WEST BRATTLEBORO — In an unassuming white house on Route 9 in West Brattleboro, a wealth of culture from such places as Nepal, China, Turkmenistan, and Japan is stored: some things crafted locally, and others brought directly from Asia.
The house contains both the C.X. Silver Gallery and the Asian Cultural Center, directed by Chinese artist Cai Xi Silver and her husband, Adam Silver.
“We've been married 21 years and have been thinking all this time to found a nonprofit Cultural Center and have an art gallery as a business,” says Adam Silver.
Both businesses share one address for now, though they eventually hope to move the Center to facilitate larger events and even more classes. The Center regularly offers Chinese language instruction, for ages 2 all the way to adult, as well as calligraphy, painting, ta'i chi, and special Master classes in varying disciplines.
“The goal is to help others learn Chinese language through Chinese culture and art,” Silver says, and each lesson includes Chinese exercise, music, and poetry as well as writing and speaking.
Adorning the walls of the gallery is a collection of thangkas, cloth scroll paintings used for visualization as well as decoration and pleasure. The pieces were handcrafted by Chuntui Lama, a third-generation artist from Nepal, who recently visited the center to teach a Master Class in thangka painting.
“He lays this gold leaf himself and then carves it out with tiny, tiny tools,” Silver says, describing the intricate craft. “He then burnishes the whole piece with...a sort of soft scalpel. They're fantastic.”
Brilliant red rugs on loan from Candle in the Night adorn the wood floors; the rugs come from the Andkhoy, a town in northwestern Afghanistan near the Turkmenistan border.
Another small room is filled with paintings, pottery, carvings, and instruments, including a piano. “These are by Virginia Wyoming,” Adam says, pausing in front of a table of pottery. “She lives in Putney. We just love her pieces...they're very archetypal.”
On his computer upstairs, Silver shows photographs of a smiling old woman in a bright shirt that reads “Grandma for Peace,” flashing a peace sign in front of a tree.
“This is Phyllis Rodin,” he explains. “The Hiroshima paintings are on loan from her... isn't she wonderful?”
Silver describes the March exhibit featuring Kiri paintings done by Hiroshima schoolgirls in the years following the devastation. The paintings are made by cutting and gluing tiny pieces of cloth to form traditional Japanese images.
The events and programs at the Center and Gallery, including a monthly (free) film series and an upcoming master shakuhachi (bamboo flute) concert, a Japanese doll festival, and the Hiroshima exhibit, are as numerous and varied as the cultures they represent. For more information, visit asianculturalcentervt.com , call Adam Silver at (802) 257-7898 ext. 1 or (802) 579-9088, or visit the Gallery and Center at 814 Western Ave., West Brattleboro.