Vermont Studio Center plans for its post-flood future

“The flooding was so extensive in that building, and we would have basically had to take it down to rebuild it there, so instead we’re taking it down and have plans to rebuild elsewhere on campus a bit further out of the flood zone,” executive director Hope Sullivan said.

The Studio Center owns 15 buildings in Johnson, many on Lower Main and Pearl streets, right along the Gihon River, right in the path of destruction.

Along with the Kahn Barn, the Red Mill Gallery, the studio center’s mothership on Pearl Street, saw its below-ground portion that looks right onto the river, and which contained the program’s library and a resident lounge, completely inundated with water. Its insulation had to be fully replaced before winter.

The front of the Wolf Kahn building, a former town hall and gym separate from the eight studios in the adjacent Kahn barn, also suffered serious flood damage in program space that held a gallery, digital print lab and archive. A couple other buildings saw less serious flooding at the basement level.

In the wake of the flood, the program’s board is updating a decade-old master plan with volunteer assistance from architecture and design experts such as Milford Cushman of Cushman Design Group in Stowe.

“All of those resident amenities and public gathering spaces, we need to figure out ways to rebuild, because after discussion to make sure that the rationale is solid, we continue to believe that they’re core to the experience that we’re providing here,” Sullivan said. “They’re important to our future as a residency community and to Johnson. That gallery space that needs to be rebuilt, resident gathering spaces, they need to be able to have a digital print lab.”

The center eventually plans to replace the Wolf Kahn barn and to retreat from the lowest level of the Red Mill building to allow water to pass through the next time it floods.

The master plan revision includes flood response and mitigation efforts to protect from future floods. Much of the cleanup involved volunteer help, and the efforts so far have been funded through the studio center’s donors. Like its neighbors in Johnson, the center is still working its way through the arduous Federal Emergency Management Agency’s claims process, and it still expects to receive some reimbursement for the flood damage.

In this age of COVID-19, the Vermont Studio Center is instituting other changes as well, including raising the center’s standards for air quality and heightened lodging standards.

Sullivan, who only joined the organization as director a year ago, sees the master plan revision as a way to reflect upon the program’s values as it enters its fourth decade in Johnson and a chance to reaffirm its values.

That includes considering what to do with the space formerly occupied by the Kahn barn. With help from the town of Johnson and Lamoille County Planning Commission, the center wonders whether the land could be reshaped or utilized in some way to help prevent future flooding of the Gihon.

After remediation of the land, the center also hopes to establish the pollinator garden, part its commitment to persevere as it did through last year’s floods when it continued to host artist residents despite the disruption, and a commitment to creating beauty out of ruin.