Curators Allyson Evans and Nel Emlen stand by the wall of 39 portraits that greet visitors when they start their tour of “Holding: Mementos Kept, Memories Kindled,” this year’s Art at the Kent exhibit. Photo by Tom McKone/The Montpelier Bridge.
This story by Tom McKone was first published by The Montpelier Bridge on Sept. 17.
Almost two dozen terra cotta and stoneware clay faces emerge from the surface, top to bottom, starting small and gradually increasing to full heads, creating the illusion they are coming into the room from the past.
These are the faces of struggling people. Life’s hard for so many around the world today, as it was for all ancestors, I think, as I look at Burlington artist Susan Wilson’s “Becoming I,” at the opening of “Holding: Mementos Kept, Memories Kindled,” this year’s Art at the Kent exhibit at Kents Corner in Calais.
“As I work clay over, my simplified head forms — the faces of those who inspire me — emerge,” she writes. “I travel with those who are searching, yearning, asking questions, and struggling to move forward in their lives.”
Wilson’s works evoke the past, our shared and personal memories and our shared humanity — themes developed by the 22 Vermont artists in the Kent exhibit.
As visitors start their journey in the rambling, nearly two-century-old building, they walk through a hallway with 39 portraits.
“We wanted to show the breadth of humanity on this wall,” says Cornelia “Nel” Emlen, one of three curators. “We all have our own stories that we’re holding.”
Curator Allyson Evans calls the wall a “human container … emblematic of every person.”
Twelve of those works are exquisite portraits by Middlesex artist August Burns, who has two additional portraits in other parts of the exhibit. Burns, who painted the official portrait of Gov. Howard Dean, is one of two artists in this show who have painted official portraits of former Vermont governors. Middlebury artist Kate Gridley painted Gov. Jim Douglas’ portrait.
David Schutz, the third curator, says when they met with artists and developed the theme for this year’s exhibit, talking with Gridley convinced them to focus on memory. They gave her a room for 58 small paintings, in which she painted objects from her earliest memories, more or less chronologically, through her life.
In a brochure accompanying her installation, Gridley writes that years ago, when her very smart, aging father began experiencing dementia, he “amassed an enormous library of neurology books,” and the brain and memory became a regular part of their conversations.
“As daughter, I was losing him. As artist, I wanted to find a way to embody the explorations about memory that we had been sharing,” Gridley writes.
Burlington artist Jennifer Koch’s installation, “Specimens,” is distributed through the show and includes plenty of found objects. In an extraordinary series of shadow boxes, Koch starts with classic European paintings, then constructs an outrageous, three-dimensional headdress out of incongruous objects, from musical instruments and kitchen utensils to paint brushes, trophies and parts of toys. At first, the shadow boxes are just interesting, then they become addictive.
“Gratitude in a Time of Loss,” East Montpelier artist Daryl Burtnett’s installation about Covid-19, which was shown in the Vermont Supreme Court Gallery last fall, is the first art to ever be given a room on the museum’s third floor. The hundreds of small pieces, each acknowledging a Vermont life lost to the epidemic, are now in a different configuration from the previous show.
Juliana Jennings, co-owner of J. Langdon’s antique shop in Montpelier, has filled a space the size of a walk-in closet with hundreds of old items from her home — not from the store.
Self-trained Barre folk artist Gayleen Aiken (1934-2005) is featured in the self-contained Spotlight Gallery. With crayon, pen, pencil, and oil paints, Aiken created paintings, drawings, and cardboard cut-outs. Her works are in the permanent collections of several large museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
The monthlong exhibit opened Sept. 12 and runs every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Oct. 12. In addition to Words Out Loud, there are several special events during the month, all described at kentscorner.org.
With beautiful weather, live music, and catered food, the opening celebration on Sept. 13 attracted several hundred visitors. The closing celebration will be held on Oct. 12, from 3 to 5 p.m.
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