Arts Calendar

The Hall Art Foundation is pleased to announce, Made in Vermont, a group exhibition of new and recently completed work by Vermont artists to be held in its galleries in Reading, Vermont. Including paintings, works on paper and sculpture by Arista Alanis, Steve Budington, Clark Derbes, Jason Galligan-Baldwin and Sarah Letteney, this show spotlights artists who live and work in Vermont. On view from 11 May through 1 December 2019. Appointments available 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Sa–Su. $10 pp. First Friday of every month, 5–8 p.m., free without a guide.

On display at The Museum of Everyday Life through the end of the year, “The Pivot and the Blade (an intimate look at scissors)" looks at the long human relationship to scissors. We’ll reveal the elegance of scissors design, and explore the myriad professional, creative, superstitious, violent and domestic uses of scissors throughout the ages. All kinds of scissors will be on display, in addition to our ever-expanding permanent collection of everyday life objects. The Museum of Everyday Life is a self-service museum, open every day from 8am-8pm, and is located at 3482 Dry Pond Rd. (Rt. 16) in Glover, a short distance South of the Shadow Lake Rd. See www.museumofeverydaylife.org for more details.

The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival showcases the work of first and second time filmmakers. This is our sole focus. Our 5th Annual event will roll out August 22-25, 2019. We have four beautiful venues and anticipate screening over 100 films, a diverse array of features and shorts across all genres, as selected by Artistic Director Jay Craven. Last year we welcomed 60 filmmakers and many distinguished guests to our stages for panel discussions and film-minded conversation. To round out the Festival experience, we throw some hoppin' events including an Opening Night party, a Filmmakers-Only champagne reception, Festival Happy Hours and after parties for Passholders. Summer's Sweet Finale!

Throughout the weekend there will singing, drumming, and dancing with traditional games to be enjoyed by adults and children. Vendors of authentic native crafts will be set up.

Chief Don Stevens will give demonstrations of wampum belts, explaining the meanings behind each piece. He will also do storytelling. The public is invited to ask questions.

This is a rain or shine event. No pets allowed - service dogs only. No alcohol or drugs allowed.

Hailing from Oakland, Calif., this seven-piece powerhouse delivers an electrifying blend of heavyweight cumbia and high-energy, Afro-Latin music to create infectious dance grooves with punk rock energy. Powered by horn and accordion-driven riffs, a fierce rhythm section, and a vintage Colombian sound, the band was founded by composer, guitarist, and accordion player, Marco Polo Santiago, and consists of Colombian-born Diana Trujillo (lead vocals), Justin Chin (tenor and baritone sax), Morgan Nilsen (tenor sax and clarinet), Craig Bravo (drums and percussion), Elena de Troya (percussion) and Paul Martin Sounder (upright bass and percussion). Together, the unlikely collective draws inspiration from musical influences as wide-ranging as their cultural backgrounds, but it’s Marco Polo’s affinity for hip-hop and heavy metal that flavors much of the band’s sound and identity. The symbolism behind their name pays tribute to the genre’s African roots and Caribbean heritage, and celebrates the spirit and ritual of dance.

Since their live debut in the fall of 2011, La Misa Negra has toured extensively—with stops at Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles (2017, 2015), Levitt AMP Carson City (2017) and Levitt Shell Memphis (2018) and upcoming Levitt AMP performances in Sheboygan, Wis., St. Johnsbury, Vt., Whitesburg, Ky., Green Bay, Wis., Trenton, N.J., and Utica N.Y.—and dropped heavyweight cumbia, porro and gaita that proves to audiences that La Misa Negra is more than just a band, it’s a celebration.

lamisanegra.squarespace.com

La Misa Negra delivers a brass-powered, accordion-driven brand of cumbia, the “musical backbone” of Latin America, according to Argentine rock star Guztavo Cordera. Influenced by punk rock, Colombia’s Golden Age, and founder Marco Polo Santiago’s affinity for hip-hop, La Misa Negra’s sonic versatility defies characterization and transcends musical, cultural, and generational divides.

La Misa Negra will be at Dog Mountain on Sunday, August 25th, from 4-7pm, as part of the 2019 Levitt AMP St. Johnsbury Music Series, which takes place Sunday evenings through September 22nd. The concerts are free, family-friendly, and dogs are welcome. Parking is on-site (with handicapped parking available), and carpooling is very much encouraged. Food and drink is available for sale thanks to Kingdom Taproom, providing beer and wine, and local food vendors including, new this year, Calex, the ambulance service that recently branched out to the burgers-and-fries business. No outside alcohol is permitted.

The Levitt AMP St. Johnsbury Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a private foundation that empowers towns and cities across America to transform underused public spaces into thriving destinations through the power of free live music. Levitt’s 2019 concert season is in full swing, with over 500 free Levitt concerts taking place in 26 towns and cities coast to coast. With an eclectic mix of talent on every Levitt stage, there’s something for everyone to enjoy, from acclaimed emerging artists to seasoned musical legends. For more details, visit www.levittamp.org. For a complete listing of bands scheduled to appear this year at Levitt AMP St. Johnsbury, visit www.catamountarts.org.

Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts welcomes everyone to an Artist Talk with Petria Mitchell, Sunday, August 25, 5 pm. Mitchell’s solo exhibition Light and Air will continue through September 22. This will be the perfect opportunity to hear about her new oil landscapes and to ask questions about her painting techniques and inspiration.
Mitchell has been actively involved with art making for over 50 years. She co-founded Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts which will be celebrating its 5th anniversary by expanding its space and moving to its new upstairs space in the fall.

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.

Directed by Quentin Tarantino.

An Evening of Beethoven

All Beethoven will conclude our 27th Season of Standards. Early, mid and late Beethoven with a Violin Sonata, Cello Sonata and the “Ghost” Piano Trio.

Of Earth: Image and Clay exhibit at GreenTARA features John Douglas "Auto-Warming" CGI Prints and "Ojihozo" photographs, as well as Joan Watson's "Rock Formations" out of clay. Both artists are engaged with Earth as a living, vibrant yet fragile, existence. "Auto-Warming" video and show are ongoing into Labor Day week-end. Please see website for more info and art review: www.greentaraspace.org

ARTIST OPENING RECEPTION August 9, 5-7pm. Justin Hoekstra’s abstract acrylic paintings achieve their intensely vibrating, almost luminous surface from application of many layers of pigments and the removal of these layers by abrading the surface with an orbital sander.
“This process is for me like that which shapes each of us in life as accumulated experience combines with pressure and time to reveal the truth of who we are.” –Justin Hoekstra

DUNCAN JOHNSON’S new body of work, though still employing the use of many thin strips of reclaimed wood scavenged from various sources in southern Vermont, are now assembled to transform into abstract two dimensional compositions finding themselves often floating within a grid, or sharing the picture plane with strips of wood focusing one’s attention in a singular direction. While continuing to nod to his interest in architecture, patterns and quilting, this new method of composing the picture plane is a fascinating new direction.

ARTIST OPENING RECEPTION August 9, 5-7pm. Claire Kelly’s engaging and cheerful glass sculptures give the viewer a gentle mirror with which to examine our contradictory world. Using the integration of traditional Venetian glassblowing and cold working techniques, she creates colorful figures and forms from glass. Her miniature landscapes populated with animals are evocative of childhood toys and stories. Though whimsical and colorful, these sculptures draw attention to the perilous and fragile existence many of these animals face, gazing off into an unknown future.

David Budbill's "Judevine" is the most popular and beloved play in the 48 year history of Oldcastle Theatre Company, and has been produced four times by OTC beginning in 1988 but has been absent from the theatre's schedule since 2004.
"Theatres, as with libraries, should make available the classics and "Judevine" is a classic American play," according to Oldcastle's Producing Artistic Director Eric Peterson, who has directed all of the company's previous four productions. "David's extraordinary play is lyrical, funny, thoughtful and thought-provoking, a bit scarey at times, sexy, ribald, and poetic." Peterson said.
Set in a fictional Vermont town the play introduces a large variety of characters making their lives in the rural Hamlet, scrapping a living out of logging, planting and harvesting Christmas trees, and other backbreaking work. Budbill's people are Vietnam vets, frazzled mothers trying to feed children on too few dollars, snowmobilers who long for clear, cold winter days gliding through snow covered woods, machinists, storekeepers, and hippies who've abandoned cities searching for a different kind of life and find one more difficult, yet somehow more fulfilling than their previous life. There's Doug, who doesn't like to work too much in the winter because it interferes with his snomachin'," Grace a fragile young woman with a darkness in her past who might have found salvation in Tommy a Vietnam vet, Black French Canadian Antoine who is a laborer and part-time philosopher and many more.
Performances
Wednesday - Saturday @ 7:30 pm
Matinees Sunday, Thursday and first Saturday @ 2 pm

Bryan Memorial Gallery celebrates its 35th anniversary with THEN AND NOW, an exhibition featuring the works of 20th century plein air landscape painters, and contemporary artists who follow, literally, in their footsteps. The exhibit includes 30 paintings by masters of the Vermont landscape, and the works of 30 artists who returned to the locations they painted, over a period of a year.
The resulting exhibit features 120 paintings, installed in groups according to location, that spans over 100 years of painting.

A true feast for the senses takes place with the 22nd Annual Vermont Festival of the Arts in the Mad River Valley of Vermont. This month-long celebration has been labeled a “Time Honored Event” by the Vermont Department of Tourism. There is something for everyone in the entire family. Immerse yourself in workshops, learn a new craft or hone your cooking skills. For a more relaxed time take in a music or theater event between your casual visits to gardens, an art exhibition in the galleries of a restored, century-old barn, a museum of industrial design, meeting artists in their studios or viewing the architecture of a historic village. The month of more than 100 events culminates with a juried craft fair of 100 plus artisans on Labor Day weekend. (free -some events ticketed)

Daily, August through Labor Day, Duxbury, Moretown, Waitsfield & Warren, Vermont, valleyartsvt.com

The Complete 2019 Arts Guide is available here.

This Event partially underwritten by Sugarbush Resort and Mad River Valley Chamber – Thank you.

2019 marks the 22nd year of the Big Red Barn Art Show, held in the Red Barn Galleries at Lareau Farm in Waitsfield. It will run from July 26th through September 2nd, 2019. Show hours are Noon to 9 pm, Thursday through Sunday each week, following the calendar of American Flatbread.
This year the Big Red Barn Show welcomes Vermont artisans into the exhibit, incorporating the previously titled “Multi-Medium” show. It’s block-buster show that will last for six weeks!
A gala opening reception is planned for Sunday, July 28th from 5-7 pm. All are invited to this free event. Enjoy area artist and artisan work, Anthony Santor’s jazz combo, tasty food, and beverages.
Each August, the Big Red Barn Art Show delights tourists and locals, appreciators and collectors, and provides a welcome activity for folks waiting for their dinner tables at American Flatbread. Children enjoy the Art Treasure Hunt, a list of questions to be answered by finding, “which painting has…?” The artists enjoy taking turns acting as exhibit ambassadors, eager to talk with guests, answering questions, and adding a little extra to our guests’ experience.
The Big Red Barn Art Show is actually three exhibitions in one: there’s the main exhibit, with up to three pieces of art or craftwork for each artist; the small works show with one wall-hung piece per artist, none larger than 16 inches wide or tall; and the Art Stall, a corner dedicated to modestly priced prints and cards.
We invite friends old and new to visit this show in the historic Red Barn at Lareau Farm – it’s a terrific experience!

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

The Montgomery Center for the Arts will be hosting an innovative show, “Women’s Work is Never Done” from Aug 11 -Sept 7 at with an opening wine and cheese reception on Friday August 9th at 7 PM. Regular gallery hours at the Historic Kelton Hall located at 2 Mountain Road in Montgomery Center are Fri-Sun 12-4 pm or by appointment.
This unique multi-media show will feature powerful artwork created by 5 – 80-year-old women from New York, Quebec and Vermont ranging from traditional fiber and needlework to fine art, painting, and photography.
“Each work of art celebrates its creator and her stance in the world, especially just now when that stance feels under siege,” said M Sebastian Araujo – Curator and Creative Director of the MCA. “Our planet has a long history of human existence and until the 20th Century, most of the credit and status has been given to the male of the species. However right alongside the men, there have always been women: strong, driven, creative, and innovative women.
“In this show, we are celebrating the Female Spirit that has endured severe hardships and sacrifices by women of all races, nationalities, backgrounds, education, and regions. The spirit that challenged laws and regulations as well as social standards and stereotypes and organized women to change public opinion. As a result of that hard work and commitment, organizations and businesses began to slowly change all across the United States and in many nations and eventually they were codified progressive measures by governments. More women have now become empowered to contribute to their personal, family and community well-being in the United States and throughout the world. These improvements are manifested in many areas of today’s society such as the family, corporations, education, sports, healthcare, arts and culture, and the military. Despite these changes, however, the rights and health of women continue to be threatened in the United States and internationally.”
For more information about the non-profit Montgomery Center for the Arts: Montgomerycenterforthearts.com,https://www.facebook.com/MCAKeltonHall-136117773578466/, montgomerycenterarts@gmail.com, joesebvermont@gmail.com
ARTWORK: Brigitte Normandin, Susan Dealer, Chloë Rose Neva Watts

Opening Reception & Artist Talk: Friday, August 2, 5pm
David Schütz, Vermont State Curator, will speak briefly about Kolb’s significant contributions as a Vermont artist.

Kathleen Kolb: Painting Greensboro and Beyond for 40 years. A slide presentation on Friday, August 9, 6pm

New paintings and drawings by Kathleen Kolb, inspired by the Vermont she loves — Greensboro, Craftsbury and places around her home in Lincoln. Whether portraying the snowy blues of winter
or tender greens of spring and summer, Kolb expertly captures both daylight and the ephemeral light of evening, and the essence of Vermont. Please join us to take a new look at familiar, well-loved places.

Please donate your photographic prints & books to our 2019 Auction to benefit the In-Sight Photography Project.


WHAT: 21st Annual Photography Exhibition and Benefit Auction

EXHIBITION: October 4–27, 2019

DEADLINE: September 10, 2019 (Earlier submissions gratefully accepted!)

ONLINE PREVIEW BEGINS: October 1, 2019


By donating your photographic prints or books to our annual auction, you help support programming where youth are encouraged to engage with mentors, ask questions, and make positive choices. Classes at In-Sight not only provide youth with photographic skills but also create a welcoming space where students can feel comfortable to express themselves.

Our scholarship fund has consistently met 100% of the need of our students and their families. With the help of a wide network of caring donors like you, In-Sight can keep photography classes financially accessible to all youth.

Your submission will be included in the online auction, accompanied by your bio or artist statement, and a link to your website. Your work will be viewed online by curators, collectors and photo enthusiasts during October. The annual exhibition at Vermont Center for Photography will run October 4th–27th, with regular hours open to the public.

Note: Gallery space is limited and we will select prints for the exhibition that are no larger than 32"x40" and, whenever possible, ready to hang.

We thank you if you have participated in the past and we hope that you will join us again this year!

Opening reception Thursday August 1st 5-7 pm. Closing reception (with catalog) Friday September 13th 4-7

Traces is a retrospective of selected works from 1993-2018 as well as new work inspired by the artist’s personal archeological exploration. Jones will debut an installation inspired by her visit in Aswan Egypt to a ruined mud-brick domed “tomb of the venerated saint” at the Fatimid Cemetery. In this piece she uses Egyptian blue pigment, bought from the souks of Aswan in 2010. In addition to this there will be Traces- a wall installation other new work using digital prints, encaustic and other mixed media.

Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts is pleased to present Light and Air, an exhibition of new oil paintings by artist and gallery co-founder Petria Mitchell. The artist’s reception and opening is Saturday, August 3, 5-7 pm, and the show continues through September 22. An Artist Talk is scheduled for August 25, 5 pm.

Educated at an early age at The National Academy School of Design, New York, and The Vesper George School of Art, Boston, Mitchell has been actively involved with art making for over 50 years as a printmaker, engraver and painter. Mitchell serves or has been on numerous not-for profit boards, panels and committees. She co-founded Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts which will be celebrating its 5th anniversary by expanding its space and moving to its new upstairs space in the fall.

Mitchell’s paintings commence with small thumbnail sketches, quick emotional notations which become the foundation of her imagined landscapes. Tonal gradation and converging lines and forms dissolve into her signature elements of accumulating layers of atmosphere and mist. “Petria’s brushwork is wonderfully integrated into the light and darkness of her work. Her brushwork has an abstract quality to it that testifies to the authenticity of her work.” (Ric Campman, 2001)

Join us for our Grand Opening show, "Origins", featuring 13 artists exploring their interpretation of new beginnings.
Gallery Hours: Friday 4 PM - 8 PM; Saturday 10 AM - 8 PM; Sunday 12 PM - 4 PM
Opening Reception will be on Friday, August 2nd from 5 PM to 8 PM.

Show 34 opens at The Front Friday, August 9. Stop in to check out the latest work by our gallery members. Our artist reception is on Friday, September 6, 4 to 7 p.m. during Art Walk — mark your calendars now and plan on celebrating with us in September.

Gallery Hours: Friday 4-7pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am-5pm.
For more information about The Front’s news and events, visit thefrontvt.com. Contact the gallery at info@thefrontvt.com or by phone (802) 552-0877. The Front is located 6 Barre Street in downtown Montpelier, diagonally across and around the corner from the Savoy Theatre.

image: Michelle Lesnak “soft beckoning” 19”x25”, gouache, ink, spray paint, 2018