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.
In the late 1950s, through the 1960s, Stanley Rosen rose to prominence, alongside the likes of Peter Voulkos, John Mason and Ken Price, as one of the most dynamic artists working in the media of ceramics, which was experiencing nothing short of a revolution. During the last 40-plus years he has focused on his role as teacher (Bennington College 1960-1991) and maker of a unique, evocative body of abstract ceramic sculptures, rarely exhibiting or publishing his work. As a result, his important body of abstract ceramic sculptures have been seen by few.
Bennington Museum is pleased to begin the 2017 Music at the Museum concert series with “From Beethoven to Bennington (and back again!)”, a performance by cellist Maxine Neuman and friends. Included in the musical offering is Josef Bodin de Boismortier’s, Duo in d, Op. 14, No. 3; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonatina (Op. post.); Allen Shawn’s Serenade (1990); Lionel Nowak’s, Suite for Two Cellos (1980); and Beethoven’s Sonata in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1. Sponsored by Alison Nowak and Robert Cane, all concerts are free and open to the public.
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.
On Saturday, September 24 at 6:00 p.m. join Duane Michals in the Works on Paper Gallery of the Bennington Museum for an artist’s reception which is followed at 7:00 p.m. with "Photography and Reality," a discussion with this engaging artist and speaker. Talk with him about the work he began in the 1950s and continued right through today, and enjoy one of his most recent short films followed by a Q&A. Engaging and delightful, you will want to visit with Michals who is one of the great photographic innovators of the last century.
From September 3 through October 10 the quilt that inspires quilters 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; Quilters from around the country and world plan trips during that time to see the 1863 quilt. RELATED EVENTS: September 24, 3 p.m. – Lynne Bassett: “Herstory” in Civil War Quilts
First Friday is “Pay-What-You-Wish” after 5:00 p.m. Join us on September 2 and celebrate the birthday of Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses with a slice of birthday cake and at 5:30 p.m. a guided tour of the Moses Gallery. At 6:30 p.m., join Independent Critic and Scholar of American Modernism, Karen Wilkin, and Curator at Bennington Museum, Jamie Franklin for a conversation about Milton Avery and his work.
Jay Craven’s new seaside film drama, “Peter and John,” screens at the Bennington Museum in the Ada Paresky Education Center at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 23. Director Jay Craven will introduce the film and lead a post-screening Q & A. “Peter and John” marks Craven’s eighth narrative film based in New England – and it was recently nominated for a 2016 New England Emmy.
Duane Michals: Photographs from the Floating World On view at the Bennington Museum from August 6 through October 30 is a remarkable photography exhibition of works by Duane Michals, known by many as one of the great photographic innovators of the last century, widely known for his work with series, multiple exposures, and text.
