For Immediate Release: January 23, 2018
Contact: Susan Strano, Marketing Director
802-447-1571 ext. 204
sstrano@benningtonmuseum.org

Images:
Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses (1860-1961)
Thunderstorm, 1948
Oil on pressed wood.
20 ½ x 24 ½ inches
Private collection, courtesy Galerie St. Etienne, New York

Copyright © 2018, Grandma Moses Properties Co., Inc., New York
The above copyright notice, credit line, and caption must accompany all reproductions of this image. Reproduction authorized only in connection with the Grandma Moses exhibition, Bennington Museum, Bennington VT. There shall be no alteration of the Works, including, but not limited to, cropping, overprinting and bleeding off the page. Permission is for use in the context of the article only, no cover use is permitted without prior authorization. Images reproduced on your publication’s website may not exceed 72 dpi and be of no more than 1000 pixels on the longest side. Hi-resolution files may not be posted or shared with other entities. Hi resolution files may not be posted or shared with other entities.

Jessica Park (b. 1958)
Las Vegas, 2016
Acrylic on paper, 21 x 36 inches
Courtesy of the Artist

“Creative Collisions” at Bennington Museum

The Bennington Museum invites everyone to Community Day on February 3 when admission is FREE and the “Creative Collisions” among the galleries are explosive. Explore the newly installed Grandma Moses Gallery with paintings like Thunderstorm, 1948, which has not been at the Museum in over two decades. On loan from a private collector, this iconic painting enhances the walls of the gallery along with Old Oaken Bucket, 1946, which has never been installed at Bennington Museum. “We are thrilled to have such iconic works here at the Museum,” states Jamie Franklin, curator at the Museum. “These are joined by other masterworks from the Museum’s collection as well as Deep Snow, 1959, and A Christmas Gift, 1946, both from the private collection of the Zarnegin family, Beverly Hills, California. Any person who admires Moses’ work and wants to get another perspective on what she created, must be sure to visit in 2018.”

 

 

 

 

 

Join artist Jessica Park on Saturday, February 3 from 2:30 to 4:30 in the Regional Artists Gallery for a reception celebrating her exhibition Enthusiasms: Personal Paintings by Jessica Park. This reception is free and open to the public.

In the Regional Artists Gallery located next to the Moses Gallery, the Museum presents Enthusiasms: Personal Paintings by Jessica Park. This exhibition is on view through May 28 and focuses on a lesser-known aspect of Park’s work, featuring work created during the first decade of her career as well as more recent paintings from the last decade which were created at the artist’s own initiative for herself or as gifts for family and friends. Park is best known for her depictions of architecture, though early in her career she often painted whimsical images of electronic gadgets, signs, logos, and characters from popular culture, all of which still deeply fascinate the artist to this day. These works reflect Park’s personal interests, or “enthusiasms” as she calls them, in popular culture, astronomical phenomenon, and prismatic lights and color, natural or man-made, often configured in tightly controlled grid-like structures.

Jessica Park (b. 1958) sees the world through high definition rainbow-colored glasses. A native of Williamstown, Massachusetts, she is an internationally-acclaimed artist on the autism spectrum. One of the few things that Park connected with during her early childhood was art, and she has been a professional artist since the mid-1980s. Her paintings combine extreme technical proficiency with a transcendent, visionary imagination. Park’s images depict everyday objects with precise attention paid to the most mundane of details, along with scientifically accurate illustrations of rare and unusual astronomical phenomenon, seamlessly brought together into fantastical combinations. This is all done in a brilliant, carefully calculated color palette and intricate patterning that seems to almost vibrate with energy.

Park’s work can be found in the Regional Artists Gallery while paintings by Gayleen Aiken are on view in the John T. Harrison, Jr. Orientation Hall where they are juxtaposed with photographs by Duane Michals in an installation entitled Magic and Mystery.

 

Opening the year in the Museum’s Works on Paper Gallery is A Century of Caring on view through May 6. In celebration of the Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s centennial, this exhibition begins one hundred years ago when Putnam Memorial Hospital opened its doors in Bennington. It features images and objects from the early days of the Hospital up through its most current story. While the facility, practices, and technology have changed dramatically throughout the century, the commitment to delivering exceptional healthcare to the community has remained constant. This retrospective exhibition offers a glimpse of the evolution of care alongside a history of the hospital. It showcases the advancements in care practices that have elevated a humble hospital on the hill to an award-winning healthcare system operating in partnership with Dartmouth-Hitchcock and serving 75,000 residents in the surrounding communities of Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts.

 

Explore the permanent exhibitions including one of the newest galleries Early Vermont. Opened in the fall 2017, Early Vermont is a permanent installation with rotating textiles, and presents life in Vermont from the time when the earliest European settlers arrived in 1761 with only the bare necessities to the early 1800s when Vermont craftsmen achieved a level of sophistication rivaling Boston and New York. This gallery showcases over 85 major pieces and smaller items from the Museum’s extensive historical collection of over 30,000 objects. “We hope that these objects will serve two distinct purposes. First, to share with the public the deep, rich collection we maintain here at the Museum; Second, to tell fascinating stories of the early life in Vermont.” states Robert Wolterstorff, Executive Director of the Bennington Museum. Housed in the former Decorative Arts Gallery, this 866 square foot space includes beautiful pieces representing the sophistication achieved not long after Vermont was first settled. Visitors are also encouraged to explore Gilded Age Vermont, Bennington Modernism, Battle of Bennington along with the Church Gallery, the original Museum dating to 1855.

 

In the adjacent galleries through March 13 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. Visitors can explore the artistic development of children as they address a particular topic or by age grouping. Ceramic work, paper sculptures, and more complement collage, pastels, and pen and ink drawings.

The changing exhibitions are varied, very exciting, and showcase art, history, and innovation. Be sure to visit often to see what else the Museum has planned. Watch too for great events such as presentations by the Bennington Historical Society, Music at the Museum presenting Music through the Centuries for Flute and Harp on March 11, and other great events like the Museum’s Spring Party on April 13 and Tattoo3 on April 28. Mark your calendars now so you don’t miss out.
About the Museum

Bennington Museum is located at 75 Main Street (Route 9), Bennington, in The Shires of Vermont. The museum is open 10 am to 5 pm Thursday through Tuesday, closed Wednesday February 2 through May. It is wheelchair accessible. Regular admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and students over 18. Admission is never charged for younger students, museum members, or to visit the museum shop. Visit the museum’s website www.benningtonmuseum.org or call 802-447-1571 for more information.

Bennington Museum is a member of ArtCountry, a consortium of notable art and performance destinations in the scenic northern Berkshires of Massachusetts and southern Green Mountains of Vermont, including The Clark Art Institute, Williams College Museum of Art , Williamstown Theatre Festival (20 minutes away); and MASS MoCA (25minutes away). Visit ArtCountry.org for more information on these five great cultural centers.