Stanley Ransom, Long Time Friend and Fan of Emmett Pine
Stanley Ransom, The Connecticut Peddler
In 1975, Stanley Ransom (Director of the Clinton, Essex and Franklin County Library System) walked into the Keeseville Free Library. This was one stop on his continuing tour of the 25 North Country Libraries that made up the three county system he supervised.
Librarian Ann Garcia had a small âtag saleâ to benefit the library and a small painting of children skating caught Ransomâs eye. Intrigued, he bought the painting of District School #8, now the warming hut for the Keeseville Skating Rink and discovering who the artist was, decided to pay him a visit.
Keeseville Skating Rink, From the Collection of Stan Ransom
A vist led to a friendship that lasted more then 10 years. Over the course of their friendship, Stan fell into a regular routine of visiting Pineâs Grocery whenever he passed by on his tour of Essex County Libraries. He would stop in to see what paintings were on the shelves and on occasion commission paintings of subjects he felt warranted special attention. In 1979 Stan thought a painting of the Saranac River, in Plattsburgh with the Macdonough Monument in the background, would make an interesting subject. In the back of his mind Stan was ruminating on another use for the painting. He took some photos of the scene and went to visit Emmett.
Saranac River at Plattsburgh from the Collection of Stan Ransom
In addition to his day job Stan is a folk musician who specializes in singing and playing the hammered dulcimer, the mandolin, autoharp, and six and twelve string guitars. He also plays bowed psaltery, tenor banjo and dombek. In 1951 Ransom took the stage and performance name of âThe Connecticut Peddlerâ and for more than 60 years has continued performing, writing, playing and recording folk music.
Stan recorded the songs he had written and performed about Plattsburgh and sent the tapes to a local radio station. To Stanâs surprise the radio station played his music and requests for copies started rolling in. In 1991 he produced a cassette called âDown the Saranacâ and the cover art came from a painting he had commissioned from Emmett 12 years earlier in 1979.
In 1994 Stan worked on a Christmas album called North Country Christmas. Once again one of his favorite paintings would be perfect for the cover art:
Winter Long Ago, from the Collection of Stan Ransom
You couldnât ask for a painting more suited to the job. The painting had almost everything you would want in the cover art for a Christmas album, it has snow (a definite must have for the Christmas spirit) horse drawn sleighs, a church in the background and a country village with shoppers on the sidewalks. As perfect as the painting was, Stan thought it lacked a very important element - Stan would have to use artistic license and alter the painting for his cd. Iâm sure he wasnât the first musician to add a special touch or minor alteration to a painting being used as the art needed to catch the eye of a browsing shopper.
See if you can find his small alteration that turned a great painting into perfect cover art. Try - donât peek ahead for the answer.
Stanâs later CD called North Country Memories was produced in 2005. Once again he used a wonderfull painting by Emmett Pine. This time it was a fall scene with a family harvesting pumpkins amid bundles of corn stalks. Very different from his usual fall scenes, a sunny autumn day with a horse harnessed to a wagon, the horse is watching skeptically as the daughter plays with the family dog. Behind her an older brother dutifully hands pumpkins up to his father in the wagon. As is typical of the Naive Genre, a colorful, happy scene from a bygone time painted in a simple child like manner yet glowing with the depth that is typical of Emmettâs best work.
Pumpkin Harvest, from the Collection of Stan Ransom And the CD cover:
In September of 1979, a month after Stanâs wife Dorothy passed away, he asked Emmett for a painting as a memorial to her, perhaps of a local church. Emmett painted his 26th rendition of Midnight Mass at the Irish Church. In this work, Emmett included Stan, his Wife and their three children attending. Emmett also included an elderly man with a cane as he had in the 25 previous paintings of the Irish Church on a cold December evening.
Midnight Mass at the Irish Church from the Collection of Stan Ransom
From the first painting purchased in 1975 until Emmett passed away in 1985, Stan amassed one of the largest private collections of paintings by Emmett Pine. Some of his paintings are currently on loan to the Anderson Falls Heritage Society in Keeseville, and are on display in their Emmitt Pine Exhibit which runs through September. Stan has also helped with E. Pine Exhibits at the Clinton County Historical Society and TAUNY in Canton NY.
It is interesting that during the course of their friendship neither Stan nor Emmett ever talked about music. They both loved music, loved performing and were both very talented musicians. Emmett had been the drummer in a band he and his sister Irene played in, his sister on piano and at times King LaDieu was the fiddler and at other times they had a lady fiddler.
Many people remember fondly how Emmett would stand at the counter drumming with his hands while they looked around the store or worked up to a decision on what candy they would leave the store with. Stan knew Emmett was a musician, he had purchased a painting of Emmett and his band playing a North Country community or church hall, but he didnât really know what instrument Emmett played and never realized the extent of Emmettâs talent or the years of experience he garnered performing with his band from the 1930âs through the 1950âs.
Emmett Pineâs Orchestra, From the Collection of Stan Ransom. Emmett on Drums, Sister Irene on Piano and King LaDieu on Fiddle
Emmettâs drum set was always just through the curtain separating the store from his home, tucked away in a closet, a bit dusty, unused for many years but adorned with a beautiful spring birch lined stream, painted on the front of the big center drum. It could have been dragged out of retirement if Stan had arrived with his guitar or banjo, but it never happened, and Emmett passed away long before his paintings were used as the covers of Stanâs wonderful cassettes and CDs. Emmett would have been both proud and pleased as punch to see his paintings used for Stanâs music, but an opportunity to play along with Stan would have been an experience neither would have forgotten.
Stan continues to work on his music and serves on boards in his adoptive but long time home town of Plattsburgh. On the Board of Plattsburghâs Transportation Museum, he donated one of his E. Pine paintings of the D&H back in the dayâs of steam, one of Emmettâs favorite subjects. If you visit the museam you will be able to view this fun painting and get up to date on the history of North Country transportation.
Now, the answer to the quiz:
For his Christmas CD Stan wanted something that really honed in on the Christmas Season, after all, in the North Country the painting he chose could represent any day between Halloween and Easter. To make it work, Ransom took some green construction paper, cut out a small Christmas tree and gingerly taped it into the back of the sleigh making the turn in the center of town. The photo was snapped and the tree removed with absolutly no damage to the wonderful work.
All images in this post have been used with the permision of Stanly Ransom. His CD and Cassette covers are copywritten and may only be used with his permission. As always, please e-mail images of the E.Pine paintings in your personal collection.