Sculpture No.04_ General Knox and the Train of Artillery (2008) 18’h x 18’l x 8’d, Steel, galvanized.
Collection of: New York State Grant: Lake to Locks/Parks/Saratoga National Historical Park Permanent display, North Umberland Park, NY.
Artist Michelle Vara of Ballard Road Art Studio, Wilton NY used famous event painted by Tom Lovell called “The Nobel Train of Artillery”
which consisted of Col. Henry Knox and men as the reference and namesake of metal sculpture. The sculpture was created using recycled materials and galvanized in the finish.
About: The Hudson Crossing; Knox Trail- Through this place passed Gen. Henry Knox in the winter of 1775 – 1776
To Deliver To Gen. George Washington at Cambridge The Train of Artillery from Fort Ticonderoga
used to force the British Army to Evacuate Boston. Commissions
During the winter of 1775–1776, Colonel Henry Knox left Boston, marched to New York’s Fort Ticonderoga, and—with a team of men and oxen—hauled more than 50 tons of cannons and other arms back to Boston’s Dorchester Heights. The threat of these cannons firing on British ships in Boston Harbor led to the British evacuation of Boston, a major victory for the fledgling Continental Army.
In 1926, New York and Massachusetts began installing commemorative markers that traced the so-called “Knox Trail” at locations in the two states.
http://www.hudsoncrossingpark.org/master-plan/knox-trail.cfm
http://www.patriotsar.com/knox.php
– Events
The Knox Trail Honor Walk
Today we met Benjamin Smith and Copyeditor Alex Culpepper, staff members of Patriots of the American Revolution Magazine they are walking the Knox Trail. Their goal today was to stop at the sculpture that I made “General Knox and the Train of Artillery” and marker. The Hudson Crossing; Knox Trail Pocket Park is located Route 4 and 32 on the corner of Starks Knob Rd. in Northumberland NY.
Their mission: to honor Henry Knox and his “noble train of artillery,” to raise awareness of and promote the Knox Trail as a unique American historical route, and to help the American Revolution Association raise needed money for history-based museums and parks with connections to Henry Knox and the Knox Trail. Starting from Fort Ticonderoga on Friday, April 6, 2012, Patriots of the American Revolution Managing Editor Benjamin Smith and Copyeditor Alex Culpepper will march south along Lake George and the Hudson River to Kinderhook, New York, where they will veer east into Massachusetts, aiming to reach Dorchester Heights in Boston National Historical Park on Wednesday, April 18. Along the way they will take photographs of the various markers along the Knox Trail and document their trip for in-depth articles about the Trail that will run in future issues of Patriots of the American Revolution magazine.
News- TRASH TO TREASURE: Local Artist Brings New Life to Junk
Posted on July 17, 2009 by miChelle
http://www.saratoga.com/ecolocal/2009/07/trash-to-treasure-local-artist-brings-new-life-to-junk.html
By: Pamela A. Gibbs
Contributing Writer
WILTON – Asked if she could be described as a woman with a lot of junk in her trunk, sculptor miChelle Vara hooted with delight.
“You could definitely arrive at that conclusion,” said miChelle, her laughter continuing. “But then again, the stuff really isn’t junk to me.”
The “stuff” in her trunk, and all around the grounds of her Wilton studio, includes antique metal tools, pipes and chains, bicycles, long-retired farm equipment, old car bumpers, a huge assortment of keys, and hundreds of other interesting metal objects rescued from a slow death-by-rust and now slated for new relevance in one of the artist’s sculptures.
Many of her pieces, some of which weigh several tons, have traveled around the country on loan and for exhibitions. “One Bucking Thing After Another,” an 11-foot-tall creation of a horse, was exhibited at the Shore Institute of Contemporary Arts in Long Branch, NJ, before finding its way back to its Adirondack pasture.
Last year, a piece commissioned by New York State through the Lakes to Locks Passage program, was installed and dedicated at the Knox Trail Pocket Park in Schuylerville.