 Welcome to Moments with Melinda and I am your host, Melinda Moulton, and today I am so thrilled to have as my guest, Catherine Mondstream. Catherine, how are you? Oh, I'm fine. Thank you, Melinda. I'm so happy to be here. Always a pleasure to speak with you, see you any way I can get you. I know. We just had the opportunity to see each other a few days ago and it was wonderful. I always loved seeing you. But we've known each other for a very, very long time. I mean, back in the early days at Main Street Landing and Union Station when you came into my office to run a studio, you want to talk a little bit about that day and when that was? Yeah. I was probably like 25 years old and I heard there were some studio spaces in this old train station. So I like wandered down. It was kind of like a little bit derelict to that and there were like wires to trip over in the lobby and I was sort of like, ooh, this looks interesting. And then I went upstairs, I found you and I was like, hey, can I, can I maybe rent a space here? And you're like, sure. And we just had this right away, hit it off. And that was before kids, probably before dogs. And over the years, I think I spent 26 years at Union Station. You did. Lots of transitions. Now, I think now, I think I actually think when was in Charlotte, I think that you might have had Charlotte in a snugly. I think that can work, but I mean, because I just, I just, I just remember you having trouble. Anyway, now she's all grown up and she's an artist herself and that's a whole another story. I'll have to interview her at some point. But so let's talk a little bit about your early childhood because a lot of people in Vermont know you. You're very well known. You're very highly respected. Your art is so beautiful. And but a lot of people don't know about you, Catherine Mondstream. So where do you hail from and tell us a little bit about your childhood? I grew up in a sleepy town in central Connecticut, right outside of Hartford on the Connecticut River, Weatherfield, Connecticut, and had, you know, pretty lovely childhood, amazing parents are so supportive, brother and sister. I was not a good student. I really struggled in school and think I'm so grateful. My parents noticed that, but they noticed I loved to draw and paint and they were really good. Immediately got me into like amazing art classes at the Wadsworth Athenaeum and playing air with my art teacher in the summer. So I feel like I landed in a really good place, even though school was like could have gone worse for me. And but thank God I had my folks that were like, we got you. So that was lucky. Well, you do have an extraordinary family. Both your parents are still alive and I've met them and and they're just remarkable human beings as are your siblings. So your parents recognized that you had this gift and they encouraged you. So who who was your greatest inspiration as a child? Who who inspired you the most in your life? Or maybe there's a few. I mean, probably my art teacher, Miss Pescatello, she was like total hippie with her little Volkswagen Beetle and wore big stacked, you know, 1960s, those big stacked shoes and her hair was all tousled. And I just thought she was like such a superstar and she was my art teacher for years and really taught me to go outside the box and paint outside and also how to do contour drawing, which is when you look at the object and you study it and you have to look and look, you can't just guess the line. And that was like really, really good stuff. So I always wish I could find her and I haven't been able to, but she was amazing. You have not been able to connect with her. No, I think she dropped her last name. And so then it's hard to find people on my heavens, but she should find you. You did. You did keep your maiden name. So maybe someday she'll find you if maybe I remember those days because I could have been that hippie that is that hippie with it. And they were called platform shoes. Yes, literally. And a lot of us and a lot of us broke our ankles back then because of those platform shoes. I once went up, went up for a layup and playing basketball with Rick's brother and came down and broke my ankle. But anyway, that's another story. So let's talk a little bit about your art. And in the medium, you primarily use our watercolorist, which is extremely difficult painting and you've done some oil. Talk to us about what the inspiration is for your work and what moves you and what and what you see in your mind when you move for to do some new projects. Right. I think I'm always looking for the next thing that kind of hits you over the head where you're just like, what this is amazing. And early years was the train station and the train yard. And I did some pretty gritty paintings down, got permission to be in the train yard and did a bunch of watercolors there. Later, more industrial was in ran plants. I've also done projects on African dance, swimming holes. So you're kind of always looking for a theme that you can kind of really dig your dig your nails into. And the watercolors for me are just so familiar. I I've got so much time into learning that craft that I know they're hard. But I feel like I kind of understand what they're going to do. And I had a great teacher, Larry Goldsmith, who really taught me to paint wet on wet, just start wet and let it go and not panic. And and that takes some time to kind of be able to be brave and go, OK, here we go, this thing is going to take off on me. Oils have such a different feel to me because of the scale and this viscosity, there's no glass. So I also love oil painting, but for different reasons. And I kind of go through stages where I'm really practiced in one or the other. And then when I switch back, I'm a little I'm always surprised. I get a little rusty. I wouldn't think I would, but I do. So I'm always looking for like the next subject that will just kind of really push me in a new direction. So what's your subject now? What is your subject that you're working on now? What is what's the pandemic really kind of kind of put me in a place to paint really? I thought I was going to do all this new exploration about what I'm finding I keep doing is sunsets. It's just like I keep looking for the beauty because it's calming. And so I feel like I've really done many, many, many sunsets and just sort of more beautiful vistas that kind of take me to a place that's calm and that in a world that's sort of in a pretty uncomfortable place day to day for many reasons, I think that has been really helpful. It's kind of therapeutic to paint these really, you know, colors of skies and just letting them melt together. It's just like, OK, I can do this. So it's painting is therapy for you in the same way that music is for some people. Yeah, I would say that's true, because you can get lost in it, you know, to try to find that place where you forget about what time it is and you're just in that zone. It's kind of hard to get there sometimes, but if I can get to that zone, it's just really it's a restart and it's it's good. Well, that's what art does for humanity, whether it's whether it's theater or performing arts or the visual arts or music or poetry or writing, it does take you to another place. And art is what defines civilization. So let's talk a little bit about that. A lot of artists aren't aren't able to promote their work and actually make a living as an artist, and you have managed to do that in spades. And so I'd love for you to share a little bit with my viewers how you did that and and and and what sustains you in being able to create this incredible business. It's nationwide to take your work and your art, which heals you and put it out there to the world and actually make a living because not every not every artist can do that. Yeah, I feel like I have been extraordinarily fortunate. And part of that is just my family always being so supportive. But I think there's one part of it that doesn't have anything to do with me or my work. And that is who's to say which artists work is so one person said digestible that they want to own it. And I and that's kind of unfair. Like there's some incredibly talented people out there. But whether people pull out their checkbook or their Venmo, that's a whole other thing. And for some reason, I don't know why my work is something that people have wanted to own. And that's been just I think that's pure luck in a lot of way that what I paint happens to be desirable. And it's it's not about talent. It's just they're just interested in it and they want to have it. So I feel like I I reach a lot of people that way. And that's not something I really tried to do. It just happens. But then once I understood that people responded well, I think I am good at reminding people that I'm here. And we, you know, use our social media platforms and have openings and try to really make it. And then with our greeting card company, I mean, the greeting card company is wonderful because it's like mass marketing. You're sending out thousands of cards to stores where people can flip it over and go, oh, I want to see more of her work. So that part is again, sort of lucky that we've been able to sustain a greeting card company. That's not something that I would necessarily recommend because it takes incredible amount of time. Luckily, I have a husband who loves that job and that's his. If tomorrow we said, I don't want to ship cards anymore. I would just be like, just sell them on the rack. I'm not I wouldn't try to keep that that part of the business going. But it's a great marketing tool. So we've been lucky that way, too. Being able to talk to people is really not everybody can do that. Some people are really shy and it's hard to communicate. So I feel like I'm lucky. I have a background in which I don't share very often real estate for a little while. I sold real estate. And I think that was so hard to like have to open yourself up to people. And I think that really helped me be like braver about talking to new people. Well, you do put yourself out there and you do it beautifully. And Alan, I years ago took on the greeting card business and you have your annual sale where you sell it. But the other thing about your work and I'm going to I'm just going to say this and I'm not being patronizing, you paint beautiful images that people relate to people can relate to your work, whether it's my looking at a painting of yours of camel sump of the mountain that I look at every morning and the way that you capture it and the colors that you capture, you have a way of taking the beauty or natural beauty or whatever you're painting and you make it relatable to people. And that is a talent. That's a gift and not everybody has that. But you have your show that you do. You have your studio. You have your card business. And the other thing about your work is it's affordable. It's not the fifty thousand dollar painting. I mean, you you you make your work available to to everyone and talk a little bit about that. Well, that's and that's partly because as much as I always wished that I would be having shows in New York City by now and have paintings for fifty thousand dollars, that's just not how it went. It I just feel like my local patrons and the local folks have been so supportive of our business and of my work for so long. I never would have imagined that. And even during the beginning of the pandemic, I thought, wow, make a list of everything that you need in your life right now. And it's like, I'm last, you don't need art. And yet people came out in droves and were like, I'm going to support the arts. I'm not going on vacation. I'm going to buy I'm sick of the painting over my couch. So I was really I feel like I've been around in this business long enough that people not only like the work, but they're happy to support our family. And I feel like that's a little piece of it, too, which is really nice. I never had really any intention of being an artist or thinking about whether it's affordable or not. It's just I'm sort of more like, OK, this is working this week. Let's keep going. And it wasn't ever like it's not like a big business model or anything. It's just where it is. The prices do go up, but not that much. We are here to be now person and you live in the now, which is a which is a wonderful quality. But at the end of the day, I do believe if you wanted to have an exhibit in New York that you could if you wanted to. And if you want to destruct your life and your work in the way that your paintings were beyond the reach of most people and only hanging in the homes of the rich, that that wouldn't appeal to you, that you want people to be able to share your art. Yeah, do that. And that's a loving, caring, sharing way that you are. And so for that, you should embrace that. And I know you're honored for it. Do you believe that that art is what's defined civilization? Because I believe that. But do you do you get that? I don't. I don't think I could could agree. And not because I don't agree, because I haven't really thought about it very much. That's that's that's a big that's a big one. And I'd have to I'd have to put that in. Would you want to know why? Why? I get to tell me. Because because whenever you go back in time, years and years and years ago, whether it's what's been painted on the inside of caves, tens of thousands of years ago, or what you find in the chips of pottery that you find in the ground, that is what that is how we today define what that civilization was. And it's always the art. Yeah, that is interesting. It is one of the things that they say that long after you're gone, that actually has the most ability to last, you know, your clothes won't your your furniture won't last. The books you purchase, maybe, maybe not. But art is something that people, if they like it, will hang on to for possibly generations. And that's pretty interesting to me. That thought of that is kind of like, oh, that's kind of cool. And not just me, but like in white in civilization and great artists of Monet or whoever then go like you do. Look back and go, wow, these things have lasted. And they tell the story of that time, that time. So I always say art is what defines them. But anyway, let's talk about Vermont. Now, you you're you're a Connecticut lady. So why Vermont? What is it that makes you love the state? What brought you here? What keeps you here? Share a little bit about that. I mean, I I knew from the time I was six or seven that I wanted to live in Vermont because growing up in and Connecticut, it's it's flat, it's hot, it's hot here, too. There's no large bodies of water, except for like the Long Island Sound and a few reservoirs. There's a lot of billboards. There was this huge influx of highlights. It was a huge bedding area, like lots of it just wasn't. It didn't feel like me and my people are so I always knew when I came to Vermont to ski, my dad got me skiing really early. I was just like, yeah, this is where I want to be. And it never went away, even in high school. Every Sunday afternoon, we pack up the station wagon and drive south back to Hartford. I was so depressing. I don't I love my family and my home there. But I just didn't feel like it was really my my place. I always wanted to be in Vermont. So as soon as I was 18, I went to Green Mountain College for two years and then went out to see Boulder for my last two years. And but I just knew I wanted to be in Vermont. So I just basically was reading about Bernie Sanders. And I was like, those are my people. I'm moving there. So I moved here very after I didn't get into UVM twice, not once twice. I was like, I'm living there. Even if I didn't get into the university, they can't stop me. And so I really never looked back. It's perfect for me. Well, you would so get into UVM today and as you get an honorable diploma from UVM because you certainly deserve it. So I'm putting that right out there. My viewers, I do want it. I do want to send my viewers to your website. Go to K. M. M. Studio. Dot com. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. A. M. M. Studio dot com. And you can look at all of Catherine Mondstream's work. You can learn about her life. It's a lovely website. Um, well, I'm glad you came to Vermont. I think you've made Vermont a better place to be here. And you've definitely made it made a lot of change happen here. So let's talk about a little bit of the state of our world. How can art transform society? Because I know back in my generation, we had a lot of music and art and a lot of I just learned about the fuzza's movement. I don't know. I mean, I'm pronouncing it right. But John Clacky shared with me a story you wrote about a couple of artists who started the the art movement where the the art transforms itself right in front of the viewer. But anyway, how do you feel art is transforming our society today to help fight some of the issues and challenges that we're facing today? Right. Again, for well, for me, it's it's it's so much more just visceral about me, my brain and then the paint. So it's I don't always get involved as much in thinking about like the bigger picture of what it brings to people or society. So I but I certainly think the the thing it can do is bring joy and distraction from a really hard, hard news that we're having day after day. That's also highly, highly stressful for everyone, even if you live in a beautiful place like Vermont, you read about the Ukraine, you read about Washington, DC, you read about another school shooting. It's like it's so painful. So I don't I don't know how we can really get so much transformation through art. But I think the the people people that are doing beautiful things or not even beautiful by doing really poignant pieces, whether it's performance or or other, I think it's really important that that continues to happen. My role there, I don't know other than just I would say joy and and distraction are the two things that come to mind and beauty. But Catherine, you are you you do speak up and you do paint for things that you believe in. And one of those was the Moran plant that the renovation. You were very, very involved. And when you get it, when you get into something, your paint will reflect that. I even think that the chili dippers, which I want you to talk about is a form is an art form. And the visuals that are out there of these incredible women. Yeah, powerful, courageous women. That's an art form. That is performance art. Yeah, watch the videos and we look at the women and they're all beautiful, all different shapes and sizes and jumping in the water when it's 20 below zero. And that is performance art. So I do think that you have a message that you do. So let's talk a little bit about the chili dippers and about how that all came about. Right. Yeah. I never thought it would be something I would do, but I have one friend named Elise, who's just an amazing inspiration to me. And she had been doing it every month without missing a month for 12 years, 12 years. Like never missed a month. And I just was like, like so inspired by that. And I didn't really want to do it, but I did. So finally she would invite me. And finally, after maybe like a year's worth of emails, I was like, it was December. And I was like, I'm just, I just have to go do this. I'm going to go. And, you know, once I did it once, you know, it was it just takes so much courage and to walk into this like icy water. It's just like, I loved how brave and how proud of myself I was. So that really like kind of fueled this really amazing positivity that I felt for a long time. So once I did it once, I was like, oh, I want to go again. And then I started doing it regularly. And then the pandemic started and then I was getting texts. When are you going again? When people were desperate to be near each other, outside and to do something that would just like take them out of their head that was nearby. You didn't have to travel. And I think that sort of started it. And at that point I was like, wow, a lot of people really want to do this. I need to come up with a name. So I had all these dorky names, like Ladies of the Lake, no, The Seal Club, no. So my youngest daughter came up with it. She's like, mom, the red hot chili dippers. I was like, okay, done. It's perfect. And it just kind of grew from there, but mostly from the Instagram page, people would see the pictures and then say, how can I join you? When are you going again? And it was really surprising how many people instill to this day, like are asking all the time. It's really a revolution that I didn't, obviously I didn't start it, but it's been going on. Well, you did start the revolution. And you have to take credit for that. You are one of the most humble, beautiful women I know. And I love your humility, but you did start a big movement. Talk to us about the benefits of Cold War, because I did do the penguin plunge for Special Olympics. Because of my age, it's not something that I can do regularly, because of my heart. But when I got in that freezing cold water, the water was almost hot. It felt hot to my body. It was amazing. And it wasn't amazing. And when I came out, Rick said to me, you look 20 years younger. I was so flushed and beautiful. And he said, oh, my God, you look 20 years younger. Talk to us a little bit about the health benefits and how people can get involved. Sure. I mean, for me, these are things that I don't really know. Wim Hof is the Dutchman who really has revolutionized this whole thing, at least in the current time. And so he talks about it builds your immune system, because you're stressing your immune system. And so that you should get possibly less ill and less viruses. For me, mental health, people use it for depression and just using it to just absolutely, once you step into that water, whatever narrative is playing in your head, or whatever stories are going on that are plaguing you, or worries, they go. Because at that point, your body's like, oh, we have to survive this. This is life-threatening. So everything, that's the part I love, is you just come out and you're just like, it's just you can just start fresh. And so I think, to me, that is always so, I look forward to that feeling, even though I don't. People think I love the cold water. I don't love it. I love what it does for me. There you go. Circulation, better circulation, inflammation, it lowers. There's all kinds of testimonials about what it's done for people, and amazing life letters that people have said, you have no idea. You will never know how much you've done for me. And it's been really interesting to hear those and feel them. It's like, wow. If people want to get involved, I have a nimble, small group that goes every day, all winter, but then we do a larger open dips, which are maybe once a week. And so there's an email chain that I will say, because I have to watch the weather. It's not like I can say every Wednesday at four, because if the wind is blowing really hard, or it's too cold, or even the path down to it is just like glossy ice, because the day before was waves. You just have to kind of do it a 24 hour ahead of time, because it is dangerous. I mean, I have to remind myself, it's not for everybody. And I don't want anyone to get hurt. There you go. And you have to think about that. But I love seeing, even down here in Huntington, seeing the women sitting down by the Huntington River in the middle of February, and they have the ice flows around them and they're sitting there in big smiles. Yeah, yeah. I'm glad that you're saying that you understand that it is challenging and there is a level of danger, but it also is a wonderful movement that you've started and it's helping people. And I congratulate you on that. So we have a few more minutes, Catherine, and I'd love to talk to you briefly about your wisdom for today's youth and how to face the world that they're facing. I know you have three children, tour just at that fabulous 200 mile bike ride for reproductive access. And I know Charlotte is involved too in helping to change the world as is your younger daughter, Bear. So share with us a little bit about your wisdom for today's youth, because I'm sure you share that with your own children. Yeah, I mean, I think mostly we try to set good examples of saying like these are important topics that you need to vote and show them that you vote. And you need to like find joy in your life. What is your passion? Is it riding your bike? Is it climbing? Whatever just helping them find things that where they can also get out of their own head because there's so much to worry about for, especially I think for our youth with Roe versus Wade being overturned and just so many things like the war. I mean, it just goes on and on and then just fear of going to school. I really ache for I think these younger people that have to kind of navigate so much. So I think finding your joy and to be able to find that and use it and also be an activist. There's nothing wrong with like speaking up or donating or however you can do something to work on climate change or whatever your passion is. I think that those are very satisfying things to do. And then lastly, find your people. There is, no matter what your stick is, there's people out there like you that will understand you. And I think that's really important because we can definitely feel isolated if we're a little different or if friends aren't being kind and you need to like find the people that do understand you and surround yourself with people that will share that love for your passions and also support. That's a great, that's such a beautiful message, Catherine. And just, that's exactly, I mean, that's just such a beautiful message and thank you for that. Well, we're coming to the end of our interview and I'm gonna ask you to stay on after I stop the recording. But I have just, I mean, basically we've grown up together. You've grown up from your 20s into your 50s and I grew from my 30s into my 70s. And I've always considered you just a bright light in my life and certainly the life of most Vermonters. And it's such a privilege to hear about your life and to hear about you and your work. And thank you for giving me this time. It's my pleasure. I've always loved hearing what you're up to and seeing you. And I hope to see you more now that you're not working as much. I hope I get to get my hands around you a little more. Maybe I'll show up at one of these chili dippers and just get myself in there. All right. And to my viewers, I wanna thank you for joining us today and I will see you again soon with another moment with Melinda. Thank you and goodbye.