On Saturday, September 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. admission to the Bennington Museum is free for all visitors. Gallery Talk with Jamie Franklin, Grandma Moses: Her Life and Work, welcoming reception for Pat Musick celebrating her exhibition Where Did You Come From Anyway?: Works by Pat Musick, exploration of your creative side with the Vermont Arts Exchange Bus on location 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, plus great discounts in the Museum Store.
In conjunction with his current exhibition CAMBIUM (Into the Woods): Works by Bill Botzow, artist and sculptor Bill Botzow and Bennington Museum’s curator Jamie Franklin present Working Out, a conversation about Botzow’s outdoor sculptural installations, his traveling drawing projects, and his way of working. Audience participation in the conversation is encouraged.
On view in the John T. Harrison Jr. Orientation Hall of the Bennington Museum is Ground, A Reprise of Photographs from the FSA by Bill McDowell. The Photography Division of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documented rural communities throughout America during the Great Depression. Directed by Roy Stryker, the division created thousands of powerful photographs including some of the most iconic images of the era. However, many of the negatives were “killed” by Stryker, often without any apparent reason.
On view in the Works on Paper Gallery at Bennington Museum from September 15 through December 30, is Where Did You Come From Anyway? an exhibition of works by Pat Musick, American artist who lives in Manchester Center, Vermont. Included in this exhibition are both large- and small-scale sculpture, as well as two-dimensional art using natural media such as wood, stone, paper, and beeswax. Musick’s art is concerned with the fragile nature of the environment and the human/nature relationship responsible for its survival.
In his music and his writing, Woody Guthrie chronicled the devastation of the 1930s dust storms and the Great Depression, championing the dispossessed as well as economic and social injustice. Many of his songs such as “This Land is Your Land” have become American classics, and he has influenced subsequent songwriters, among them Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. This presentation by Greenberg explores Guthrie’s always-rambling life and legacy through readings from his prolific prose writings, recorded and live examples of his music, and slides of Guthrie’s own art and photographs documenting his complex life and times.
The days were dark as the Stock Market Crash of 1929 took its toll on the country in the early 1930s. It has often been said that the Depression didn’t have much impact in Vermont. “Depression, what Depression?” was the quip. Vermont had always been a hard-scrabble place and the Depression just forced farmers and shop-keepers into a local barter-based economy. But the state of Vermont was not spared. Many of those in the towns, as well as those living by the land, saw their lives crumble before them. However, 1934-1944 was also a time of immense creativity and innovation in the Green Mountain State.
This summer, two exhibitions celebrate the work created by artists whose cartoons, covers, and art have filled pages of The New Yorker since the mid-1920s. These wonderful installations are at two different venues, Bennington Museum and Southern Vermont College’s Laumeister Art Center. Special Combined Ticket for Art Lover's: Bennington Museum and the Southern Vermont College Laumeister Art Center have teamed up and are offering a combined ticket through October 8. Available for purchase at both locations, the Art Lovers’ Adult Ticket is $16, and the Senior Ticket is $11, a savings of approximately 20% on your admission to both venues.
On Sunday, July 15, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm join Berkshire County author Elizabeth Kolbert and Vermont artist Edward Koren as they explore her book The Sixth Extinction and its impact on Koren's work in creating curious skeletal creatures in a landscape of ruined Gothic and Classical architecture. The presentation will take place in the Ada Paresky Education Center of the Bennington Museum. On view in the Works on Paper Gallery is Thinking About Extinction and Other Droll Things: Recent Prints and Drawings by Edward Koren. Exhibition on view to September 9. This presentation is free and includes admission to Works on Paper Gallery, but not admission to the other galleries.
Bennington Museum is pleased to present Old Vermont Sheet Music: A Parlor Song Performance featuring Linda Radtke, mezzo-soprano and Arthur Zorn on keyboards. This concert is part of the Music at the Museum series now in its third year. Held on Saturday, June 9 at 2:00 pm in the Ada Paresky Education Center and Paul Paresky Court of the Bennington Museum, this concert is free and open to the public thanks to the support of Alison Nowak and Robert Cane. Reservations are not required. Admission to the galleries is not included, but is always free for Museum members.
On Saturday, May 12 from 10 am to 5 pm admission to the Bennington Museum is free for all visitors. Among the activities planned for you is a visit by the Vermont Arts Exchange Art Bus from noon to 4:00 pm where you can become creative with arts and crafts. Stepping into the Museum, art and history are all around, and “creative collisions” can be found around almost every corner. Join us at 3:00 pm to welcome Vermont artist Edward Koren as he opens his exhibition Thinking about Extinction and Other Droll Things: Recent Prints and Drawings by Edward Koren on view through September 9.