THE CATAMOUNT ARTS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Donna Marshall

Art has been an important part of my life.  My interest in watercolor painting stems from my father, Arthur Corsini, who was a watercolorist and art professor in Boston.  Both my parents were (mother still is) opera enthusiasts.  At 99 years old, my mother attended two HD performances at Catamount this past year. I grew up taking piano and ballet lessons and performing in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in Westwood, MA.  I attended Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, and graduated from UNH with a double major in Art and English.  I participated in modern dance during my four years of college and had my first pottery course at UNH.  Over the years, I have studied in different studios, most extensively with potter Betty Gilson in Danville, VT.  I am currently a member of the Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild, where I sell my pottery.

After college, I joined the Peace Corps and met my husband Bill on the plane as we headed to the same training program for Peace Corps Morocco.  We married 47 years ago in Marrakesh, Morocco.  I have taught art in the Peace Corps; in Lyme, NH; Peacham School grades 7-12 (where Jay Craven had a film program---one of the infant steps toward Catamount Arts); and for 20 years at Applewild School in Fitchburg, MA, where Bill was headmaster.  For eleven of those years, I produced annually two original puppet shows with sixth graders.

During those Applewild School years, I belonged to Dunstable Artisans, exhibited annually in the Art Show at the Fitchburg Art Museum, and had a one-woman show, featuring both my pottery and watercolors, at Lawrence Academy in Groton, MA.

Bill and I bought our property in Passumpsic in 1966, considering the round barn on the property as a possible site for a school.  Instead, the round barn housed our goats, sheep, horse and chickens for a while in the ‘70’s and was moved in 1984 to the Shelburne Museum, where it became not a school, but a wonderful venue for the museum.

Our first garden was in Morocco with lemon and fig trees and artichoke plants.  We have not missed a year growing a garden and being grateful for the beauty of our Vermont landscape.  We have done extensive traveling in Morocco, Europe, the States, Canada and Central America.

Bill and I have three children and four grandchildren, ages 1 to 10. 

From its inception, I have supported Catamount Arts.   I have served on its Board since 2008.  The diversity of our offerings and the collaborations with community groups are phenomenal.

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