Avery, along with his wife, Sally and daughter, March, began visiting Woodstock during the summers in the 1930's. During the early 1940's, the Averys met Arnold Blanch and Doris Lee with whom they summered with in Woodstock throughout the 1950's. Avery, similar to Blanch and Lee, employed in his works simplified forms, creating at once a decorative surface, but simultaneously complex spatial relationships. Avery, a supporter of modernists aesthetics, acted as a guide to many Woodstock artists who were unclear of their role in the artistic community during the confusing years after World War II.