Arts Calendar: Visual Arts

The Feick Arts Center is pleased to announce our first exhibit of the season. “Stephen Petegorsky - Photography” opens on Friday, September 14, 2018 at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont with a reception from 5-7pm including refreshments, music, and a chance to meet the artist. The exhibit features a series of images based on cleared and stained animal specimens that Petegorsky remakes into haunting photographs that highlight the poetic and lyrical qualities of morphology.

Growing up in New York City, Stephen Petegorsky’s exposure to animals was limited. He saw dogs, squirrels, and depressed creatures in their depressing surroundings at the Central Park Zoo. But he was fascinated by the dioramas in the Museum of Natural History. There, the science and art of taxidermy combined with props and painted backgrounds allowed him to see animals in a manner that would otherwise have been impossible; it fueled his curiosity to no end.

Cleared and stained specimens are equally captivating to Petegorsky. In this process used by scientists to study morphology, small mammals, reptiles, fish, and amphibians are soaked in a solution that renders tissue transparent, and stains are used to make bones and cartilage a darker color. This allows their interior structure to be visible, giving us a window into a world that is beautiful, elegant, and complex. It serves as a point of departure for Petegorsky’s imagination.

Born in New York City, Petegorsky has lived in western Massachusetts for over 40 years. He graduated from Amherst College in 1975 as a Fine Arts major, and later received an M.F.A. in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design.

His creative work has been exhibited internationally, and is in collections throughout this country as well as in Europe. He has taught at Amherst College, Smith College, Hampshire College, and the University of Connecticut, and currently works as a freelance photographer specializing in photography of artworks.

He has been interested in animals – alive, dead, taxidermed – for as long as he can remember.

His exhibit at the Feick Arts Center runs from Friday, September 14 until Friday, October 12. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The opening reception runs from 5-7pm on Sept. 14. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9am-4pm, Saturday and Sunday by chance or appointment. The Feick Arts Center is located at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont. For more information call 802-287-8398 or visit us online at www.Facebook.com/TheFeick.

Thriving Spaces explores the parallels of two contrasting mediums connected through a shared theme. This show brings together street artists from New York and artists from the Vermont Glass Guild to develop a combined display of original work. Cascading canvases echo sculptural glass, forming an experiential exhibit that reimagines the surrounding natural world. Free & open to the public. Suggested donation $5.

Artwork: Left: Matt Seasholtz, Coastal Bowl, Night Sky. Right: Magda Love, My Head is a Jungle, 2015

An exciting group of artists will present sculptural and video installations for SculptFest2018 at the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center. Proposals were submitted in response to this year’s theme of “Interdependence.” Guest curator Alisa Dworsky selected site-specific works by artists Charles Hickey, Amy Königbauer, Sophia Latysheva, Jessica Leete and Nathaniel Lieb with Eva Schmidt. Also chosen, Susan Maas, Indigo Naar, Sayward Schoonmaker, Lynn Sullivan and Sam Talbot-Kelly.

The exhibition is free and open to the public, with a self-guiding map available for visitors. SculptFest2018 closes October 22. For more information, please contact the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center by telephone at (802) 438-2097 or email to info@carvingstudio.org.

Join us at the VINS Nature Center to view the diverse artwork completed from the talented, participating artists of the en Plein Air Painting Festival.

En Plein Air, “in the open air,” describes the act of painting outdoors with the use of natural lighting. This festival concentrates on mindful, artistic inspiration and exploration of the beauty the natural world embodies.

Ask for a free pass at the Nature Center if you are going to the exhibition and sale.
Sponsored by Wild Apple Graphics.

Warren Kimble: An Artists Journey
September 4-October 26, 2018
Opening Reception Friday September 7, 4:00-8:00 pm with a talk by the artists at 6:00 pm
Make Your Own Lazy Susan Workshop with Warren September 8-9. Pre-registrion is required. Fee $200 plus $50 for materials
The Gallery is thrilled to have a Warren Kimble exhibit in September that will draw on more than 50 years of Kimble’s experience as a fine artist, educator and antiques collector. An opening reception will be held on Friday September 7th from 4-8:00 pm with an Art Talk by Warren Kimble at 6 pm. The reception is free and refreshments will be served. Warren will lead a two-day workshop on September 8-9 at the Gallery. Participants will each assemble a wooden Lazy Susan and hand paint their creation to take home, under the artistic guidance of Kimble. $200 plus $50 for materials, pre-registration is required and space is limited!

Join us on Saturdays, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. for a guided tour of the historic Barn House. The Barn House is actually two historic buildings: a granary and a cow barn, both built sometime between the late 1700's and the early 1800's. Jackson Clemmons joined the two buildings together more than 20 years ago, while he was in his 70's.

Our Fall 2018 tours feature a very special exhibit:
Steps to Resilience: Intimate Portraits by Will Kasso Condry.

Considered the godfather of the Trenton art scene, Will Kasso Condry promotes and produces street art throughout the Northeast and the West Coast. His lived experiences, cultural heritage, and social issues inform the subject of his murals, paintings, and illustrations. Kasso's work centers on using mural arts as a vehicle for community-building, activism, beautification, and healing. For over 20 years, his public art initiatives and civic engagement have had profound impact by helping vulnerable and fractured communities come together to creatively problem solve issues that affect their neighborhoods and everyday lives. Kasso firmly believes in the power of art to inspire, empower, create dialogue, and improve lives.

The exhibit includes seven magnificent portraits of individuals who inspired Kasso in his former life in New Jersey and in his present life in Vermont. The portraits use oil and spray paint on canvas. Audio-recordings of Condry describing his inspiration behind of each the works and videos of Condry's process are also a part of this vibrant exhibit.

Admission: $10.00 Pre-registration is required. Sign up on the Eventbrite link!

Join us on Saturdays, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. for a guided tour of the historic Barn House. The Barn House is actually two historic buildings: a granary and a cow barn, both built sometime between the late 1700's and the early 1800's. Jackson Clemmons joined the two buildings together more than 20 years ago, while he was in his 70's.

Our Fall 2018 tours feature a very special exhibit:
Steps to Resilience: Intimate Portraits by Will Kasso Condry.

Considered the godfather of the Trenton art scene, Will Kasso Condry promotes and produces street art throughout the Northeast and the West Coast. His lived experiences, cultural heritage, and social issues inform the subject of his murals, paintings, and illustrations. Kasso's work centers on using mural arts as a vehicle for community-building, activism, beautification, and healing. For over 20 years, his public art initiatives and civic engagement have had profound impact by helping vulnerable and fractured communities come together to creatively problem solve issues that affect their neighborhoods and everyday lives. Kasso firmly believes in the power of art to inspire, empower, create dialogue, and improve lives.

The exhibit includes seven magnificent portraits of individuals who inspired Kasso in his former life in New Jersey and in his present life in Vermont. The portraits use oil and spray paint on canvas. Audio-recordings of Condry describing his inspiration behind of each the works and videos of Condry's process are also a part of this vibrant exhibit.

Admission: $10.00 Pre-registration is required. Sign up on the Eventbrite link!

The T. W. Wood Gallery at 46 Barre St in Montpelier, Vermont is pleased to announce an exhibit of the Vermont Modern Quilt Guild member show. The exhibit will be open for viewing from Tuesday, October 2, through Friday, October 26. There will be an opening reception with refreshments served and an opportunity to meet the artists on Thursday October 4, from 5:00-7:00 pm at the Gallery.
The Vermont Modern Quilting Guild mission is to encourage and inspire the growth and development of modern quilting through art, education, and community in Vermont and beyond. The Guild strives to encourage modern quilt making and collecting, provide educational activities, support and sponsor quilting activities such as community events that provide the opportunity to share the art and enjoyment of quilting and to encourage new quilters and fiber artists in non-traditional fiber projects.
Also on exhibit is Warren Kimble: An Artist’s Journey exhibit along with works from the Gallery’s permanent collection. The Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 12:00-4:00 pm and by appointment. The Gallery is located at 46 Barre Street at the Center for Arts and Learning in Montpelier.

Short Stories, an exhibit of assemblages and 2d work by Axel Stohlberg, will be on exhibit at the Gallery at River Arts September 6-October 28, 2018.

Assemblages are works of art created by grouping unrelated found objects. From painting, drawing, sculpture and assemblage, Stohlberg moves between the lines of recognizable and abstract images, feeling the freedom to explore different directions. From old armchair springs, miniature figurines, and twigs set into unconventional shadow boxes – each assemblage tells a story. Both relatable and unexpected, with a juxtaposition of everyday objects and punchline titles. His abstract landscapes include a variety of surface treatments, textures, and materials that compliment and relate to his assemblages.

Since selling “Axel’s Frame Shop and Gallery”, which Stohlberg founded over 30 years ago in Waterbury, he now devotes all his time to art. With residencies at Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Basin Harbor, and four residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Stohlberg brings a breadth of experience.

Curated by Harlem Needle Arts founder and director Michelle Bishop, this special exhibit features pieces by eight contemporary textile artists from New York, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Indianapolis. The works share and are defined by some element of thread construction, but are diverse in presentation, including quilting, embroidery, mixed media, costume, and fiber fusion. Each work speaks to the artist’s view of the African Diaspora and his or her own personal interpretation of historic and contemporary events.

Edgewater Gallery in Stowe unveils a solo exhibition and new series of etched aluminum paintings by Homer Wells. New Dimensions in Landscape is on view October 1st through October 28th. There will be an opening reception on Friday, October 5th from 5:00-7:00 pm with an artist talk at 6:00pm. Homer Wells will also be at the Gallery for a demonstration of his techniques on Saturday, October 20th from 1:00-3:00 pm. Expect the unexpected as Wells unveils his new geometric constructions to play with perception and light.

Originally a sign maker by trade, Wells is one of Vermont’s preeminent metal sculptors. He works with recycled metal, using translucent paint over his spun aluminum designs to enhance reflected light. As viewers shift their gaze across the piece, the refraction and reflection create the appearance of clouds and water steadily moving across the panel. Burnishing, brushing, auto paint and sealants make his original pieces distinctive, versatile, and able to be installed indoors or outdoors.

Part artist and part magician, Homer Wells defies logic and conventional notions of 2D art in his aluminum constructions. His pieces take on an almost kinetic quality as light refracts across the surface, producing a 3D effect. Says Wells of this new series, “My work has often been likened to a glass of water or a breath of fresh air. These things do not threaten our beliefs nor do they call us to public action. These landscapes are new in technique and materials, testing what we see with our eyes/retinas and what we see with our minds. I hope the viewer will be encouraged to open the mind to seeing things that can only be seen in the mind’s eye.”

The work in New Dimensions in Landscape explores new possibilities beyond the flat 2D plane of the traditional landscape. By micro engraving the surface of the aluminum, air brushing colors and bending, doming, and curving surfaces, he creates a sculptural object that presents as a landscape painting, yet defies that expectation.

Etched patterns become an almost photographic representation of a mountainside and reflection. Says Wells, “It is my hope that the viewer will give each painting a chance to move and change in the light, finding that position in the room that makes the clouds move or even disappear, the water shimmer, and the sun rise.”

Homer’s Wells’ artistic works have been featured nationally, at the Burning Man Festival and in private collections. For further information on, New Dimensions in Landscape, please call Edgewater’s Gallery in Stowe at 802.760.6785, email info@edgewatergallery-vt.com or visit edgewatergallery.co/edgewater-in-stowe/

Hours: M-F 9-5 and Sat. 12-4

Pornography of War & Do Black Lives Matter? BY Namaya at the River Garden 157 Main Street in Brattleboro. Namaya Art Rat for Peace will show works from his recent New Orleans retrospective show "Building a Peaceable Community" at the New Orleans’s Art Center. Co-sponsored by Vermont Veterans for Peace and www.gracecares.org. A portion of profits benefit projects for Grace Cares.
At the New Orleans Arts Center part of the Prospect 4, “One of the most compelling shows on peace arts in New Orleans this season.” Namaya said, "As a veteran, I am committed to speaking out against the impact of war and militarism."

This exhibit includes Peace & Human Rights Arts from the past decade: Key exhibits: Do Black Lives Matter? Pornography of War (Art on the impact of War and Militarism), Konsume (Cereal Killers & Sugar Junkies), Immigration (Welcome we are a nation of Immigrants), End Apartheid in the Holy Land,

Internationally recognized author and illustrator David Macaulay will exhibit images from eight of his books, including preliminary sketches and finished art created between 1982 and 2010. According to the artist, the books range from the "history of architecture and the workings of technology to aspects of the human body, the decline of society, and why a chicken once crossed a road." He says that the works "represent a tiny sliver of the vast amount of flotsam left in the wake of each book.”

Dates & Times:
Exhibition: Monday, August 27th 2018 – Saturday, November 3rd 2018
Reception: Thursday, September 27th, 4-6 pm in the Christine Price Gallery
Artist Talk: Thursday, September 27th, 12:30 pm in the Herrick Auditorium

Brief Synopsis:
This exhibition is a collection of photographs, divided by images that document human interventions and text, in rural and urban landscapes, and through images that chronicles things Robert finds amusing. Beginning his photographic journey at Castleton, Robert reveals a photographic theme of capturing daily moments in time and space.

About the Artist:
Robert Gilson photographs daily wherever he is, and does not restrict his photographic practice to a specific subject. He is a Castleton University alumni, and his photographs have been exhibited and published in the U.S. and in Europe.

This exhibition demonstrates the uniqueness, as well as the intersections, of the printmaking practices that Hammond and Smith have developed as contemporaries and friends over the last twenty years.

Studio Place Arts presents: TENSION - Site-specific installation art of socio-cultural and environmental datascapes by Tuyen Nguyen and Misook Park. On display in the third-floor gallery.

Exhibit Dates: September 18 - November 3, 2018.
Reception: Fri., Sept. 21, 5:30-7:30PM.

Gallery Hrs: Tues-Fri: 11AM-5PM, Sat: Noon-4PM.
For more info: (802) 479-7069, www.studioplacearts.com.

Studio Place Arts presents: Finding the Quiet - Works in rust, eucalyptus and indigo by Linda Finkelstein. On display in the second-floor gallery.

Exhibit Dates: September 18 - November 3, 2018.
Reception: Fri., Sept. 21, 5:30-7:30PM.

Gallery Hrs: Tues-Fri: 11AM-5PM, Sat: Noon-4PM.
For more info: (802) 479-7069, www.studioplacearts.com.

Studio Place Arts presents: Rock Solid XVIII.

This annual stone sculpture exhibit, since 2000, showcases stone sculptures and assemblages by area artists. In addition, take the Art Stroll around downtown, historic Barre and view a variety of sculptures created from granite.

Exhibit Dates: September 18 - November 3, 2018.
Reception: Fri., Sept. 21, 5:30-7:30PM.

Gallery Hrs: Tues-Fri: 11AM-5PM, Sat: Noon-4PM.
For more info: (802) 479-7069, www.studioplacearts.com.

Bryan Memorial Gallery presents its Flagship exhibition featuring juried landscape paintings from New England Artists. This year's top prize went to Andrew Orr for Summer Shadows. The gallery is open seven days a week until october 8th when the hours are Thursday through Sunday 11-4. The exhibit features 69 artists and more than 100 paintings.

Bryan Memorial Gallery presents Location, Location, Location, a Vermont Landscape painting exhibit of works by its founder, Alden Bryan (1913-2001) and six contemporary artists. For this exhibit, the contemporary artists followed in Bryan's footsteps, returning to specific locations where he painted as long as 75 years ago to paint the scene again today. Locations include views in Stowe, Waterville, and Cambridge. Hours are daily 11-4 until October 8th when the gallery is open Thursday through Sunday 11-4.

The Brandon Artists Guild (the BAG) announces a show of new paintings by Leicester artist Ashley Wolff. The exhibit, “Reinventing the View” runs August 31 through November 5. The public is invited to meet the artist at the opening reception Friday, August 31 from 5 to 7PM.

Ashley has built a devoted following with her colorful watercolors, gouache paintings and children’s book illustrations. The vibrant, celebratory pieces she has selected for “Reinventing the View” stem from a more personal source.

“I chose the title, ‘Reinventing the View’ to mark being back in my home state, but without either parent,” Ashley explains, “After 34 years in California I returned to live close to my mother. The lush bouquets of flowers painted in gouache are an outpouring of emotion following Mom’s death in May. She loved saturated color and anything purple.”

The other half of the show includes transparent watercolors. “It’s a medium I first learned and practiced with my father, who died 30 years ago,” says Ashley. “So it appears, without conscious planning, that I’m honoring both parents with work they would have loved if they could be here.”

“Reinventing the Landscape” is part of Vermont Arts 2018 – a year-long celebration highlighting arts events across the state, sponsored by the Vermont Arts Council.

Throughout history, birds have played an important role as a source of inspiration for artists. An exhibit by Tapestry Artist, Neysa Russo, brings to light this rich history and the everyday experiences we all enjoy on our avian journeys.
Inspired by woven tapestries, Middle Eastern rugs, antique embroidery patterns and designs from ancient pottery and carving; from the Phoenix rising to the Guardians of the Holy Grail to the Tree of Life, birds have been used to decorate clothing and homes for thousands of years. Not merely decorative, but often used with symbolism and meaning; from the spiritual power of the eagle to the doves of peace. Fertility, protection, symbolic meanings vary, but one thread binds them all, throughout the ages and around the world, the bird is meaningful to every culture.

"Waterfowl Wonders and Amusing Animals by Three Self-taught Addison County, Vermont carvers – Gary Starr, Chuck Herrmann, and William Holway - greet delighted visitors to the Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, Vermont.

Gary Starr is a world-class self-taught carver whose decorative decoys and birds are on display at the Sheldon – from three magnificent oversized shore birds – one standing, a second running, and a third feeding – to a variety of life-sized colorful birds including a Puffin, American Oyster Catcher, Belted King Fisher, Baltimore Oriole, and Lilac Breasted Roller.

Before perfecting his drawing, Bill Holway began his artistic pursuits by whittling and was one of the original craftsmen when Frog Hollow the Vermont State Craft Center was started in Middlebury in 1971. For years, Bill Holway was known locally for his “performance drawings” at Kennedy Brothers in Vergennes. His wood carvings at the Sheldon feature a moose with an iconic rack of antlers and a prominent beard-like dewlap under its chin, a brown bear, a frolicking horse, and more exotic animals such as long-horned goat, hippopotamus, elephant, zebra, camel, and giraffes.

Chuck Herrmann's carvings are a reflection of his deep commitment to the Vermont forest, its history and value. As an example, true to his investigative and collecting habits, he carved birds and waterfowl from remnants of a “root fence” that was once located on a farm field at New Haven Junction at the intersection of Routes 7 and 17.

November 11, 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War One. The Sheldon Museum has combed its collection and archives along with the help of Addison County private collections to mount an exhibit that features roles played by Vermonters in what was called the “War to End All Wars.” The exhibit concentrates on Vermont’s Addison County residents who were in the service during WWI.

Central to the exhibit are the histories, memorabilia, photographs, and letters of three Middlebury residents: Jacob J. Ross, M.D., who served as Flight Surgeon in France with the 17th Aero Squadron caring for the sick and wounded; Waldo Heinrichs, a pilot with the 95th Aero Squadron, known then as “luckiest man in the war” for surviving two plane crashes and internment in a German hospital; Werner Neuse, a German by birth, who enlisted in the German army as a teenager shortly after his father, Richard Neuse, also a German soldier was killed. Werner Neuse later immigrated to the United State, became a citizen, earned his graduate degrees and joined the faculty of Middlebury College German Department and helped to start the College’s German summer language school. After the war Neuse and Heinrichs lived on the same block of South Street in Middlebury, while Ross established his home and office on College Street.

Their stories and those of others from Addison County are featured in the exhibit, as are colorful recruitment and war advocacy posters from the Sheldon’s Research Center Archives, together with WWI uniforms, helmets, armaments, books, and first-hand accounts.

The exhibit culminates with "In Flanders Field," an eloquent, provocative art installation by internationally-recognized artist Fran Bull of Brandon, Vermont. Based on the WWI poem by Colonel John McCrae, who taught pathology at the University of Vermont’s Medical School before the war, Fran Bull reimagines the verses as visual art. Her points of departure are the skies with singing birds, fields of red poppies and white crosses, and the lamentations of corpses. Larks become bomber planes, crosses and coffins morph into formal grids. Flowers and blood-red rags stand for lost treasures and remembrance.

The Photography of Robert Cohen
Exhibition Dates: October 4th through November 12, 2018
Opening Reception: October 4th (5:30 pm to 7:00 pm)

LEONARD ROBERT COHEN

He began his photographic journey in elementary school using an Ansco box camera. His “eye” has evolved considerably since then (along with the camera). He is an inveterate traveler and photographs what appeals to his eye and the moment, from whimsy to abstraction to light to nature.

October 5 through November 18: Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts is pleased to present Deidre Scherer’s
“Human Textures”, showcasing her paper and fabric weavings, as well as collaborative vessels with artist Jackie Abrams. Artist Opening Reception Friday, October 5 from 5-7pm, Artist Talk featuring both Artists Saturday, October 27 at 5pm.

Pioneering in the medium of thread-on-layered-fabric, Scherer's collages, both in fabric and paper media, engage the viewer with the tenderness of being human. The Rhode Island School of Design honored Scherer with their 2010 Alumni Association Award for Artistic Achievement “for the innovative medium of textile art she has developed, and for her thought-provoking investigations of our society’s views of aging, reflections on life, death, family relationships and the welfare of future generations.” Scherer has exhibited in hundreds of shows since 1979, and has been featured in several galleries nationwide including the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Heller Museum in NYC.

Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts is committed to presenting innovative, contemporary works in a variety of media that stimulate both the seasoned collector and aesthetic explorer.

Artist Ann Young Exhibits at Catamount Annex Gallery

Catamount Arts is pleased to present Ann Young: Autumn Pond Abstract, an exhibition of 39 abstract paintings based on the artist’s observation of the natural world, on view in the Catamount Arts Annex Gallery at the Bread and Butter Café in St. Johnsbury from August 25-November 24, 2018.

Young’s exuberantly colored abstract paintings are enlarged magnified images of common water plants found floating on the surface of May Pond near her home in Barton, Vermont—an artistic celebration of natural color and form. Paddling her kayak, she can see “all of the things that one expects to enjoy on a lovely autumn day. There are the hills, brilliant in their fall colors, the sparkling sky, a loon or maybe two.” But at the shallow end, when the kayak can go no further, Young rejoices in her discovery of water shields (Brasenia scherberi). These small aquatic plants can be found in northern ponds and still waters throughout the world, but here in Vermont in September and October, they put forth a vivid display of autumn color.

“The leaves are riddled with the trails of leaf miners and spots of decay,” Young writes, which “makes for a stunning array of color and pattern. As I paddle among them, I am dazzled and completely absorbed by the beauty to be found in an unlikely place in an unassuming little plant.” Contemplating every square inch of the surface as a study in abstract pattern and color, Young wondered "who needs art," before realizing that she was the one who needed art as a means “of conveying to other people what I have seen and rejoice in.”

Ann Young is an artist who paints in a variety of styles, but always with plenty of color. A 1969 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Young has taught at Lyndon State College and at the Vermont Clay Center, as well as presented workshops as part of the Vermont Artists in the Public Schools Program. She has exhibited widely—primarily at Soho20 Gallery in New York City, as well as at numerous venues in Vermont including Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury; the Fleming Museum, Burlington; the Helen Day Arts Center, Stowe; River Arts in Morrisville; Tamarack Gallery, East Craftsbury; T.W. Wood Gallery in Montpelier; Westbranch Gallery, Stowe; and Whitewater Gallery, East Hardwick. For more information on the artist and her work, see https://www.ann-young.com/about/.

Catamount Arts is located at 115 Eastern Avenue in downtown St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The Catamount Arts Gallery is adjacent to two cinema-screening rooms, and is generally open every day from 1 pm until 9:30 pm. For more information, call (802) 748-2600 or visit www.catamountarts.org.

Places I Love is a memoir of paintings and photographs by artist Liz LeServiget. She chronicles her time spent living in Europe and the US in technicolor, including her current home in Montpelier. Artist's reception on Friday, 9/14/18 from 4:30-7 p.m.

Northern Daughters is pleased to present Moving Still, a solo exhibit of new work from Pamela Smith, on view at the gallery’s 221 Main St. location in Vergennes, VT.

Smith is a self taught painter based in Bristol, Vermont. She draws from a background in textiles, years of living abroad and studying folk art from around the world, the influence of which is beautifully evident in her work. Smith’s paintings are rich in pattern and floral elements, and exhibit the liberty experienced by an outsider artist who plays with perspectives, dimensions and mediums freely.

On view: October 4th - November 30th, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, October 12th, 5-8pm

Gerald Auten uses powdered graphite or graphite pencils on dense, smooth hot-pressed paper or onto the back of old museum posters and postcards. To the powdered graphite, he adds a bonding element, WD40, turpentine, or linseed oil, often buffing the surface. The work takes many months to achieve the dense metallic, oily surfaces. The affect is luminous, deeply saturated, mysterious and mischievous.
Curated by Dian Parker

Altered Spaces Group Exhibition – September 13, 2018 to January 7, 2019

Opening reception: October 6, 2018 at 5:30pm – free and open to the public

Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center is pleased to announce a group exhibition on the mountain in Stowe for the Fall and early ski season. The exhibition opens with a dynamic collection of work - including collage, photography, painting, and multimedia installation in September which will build in layers throughout the Fall - inviting the public to revisit and interact as the exhibition continues. The exhibition is curated by Kelly Holt and features artists: Paul Gruhler, Dana Heffern, Ric Kasini Kadour, Lydia Kern, Erika Senft Miller, John M. Miller and Kathryn Lipke Vigesaa.

Artists in this exhibition are responding to the following curatorial statement:

perspectives shift

thoughts drift

distances lift

colors move - are they right here or off in the distance?

who is the viewer and who is being looked upon?

how can one alter space to break down barriers and biases?

put it up. take it down. what is your ultimate reality?

explore. experiment. respond.

Artists are working with moments of expanded consciousness - from altering the space of the found photograph, to revisiting one’s home area code and finding that those spaces vibrate with memories and new hues of color in the camera. Photographic images are collaged to conjure innovative ideas of the surface of space, with homage to architectural detail, street photography and organic references and materials. Installation works with shapes of animal bones and color to create an altered atmosphere. Paintings vary from sublime journeys in color to working through space with whole-body physical gesture and movement.

Ric Kasini Kadour speaks of his series Portraits on the Arrival “I imagine the men portrayed here on the verge of a new way of thinking and, to commemorate the moment, have their picture taken. The swirl of color conveys the ecstatic joy that comes with new ideas and fresh thinking. This is not typically a moment we commemorate in our culture. Perhaps it should be.” Paul Gruhler’s geometric abstract paintings alter space with intensity and refinement of color. Says Gruhler, “I have endeavored to organize the forms according to shape and proportion while harmonizing the tones of my palette to create a sense of a present moment that is both floating and timeless. Attention to close values and shifts of color develop this harmonic energy.”

For further information on the Altered Spaces exhibition, please call 802.760.4634 or visit sprucepeakarts.org.

Spruce Peak Arts Center hours:

Wednesday-Saturday 12pm-6pm, and prior to performances and events.

About The Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center
The Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization whose mission is to inspire, educate, and entertain. The 420-seat multi-use theatre, which opened in December 2010, offers world-renowned entertainment as well as emerging artists and performers from around the region, state, nation and world.

Solo Exhibition-
Roots: Paintings by TJ Cunningham

EDGEWATER GALLERY in Stowe
151 Main Street • Stowe, Vermont • 802.760.6785 Contact: Kelly Holt ​kelly@edgewatergallery-vt.com
On view: December 1, 2018 - January 11, 2018

Edgewater Gallery in Stowe announces a welcoming home, solo exhibition by TJ Cunningham aptly titled, ​Roots. T​he exhibition will be on view from December 1st through January 11th, with an opening reception on Friday, December 7 from 5-7pm. There will be an artist talk at 6pm. Cunningham inspires with his thought provoking landscapes of his native home, Addison, Vermont. Cunningham recently reflected on his upbringing in Vermont, and the powerful feelings of place as it relates to his art "One of my earliest, childhood memories is of an evening walk in November as woodsmoke wafted from the chimneys of my boyhood town. I remember the sharp feeling of cold air in my nostrils accompanied by the gentle smell of Vermont’s long heating season...The scent of woodsmoke always conjures those feelings of contented peace...More and more when I paint the landscape, I am searching for a similar experience; however, unlike smell, painting is an abstract language with a series of shapes, colors, and textures that together bring meaning... These are the places that mean the most to me; they are the scenes that evoke all of the joy and longing connected to my thoughts of home. They are my roots."

Known for his depth and layering of oil colors, majestic Vermont skyscapes, stretching farmlands, and meandering river waters, Cunningham once again delivers the scenes we recognize as the quietude of true homeland in this exhibition.

Cunningham received his formal training at Pensacola Christian College. He enjoys connecting with living artists in his travels, whose techniques he studies and whose work Cunningham follows and admires. The artist works directly in the landscape and from plein air studies in his studio in Tennessee. He teaches plein air painting workshops in several locations across the United States. Cunningham’s work is exhibited and collected nationwide, as well as in Europe.

For further information on ​Roots​, please call Edgewater Gallery in Stowe at 802.760.6785, email info@edgewatergallery-vt.com, or visit edgewatergallery.co/edgewater-in-stowe

New England Now, Shelburne Museum’s inaugural exhibition in a curated biennial series featuring contemporary artists organized around thematic subject matters, will be on view from September 15, 2018 through January 13, 2019.

New England Now challenges the notion of the Northeast’s long-accepted stereotype as stagnant and quaint, and instead plumbs its evolving identities and complex beauty. Building upon scholarship on the visual construction of the region, this exhibition explores the contemporary landscape, capturing the changing environment. From disintegrating historic buildings and disappearing “virgin” land, New England Now reveals our evolving landscape.

Jenny Swanson’s high-fire wall pieces, each one a unique microcosm, are inspired by the art of India, and by floating lotuses she was intrigued by during her residency in Shangyu, China. Also on view are her unglazed, low-fire sculptural vessels carbonized in saggars, in bottle and funnel-like forms. Swanson’s innovative work gracefully curves and undulates.

In contrast, Holly Walker’s terracotta forms are Shakeresque and utilitarian. Rolled coils of clay are glazed with bold colors that are playful, saturated, and luminous. Walker’s painterly designs are geometric, floral, and sometimes alphabetical. Walker’s colorfully patterned rectangular palettes and disc shapes are the foil to Jenny Swanson’s silky black and white ceramics.

OPENING RECEPTION JULY 13, 5-7pm, with Artists' Talk