Artistic icons and self-described outcasts call Vermont home. Here they create fine art, music, craft, and theater that is ambitious, extraordinary, and utterly unique.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Scores of historical societies, museums, galleries, craft shops, antique stores, and booksellers statewide are a testament to Vermont’s history and a harbinger of the future. Artists and writers numbered among the early settlers of Vermont during the latter half of the 19th Century. Itinerant portrait painters traveled from town to town, seeking commissions from the wealthy, while engravers diligently illustrated the proliferation of journals and newspapers put out by Vermont’s early printing presses. Folk songs were written to both new and familiar tunes, while the early history of Vermont was chronicled in poetry and prose. It is safe to say that art has been a part of Vermont’s culture for a long time.
Today, newcomers and visitors are frequently astonished by the state’s ability to entice big names in the arts and entertainment worlds. The state is chock full of artists, performers and writers, and boasts some of the finest museums, galleries and theater venues in New England. When the snow flies, there isn’t a bad seat in the house at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center in Stowe, where you’ll discover all types of music, dance, comedy, film, lectures and multimedia events in a beautiful state-of-the art facility that attracts such musicians as Suzanne Vega, Travis Tritt, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes in concert with comedic performers the likes of Bob Marley (www.sprucepeakarts.org). For a schedule of events or to purchase tickets, visit their website. In summer, spend a day at the acclaimed Shelburne Museum or a warm July evening listening to Vermont’s own rising rock star Grace Potter and the Nocturnals “live” under the night sky (www.shelburnemuseum.org).
A high degree of community interest in the arts assures a stimulating cultural life year-round in Vermont. In the southeastern region, Brattleboro’s Latchis Hotel & Theatre boasts Brattleboro’s only big screen cached within an Art Deco and Greek Revival architectural treasure on the corner of Main and Flat Streets (www.latchis.com). Listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings, first-run, art and independent movies, film festivals and community events at the Latchis play on four screens, including three intimate theaters, 52 weeks per year. Live music, dance, humor – there’s even a Spelling Bee for Grown Ups held annually in April where Vermont’s own mystery author Archer Mayor has the “Judicial Last Word.” Plan a winter escape and embrace your cultural side.
Situated on 100 acres of a beautiful estate and also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) campus represents the heart of the visual and performing arts’ soul in Manchester, Vermont (www.svac.org). Year-round exhibitions feature celebrated creations from regional member artists in the Yester House Galleries while entertaining performances at the Arkell Pavilion delight all ages. SVAC offers a variety of art instruction for children and families to explore art mediums, styles, movements, and cultures; winter workshops and exhibitions inspire the spirit when the January sky is gray and frosted.
If you’re up for a cultural road trip that celebrates the work of Vermont artists, experience the Vermont State of the Arts Trail (www.tinyurl.com/art-trail-map). Begin at the Vermont Institute of Contemporary Arts; a gallery, museum and school whose artistic goals focus on engaging the community through a love of thought-provoking and diverse art and events (www.vtica.org). The trail hubs in Chester and then travels to nine Vermont towns and nearly 30 galleries and craft centers, including Springfield’s Galley at the Vault, a Vermont State Craft Center (www.galleryvault.org). Glass, metal, fiber art, paintings, paper, clay, wood and photography, the mediums showcased along the trail are distinctive and diverse. Sample the variety of galleries and craft centers one by one over a series of days and you’ll find one-of-a-kind treasures that make the perfect holiday gift or special treat.
Not quite ready to abandon the slopes for an entire day yet still interested in rounding out a winter getaway with a dabble in the arts? Rutland’s Chaffee Arts Center, housed in a Victorian mansion, is just minutes from Killington’s and Pico’s trails and open
Tuesday through Saturday (www.chaffeeartcenter.org). Or check out Waitsfield’s Artisans’ Gallery, just minutes from Mad River Glen and Sugarbush Resort, a Vermont cooperative featuring the work of more than 200 Vermont artisans and artists from throughout the state (www.vtartisansgallery.com). From handcrafted stoneware and original linoleum block prints to bright fabric quilts designed with whimsy and humor, a visit to this renovated building on Bridge Street, just steps from an 1833 covered bridge over the Mad River, is well worth trading for time on the trails.
Here are a few more “sites” and sounds to keep in mind when planning your next foray into the arts:
Drama-o-rama:
Royall Tyler Theatre – Liberate the mind and enrich the spirit at the University of Vermont’s performance complex, home to artists, musicians, rhetoricians and thespians (www.uvmtheatre.org).
Compass Music and Arts Center – Located in the picturesque Park Village area of Brandon, this brand new classical musical epicenter features a 250-seat concert hall, jazz lounge, artists’ studio gallery, sculpture park, dance school and recording studio (www.compassmusicandarts.com).
By the Book:
Haskell Free Library and Opera House – Built on the border between the United States and Canada, the library collection and opera stage are located in Stanstead, Quebec but the door and the opera seats are situated in Derby Line, Vermont. Sometimes dubbed “the only library in the U.S.A. with no books” and “the only opera house in the U.S.A. with no stage” the Haskell captures the hearts of all “international” patrons (www.haskellopera.com).
Frames of Reference:
Vermont Artisan Designs – A showcase of fine art and handcrafted gifts in Brattleboro (www.vtartisans.com).
BigTown Gallery – The arts and community harmonize in this eclectic gallery in Rochester (www.bigtowngallery.com).
Artisans Hand, a Vermont Craft Gallery – An official Vermont State Craft Center, Montpelier’s Artisans Hand features a diverse collection of handmade work in a wide variety of media including: clay, fiber, paper, glass, metal, wood, glass, bronze, gold and silver (www.artisanshand.com).