Canal Street Art Gallery presents: LISTEN TO THE WIND Charles Norris-Brown in the gallery’s first SOLO SHOW opening MAY 15th, and on view to the public through JUNE 15th.  All are invited to attend the opening reception with the artist, on Bellows Falls 3rd Friday Gallery NIGHT, MAY 17th from 5-8pm.  The Gallery is located at 23 Canal Street in the Historic Downtown Village of Bellows Falls, Vermont, and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11:00am to 5:00pm.  

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LISTEN TO THE WIND Charles Norris-Brown exhibits the artist’s and social anthropologist’s original paintings and drawings from two of his illustrated books, Did Tiger Take the Rain?, and Thunder Basin.  Norris-Brown’s first book, Did Tiger Take the Rain?, first edition published by Green Writers Press 2016, is now offered on Creative Commons license by Pratham Books, India’s largest non-profit children’s book publishing house.  To best protect the tiger and the people, during several journeys to India doing fieldwork, Norris-Brown created an illustrated children’s book to explain how their shared plight was caused by human-wrought ecological changes in the land.  All the original watercolor illustrations from this publication are on exhibit.  

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The artist’s second book, Thunder Basin, a graphic novel geared towards an older child reader, is a work in progress.  LISTEN TO THE WIND shares a collection of studies and finished work in ink, watercolor, charcoal and mixed media, along with a selection of multi-celled, draft pages from the graphic novel offering a unique view of the artist's process in creating Thunder Basin.  Here an American girl loses her beloved cell phone in the forest. Trickster Coyote picks it up and runs away with it—leading her to explore the forest, and ultimately, herself.  This quest unfolds in the Thunder Basin along the west flank of Mt Mansfield, Vermont.  

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Exhibiting original artwork together with displays and supplemented by engaging videos, LISTEN TO THE WIND is one artist’s passion and mission “…to produce something that could have a lasting effect on the people who will become the caretakers of our world -- perhaps our most important audience: the children.” —Charles Norris-Brown

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Charles Norris-Brown’s concerns for the endangered tigers and the villagers who live between the densely-populated plains of Uttar Pradesh, India and the hills of Nepal, is what first led him to turn to his Art.  Norris-Brown uses his art as a means of communicating complex matters through visuals and story narratives.  Through a close relationship with the Tharus and Bhoksas peoples, Norris-Brown saw that deforestation and persistent droughts were creating severe conditions- devastating to the native plants and animals of the region, as well as for the peoples of the villages.  To best protect the tiger and the people, during several journeys to India doing fieldwork, Norris-Brown created an illustrated children’s book to explain how their shared plight was caused by human-wrought ecological changes in the land.  This area, known as the Terai, is a region that juxtaposes farms with wooded areas, including some of the best-known tiger reserves of India and Nepal.  Now, Did Tiger Take the Rain? fulfills the artist’s mission through Pratham Books, originally conceived to “put a book in every child’s hand.”  For the past fourteen years, utilizing modern phone and internet technology as well as traditional printed materials Pratham has translated and distributed over 30 million books to underserved, impoverished and remote communities in India.