For Immediate Release: January 23, 2017
Contact: Susan Strano, Marketing Director
802-447-1571 ext. 204
sstrano@benningtonmuseum.org
Images:
Stanley Rosen (b. 1926)
Untitled, 2013, RC160
Unglazed stoneware, 11 ¼ × 15 × 6 ½ inches
Courtesy of the Artist
Stanley Rosen (b. 1926)
Untitled, c. 1956-1959, RC 5
Partially glazed stoneware, 10 ½ x 8 x 8 inches
Collection of Arlene Shechet
Wills T. White (1874-1956)
DS Packard/Groceries and Provisions
Weichert-Isselhardt Collection of
Bennington Museum
Kicking off the Year Has Never Been Better and it’s FREE
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. The changing exhibitions are varied, very exciting, and showcase art, history, and innovation. 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. The exhibition opens February 4, but you want to mark your calendars to visit with Rosen on March 11 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. when he welcomes guests to his exhibition. 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. This exhibition will change over the year shining light on topics that were, and are, important to local residents and interesting to all visitors. 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. Arranged by theme, visitors can explore the artistic development of children in various mediums. Ceramic work complement the paper sculptures, collages, pastels, photographs and pen and ink drawings on view.
A leading light of American ceramic art
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 and his name has largely faded from the history books. This exhibition and accompanying catalog of the same name, shines a much deserved light on an important body of work created between the late 1950s up to the last few years and seeks to reestablish Rosen as one of the leading lights of American ceramic art during the last six decades. Holding the Line: Ceramic Sculpture by Stanley Rosen displays a wide selection of his work and sketches and will be on view through May 21. This exhibition will travel to Alfred Ceramic Art Museum at Alfred University and be on view there October 19 through December 30, 2017.
Rosen earned a BFA at the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA at Alfred University. He was a teacher and studio manager at Greenwich House Pottery in New York during the 1950s and joined the art faculty at Bennington College in Vermont in 1960. At Bennington, Rosen led the ceramics department for many years and inspired a generation of ceramic artists. He currently lives and works in North Bennington, Vermont, where he maintains an ongoing studio practice.
Stepping into the Past
Bennington was changing rapidly at the turn of the 19th century and local photographers captured the people and landscape using negatives on thin plates of glass. The Bennington Museum has acquired nearly 2,000 glass plate negatives from this era that were held in the Weichert-Isselhardt Collection and is pleased to have a selection of them dealing with local commerce and manufacturing on view beginning February 4.
Most of the negatives in this collection were taken by Madison Watson (active in Bennington 1888-1899) and Wills T. White (active in Bennington 1899-1940). When White retired he left the glass plate negatives in the attic above his former studio located in downtown Bennington. The building also housed the Bennington Banner and in 1958 the negatives were found by Robert Weichert, photographer for the Banner. Weichert started collecting historic photographs and later hired Tordis Isselhardt to help organize the collection. Upon Weichert’s death in 1983, Isselhardt became custodian of this treasure trove of history. All of these images are available on the Museum’s website, but a selection will be on the walls in the Regional Artists’ Gallery of the Museum through the year. The first phase of this installation is titled Buy Local: Photographs from the Weichert-Isselhardt Collection. This exhibition pays particular attention to the shops and commerce of Bennington and will take many for a memorable stroll through downtown.
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.
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 close to other notable art and culture destinations, including Usdan Gallery at Bennington College (10 minutes), The Clark Art Institute (20 minutes); and MassMoCA (30 minutes).