Arts Calendar

How can we capture the mood of a nation, and reflect on the current state of American culture through portraiture? In contemporary art, there is a current trend in evocative “portraiture” that questions, probes, and evokes larger ideas of identity and culture, sometimes even conflict. Whether seen in current events, or with the swell of populism that informs today's American sentiment, people – their beliefs, opinions, and rhetoric – have become polarized, and differences pronounced. Vox Populi (or the people’s voice) aims to capture the character and inner psyche of people through contemporary portraiture, who, despite sharing divergent perspectives and voices, find commonality through our shared image. Vox Populi features recent painting and sculpture by six Vermont-based artists: Catherine Hall, Misoo Filan, Harlan Mack, Nathaniel Moody, Ross Sheehan, and Susan Wilson. ​

Admission is free and open to the public.
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BCA Center Gallery Hours:
November - April:
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: noon-5 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: noon-8 p.m.
Closed Sunday & Monday

May - October:
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: noon-5 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: noon-8 p.m.
Sunday: noon-5 p.m.
Closed Monday
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Image credit: Misoo Filan, The giant asian girls #4, 2017, 36in x 48in, acrylic paint and collage on panel, Vox Populi

From Across the Distance provides a glimpse into thought-provoking artistic practices of the Arab world and features the work of London-based Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour, Iraqi-Finnish artist Adel Abidin, and Jordanian-born artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Each of these artists shares a portrait of urban capitals imagined during a past, present, or future moment of political and social instability. Although rooted in distinct local histories and contemporary political landscapes, the three videos speak to broader global concerns of collectivity, censorship, and the possibility of co-existent national identities. From Across the Distance features contemporary video works from the Barjeel Art Foundation, an independent collecting philanthropic institution based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, established by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi in 2010 to manage, preserve, and exhibit an extensive collection of modern and contemporary Arab art.

From Across the Distance is guest curated by Dr. Sarah Rogers and courtesy of the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah

Admission is free and open to the public.
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BCA Center Gallery Hours:
November - April:
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: noon-5 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: noon-8 p.m.
Closed Sunday & Monday

May - October:
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: noon-5 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: noon-8 p.m.
Sunday: noon-5 p.m.
Closed Monday
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Image Credit: Adel Abidin, Memorial, 2009, single-channel video, Image courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah

Northern Daughters is thrilled to announce Where to Land, a solo exhibit of oil paintings by Bonnie Baird. Baird is known for her authentic, personal paintings of the Vermont landscape. Her work possess a subtle drama, depth and detail that pays homage to her relationship with the land - one that has developed throughout her life as a farmer. Baird says “My work gives the environment a breath, a body through which viewers acknowledge the breadth of emotions evoked by our surroundings.”

Raised on a 730-acre dairy farm in Vermont, she and her husband Robert are the third generation to own and work their dairy/maple farm. This outdoor experience has given her a deep connection with the land. Working in the natural environment every day in every kind of weather allows her to truly feel the horizon; warm or cold, dark or light, intimate or expansive.

Baird’s work brings the viewer directly to that experience, that intimate relationship with the land. For this we are grateful. Baird's work is filled with an emerging fullness of heart. In her paintings, light infuses life into atmosphere, becoming the magic that conjures a personal memory. Her work simultaneously evokes a simple lament and heartfelt joy. The pieces featured in this exhibit are the largest the artist has painted to date. Her minimalist approach is spare but warm and creates a perceptual experience – a vivid place. The larger format fits Baird’s work, which often features expansive horizons and the low lying flood plains of her home county.

“My paintings are a reaction to what I see and my palette is my color response to what I am experiencing. Building with layers of color that I add to − and subtract from − I compose large and simple shapes to suggest and reveal an enlivened reality.”

Where to Land is on view at the gallery’s 221 Main St. location in Vergennes, Vermont from May 3rd through June 10th with an opening reception with live music, wine and apéro on May 11th from 5-8pm.

Curated by Dian Parker

These recent prints of Betsey Garand represent the continuous balance and growth of physical and psychological life. The colors are layered biomorphic and geometric shapes, combining delicate nuances with accents of vibrancy and transparency. Garand uses a combination of techniques; woodcut, monotype, pochôir, spit-bite aquatint, lift-ground aquatint, and à la poupée. The prints create the luscious varieties of form, color, and change inherent in nature. These works are fluid, amorphic, richly colored, and intensely dynamic.

Betsey Garand is presently Senior Resident Artist at Amherst College in the Department of Art and the History of Art, where she is head of printmaking. Garand has shown in many exhibitions and in numerous public and private art collections; Dadapost Gallery-Berlin, Germany; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Hammer Museum’s Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts; Arkansas Arts Center; Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku-Japan; Art Museum of Estonia. Awards include a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, and fellowships at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony and the MacDowell Colony.

Artists in Vermont clearly have an affinity with barns. The many barns that dot the Vermont landscape provide inspiration to artists, are a treasured subject matter, and provide reminders of their purpose and history. The Compass Music and Arts Center’s new exhibit ‘Barn Art’ is a collection of works from 31 different artists in celebration of these functional, yet stunning, architectural gems. The exhibit runs through June 16, with an opening reception on Friday, April 6, from 5:00-7:00pm.

The Enigmatic Art of Endangered Alphabets, an exhibit of wood carvings by Tim Brookes, will exhibit at the Gallery at River Arts May 3 – June 19, 2018.

The non-profit Endangered Alphabets Project, founded in 2010, flourishes on the borderlands between art and woodwork, painting and typography, linguistics and anthropology, creative design and cultural preservation, ethnography and spirituality. Originally intended to preserve some of the world’s endangered writing systems by carving them in boards of beautiful Vermont curly maple, the Alphabets have expanded to encompass artwork, poetry, sound sculpture, and furniture.

The shapes incorporated in writing reflect our sense of what comes naturally to the human body—the radius-over-ulna turn of the wrist, the sweep of the arm, the turn of the shoulders, the leaning-forward downstroke obeying gravity—and what we think of as ideal forms: the circle, the line, the right angle, the set of parallels, symmetry and balance. The shapes incorporated in wood grain reflect a deeper, older set of forces: annual sun-and-rain weather cycles depicted in growth rings; the complex rhythms of wind stressing trees at the edge of a forest. These carvings are a conversation between the two sets of patterns, the urgent desire to communicate in human time set against the longer, slower rhythms of the natural world. The carvings have been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution, Yale, Harvard, the universities of Cambridge and Barcelona, and other colleges, universities, and libraries across North America.

Tuesday, June 19, 3:00p.m.
River Arts Center, 74 Pleasant Street, Morrisville, VT

On June 19 at 3:00p.m., Tim Brookes will be speaking on Endangered Alphabets, Cultural Erosion, and the Future of the Written Word. What does the age of digital convergence, Facebook, and globalization mean for the future of the written word? Writer/carver/painter Tim Brookes offers remarkable and thought-provoking perspective on this question by looking at a range of forms of writing from all over the world that are in danger of extinction. He displays a carving of a piece of text in each script, leading a discussion on how technology will help—and always has helped—define the nature of communication, and shows how the story of a culture can be seen in its writing, even if that writing is (as in these examples) beautiful, utterly unfamiliar, and disappearing. This talk is in conjunction with Tim Brooke’s exhibit “The Enigmatic Art of Endangered Alphabets.” The talk is free, open to the public, and accessible to those with disabilities. For more information, contact Heidi@RiverArtsVT.org.

Endangered Alphabets, Cultural Erosion, and the Future of the Written Word is a Vermont Humanities Council program hosted by River Arts. (Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the NEH or VHC.)

Middlebury, VT—Richard Brown’s recently published retrospective—The Last of the Hill Farms: Echoes of Vermont’s Past—showcases the photographer’s most cherished subject: Vermont’s hill farmers. A new exhibition at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury, VT offers the chance to experience the Vermont that Richard entered and began to photograph in the 1970s.

The lives, landscapes, and time period Brown so lovingly documented are available for viewing through a range of more than thirty large and small format, finely detailed, black-and-white photographic prints, which were hand-made by the artist.

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, May 18, 2018 from 5:00-7:00 PM the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury, VT, will host a public reception and gallery talk. Complimentary locally sourced food and drink, including beer, wine, craft cheeses, produce, and more will be served.

Exhibit on Display now through June 23, 2018
Opening Reception and Gallery Talk – Friday, May 18, 2018 - 5-7PM

Bryan Memorial Gallery presents The Russians and Friends, a selection of paintings by four visiting artists from Russia, and some American friends, who recently painted together in Jeffersonville.

Bryan Menorial gallery is at 180 Main Street, Jeffesonville, VT 802-644-5100. A digital preview of this exhibit can be seen at www.bryangallery.org. Gallery hours are Thursday-Sunday 11-4 and by appointment any time.

Opening reception Sunday May 6th. Artist Roundtable at 1:00pm. Reception 2-4pm.

contact: Mickey Myers : mickey@bryangallery.org

May 12- June 24: Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts is pleased to feature sculptor Bruce Campbell’s “Thinking the Cosmos: Kinetic Sculpture”. An opening reception will take place Saturday, May 12 from 5:30-8pm, with an Artist Talk scheduled for Saturday, June 9th at 5:30pm.

Bruce Campbell graduated from Syracuse University with a BFA in printmaking and received an MFA from Indiana University. In the early ‘70s Campbell began designing books and manuscripts, and soon he was specializing in the design of art museum books and catalogues. For thirty years his clients included The Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, The Peabody Museum, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.

In 1976 Campbell was fascinated by the Whitney Museum retrospective exhibition, “Calder’s Universe”, which invited Campbell to experiment with wires joined and twisted into imaginative shapes, suggesting an art form which defines and controls space through three-dimensional line drawing.

“My ideas for kinetic sculpture usually begin as a question. For example, how can I show a certain concept of the universe? They attempt to illustrate, in the simplest way possible, conditions and events of the natural world. In showing a falling star, a lunar eclipse, or a rainstorm, I am trying to represent, in minimalist and transparent form, my perception of the universe - how the universe might be visualized if moved by gears, levers, and basic mechanics.” Visually stunning and interactively entertaining, Campbell’s kinetic sculptures illuminate/illustrate the dynamic relationships of phonomenal elements in the natural and celestial world, bridging physics, mechanics and aesthetics to create treasured pieces of pure wonderment.

Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts is committed to presenting innovative, contemporary works that stimulate and challenge both the seasoned collector and aesthetic explorer.

Merwin’s exhibit of oil paintings explodes with color and light. This series of over 18 pieces was created from 2015 to the present and celebrates the rites of spring in its color and vibrancy. Opening reception April 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Montpelier Art Walk May 4, 4:00-7:00 PM.

Braintree painter Carolyn Egeli exhibits her oil paintings celebrating Vermont and its people through landscapes and portraits. Opening reception April 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Montpelier Art Walk May 4, 4:00-7:00 PM. Photo ID required for entry.

The T. W. Wood Gallery at 46 Barre St. in Montpelier, Vermont, is pleased to announce an important exhibit, Ronald Slayton: Master of Watercolor from May 1, 2018 through June 29, 2018. Slayton (1910-1992) was born in Barre, Vermont. During the Great Depression he worked as an artist in the Vermont Division of the Federally funded Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1936-1939. W.C. Lipke once commented that Slayton “has been a painter, poet, dramatist, educator, politician, gallery director, peace activist, humorist, critic and historian suggest that the single appellation 'artist' is not broad enough to encompass his many achievements.” There will be a celebratory free public opening reception at the Gallery on Friday, May 4, from 5:00-8:00 pm and an Art Talk at 6:00 pm with a panel that will include Nancy Graff, Bobby Gosh, Tom Slayton and Phillip Robertson.

The Ronald Slayton exhibit will highlight two watercolor murals “The Last Supper” (1985) and “The Hunger Dream” (1985). Figures in “The Hunger Dream” The majority of Slayton's works in this exhibit are from the private collection of Billi and Bobby Gosh. They have included twelve of Slayton's later watercolors that will be for sale with 100% of the sales being generously donated to the Gallery.

This two-part exhibit of contemporary Vermont art is a collaboration between the Vermont Arts Council, Ric Kasini Kadour, and six guest curators. The 25 artists included come from all across the state and were identified as being on the verge of great work. Part II includes work by: work by Robert Gold (Burlington), August Burns (Middlesex), Jean Cherouny (South Burlington), Caroline Tavelli-Abar(Rochester), Sam Talbot-Kelly (Montpelier), Vanessa Compton (Greensboro), Hannah Morris (Barre), Angelo Arnold(Montpelier), Erika Senft Miller (Colchester), Renee Greenlee (Burlington), and Rose Umerlik (Jeffersonville).

Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call ahead to ensure conference room is available for viewing.

Rachel Moore - Traces
On view: May 6 through June 29, 2018

EDGEWATER GALLERY at Stowe
151 Main Street • Stowe, Vermont • 802.760.6785

Edgewater Gallery at Stowe unveils a special selection from Rachel Moore’s complete body of work with brand new sculptural pieces in her solo exhibition Traces . The exhibition will be on view May 6th through June 29th, with a reception on Friday, May 11th from 5:30-7:00pm. The artist talk will begin at 6:00pm.

Moore’s work is steeped in careful attention to pattern language and shifts. Her materials range from watercolor and graphite on paper, to blown and cast glass, to ink on vellum and more. Traces ties together many thematic patterns in the artist’s work honoring the environment with a dialogue on prevailing conditions. Minimalist in color, her installations are infinitely rich in carefully considered materials and surfaces with an ethereal elegance and sophistication. Paying homage to presence in absence, many of her sculptural pieces refer to measurable data in climate change as well as migration patterns. Each movement, memory, presence and energy leaves a trace. This exhibition echoes traces of beauty in our global community.

Rachel Moore is a multidisciplinary artist working in mixed media sculpture, installation, drawing, and social practice. Moore uses maps, cultural and religious icons, text, and sculptural replications of objects from daily life to respond to social and political movements, often in poetic and haunting ways. In her social practice, she has used storytelling to create relationships of understanding and as a way to bring awareness to multicultural histories, in some cases, asserting a culture’s rightful place in history.

Moore’s work has been featured in international museums and galleries, on Art21’s “Inside the Artist’s Studio” and she is the recipient of numerous grants and awards.The artist is represented by Edgewater Gallery, Stowe, VT; Stewart Gallery, Boise, ID; and Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA. She lives and works in Vermont.

For further information on Rachel Moore and her exhibition, please call the gallery at 802-760-6785, email Kelly Holt (kelly@edgewatergallery-vt.com), or visit edgewatergallery-vt.com.

Edgewater Gallery at Stowe hours:
Wednesday-Thursday 10am-5pm, Friday-Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 10am-4pm. Closed Monday & Tuesday.

Vermont Landscapes, a selection of paintings of Vermont, is installed in the public spaces of Lamoille County Courthouse through June 30. Organized by Bryan Memorial Gallery, the exhibition includes oils, watercolors, monoprints, pastels, and acrylics. The Courthouse is open to guests, except between noon and 12:30. There is no charge for this exhibit. Image is from a watercolor by Vladimir Vagin.

The exhibit is a collaboration between the photographer NatEli Boze and the artist Becky Cook. Becky often begins a painting outdoors and then finishes in her studio using reference photos she has taken. She has occasionally painted from NatEli’s photos, creating the idea for this exhibit.
NatEli fell in love with photography in college, learning to develop and print black & white negatives. Working in a photography studio was her graduate study. She took photos constantly, developing her film wherever she could. Most of her photos are now taken with digital cameras, although her 35mm Pentax SLR is still at hand.
Becky has been exhibiting landscapes and abstracts in group exhibits for 3 years. Creating pieces for this exhibit has given her the freedom to explore different approaches to her art. There are examples of oil, pastel, encaustic (hot wax) and watercolor in the exhibit. Both the original photos and the paintings resulting from them will be on display.
Becky says, “It’s been a fun challenge to develop different ideas in response to NatEli’s photos, sometimes in a playful manner.”
Monday 1–8
Tues, Wed, Fri 10–5:30
Thursday 10–8
Saturday 10–3

The Brandon Artists Guild (the BAG) presents the new paintings of Dave Fifield. This new collection of paintings titled Head In The Clouds” runs May 4 through June 26. The public is invited to the opening reception Friday, May 4 from 5-7 PM.

With a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Maiya has returned to painting after practicing other skills (cheffing, entrepreneurship)  for a couple of decades. Working in both oil and acrylic, as well as charcoal, she explores both figurative and abstract themes in a gestural manner.
An artist reception is planned for Friday, June 8th from 6-8pm. This event is free and open to the public. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Studio Place Arts presents “Tell Me” -- an exhibit of artwork by 19 local artists that explores language and communication.

Opening reception: Thursday, May 24th from 5:30-7:30pm
Exhibit is on display May 22 – June 30, 2018 in the Main Floor Gallery of Studio Place Arts

Please visit www.studioplacearts.com for gallery hours and more info.

(Featured Artwork: “Dialog with József Attila – 7” by Diane Sophrin)

Studio Place Arts presents Jack Rowell: Cultural Documentarian - Photographs from 5th generation Vermonter Jack Rowell's 30+ year career as a photographer.

Opening reception: Thursday, May 24th from 5:30-7:30pm.
Exhibit is on display May 22 – June 30, 2018 on the Third Floor Gallery of Studio Place Arts.

Please visit www.studioplacearts.com for gallery hours and more info.

Studio Place Arts presents Beyond Words: Artworks by the Book Arts Guild of Vermont. Books can take on a language of their own, as shown in the multimedia work of this group of artists that use shape, structure, and materials to get their message across.

Opening reception: Thursday, May 24th from 5:30-7:30pm.
Exhibit is on display May 22 – June 30, 2018 on the Second Floor Gallery of Studio Place Arts.

Please visit www.studioplacearts.com for gallery hours and more info.

(Featured Artwork: Tiny Chains by Rebecca Boardman)

In celebration of his 60th reunion at Middlebury College, the Henry Sheldon Museum offers a retrospective of the whimsical wood carvings of John Cross, a masterful contemporary folk artist.

Few would have predicted that an economics major at Middlebury College who earned a master’s degree in business at the University of Chicago would have begun carving during his career as a creative copywriter at a premier New York advertising agency. Humor, perseverance, and imagination are the skills reflected in all phases of his life journey.

John Cross began whittling while watching the filming of commercials for which he wrote the scripts for Proctor & Gamble and for Toyota. His ad copy promoted such iconic brands as Scope mouthwash and Crest toothpaste. During the day he wrote jingles from his advertising office in New York City, then headed for 813 Broadway where he shared a rented loft with sculptor William King, coincidentally in the same building where Wolf Kahn painted. Kahn, who now maintains a summer studio near Brattleboro, VT, is known for his sumptuous landscapes, and King, who died in 2015, worked in clay, wood, bronze, vinyl, burlap, and aluminum. Cross, King, and Kahn were among the poets, artists, and museum professionals who gathered for drinks and conversation at the renowned Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village to encourage one another.

Cross has always worked with wood, in particular sugar pine. He favors figurative renderings of sports figures, especially the players and fans of the New York Yankees, artists, sideshow performers, Miss America contestants, fishermen, operatic stars, and playful everyday characters. He has researched players from the Negro Baseball League and commemorated them in compelling wood carvings. For many years Cross was represented by Jay Johnson, owner of a leading New York City American Folk Art gallery on Madison Avenue and later by the David Findlay Jr. Gallery on Fifth Avenue, and currently by the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY. His carvings are in the public collections of the Museum of American Folk Art and the Smithsonian, and in the private collections of Garrison Keillor and Ali McGraw.

John Cross and his wife Linda Cross, also an artist, reside and work from their home studios in Elizaville, New York. The Hudson River is nearby, as is the scenic rail line which provides them easy access to New York City galleries and museums and their son Peter Cross (Middlebury College ’93) and his family, who live in Manhattan.

The Sheldon Museum retrospective will honor this accomplished sculptor, who continues to carve and inspire gallery and museum visitors.

Man with Cigar, c. 1990. Photo: Christian Carone

While still an award-winning photographer with the National Geographic, James Pease Blair summered in Middlebury, Vermont. On his retirement, Jim Blair and his wife Elise settled in Vermont year-round. Jim became entranced by the singular photography collection found in the Research Center of the Henry Sheldon Museum, where he found exceptional images that traced the citizens, landscapes, and townscapes of Addison County and the Lake Champlain region.

Collaborating with Sheldon Museum Archivist Eva Garcelon-Hart, he has chosen three dozen remarkable photographs that will be displayed in the exhibit Our Town: Love, Joy, Sadness, and Baseball — 100 Years of Photography from the Sheldon Museum from March 20, 2018 through July 08, 2018. His choices reflect a photographer’s unique eye, developed in his early training from celebrated American photographers Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind and while studying for a Bachelor of Science degree in photography at the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Later during his long career at the National Geographic he traveled the world, advancing his art, resulting in further photographic achievements.

The exhibit features single and group portraits of Vermonters – both the celebrated and the ordinary citizen, village scenes capturing disasters and daily life, landscapes of Vermont’s treasured mountains and lakes. Stunning aerial landscape photographs were taken by George N. Lathrop (1900 – 1983). An extensive collection of Lathrop’s photographs and negatives of Addison County taken between 1930s and 1960s is part of the Sheldon archives.

100 years of life in the Middlebury region are highlighted in the exhibit. Vintage clothing and photographic equipment from the Sheldon Museum’s collection complement the exhibit.

Studio Place Arts presents “Stewards of the Land,” by Orah Moore on display at The Morse Block Deli (located at 260 N. Main Street, Barre).

Since 1984, Orah Moore has been studying the lifestyle of Montana ranchers. “I am interested in the spirit that impels them, the land that nurtures them, the storms they weather, and the livestock that support their way of life.” This show of handprinted silverprint photographs is on view through August 10, 2018. There will be an opening reception on Thurs., May 24, 5:30-6:30PM.

Visit: www.morseblockdeli.com for hours.
For more details about the exhibit, visit: www.studioplacearts.com

The Why
Out-of-school learning programs in the summer months provide critical support and enriching experiences for children and teens.
A safe, healthy environment over the summer weeks can make all the difference in a child’s inner and outer well-being. The opportunity to discover or pursue passions is invaluable.
Self-confidence soars as collaborative abilities strengthen during camp experiences that develop age-appropriate skills.
The How
Get absorbed in imaginative, creative projects that whiz, buzz, jitter, wobble, wiggle, blink, and shine.
Learn about electrical circuitry and take away items that you may wish to continue working on at home
The What
Participants may choose to integrate their creations into video expressions that can be filmed and edited to include sound and animations.
With a wide variety of materials and digital media, this program experience will include construction of cardboard pinball machines, simple robots, and simple electronic wearable items.
Both an imaginative and creative outlet for vacation fun AND a structured opportunity to use building tools and follow a progression of skill-building.
We will build small robots, hack into electronic toys, and create wearable electronics such as bracelets, hats, hairbands, etc.
To learn about electrical circuitry, we'll use LEDs, coincell batteries and conductive materials such as thread, paint, and electro-dough.
We'll use hobby motors, alligator clips, and battery packs, and more.
We may even use a sewing machine, a soldering iron, or a dremel -- maybe even all three.