A Special Thanks to Mary Azarian and Dede Cummings


CWI's logo design incorporating text was created by Vermont graphic artist and illustrator Dede Cummings. Dede Cummings also designed the cover for our publication Connecting Service-Learning to the Curriculum.

Perhaps you recognized in Community Works Institute's logo, and in other artwork we use, the style of Mary Azarian, well-known Vermont woodcut artist who lives and works in Calais, Vermont. Among other projects, she illustrates the wonderful Cook's Garden Catalog, and is the author and illustrator of A Farmer's Alphabet and A Symphony for Sheep.

Her illustrations for the children's book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin won the prestigious Caldecott medal. The book chronicles the life of Wilson Bentley, a Vermonter whose passion for photographing snowflakes provided the world with the first images of these magical crystalline structures and proved definitively that no two snowflakes are alike. Mary has contributed our logo and other pieces that you see from time to time on this Web site and in Community Works Journal.

Mary was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Virginia, moving to Vermont in 1963. Her woodcut technique is unusual. Rather than the traditional way of printing several colors using different blocks, she carves one block of the whole picture and then hand-colors them using watercolor paint. She prints her woodcuts on her own press, called "Farmhouse Press" (which is only about an hour away from Snowflake Bentley's home in Jericho). It takes her approximately one day to carve a single woodcut of the size on the Snowflake Bentley cover. More complex carvings take longer. When doing book illustrations, she carves her woodcuts the size they will be in the final book. Other woodcuts, such as the ones used in the seed catalog, are reduced.

Mary is pleased to contribute her artwork to a good cause such as Community Works Institute. As is clear from her work, she is firmly rooted in Vermont and appreciates its beauty and unique character. She strongly believes in educational approaches that enable children to show what they can do in contexts broader and more inclusive than traditional academics. Thank you, Mary, for contributing your wonderful artwork. Look for the warmth and spirit of Mary’s artwork to enliven our Web site.