"I WILL TRY TO PUT DOWN ON PAPER" SIXTH-ANNUAL BENNINGTON COLLEGE PRINTMAKERS' SHOW OPENS AT VERMONT ARTS EXCHANGE

An exhibition by seven advanced printmaking students from Bennington College

Wednesday, Nov 30 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Exhibition on view through February 25, 2012
Mill Gallery, VAE's Sage Street Mill

In Bennington College's Advanced Printmaking course, taught by faculty member Thorsten Dennerline, students Rebeca Baudille '12 Hannah Callahan '12, Elliot Cash '13, Farhad Mirza '12, Ellen Bogen '12, Amelia Vottero '12 and Lauren Hamilton '12 proposed and executed projects oftheir own design.

Working in a basic structure of critiques and discussions, the students focused in on a variety of printing techniques and ways of handling materials to execute their ideas. The work featured includes photopolymer intaglio, wood cuts, screenprints, artist books, handmade paper and copper plate etchings.

Mounting the final prints as a group show in a community venue both reinforces the community spirit and collaboration of printmaking, in which artists share a printshop and equipment, and often ideas and techniques. It also offers an important challenge to the student artists.

"It's part of my teaching philosophy," Dennerline says. "The students benefit a great deal from interacting with the world outside the campus. You give them this real-world, hands-on opportunity that helps build up their confidence as artists, and it gives them the chance to engage with the outside community. It's a nice way to start a conversation between the academic community and the real world."

He adds, "From a teaching standpoint, it broadens their audience and makes them work harder ó there's more pressure, more people seeing it."

It's also a lesson in organizing a group show in a not-for-profit space, an invaluable experience as the students continue their career as artists. In addition to creating the work and curating the show, they have created artist statements, determined price lists for the work available for sale and helped publicize the exhibit.

Photo 2: Lauren Hamilton, Bennington College senior, Advanced Printmaking student
Photo 1: Elliot Cash, Bennington College junior, Advanced Printmaking student

18th Annual North Bennington Halloween Parade

Monday, October 31st, 3:30pm

Join the festivities as hundreds of children, artists, doctors, musicians, bankers, bellydancers, drummers, lawyers, teachers, friends and neighbors dress up and promenade through town, accompanied by music, dancing, and large sculptural costumes.

Participants gather at VAE, located at the Sage Street Mill, at 3 p.m. before meandering down Sage Street, through the village of North Bennington and back to the mill for cider, doughnuts, and a blazing bonfire. Revelers of all ages are invited to compete in a Halloween Costume Contest, with prizes awarded to adults and youngsters for imaginative ensembles! All activities are free and open to the public.

The Public Performance of: Lena's Scissors

A new play for ALL ages (esp. children and adults), written, directed, and performed by Bennington College students!

Friday 10/7/11: 7:00 p.m. at the Basement Stage, Vermont Arts Exchange.

About the Play: A girl has the power to cut off peoples' BANGS and turn them into ANIMALS! What happens when she grows up and owns a world-famous hair salon?

All performances are FREE, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, and run 45 MINUTES!

Final performance will be Sunday 10/9/11: 6 p.m. at the South Street Cafe in Bennington Vt.

STATES/PLACES: The Fifth Annual Bennington Printmakers Show

An exhibition by eight advanced printmaking students from Bennington College.

Mill Gallery. December 1st to February 25th, 2011.

Students: Fennis S. Brown, Jane L. Bryant, Ian Dolton-Thornton, Emma S. Harden, Roxanne Igolen, Shehrezad Maher, Madeleine Parks and Margaret Zayer proposed and executed projects of their own design. Working in a basic structure of critiques and discussions, students focused in on a variety of printing techniques and ways of handling materials to execute their ideas. Some the work featured will include stone lithographs, photopolymer gravure, unique, 3-d and mixed media prints, and copper plate etchings.

Husk / Hive
Bennington College Alumna Exhibit New Work

Recent Bennington College graduates and local artists Tess Meyer '08 and Lisa Dietrich '07 exhibit a new collection of their work, "husk / hive," at Vermont Arts Exchange's Mill Gallery

Dietrich's print- and photography-based work combines content from a cache of old family photographs with screen print and textile-sculpture elements using felt, beeswax and gold leaf to describe warmth, connectedness, collaboration and preciousness.

Meyer's drawings and installation-based sculptures are born from an investigation of her own perceptual habits, ruts and the tendency to disregard the familiar. The work is constructed from recycled materials such as shredded paper, push pins, string and thread.

The Lottery

Saturday, October 9th at 6:00pm at the Vermont Arts Exchange, Sage Street Mill. Suggested Donation: $10.

"The Lottery" is a live performance piece, based on the short story by Shirley Jackson. Join in while the townsfolk gather, as they have for years, to attend the traditional lottery. A bake sale, live music, and classic fair games are all part of the experience. Inevitably, things take a dark turn... This material may not be suitable for children under 11. Featuring musicians Barry Hyman and Nathan Knowles. Produced and directed by Wendy Bordwell. The Lottery has been performed recently at Hubbard Hall, the Georgi Museum, Salem Art Works, Bennington College and Pompanuck Farm. This special, final performance in North Bennington where the author created this work.

The production features musicians Barry Hyman and Nathan Knowles, providing live music that accompanies The Lottery.

Atwood Artists Group Annual Exhibit

March 4 thru summer 2010. VAE BASEMENT GALLERY

This exhibit, presented in partnership with United Counseling Service of Bennington County (UCS) , exhibits the visual art of 12 adults who work weekly in VAE's art studios through UCS's day service program. These untrained artists have found their own individual style and manner of working that best suits their creative expression. The work in this annual exhibit includes drawings, paintings, mosaic tile artwork and sculpture.

Universal Health Care

An exhibition of work by seven advanced printmaking students from Bennington College, VAEÌs Mill Gallery at the Sage Street Mill from Saturday, November 28 through the end of February.

The students in Bennington College's Advanced Printmaking course - Fennis Brown, Margaret Zayer, Natalie Kent, Sarah Kelly, Genevieve Senchyna, Will Moss, and Elizabeth Bennett Û proposed and executed projects of their own design. Working in a basic structure of critiques and discussions, the group focused in on a variety of printing techniques and ways of handling materials to execute their ideas. The featured artwork includes stone lithographs, photopolymer gravure, screen-printed wallpaper, T-shirts, books, unique 3D and mixed media prints, and copper plate etchings.
For information about Bennington College classes, visit www.bennington.edu.

PAINTINGS OF PHILIP WOFFORD

Mill Gallery March 7 - July 7, 2009

Opening Reception Saturday, March 7th 5:30 - 7:30pm Sage Street Mill, North Bennington, VT prior to musical performance by To Be featuring Philip Wofford.

STEPHEN ALCORN Mill Gallery

www.alcorngallery.com

On exhibit at the Mill Gallery is Cambridge, NY artist, Stephen Alcorn displaying his relief block prints of Modern Music Masters. These beautiful prints pay homage to the men and women who bridged the gaps between tradition and innovation, craft and genius, music and poetry, composition and improvisation, black and white.

Steven Brower, in PRINT magazine, wrote, "The result of a quarter-century of experimentation with relief-block printmaking, the series is in many ways as inspirational as the music it celebrates."

VAE and VERMONT VETERANS' HOME CELEBRATE SEVEN YEARS OF ARTS AND HEALING WITH NEW EXHIBIT OF RESIDENT ARTWORK

Please visit the new exhibit of music and visual, literary and media artworks created by VVH residents living with dementia, "The Healing Arts: New Pathways to Health."

At the Vermont Veterans' Home Multi Crispe Room,
325 North Street Bennington, VT.

The seven-year partnership between VAE and the Vermont Veterans' Home allows the healthcare facility and the Vermont Arts Exchange to offer arts and healing programs to residents and caregivers through hands-on staff trainings, a Caring For Caregivers program, an on-site visual arts studio and guest artist residencies. The partnership had its start with the Dementia Program and created a significant impact on the residents' quality of life - reaching residents with advanced dementia who can otherwise be difficult to connect with.

NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM ON VERMONT ARTS EXCHANGE'S ARTS & HEALING PARTNERSHIP WINS TOP HONORS AT FOCUS FILM FESTIVAL

We are pleased to announce that the "The Healing Arts: New Pathways to Health" (2007) a documentary film, directed by Benjamin Mayer and produced by the Vermont Arts Exchange and the Massachusetts Cultural Council - was honored in October 2008 at the annual FOCUS Film Festival held at the California State University campus. The film took "Best of Festival" and the Audience Choice awards.

The 28-minute film highlights the inspirational work created by artists and patients involved in the New Pathways to Health and Community, a regional partnership program of VAE, participating healthcare sites and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Told in three segments, the film shows how the artists and staff utilize the arts as an innovative treatment approach for people living with chronic, disabling physical and emotional challenges.

For more information on the healing arts program please visit
www.artsandhealing.net

WORKSHOP with RUMI and the Persian Mystical Philosophies

Expressed through his poems by Haale Gafori

Saturday, May 9th 10:30am - 12:00pm Sage Street Mill North Bennington, VT. Haale's musical performnce will begin at 8:00pm the same night!

$20 per person, $15 students. Call 802-442-5549 to register.

Rumi has been the best-selling poet in America for more than a decade. His mass appeal can be attributed not only to the brilliance and beauty of his poetry but also to the power and relevance of his message. Rumi's poetry explores themes of human evolution and transformation, particularly the journey from states of fear and anxiety towards love and unity. Rumi's poetry comes as a salve, a joyful and intelligent exploration of the possibility of emotional growth and transformation. Haale will read poems by Rumi, in English as well as in Persian, so that students can hear the rhythm and rhyme of the poems in the original language. She will discuss the mystical philosophies prevalent in his work, and also perform musical pieces that incorporate his words so that students can hear Rumi's words in a musical context.

Ink, Paper, Press

Ink, Paper, Press, an exhibition by seven advanced printmaking students from Bennington College, with an opening reception on Wednesday, December 3rd from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Mill Gallery. The exhibit will run through February.

The eight young and promising artists will be presenting a diverse range of fine printed and constructed objects whose concerns reflect the relevant undercurrents of contemporary art. They have employed their common understanding of sophisticated printing technique to voice concerns ranging from our present economy to the graphic work of Goya, Callot and Rembrandt.

Printmakers Dorothy Allen, Zoe Chevat, Drew Gold, Elizabeth Melsheimer, Andrew Murdoch, Margaret Rizzio, Selome Samuel, and Todd V.A. will exhibit their recent works in monoprint, book art, intaglio, gravure, serigraphy, and lithography. A price list will be available.