A Selection of PAST Exhibitions
The Many Voices of Water
An Intimate Collection of Black/White Images and Soundscapes by Andreas John
Sept 18 - Oct 26, 2024
Andreas John, an artist photographer from Calais, VT, presented a profound exploration of the relationship between humanity and the natural world, encapsulated through a series of black and white images. This collection was not merely a visual representation but an invitation to engage deeply with the evolving landscape of Vermont and the broader implications of climate change.
The images were paired with soundscapes crafted from field recordings at the various image sites along with reflections of the folks participating in the project. In addition, each image had a jar of water and a stone below it, also from the place the image was created. The viewer was invited to add their intentions and blessings to that water. At the end of the show, the artist plans to return the stones and water to their respective homes, bringing the project full circle.
Facets
Ceramic Artists Jeremy Ayers, Kate Butt and Dan Siegel exhibit their lesser known side of their work in clay
Aug 7 - Sept 17, 2024
Jeremy Ayers, Kate Butt and Dan Siegel are Vermont potters that have worked hard for decades to claim space within your crowded cupboards. It is because of this hard work and their unique creativity of craft that it is likely that you will recognize their signature pieces upon entry of the gallery.
But oftentimes we know of just one of the many Facets of an artist’s work. This group exhibition highlights the little known side of the ceramicist you have grown to love and have already invited into your home. It might be a mug, bowl, or platter you recognize but step into Axel’s Gallery to discover another Facet of your beloved potter. You will find the familiar pieces as a backdrop and visual link to the stunning and rich pieces of fine art made from the same clay that has nourished your soul at the dining room table or in the quiet morning hours.
Chasing a Feeling
Recent Work by Rob Hitzig
June 26 - August 3, 2024
Rob Hitzig (b. 1964, New York, New York) is a self-taught artist whose work evolved out of a furniture making practice he developed while working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC. Though starting with his love of the natural beauty of wood, his work has evolved to including paintings and painted sculpture, both indoor and public, where he explores color and movement through linear patterns.
"The show's title, Chasing A Feeling, refers to the motivation behind my obsessive process of polishing paintings with shellac. It is a time consuming and challenging endeavor that I can't justify logically. But, hopefully, when I'm done, it can generate the feeling I've been chasing. Come to the artists talk and maybe I'll be able to explain it. Or, even better, if you see them in person, and feel it, you'll understand without words." -Rob Hitzig
Voices Rising
The Figurative Ceramic Artwork by Susan Wilson
March 13 - April 27, 2024
In the space where solitude and community meet, Putney artist Susan Wilson finds the dynamic tension that energizes her work. From the wisdom of ancestors and the past presences in her life to the urgent NOW of so many voices, she weaves into her figurative sculpture stories about being alone and together, about yearnings and unanswered questions, about reaching out and retreating into solitude, about fear, pain, and hope.
Still Life
by Denis Versweyveld
May 30 - September 30, 2023
Denis Versweyveld is an award-winning sculptor, painter and draftsman who has resided in Vermont for over 50 years and whose art has been exhibited throughout the country. His work is characterized by iconic everyday household objects that are skillfully crafted. Each form, executed in plaster, lath, and cast concrete, is pared down to its essence. Signs of this process, like fine etching lines, remain in the exquisite surfaces.
Recent Work
by Sam Colt
October 26 - November 19, 2022
“I make work in a bid to amplify and make visible to myself the knocking from within.”
– Sam Colt
In the studio Colt uses trowels, knives and brushes to apply multiple coats of Italian marble plasters ~ “grassello” ~ on Masonite panels. With knives, she zips around through the grassello surface while it’s still wet to reveal under-stories, sometimes burnishing ashes from a fire or a cremation into the matrix. The resulting complex grounds serve as backdrops for quick sketches of a fairly unhinged inner cartography peopled by ships, key-stoned bridges, architectural ruins and phantom hermitages. Oils, gold leaf, gouache, charcoal, shellac & varnishes are used to punctuate and/or disguise.
Rock - Paper - Scissors
Neha Shukla and Nora McDonough
July 20 - August 6, 2022
Rock - Paper - Scissors is a literal description of the subject, material, and processes of the work by two emerging Vermont artists: Neha Shukla and Nora McDonough.
Visual cues are gathered from the artists’ natural surroundings and transcribed onto paper using layers either within the composition or quite literally with collage.
Compositions in Wood
by Phil Herbison
September 29 - November 6, 2021
"The reason I make art is to explore the mysterious realm of new aesthetic possibilities with materials at hand. I’ve rarely made art as a means of self expression, but rather more like an inventor of shapes and substance - associations that, when put together in a certain way, becomes an object that is new, yet somehow familiar to the psyche of the viewer. Working with piles of re-cycled wood scraps as a medium brings with it a lot intuitive play. Recognizing happy accidents when they happen leads to discovery of new aesthetic statements."
-Philip Herbison
Blue
by Kate Fetherston
October 2020
Rarest color in flora and fauna, once in a blue moon is an occasion of omen or of celebration. Blue skies, blue waters foster feelings of hope, freedom, possibility. Happiness is symbolized as a bluebird. Then again, a blue mood might be sad, lonely, wistful or pensive. Blue’s the color of shadows, of twilight, of changing light. This show is an homage to blue’s power to evoke a range of expression perhaps unequaled in the rainbow.
