibit that would honor the heritage of Springfield's machine shops and industrial innovation of the past centuries. At about the same time, the new Gallery at the Vault was launched, and Joe became a charter member. On July 18, the Vault will open its summer exhibition, “Historic Past, Enduring Land: A Tribute to the Machine Shops and Countryside of Springfield, Vermont,” featuring Joe's newly created pieces.
Using archival material from the Miller Art Center and the Springfield Library, antique postcards, and a wonderful collection of historical documents loaned to him by Warren Garfield, vice president of Lovejoy Machine Tool Company, Joe Tantillo has created a group of evocative photographic prints to celebrate the past glories of Springfield and an optimistic view of the town's future. For the past year Joe has been photographing sites around Precision Valley—the buildings, the people, the shops still operating, the museums that house important machinery from the past—and studying the company brochures, advertising pamphlets, and written memoirs of Springfield's past. Residents of the town have generously shared their memories and demonstrated their expertise at grinding and polishing the intricate metal machine parts for which Springfield is held in such high regard.
People who worked in the shops will be delighted to recognize in Joe's art photos the places and objects that were so much a part of daily life in Springfield. Tracking some machines as far afield as the American Precision Museum in Windsor and the Schatz Bearing Corporation in Poughkeepsie, New York, Joe has tried to document and celebrate Springfield's past and Springfield's future.
Opening the VAULT: a look at Springfield's treasure
by Carolyn Buttolph
Rutland Herald corespondent
Artists create not only objects, such as paintings or sculptures, but they model a special way of seeing what is beautiful and valuable in what surrounds us every day. In a new exhibition, three artists bring that vision to Gallery at the VAULT (Visual Art Using Local Talent), a non-profit community organization.
The exhibition, Historic Past - Enduring Land: A Tribute to the Machine Shops & Countryside of Springfield Vermont , is celebrated with an opening reception from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., on Friday, July 18. The featured artists are Joe Tantillo, Rich Cofrancesco, and Charlie Hunter. The event is free and open to the public and the exhibition runs through August 22.VAULT Director, Nina Jamison credits Tantillo with the idea for the exhibition. "Using archival material from the Miller Art Center and the Springfield Library, antique postcards, and a wonderful collection of historical documents loaned to him by Warren Garfield, vice president of Lovejoy Machine Tool Company, Joe Tantillo has created a group of evocative photographic prints . . ."
When Tantillo bought a house on Springfield's Parker Hill, he had no idea that he would find a subject matter in the town's history so close to his heart.
Tantillo operated his first graphic arts studio in New Haven, CT. He recalls standing in the open space of an abandoned factory before it was remodeled into his office. "I suddenly realized I was looking at the original factory floor and the spot worn by two shoes. I think that we can get closer to our neighbor by venturing into the lives of those who literally wore holes into the floorboards by their daily work and give them tribute. There are great stories here."
One thing he discovered in research was that Springfield manufacturing was important enough to put the town on Hitler's hit list.
"Past Neighbors," one of the "art pieces," Tantillo made from archival photographs, shows 140 Springfield factory workers identified only by number. "I'm hoping somebody will know who they are," he says. Tantillo, who has an inventor streak, himself, is full of admiration for the creativity of the designers and inventors in Springfield's machine tool industry, and the fact that many rose through the ranks of the manufacturing line. He cites Russell Porter's 1918 design for an "optical comparator," which for the first time standardized the production of nuts and bolts. Porter's device cast strong light past the edges of a screw's thread edge, through an enlarging lens, and projected on a surface where it could be scrutinized and compared to the ideal.----------
Artist bio
Joe Tantillo is an award-winning photographer, illustrator, and graphic artist who divides his time between New York's Hudson Valley and Vermont's Precision Valley. His work has been exhibited in galleries in Manhattan, Connecticut, and Vermont. A charter member of The Gallery at the Vault in Springfield, Joe brings an artist's vision, a photographer's eye, and a designer's expertise to his work, using a blend of traditional art and computer software techniques to create each photographic art piece.