The Mountain Times

John S. Tidd, artist and friend

Everybody knows about the metal sculptor John Tidd. No they don't. They think they do. He is always appearing, reappearing and disappearing. He was running Mountain Meadows when I was cross-country skiing. It was his invention that kept the trails clear and packed.

Next, he had made a huge pair of metal hands. No, there were three hands nine feet tall. I saw it on TV, some city in the mid-west. People were stringing a cat's cradle between them and then bouncing up and down. Where did he get that idea? Who paid for that?
Then, years later, I am a member of the Killington Arts Guild and Tidd has put a sculpture on the lawn in front of Cabin Fever Gifts. It is a sort of single wing that is supposed to blow with the wind but the piece keeps falling down and coming apart. Then someone moves it somewhere else.

I'm writing a piece about new art in the KAG Gallery and there is a big tree root that has been cleaned and shined up, a big opening at the top and tiny entry holes at the bottom-found art, you guessed it, by John Tidd.

Last week at Osher (Rutland Area Lifelong Learning Institute), he told about about his life. How he graduated from Middlebury College and wanted to teach chemistry but didn't have a PhD and just happened to have studied mechanics. He tells us about creating a helmet. His art sprang up on the screen in front of us. He finishes his lecture with something new-creating a recipe for good cookies that we can take home and try. He thought cooking would help us understand the essential ingredients for creativity.

Geraldine Russell of Killington, representing Osher, introduced the program. She is also on the Board of the Killington Arts Guild. Many people come from the Gables. Marybeth Bloomer said that most of Tidd's art springs from his interest in mechanics. His business, John Tidd Designs LLC - Sculpture and Delightful Things, certainly is an expression of both his sculpture and his attitude towards life.

Folks from the Gables often attend Osher programs on Fridays at the Godnick Center, after this program they overwhelming thought John Tidd was terrific.