BRATTLEBORO — Three new exhibits open at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center on Friday, Nov. 4, during Brattleboro's monthly Gallery Walk, which runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
In the Museum's Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery, the recently renovated former lobby of Brattleboro's historic Union Station building, features an exhibit entitled “Four Eyes: Art From Potash Hill,” which showcases the work of painter Cathy Osman, sculptor Tim Segar, ceramicist Martina Lantin, and photographer John Willis.
“The connection among these four artists is not a formal, stylistic, or thematic one, but rather their shared experience as colleagues teaching visual arts at Marlboro College on Potash Hill in Marlboro,” writes Danny Lichtenfeld, the museum's executive director. “And they all wear glasses.”
The walls of the museum's Center Gallery are adorned with large-format, National Geographic-style travel photographs by Mary Heller and Ernest Kafka. Each travels the globe, camera in hand.
The artwork on display in the museum's South Gallery represents the culmination of a year-long project organized by BMAC that drew upon the talents of a dozen glass artists from throughout New England and nearly 200 children in kindergarten through grade 8. Inspired by a similar project at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Wash., “VT Kids Design Glass” brings to life imaginary creatures designed and drawn by kids.
Over the course of the 2010-2011 school year, BMAC solicited kids' drawings and descriptions of imaginary creatures. From among nearly 200 submissions, BMAC staff and participating glass artists then selected 12 creatures to be fashioned out of glass.
The exhibit features those 12 glass sculptures and the original drawings and descriptions that inspired their creation. Also on view are all the other drawings submitted as part of the project, as well as a short video of one of the sculptures being created.
During the opening, each of the 12 kid-designers will receive a unique replica of his or her creature. The original sculptures in the exhibit will be auctioned off by BMAC over the course of a month, beginning at the opening and concluding during Gallery Walk in December, with all proceeds supporting BMAC's ongoing work with children.
The three exhibits opening Nov. 4, along with “Wolf Kahn: Brattleboro Pastels,” “Salley Mavor: Sewn Stories,” “Martina Lantin: Passage,” and “Stephen Procter: Monumental Vessels,” all of which are already on display at BMAC, will remain up until Feb. 5.
Accompanying these exhibits is a robust schedule of films, performances, lectures, and other events to be announced shortly.
The opening is free, and many of the artists whose work is represented in the new exhibits will attend.
The museum's exhibits and gift shop are open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Tuesday and Wednesday. Regular admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $3 for students. Members and children 5 and under are admitted free of charge. For more information, call 802-257-0124 or visit the museum's website.