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The Power of Place

The premise of the exhibition “The Power of Place” at the Cornish Colony Museum in Windsor is stated in its subtitle: “Paintings that define the American image.” That’s more than a bit hyperbolic. In truth, it’s unlikely that even the grandest exhibition could distill a workable definition of the American image from the sprawling and diverse four-century-long visual feast that is American art.

That said, there is an impressive cross section of American talent, including Cornish Colony artists Maxfield Parrish, Henry and Edith Prellwitz, and Robert and Bessie Potter Vonnoh. Major 19th century artists Albert Bierstadt, William Bradford, Sanford Robinson Gifford, George Inness and Frederic Remington share the walls with later artists including Ansel Adams, Kinuko Craft, Gary Milek and Andrew Wyeth.

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Sover Scene: The Montshire engages minds of all ages

The Montshire Museum houses a dynamic collection of engaging, interactive and multi-themed natural and physical sciences displays, as well as special traveling exhibits that are accessible and fascinating to every member of the family, whether it’s the Wind Wall, the Frog Calls, the Heat Camera or the water activities outside.

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Local artists open their doors for Open Studio Weekend

More than 285 artists across Vermont will open their studio doors this weekend to the public for the 16th annual Open Studio Weekend. From Brandon, to Rutland to Castleton, 34 artists in Rutland County are participating.

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SOVER SCENE: Art that tweaks perception and purpose

On the topic of defining modern art, American conceptualist Joseph Kosuth had much to say in his 1969 essay, “Art After Philosophy,” which remains eminently relevant.

“Artists question the nature of art by presenting new propositions as to art’s nature. And to do this one cannot concern oneself with the handed-down “language” of traditional art, as this activity is based on the assumption that there is only one way of framing art propositions. But the very stuff of art is indeed greatly related to “creating” new propositions.”

Ever the steady source of new propositions, the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center recently opened “In the Zone II,” a defiant, elegant declaration of newness that had me fondly recalling my first brush with the eternal novelty of conceptual art.

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Local students’ talents on display at the Chaffee

Penguins from distant snow-covered lands stand close by peace flags that gently flutter overhead offering prayers of peace from the eighth-grade students of Barstow Memorial School. Brightly colored geckos from Fair Haven Grade School crawl along jungle tree branches.

These artistic visions are just a small part of the annual Student Art Show opening at the Chaffee Art Center Friday, from 5 to 8 p.m. Artworks from more than 600 students in kindergarten through 12th grade from approximately 33 schools and home-schooling families in Rutland County will be on display.

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SVAC exhibits kick off season

The Southern Vermont Arts Center took the wraps off its summer season on Saturday with free opening receptions for two exciting exhibitions, “Painting the Beautiful: American Impressionist Paintings from the Michener Art Museum,” and “The Southern Vermont Arts Center: Highlights from the Permanent Collection, both in the Wilson Museum.”
“Painting the Beautiful,” on loan from the [...]

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Sover Scene: Quirky collections and early eco-wisdom at the Fairbanks Museum

Vermont is home to a constellation of intriguing creative institutions filled with far more than just fine art.

The top of my unconventional museums list, however — the mother of all treasure troves — is the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury. Vermont’s much-celebrated field-trip favorite boasts more than 160,000 natural science, historical and cultural objects that 19th-century industrialist Franklin Fairbanks collected during extensive travels around the globe.

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Open Salon: Brattleboro exhibit hosts 68 local artists

Time is running out to catch the Windham Art Gallery’s diverse collection of local artists as the exhibit enters it’s last weekend.

“It’s been incredibly popular,” said gallery coordinator Pamela Mandell. “It’s been a very, very well-received show. We’ve had tons of people.”

This exhibit draws in the greater community of artists as much as possible and has drawn artists from places such as Keene, N.H., and Northampton, Mass., as well as Putney and Brattleboro. The only requisite for the artist was “first come, first served.”

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Vermont & Beyond exhibition showcases scenes from near and far

WESTON — Artists’ impressions of the Vermont landscape will be on display and for sale at the Weston Playhouse this weekend.

“Vermont and Beyond,” now in its eighth year, displays art by Vermont painters of both local landscapes and those found overseas.

“We call it “Vermont and Beyond” because it not only shows Vermont but also landscapes from other countries,” said Perkinsville painter Robert J. O’Brien, who is one of seven artists with work in this year’s show.

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SOVER SCENE: The primal grace of painter Sean Scully

These are a few of the terms with which Irish painter Sean Scully recently described his massive, layered abstractions during a talk at Dartmouth a few days after an expansive exhibition of his work opened at the Hood Museum.

Unlike many artists who prefer to let the work speak for itself or for whom the very notion of attempting to articulate its meaning with language is antithetical to the process, Scully sinks his intellectual teeth into discussion of his art with the same might and hunger that he puts into the making of it.

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