It began last summer. Telephone calls and emails from Australia, England, California, Texas; the calls kept coming. “When will the quilt be on display next year?” Quilters from around the country and world were planning trips to the region to be here when the 1863 Sampler Quilt created by Jane A. Stickle was on view. From September 2 through October 9 the quilt that inspires quilters from all over the world will be on its yearly display at the Bennington Museum. Brought to the museum 60 years ago, the Jane Stickle Quilt is only shown for a short time each year due to the fragility of the fabric. RELATED EVENTS: September 30, 11 am to 2 pm - Join us for a day of family fun in the spirit of Grandma Moses and Jane Stickle. Quilting activities for all ages and more.

Grandma Moses: American Modern has a subversive goal, for it will upset your expectations and get you to look at this beloved American artist with fresh eyes. It is a long-overdue exhibition that will reestablish her place in the mid-century art world that was embracing modern art at the same time. By putting her paintings side-by-side with works by such iconic Modernists as Joseph Cornell, Helen Frankenthaler, Fernand Léger, and Andy Warhol, and folk artists such as Edward Hicks and Joseph Pickett, the exhibition allows visitors to discover for themselves how all these artists drew on found images, color, collage, memory, and their own innate artistic sensibility to create original masterpieces. Like any trained artist, Moses used thought, planning, and intuition to create works of enormous vitality and imagination.

Kalischer often came to Vermont seeking material and in this exhibition - Between Past and Future: Clemens Kalischer’s Vermont – the viewer is treated to over thirty images including some taken during six decades of photographing the Marlboro Music Festival including images of such icons in the music industry as Van Cliburn, Rudolf Serkin, Pablo Casals, among others. Some are from his Peacham series in which people are documented in their daily struggles on the land or in the factory. His Vermont work is deep and varied, comprising thousands of images traversing more than six decades.

Bennington Museum is pleased present Songs of Peace from Vermont and around the World performed by Counterpoint Vocal Ensemble. This a cappella concert includes over twenty songs including favorites by Pete Seeger. Inspired by the 125th anniversary of the Bennington Battle Monument and the 100th anniversary of WWI, this concert includes songs of peace written during times of war. The twelve singers in Counterpoint perform under the direction of Nathaniel G. Lew.

On Saturday, April 8 from 10 am to 5 pm admission to the Bennington Museum is free for all visitors. Join us for a day of Celebrating ART as you enjoy Gatherum of Quiddities: Paintings by Pat Adams; Holding the Line: Ceramic Sculpture by Stanley Rosen; Buy Local: Images from the Weichert-Isselhardt Collection, plus activities both inside the Museum and out on the George Aiken Wildflower Trail. So much to do for the whole family.

The Bennington Museum invites everyone to Community Day on February 4 when admission is FREE. Explore the permanent galleries including Gilded Age Vermont, Bennington Modernism, Battle of Bennington along with our Cabinet of Curiosities, the original Museum dating to 1855. Opening the year in the one of the Museum’s main floor galleries is Holding the Line: Ceramic Sculpture by Stanley Rosen, featuring works by one of the most dynamic artists working in the medium of ceramics from the late 1950s to today. Buy Local: Photographs from the Weichert-Isselhardt Collection of glass plate negatives opens the 2017 Regional Artist gallery. On view for the year, a selection from the thousands of recently catalogued images with the first installation focusing on shops, commerce, and to some extent manufacturing. On view through March 19 is the Annual Student Art Show bringing artwork of the region’s elementary, middle and high school students to the Museum in a display ranging from whimsical projects by the young students to more advanced work of older students. RELATED EVENTS: March 11, 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Artist Reception with Stanley Rosen for Holding the Line: Ceramic Sculpture by Stanley Rosen. Free and open to the public.