Press Release
For Immediate Release: September 11, 2018
Contact: Susan Strano, Marketing Director
[email protected]
802-447-1571 ext. 204
Images:
Pat Musick (b. 1926)
Where Did You Come From Anyway? 1985
Oil, paper and wood, 62 x 36 x 4 inches
Courtesy of the Artist
Jamie Franklin Presents
Exterior of the Museum
FREE Admission and So Much More at Bennington Museum
On Saturday, September 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. admission to the Bennington Museum is free for all visitors. Among the activities planned is a visit by the Vermont Arts Exchange Art Bus, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Step on board and explore your creative side. Inside the Museum, art and history are all around, and “creative collisions” can be found around almost every corner. At 1:00 p.m. join curator Jamie Franklin as he presents Grandma Moses: Her Life and Work. Following at 3:00 p.m. we welcome Manchester artist Pat Musick in the Works on Paper Gallery where her exhibition Where Did You Come From Anyway?: Works by Pat Musick is on view September 15 through December 30. This reception is free and open to the public. 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. There has been much growth. “I began as a painter and transitioned to wall sculpture, then free standing works. Over the years, I have retained my interest in two dimensions by making works on paper, while my art has moved from expressionistic to abstract to conceptual and has undergone a steady reduction to simpler elements and media,” Musick remarks.
Remember to stop by the Museum Store where all museum members will receive a 25% discount on their entire purchase and not-yet-members receive a 15% discount. This is a great time to begin your holiday shopping.
Explore the many exhibitions at the Museum including Crash to Creativity: The New Deal in Vermont, on view through November 4. This exhibition sheds light on the important, under-studied aspect of Vermont’s history, focusing on the role of these many government sponsored New Deal projects. “True to Bennington Museum’s strength, combining art and history in innovative ways, the exhibition features photography, paintings, prints of post office murals, and architectural drafts that were sponsored through the government’s New Deal programs. Powerful examples of Regionalist and Social Realist paintings include Francis Colburn’s Charley Smith and His Barn, and Ronald Slayton’s quietly optimistic The Planter,” states Robert Wolterstorff, Executive Director of Bennington Museum. Also on view is furniture from Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) cabins, archival documentation of New Deal projects such as letters, as well as transcriptions of audio recordings of Vermonters created by the Federal Writers Project.
The exhibition examines three thematic topics: Preserving the Past, Inventing the Present, and Building the Future.
And don’t forget the permanent exhibitions such as Grandma Moses, now featuring paintings never before on view, Gilded Age Vermont, the Battle of Bennington Gallery, Bennington Modernism, and one of the newest galleries, Early Vermont, which opened in the fall of 2017.
About the Museum
Bennington Museum is located at 75 Main Street (Route 9), Bennington, in The Shires of Vermont. The museum is open 10:00 am to 5:00 pm every day through October. 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.