Arts

The Fine Arts Gallery at Landmark College will host an artist reception for the “Forest Composition” exhibit on Friday, November 11 from 5-7 p.m.

“Forest Composition” is a multimedia exhibition with works by Brantner DeAtley, Betsey Garand and Gina Siepel. The works by these three artists explore themes of nature and environment, our place within it and our human connection to it.

Landmark College Associate Professor of Fine Art and Gallery Director Samuel Rowlett says the exhibit is inspired by shinrin-yoku, the Japanese practice of “forest bathing”, and the health and wellness benefits of spending time interacting with the natural world and nature’s ability to counteract some of the effects of the “technostress” of our increasingly digital world.

I’m pleased to invite you to this free program at Brooks Memorial Library next Wednesday evening. This is a wrap-up of the Words Project, which has focused on Lucy Terry Prince, Royall and Mary Tyler, and Mary Wilkins Freeman, authors from the past, who lived in Guilford and/or Brattleboro. The Wednesday program serves as a prelude to this year’s Brattleboro Literary Festival, which runs from Thursday through Sunday.

Now we turn to a more recent author, poet William Mundell (1912-1997), lifelong resident of South Newfane. Both his life and his work are of interest. At 6 pm we’ll have our traditional roundtable discussion with his nephews and with Andy Burrows, who worked with the poet on publication of his first book, Hill Journey, by the Stephen Greene Press. We’ll tell you about Mundell’s life as not only a fine poet, but a painter, photographer, town official, ski area developer, State Highway Foreman, stone mason, house builder …. There will also be a small exhibit at the library of Mundell items.

The Landmark College Academic Speaker Series presents visual artist Destiny Palmer on Tuesday, September 27 at 5 p.m. in in the Brooks M. O’Brien Auditorium, located in the Lewis Academic Building.

The Boston-based artist will discuss her public art and studio-based practice that function as places to create dialogue and make space for investigation. Palmer will also share how her practice has ebbed and flowed to what it has become now, centered around color, abstraction and history.

The Sundog Poetry Center is thrilled to announce a summer afternoon of art, music and poetry, our signature AMP event, featuring poetry by Rage Hezekiah, Kerrin McCadden, and Partridge Boswell, music by Los Lorcas, and visual art by Liz Hawkes deNiord.

Rage Hezekiah is a Cave Canem, Ragdale, and MacDowell Fellow who earned her MFA from Emerson College. She is a recipient of the Saint Botolph Emerging Artist Award and she serves as Interviews Editor at The Common. Her forthcoming collection, Yearn, is a 2021 Diode Editions Book Contest winner. She is the author of Unslakable (Paper Nautilus Press, 2019) and Stray Harbor (Finishing Line Press, 2019). Rage’s poems have appeared in the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, The Cincinnati Review, The Colorado Review, and many other journals and anthologies. You can find more of her work at ragehezekiah.com.

The town of Hamelin has a rat problem, and there’s only one person who can help! CactusHead Puppets brings the story of The Pied Piper to life in this comedic, updated adaptation of the traditional folktale. Not only does the town find a musical solution to pest control, but the kids of Hamelin also teach the grownups a lesson about generosity. In the end, the townspeople all come together in celebration. Join puppeteers John and Megan Regan as they present this classic tale, told with multiple puppetry styles, and plenty of dancing rats! The show will run 40 minutes with an engaging question and answer session following the performance.

Come witness magic maker and puppeteer, Scotty Swan with Urban Wizards Academy March 12th at 11am and 2pm. Swan’s work is a unique blend of sleight-of-hand magic, puppetry and improvisation that is woven together in an exhilarating show that gets the audience up off its feet to become part of the performance. This show is for family audiences ages 6 to 12 and sure to be a thrilling delight for parents as well.

Scotty Swan is a well-regarded artist and teacher who has been performing throughout the region since 1999. His shows are a unique blend of comedy, magic, 80s pop culture references, silly puppets, amazing illusions and hysterical audience participation, that keep his audiences laughing.

Putney, VT- Sandglass Theater kicks off the Winter Sunshine family puppetry series with guest artist Sarah Frechette of PuppetKabob. Performances are Saturday March 5th at 11am and 2pm at Sandglass Theater.

Under Night Sky follows three children on journeys united by threads of courage, love and hope. Unravel the stories of the Underground Railroad stitched together in Grandmother’s patchwork quilt. Hear the waves crash aside the ship as you listen to the magical tale of an Irish Memory Quilt. Quietly enter an Old School House to see a girl proudly wearing her coat of rags, stitched to patchwork perfection.