Clear skies. Low 54F. Winds light and variable..
Clear skies. Low 54F. Winds light and variable.
Jonathan Gitelson, Weston Olencki and Diana Whitney teamed up to create the "Sonic Blanket" recording.
Signs around town tell people they "are underneath the cover of the Sonic Blanket."
Gallery Walk events have been organized around promoting "Sonic Blanket."
Jonathan Gitelson, Weston Olencki and Diana Whitney teamed up to create the "Sonic Blanket" recording.
Signs around town tell people they "are underneath the cover of the Sonic Blanket."
Gallery Walk events have been organized around promoting "Sonic Blanket."
BRATTLEBORO — Local artist Jonathan Gitelson hopes people won’t be freaked out when a banner hanging over Main Street soon reads, “You are beneath the cover of the Sonic Blanket.”
“The whole idea of the project,” he said of “Sonic Blanket,” a year-long collaboration with artists and community members, “is these radio waves are a blanket or a protective shield above us in the sky.”
Gitelson recently read in the Smithsonian magazine that since radio waves travel all the way to space, they block space matter from entering the atmosphere.
The idea for recording the audio for “Sonic Blanket” started during the COVID-19 pandemic in early lockdown when no one was going very far from their residences.
“It was just that eerie experience, walking around, everyone’s lights are on at their houses,” Gitelson said. “You know everyone was home, but everyone is disconnected.”
Gitelson felt a desire to make something to meet the moment and talk about the collective experience. He is trained in visual art and teaches photography at Keene State College.
He also had been a radio disc jockey at the local WVEW station. He said he always loved how radio waves are emitted during broadcasts.
“There’s a physical thing,” he said.
Gitelson liked the idea of collaborating with a writer and a musician on “Sonic Blanket,” in which they would use their talents to weigh in on the isolation happening all around them. Diana Whitney wrote a poem, which would be read by community members, and Weston Olencki provided field recordings.
For about a year, the three organizers met via Zoom before they could do so in person. Gitelson said they shared inspiration and pitched ideas to each other before the sound slowly started taking form.
Whitney said Gitelson reached out to her during the depths of the pandemic winter — an isolating and depressing time.
“The radio waves are literally above us in the sky,” she said last year, before the project launched.
“That concept is really powerful, especially when you’re alone in your house or your room and you’re just like, is anyone out there?”
In the poem, she wanted to convey a sense of connectedness with an almost lullaby-like quality. Olencki provided her with an initial draft of the soundscape, which included static, water, owls, frogs and church bells, among other sounds.
“What I did a few times was lay down and listen to that and then compose the poem over a period of time,” she said.
Gitelson described the poem being about “the experience of the pandemic” — being alone but together. Referenced in it is the 6-feet of space rule many abided by to help prevent transmission of the virus.
“The poem also travels the circle of the year,” Gitelson said, as the words speak about the different seasons.
According to sonicblanket.org, “the invisible blanket of sound waves emitting from the tower of WVEW extends roughly 10 miles in every direction.” Field recordings were created “pretty much underneath” that radio signal, Gitelson said.
A description of “Sonic Blanket” says hydrophonic recordings were made from the Whetstone Brook, Connecticut River and Green River. Also used were locally sourced slate roofing tiles, the Brattleboro First Baptist Church pipe organ and spire bell at Epsilon Spires, radio static, digital resonators, and traditional Abenaki rattles, rain sticks and drums.
All three of the artists were living “underneath the blanket” or the radio signal at the time, Gitelson said. That had been an important component of the project for them. Olencki has since moved away.
“Sonic Blanket” launched on the first night of the full moon in December 2021. The 15-minute recording appears on WVEW every night at midnight and then at 2:30 p.m. on Sundays, and will continue until the first full moon this coming December.
BRATTLEBORO — Ambient sounds. Spoken word poetry. Ethereal music.
A listening party was held in the spring at Brattleboro Museum & Art Center and others were conducted via Zoom. Gitelson is working on organizing another one or two for the fall.
Since the broadcast began, his collaboration with Whitney and Olencki on the project has ended. He has now been working with Amber Paris and Erin Maile O’Keefe on summer and spring programming tied to “Sonic Blanket” at Gallery Walk.
On Friday, they had a book-making workshop. In October, they will be screen printing “Sonic Blanket” T-shirts with First Proof Press to give away. And in November, they will have a sound installation.
“Everything is in Harmony Lot right by the tunnel,” Gitelson said.
Also, he has been hanging up signs saying, “You are beneath the cover of the Sonic Blanket.” The point is to make people think about their connection to the local community and the project itself.
Starting Sunday, the banner will go up on Main Street and stay for a week. Gitelson bought the two available slots for the week so only one banner will hang during that time. He said it will be interesting to see the response.
As an artist who is always interested in “disrupting the daily grind,” he said he believes the banner will achieve that. He also anticipates more people will look into the project.
Supporting “Sonic Blanket” are a Town Arts Fund grant from Brattleboro and a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment of the Arts.
In the future, Gitelson hopes WVEW will let him hold a listening party for “Sonic Blanket” once a year. He noted it was always meant to be a one-year project.
“I feel like it works, too, because our relationship with the pandemic is really changing and has changed,” he said. “It comes out of a specific period so it kind of feels OK to me to just exist for that one year.”
Chris Mays is a general assignment reporter for the Brattleboro Reformer and Vermont News & Media.
Green Mountain Orchards, in Putney, Vt., officially opened its apple orchard for the season for people to pick their own apples on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022.
Dan Yates, president and CEO at Brattleboro Savings & Loan, was honored in a room full of people when he received the Outstanding Vermont Banker of the Year award on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022.
A team of five people works into the night on a mural on High Street, in Brattleboro, on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. The team hopes to have it completed before the next Gallery Walk on Oct. 7.
Dozens of people stop on Western Avenue, in Brattleboro, to get a glimpse of a black bear and her three cubs that were up in a tree on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022. Police warn that the mother bear might become aggressive when trying to protect her cubs.
The 77th Guilford Fair was held on Labor Day weekend. The fair kicked off to large crowds on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.