New Hampshire State Archives Project

Division of the Arts Concord, NH

The New Hampshire State Councilor on the Arts has approved a commission to Jennifer Swett and Deborah Skinner-Perez. They will be collaborating on an art project which will be permanently housed in the State Archives Building in Concord, New Hampshire. Gail Smuda and Judy Dibble were also chosen to create artwork for the same building. The artists have one year to complete their projects.

Jennifer Swett describes the main concept for the collaborative piece as "a representation and documentation of New Hampshire through images woven within a quilt. The quilt will be covering a baby, which symbolizes the birth, life and passing of generations. The quilt was chosen for its significance as a representation of a historical artifact in itself as well as symbolically to represent the woven nature of the memories of our past within the events of the present and the ideas of the future." The finished artwork will be approximately four feet high by eight feet long and will be hung in the waiting area of the Division of Vital Records wing in the recently expanded building, located on Fruit Street. This new building offers visitors wireless internet access in an atmosphere with more light and space. The oldest records date back to the mid-1600’s.

Jennifer Swett is a multi-media artist from Sutton, New Hampshire whose primary concentration is in photography. Swett’s education includes Franklin School in Switzerland, Syracuse University and the University of New Hampshire where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989. Swett ran her own photography business for twenty years. Her career encompassed many stages including photojournalism, commercial, wedding, portraiture and fine art. Swett is a self taught artist in painting, sculpture, clay and glasswork. Her Uncle, a gregarious, successful commercial photographer had a tremendous influence on her at a very early age. Swett is currently working on merging her photography with other mediums portraying motion and time as captured by the two dimensional medium. Her current work is entitled "Footprints". Swett is a budding pilot who is looking forward to taking her camera to new heights where she has discovered a whole new perspective to explore.

Deborah Skinner-Perez is an artist/educator originally from Buffalo, New York where she received her Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Daemen College. She taught in private and public schools for seven years then spent the next 18 years teaching through community education where she learned much about diversity. Skinner-Perez moved to New Hampshire in 1999 and has been a resident of North Sutton, NH for the past six years. She considers herself to be a multi-media artist working in photography, film, computer generated art, oil, watercolor, acrylic, pencil, clay and collage. Skinner-Perez has exhibited work in several galleries throughout New Hampshire and in New York as well. Her most recent digitally created work was featured in "Night Visions" at the Boston Cyberarts Festival earlier this month.

Both artists are international travelers, Swett to Mexico, New Mexico, Switzerland, England, Italy, Barbados, Nova Scotia, and Bermuda; Skinner-Perez to Scotland, England, Honduras, Puerto Rico, and extensive areas throughout Canada.

Gail Smuda’s project consists of three works on paper that use a transfer process of actual records from the state archives as the imagery. Smuda is an adjunct professor for Southern NH University and has exhibited work in numerous New Hampshire Galleries and had work shown in Ireland. She is one of several artists featured in the Center for Book Arts Exhibition for members in NYC this summer.

Gail Smuda is a mixed media artist/educator from New Hampshire. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida Atlantic University and attended Palm Beach Junior College. She has exhibited work extensively throughout the United States and has received numerous awards, several fellowships for the Vermont Studio Center in 1985, ‘88, ‘95 and 2000 and the NHSCA Fellowship Individual Artist Grant in 1984 and 1995, along with the NHSCA, 1993 grant through NH Theatre Project for "Trashworld" – design. Smuda also received a commission in 2003 from the NH State Council on the Arts. She has had numerous works in publications such as Art New England, Foster’s Daily Democrat, Boston Globe, Currier Museum of art catalog, Southern NH University Journal, Keene State College catalog, the Dayton Daily News, New York Times, and several New Hampshire papers along with a publication in South Korea.

Judy Dibble’s project consists of a 4 by 8 foot painting of Governor William Plumer known as the first national archivist because during his lifetime, he amassed the largest private collection of official papers in the country containing volumes of NH and national records and was the co-founder and first president of the NH Historical Society. The secretary of State William Gardner, proposed Plumer’s selection because he feels Plumer represents the goals of the Archives.

Judy Dibble is a muralist/faux finisher originally from Nappanee, Indiana where she received her fine arts/Spanish degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN and spent a year abroad studying art history at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. Dibble moved to NH in 1974 to experience the four seasons and extensive landscapes. Dibble has owned her own business for 12 years called Brookwood Designs and has work in homes and businesses from Maine to Florida. She continued her studies in decorative wall finishes, mural painting and trompe l’oeil over the years at NHIA, Manchester, NH, The Finishing School, NYC and Faux Effects, Vero Beach Fla.