"Art is my Drug"

Dorian McGowan

Victor Mwangi, & Kaitlyn Manktelow

Dorian McGowan, is a small man from a small town but as anyone can see, his artistic talent is anything but small.

He is a former professor at Lyndon State College, but now retired, he spends most of his days drawing portraits of students, staff and faculty members and even town residence. In addition to this, he continues to pursue his passions at home where he has his own art gallery, full of his own collection as well as his sons.

While others might have a passion for music, culture and science, McGowan believes art is a form of therapy for him. “A drawing a day keeps the doctor away.” Perhaps this is how he has reached the aged of eighty-one and still continues to pursue his passions in the art.

  Born and raised in Vermont he always knew he wanted to be an artist from a young age. He describes how his first painting was when he used the poop from his diaper and then smeared it on the wall, only to prove his mother right when she said all those years ago, “Oh God I have an artist on my hand!”

McGowan’s grandmother played a big role in nurturing his talent. From a young age she would encourage him to sit on her lap and draw with him. Being paralyzed from the waist down, McGowan found himself spending much time sitting beside her drawing, which he continued to do so even after her death.

Having gone to a catholic school, Dorian McGowan shocked his teachers when he told them that art was his passion and that’s what he wanted to study when he went to college. The nuns of his high school believed that McGowan was only pursuing this career goal as a way to see naked women, and while that may have played a minor part in it, he was set on his belief that he did not want to be a priest.

 After making this firm decision and writing to his inspiration Norman Rockwell, his decision was made when he applied to Pratt University. Passing the drawing exam heightened his confidence that art was his future. Moving to Brooklyn, NY was a huge risk that paid off.

While getting his education, little did McGowan know that that’s the same place he would meet his lovely wife. To perfect his artisan talent and also make a living, McGowan taught at a high school in New York before moving back to Vermont where he taught at Lyndon state College.

Dorian’s passion for art was passed down to his four children who are now grown and earn a living by being artists. Apart from drawing, painting and sculpting, building of stone walls is one of the many talents that McGowan has been able to express all over his property.

Never a seeker of fame Dorian McGowan is grateful and takes pride in all that he has accomplished. Raising a beautiful family and having a successful carrier.  

Photos: Kaitlyn Manktelow

Photo editing: Kaitlyn Manktelow

Contacting Dorian: Victor Mwangi

Interview: Victor & Kaitlyn

 Audio: Kaitlyn Manktelow

 Soundslides editing: Kaitlyn Manktelow

Story Text: Victor Mwangi

Dorian (Synopsis)

For our group project, Victor Mwangi and Kaitlyn Manktelow are planning on interviewing Dorian McGowan.

 Dorian McGowan is a former professor at Lyndon State College and an amazing artist. During this interview they hope to gain more insight onto the incredible life that Dorian has lived so far from conversing with Norman Rockwell to sketching amazingly accurate portraits on a daily basis.

They plan on going to his house and taking pictures of his gallery and his art work. While at his gallery they will be using a digital voice recorder to record his story and a digital camera to document his work.
           
The intended audience for the project is student and faculty at Lyndon State College as well as those living in the Caledonia area. Dorian McGowan is a well-known name around the surrounding area, learning more about him will provide great interest to many people. The fact that he has done so much in his life and accomplished a great deal many of things is what makes this such an interesting story. To hear the story behind his art work and to know more about his accomplishments, his greatest moments, his lowest and what makes his art so dramatic and emotional to look at.

The crew members of this project are:
Kaitlyn Manktelow
Victor Mwangi

Both crew members plan on interviewing Dorian and taking pictures of his gallery, his work and the artist himself. Then both crew members will participate in creating the audio slideshow containing the interview as a voice over and the pictures taken during the interview

Slideshow Critiques

For my photo gallery, I focused on the West Gate Mall attack that took place last year, where more than sixty people from a range of countries were killed in a terrorist attack. Although the pictures in the gallery do a very good job in showing the emotions that Kenyans went through and the full on action of exactly what happened, without sound the reader or the audience doesn't connect as much as they would if it had some type of sound.(narration, music)http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/slide-show-attack-on-nairobis-westgate-mall


For my audio slide show I chose the Sexual Violence in south Sudan. It focuses on a young girl who tells her story of what happened when she was raped. the audio does add a huge difference that makes the viewer interested. For this slide show I felt as if the subtitles didn't do justice compared to if there was a narrator who would have spoken instead and translated http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/audioslideshow/2014/jun/05/sexual-violence-south-sudan-audio-slideshow

Deer, Moose, Bears

Population of Wild life throughout the New England region

Much of the New England part of the United States contains valuable wildlife animals such as the deer, moose and bear populations.

Hunting season throughout the New England region helps to regulate the population of these animals.

However, according to Maine’s moose biologist; Lee Kantar, ticks are being found on dead moose after bleeding them dry. Due to this dramatic decrease in the moose population, last year Maine reduced their moose hunting permits by 1000 people.

Vermont as well has seen a significant drop in their moose population as well forcing the state to reduce their hunting permits as well.

As of January 2014, New Hampshire began a four monitoring of 80-90 moose to determine just how rapid the moose population has and still is declining. When one of the collared moose dies, the collar stops transmitting information which allows the scientists and biologists to determine the exact cause of death of each moose.

The moose population in Vermont has decreased by nearly a half of what it was less than a decade ago in 2005 while the population in New Hampshire has shrunk more than 3,000.

While the moose population may currently be going down in some areas of New England, the bear and deer population appear to be on the rise. During the 20^th century the deer population was down to several hundred in Massachusetts; now however the population of the white-tailed deer tops 85,000.
Maine’s annual bear hunt began in August which the state hopes will reduce the growing population of bears. It has been determined by Maine officials that the hunters will need to kill between 3,500 to 4,500 bears annually to control the population; that is between five hundred to a thousand five hundred more than the past decade’s average.

 Despite the increase of the deer population in Vermont, the number of hunters in the state has declined 24.4 percent since the 1980’s.

In spite of the rapid increasing population of bears, there has been a push by the Humane society in Maine to ban certain types of bear hunting making it illegal to bait, trap and hunting the bears with dogs.

Those pulling for this law to pass, believe that the baiting, trapping and dogs are an unethical way to hunt the bears.  If this effort succeeds, the already increasing bear population will continue to increase at alarming numbers, forcing Maine to reconsider a new way to regulate the population.

The growth in the population may be related to the increase of forest land within the New England region with the decline of farming in the New England region, particularly New Hampshire; the unused farm land becomes overgrown with forestation. The over grown farm land creates more habitats for the herd animals causing a population growth.