ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST Amy Raab

Artist Amy Raab's collages are her creative form of "Yankee ingenuity." She uses materials she has — unfinished watercolor paintings and photos from her 35 years as a professional photographer — and combines them to recreate landscapes she observes in Saxtons River, Vermont. &emsp;She also creates "upcycled jewelry," deconstructing old jewelry and reimagining it in entirely new forms. &emsp;"This is what Vermonters do — they make do with what they have," she says. &emsp;She moved to the area when her husband began teaching at Vermont Academy in 2023. Although she had not yet met many people there, she brought with her past artwork, talent and plenty of time. &emsp;Raab's dining room table is spread with an array of partial paintings, photos, various adhesives and an X-Acto knife for cutting shapes and pieces that she arranges as if "putting puzzle pieces together," she explains. She says this serves as her "studio." &emsp;Her paintings may seem sparse and simple from a distance, but closer inspection reveals photos or drawings, such as black-and-white horses subtly embedded within birch trunks and branches, blending seamlessly with the trees' natural markings. Once viewers — children and adults alike — notice the hidden horses, they are captivated and eager to discover more, she notes. &emsp;Many of her horse photographs originate from her time living on a dude ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she sought to capture the profound connection between ranchers, their livestock, and the land. &emsp;A close look at one of her barns reveals it is crafted from a macro photograph of a maple leaf holding a dewdrop. Her depiction of barns serves as a tribute to the past lives they represent. &emsp;"They have held so many cows in the past; farmers walked in and out, and they probably still house so many creatures," she explains, adding that she sees barns as very "stoic." &emsp;Raab notices that barns are made of a few simple shapes, and if she arranges them a little askew, it adds character. &emsp;"I try to celebrate quieter scenes and moments of solitude ... images that call attention like dramatic, stormy skies and the time of night when the sky is cobalt blue before it turns black," she says. &emsp;A year-and-a-half struggle with breast cancer prior to the COVID-19 pandemic gave her a fresh perspective on life's beauty and adventures. She focused on photographing blooming flowers during the pandemic, feeling she, too, was blooming following her illness. &emsp;Raab's education includes a college year abroad in Florence, Italy (a family tradition); a degree in art and English from the University of Vermont; classes at the River Gallery School of Art and Wheelhouse Clay Center in Brattleboro, Vermont; and a winter watercolor class with artist Robert O'Brien in Springfield, Vermont. &emsp;For 35 years after college, she enjoyed success as a photojournalist, first for the Boston TAB newspaper and later in wedding photojournalism. &emsp;For more information, visit amyraab.com or follow Amy Raab (@amyraab.photography) on Instagram.