Artist John Newsom will lead a walkthrough of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) exhibit “EXPEDITION” on Wednesday, August 25, at 7:30 p.m. This free event will take place in person at BMAC, and it will be simultaneously livestreamed via Zoom and Facebook Live. To attend in person or online, register at brattleboromuseum.org.
On view through October 11, “EXPEDITION,” which was organized by Newsom, features work by 17 artists. Newsom invited each of them to contribute artwork on the theme of venturing into unknown realms. Most contributed one painting each, while Wendy White created a site-specific installation and Donald Baechler delivered a large bronze sculpture for the Museum’s front lawn. “As a painter organizing a group show of fellow painters, I try to offer viewers a glimpse into the thoughts and ideas I am currently focusing on in my own studio,” Newsom said. “Right now, it’s all about expanding beyond the walls of the recent quarantine brought on by the pandemic. What better way to ‘break out’ than by embarking on an expedition in the form of a group show?”
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center is a natural setting for the exhibit. “BMAC was originally Brattleboro’s Union Station, and the gallery where ‘EXPEDITION’ is on view was its grand lobby—a liminal space charged with the energy and anticipation of adventures just completed and those that lie ahead,” said BMAC Director Danny Lichtenfeld. “John Newsom has tapped into one of the things I love most about art and museums (and train stations, for that matter)—their ability to transport us to new realms.”
Newsom is a New York City-based painter best known for combining multiple formal painting techniques on large-scale canvases, with a focus on dynamic spectacles drawn from the natural world. He has exhibited extensively in the United States, Europe, and Japan, and his work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.
In addition to Newsom, White, and Baechler, “EXPEDITION” features work by André Butzer, Ann Craven, Matt Dillon, Inka Essenhigh, Torben Giehler, April Gornik, Andy Hope 1930, Richard Jacobs, Michael Kagan, John McAllister, Erik Parker, Raymond Pettibon, Alexis Rockman, and Ouattara Watts.
A limited-edition catalogue of the exhibit is available in both hardcover and softcover at brattleboromuseum.org.
Founded in 1972, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center presents rotating exhibits of contemporary art, complemented by lectures, artist talks, film screenings, and other public programs. BMAC is open Wednesday-Sunday, 10-4. Admission is on a “pay-as-you-wish” basis. Located in historic Union Station in downtown Brattleboro, at the intersection of Main Street and Routes 119 and 142, the Museum is wheelchair accessible. For more information, call 802-257-0124 or visit brattleboromuseum.org.
BMAC is supported in part by the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by Allen Bros. Oil, Brattleboro Savings & Loan, C&S Wholesale Grocers, the Four Columns Inn, Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, and Whetstone Station Restaurant & Brewery.
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