Bennington Arts Weekend 2018

August 3-5, 2018 • Friday and Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 10am-4pm Camelot Village 66 Colgate Heights, Bennington VT Special Fri. price $5! Adult admission Sat. & Sun. $8 Kids 12 and under free • Free parking

FOUR CORNERS NORTH

HOMEBREW FESTIVAL

Saturday, August 4, 2018; 12 – 3:30pm County Street, Bennington, VT $25 for a tasting glass and to vote for your favorite beverage.

Saturday, August 4 from 10am to 4pm at Camelot Village in Bennington craftproducers.com • facebook.com/artsfestivals • www.4cnhomebrewfest.com instagram.com/craftproducers_festivals • twitter.com/craftproducers Published in the Bennington Banner and Manchester Journal July 27, 2018

2

BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com

Friday, July 27, 2018 | Bennington Arts Weekend

Northshire

Southshire

9

FOX HILL ROAD ART & CRAFT EXHIBITORS SPECIALTY FOOD EXHIBITORS PONY RIDES

PARKING LOT ENTRANCE/EXIT

OUTDOOR EXHIBITORS

HEALING ARTS

DINING & MUSIC TENT

FOOD VENDORS

REST ROOMS

Bennington Arts Weekend | Friday, July 27, 2018

W ROAD

FESTIVAL ADDRESS: CAMELOT VILLAGE 66 Colgate Heights Bennington, VT 05201

9:30 am – 3pm, Sky Fits Heaven by artist Misa Chappell, Open Gallery Hours, The Lightning Jar, 194 North St, Bennington, Free 7 – 9pm Crant Wallace Band, Outdoor Concert, Robert Frost Stone House Museum, $5 7:30pm Checkhov’s Three Sisters, Park-McCullough House, 1 Park St, North Bennington, Suggested donation of $25

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Saturday, August 4: Self-guided art walk at The Bennington Museum

7:30pm Checkhov’s Three Sisters, Park-McCullough House, 1 Park St, North

Bennington, Suggested donation of $25

Sunday, August 5: Self-guided art walk at The Bennington Museum 2pm Checkhov’s Three Sisters, Park-McCullough House, 1 Park St, North Bennington, Suggested donation of $25 2-3:30 pm “Crash to Creativity: The New Deal in Vermont,” Gallery Talk, The Bennington Museum

BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com

Friday, August 3:

3

Friday, July 27, 2018 | Bennington Arts Weekend

FOUR CORNERS NORTH

HOMEBREW FESTIVAL

Saturday, August 4, 2018 • 12 – 3:30pm County St., Bennington, VT Enjoy a street fair atmosphere with a live music, food and other vendors, and of course the best home brewed beverages to include beer, wine, cider, and mead in the area. This is a family friendly event.

Admission to the street festival is free or $25 for a tasting glass and to vote for your favorite beverage. www.4cnhomebrewfest.com

BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com

The place to shop for jewelry & fiine giffts!

4

jewelry • accessories • pottery • g lass • wood bags • toys • games • new & gently u sed c lothing

crafts craftsmarket gal & gallery

open daily mon-sat 10-6 sun 11-5:30

free gift wrapping

262 north st. • bennington, vt • 802-447-0488 • hawkinshouse.net

THE

GALLERY AT EQUINOX VILLAGE

Monthly exhibits showcasing local and regional artists

Opening reception on the third Thursday of each month Free admission • 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. seven days a week

Special Event: ART ON THE GREEN Saturday, August 18th 10 am to 3 pm

Please visit our website for more information equinoxvillage.com

Craftproducers proudly presents the 40th Annual Southern Vermont Art and Craft Festival, the jewel in the crown of an ever-expanding Bennington Arts Weekend, August 3-5. The Festival itself will be held at Camelot Village. 125 artists, artisans, and specialty food producers will showcase their creations under spacious Camelot tents. Along with craft shopping, the ambiance is festive: live music, craft demos, kids activities, and a varied food court, serving a menu to please any palate and featuring Vermont Craft beers.

Fair-goers enjoy the intimacy of the show with many tourists booking their Vermont summer vacations to coincide with this weekend. The Festival connects both the artist and the customer in a unique relationship: the buyer

gets to know the maker of the product, hear the story about how it’s made, and learns about the artisan and his/her life. Today, the Festival thrives on uniting the shopper and the “maker.” Legions of day trippers from Albany/ Saratoga and the Berkshires rarely miss the chance to visit their favorite “crafter” again, and again.

While the Craft Festival is taking place at Camelot Village, the Town of Bennington is busy and bustling with Vermont craft beer on tap and food vendors offering local farm to table fare. On Friday downtown is alive with First Friday. On Saturday August 5, the Homebrew Festival takes place at The Four Corners North with a free shuttle running to the craft show at Camelot Village. Saturday is also Healing Arts Day with presentations of yoga, mindful-

ness, acupuncture, and massage at the Festival.

The Southern Vermont Art and Craft Festival runs 10-5 on Friday and Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday. There is a special price for adult admission on Friday, $5 and $8 Saturday and Sunday; and kids and parking are free. No pets.

Bennington Arts Weekend | Friday, July 27, 2018

Southern Vermont Art and Craft Festival highlights Bennington Arts Weekend

Complete info can be found at www.craftproducers.com.

Advance sale discount tickets can be purchased there.

So, come spend the weekend.

Explore Vermont’s “first town.” Relax, and enjoy the full spectrum of what Bennington has to offer on its Arts Weekend.

Rooted in Vermont and Rooting for Vermont

If local matters to you, join us and bank local.

Your Money Stays Here, Works Here, and that Makes a Difference.

Manchester

Bennington

802-362-4760

802-442-8121

Arlington

Rutland

802-375-2319

802-774-5085

BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com

As a Vermont-based mutual bank, we work for our customers, we focus on the local community, and we aim to build a stronger local economy.

TheBankof Bennington.com 5

Friday, July 27, 2018 | Bennington Arts Weekend BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com 6

Creating community: The artistic legacy, and future, of the Shires of Vermont

By Cherise Madigan in Partnership with the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce Acclaimed artists have long sought inspiration in the natural beauty and bucolic communities of Bennington county, and the region’s growing creative landscape is poised to play a pronounced role in shaping the economy, identity, and community of the Shires.

“We’re really in a hub of creative activity,” observed Bennington College President Dr. Mariko Silver, an accomplished academic who has worked to continue the College’s legacy as a leader in the arts. “You can’t underestimate the extraordinary natural beauty found here, and the opportunity to engage with multifaceted creative communities.”

“The arts are vital to a thriving community,” added Benning-

ton Area Arts Council President Michelle Marrocco. “Arts and culture form our identities as individuals, and as communities, in so many ways.”

Various virtuosos have found a home in the Shires of Vermont over the years including poet Robert Frost, artist Norman Rockwell, and author Shirley Jackson, to name a few. While that history continues to draw visitors and enthusiasts to the place where such artists created their respective masterpieces, it has also played a role in shaping Bennington’s identity as a thriving epicenter for the arts. In 2017, the county was even ranked third by the National Center for Arts Research in their listing of the top arts-vibrant small communities.

“I grew up in Bennington, and was influenced by a community that included Robert Frost,

The Bennington Holistic Healing Practitioners are organizing Healing Day on Saturday, August 4th to be held at Camelot Village in Bennington from 10am to 4pm. At the BennHHP booth, they will be offering Reiki, acupuncture, massage, reflexology, mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques, and more! This will be an extraordinary day of recognizing the importance of health and wellness and experiencing the relaxing effects of holistic medicine. The BennHHP group welcomes you to visit their booth which we be among nearly 200 other vendors at this festival. Bring your friends and family because they’ll be something for everyone with a variety of food, entertainment, art and crafts to explore, kids activities and of course Healing Day in beautiful Bennington!

Shirley Jackson, John Gardner, Bernard Malamud, Kenneth Noland, Nicholas Delbanco, Jules Olitski, and more,” said Eric Peterson, now the Producing Artistic Director of the Oldcastle Theatre Company. “The arts were important here, revered here, and one could run into important writers and painters in the grocery store. As a kid, I realized that having a career in the arts wasn’t a pipe dream — it was truly possible.”

The accolades seem endless. Beyond figures like Frost and Rockwell, the region also houses influential institutions like Bennington College (a longtime leader in modern art of all varieties, boasting alumni like Jackson Pollock); bustling museums, galleries, and collaboratives like the venerable Bennington Potters; and innumerable individual creators to boot.

And as that landscape continues to expand — evidenced by evolving institutions like Southern Vermont College’s Laumeister Art Center —the potential for growth seems exponential.

“So many artists, historically, have been spirited to our com-

munity by fellow artists,” mused Judi McCormick, an artist in her own right and President of the Board at Manchester’s Southern Vermont Arts Center. “Our area is a hotbed of artists, and that has been a major draw for people to move to Southern Vermont. The quality of life here is so rich in the arts.”

Though those resources lend themselves to a high-caliber creative industry, it’s not just the pro’s that find inspiration and opportunity in the Shires — students, amateurs, and aspiring artists also benefit from the region’s arts-rich schools and institutions, like Bennington’s Summer Sonatina Piano Camp.

“Arts and culture are accessible here in a way that they aren’t elsewhere,” explained Marrocco. “Almost everyone I meet here is an artist in their own right. Dabbling in painting, or guitar, or dance as a hobby isn’t unusual, but here folks can share it; there are opportunities to exhibit and perform.”

“The arts are one of the most compelling reasons to love Bennington,” added David R. Evans, President of Southern Vermont

to belong to here, but there’s also a sense of freedom; a come-as-you-are mentality in Vermont that is very healthy for artists,” explained Mayhew Bergman. “For me, having a healthy connection to the natural world has been central to my work. At the same time, I can live in this very remote place but drive a few hours and be in New York City.”

“It is nurturing here, it’s beautiful here, the people are inter-

“There’s something about that dialogue which makes for an incredible environment for art to be created in,” Janis concluded.

“Our cultural and artistic history builds a strong foundation to inspire new generations of creatives,” said Marrocco. “The historical significance of these figures creates opportunities for dialogue about why this work matters, what context it was made in, and how that can affect our futures.”

But what does the future hold for the Shires? Though the exact picture may never fully be in focus, Marrocco contends that the arts do provide a sort of road map for the path forward.

“I see so much excitement building in this community right now, which I hope will continue to grow,” she added. “I hope this continues to be a community that supports artists; I want creatives to continue to build their lives around their art in a way that supports them and their families.”

Bennington Arts Weekend | Friday, July 27, 2018

College. “We are surrounded by visual artists ceramicists, and musicians, as well as the incredible natural beauty that inspires many of them.”

That raw and resplendent natural beauty found in the Shires has attracted many, including author Megan Mayhew Bergman — a faculty member at Bennington College and Director of the Robert Frost Stone House Museum.

“There’s a beautiful tradition

esting and the community is extremely diverse,” added Dina Janis, Artistic Director of the Dorset Theatre Festival. “When you have such a beautiful place, it becomes a place that draws artists.”

Janis also cites Vermont’s legacy for spirited and bipartisan civil discourse, and she’s not the only creative leader to find inspiration in Town Meeting Day or community conversations — while attending an emergency meeting in his hometown of Arlington, illustrator Norman Rockwell was inspired to paint his iconic “Four Freedoms,” which went on to grace the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.

Epitomizing the circuitous nature of the Shires arts landscape, that series has inspired another Arlington resident — Joshua Sherman, of Joshua Sherman Productions and The Mill — to not only craft a full festival of community events, but to produce a theatrical production of Rockwell’s quest to create the “Four Freedoms.”

MADISON BREWING CO. BREW PUB & RESTAURANT LUNCH & DINNER DAILY

10 BEERS ON TAP • BEER TO GO! • VERMONT’S ONLY OPEN BREW HOUSE

Dine In or Take Out 4 Pack Cans Available!

...Always something brewing at Madisons www.madisonbrewingco.com 428 MAIN ST. BENNINGTON, VERMONT 802-44B-REWS

BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com

VISIT OUR BREW HOUSE

Lunch & Dinner Daily Specials

7

Friday, July 27, 2018 | Bennington Arts Weekend BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com 8

With such vast artistic resources and institutions in the Shires, and a low cost of living compared to more metropolitan creative communities, making a career in the arts is a uniquely accessible endeavor in Bennington county. And as both local and regional entities work to ensure the area’s economic development, the artistic assets found in the Shires can’t be dismissed.

“In Vermont people really care about development that is not going to damage the quality of what we have here,” Janis explained. “Nothing does that better than the arts; it’s low impact, but can be an incredible driver.”

“Arts institutions have a significant influence on the growth of our economy,” added Carolyn Blitz, an active member of the Shires creative landscape who

serves on the boards of both the Bennington Museum and the Southern Vermont Arts Center. “ My hope is that we can bring the accomplishments of our visual and performing arts institutions to the forefront, and that visitors will see us as a destination where they can enjoy and celebrate great talent.”

While the arts have historically played a role in the region’s tourism economy, local leaders hope that the industry can leave a more lasting mark on the population by attracting new residents to live, work, and create in the cradle of the Green Mountains.

“Whether you’re a young person, just starting a family, or in the later years of life, you want to come into a vibrant cultural environment,” explained Silver.

“It’s not just about entertainment, but engagement; about

Step away from the ordinary and settle into an 8,000-square-foot retreat on 26 acres. Book it for a special event or retreats of any kind. Sleeps 30.

www.karinsplacevt.com

Away from it all in rural Vermont

(802) 442-8622 karinsplacevt@gmail.com

Bennington Arts Weekend | Friday, July 27, 2018

BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com

Âť

9

Friday, July 27, 2018 | Bennington Arts Weekend BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com 10

making and doing, as well as enjoying. That is a critical component of community.”

“Bennington is a famous name, and this community can build on the extraordinary art that has already been created here to attract visitors and potential emigrants from states and countries near and far,” added Peterson. “Bennington has an impressive past, and with businesses, government, citizens and the colleges working together Bennington can become a jewel in the Green Mountains.”

While contributing to the Shires economy and population in more measurable ways, the arts also play a rather ephemeral role in the region by fostering dialogue, human connection, and social change. And in the end, that impact may bear the most permanence.

“The arts have the ability to communicate challenging issues or subjects in a way that other mediums can’t,” said Anne Thompson, Director and Curator of Bennington College’s Usdan Gallery. “They afford the opportunity for deeper conversations as a community.”

“I see the arts as a crucial and profound component of the human experience,” added Eric Despard, the Artistic Director of the Laumeister Art Center and an active composer, arts educator, and concert musician. “Through study, practice, and creative exploration we endeavor to answer the big questions in life. The arts enrich our lives, often challenge our perceptions, and heal our hearts, minds, and souls.”

Like us on Facebook

Alliance Fair Trade Gifts Poverty Relief Near And Far Handmade Jewelry Artisan Crafts

Mon-Thur 9AM-NOON

802-442-6840 jtsanta48@gmail.com 198 Crescent Boulevard Bennington, VT 05201

Our studio and artisan workshop produces handmade products to sell at the Alliance Fair Trade Gifts Store and are made by people living in poverty here and abroad. All proceeds benefit artisans as well as local organizations fighting poverty.

Powered By: Missionary Alliance Church

Bennington Arts Weekend | Friday, July 27, 2018

A Not-For-Profit Member-Owned Cooperative

Because We Care & Supporting Local Matters

look for the chair 518-686-4504

info@tsafcu.com wwwtsafcu.com

BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com

Washington Avenue - Bennington (next to Elks)

11

Friday, July 27, 2018 | Bennington Arts Weekend

% 30

OFF

ONE REGULAR PRICED ITEM

BenningtonBanner.com | ManchesterJournal.com

MUST PRESENT THIS AD.

12

APRICOT LANE MANCHESTER MANCHESTER CENTER, VT 4763 MAIN STREET | 802.362.9800 *EXPIRES 8/31/18. MAY NOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER OFFER, COUPON OR DISCOUNT. SOME RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLY. SEE STORE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS.