Happy May, everyone.

Our current exhibitions have been delighting visitors with their bright colors and playful forms. Be sure not to miss these marvelous shows!

We also have fifteen classes and workshops starting this month, so if you're harboring the impulse to create, please join us to help you make your vision a reality.

In addition, you'll find information below about an amazing Poetry Reading, Sunday Soup, a High School Portfolio Review Day, the Mudroom - and more! Please read on. 

Yours in the arts, 
~The Board and Staff of AVA Gallery and Art Center

Castellini, Goldenberg, Porter, Davies
On Display through June 1

 

Patty Castellini -- Recent Work 

Rebecca Lawrence Gallery
Gallery Talk: Thursday, May 12, 6pm
 

Roger Goldenberg -- Visual Jazz 

Clifford B. West Gallery
 

Torin Porter -- Forms of Life 

E.N. Wennberg Gallery
Gallery Talk: May 7, 4:00pm
 

Jane Davies -- Recent Work 

Elizabeth Rowland Mayor Gallery
 
 
AVA would like to thank Mascoma Savings Bank, generous sponsor of these exhibitions.  
 
AVA's Spring Classes Are in Full Swing!

Adults      
5/3  Sculpting the Living Landscape: Vegetable Gardens
 
Essentials of Direct-Painting Flowers with Tatiana Yanovskaya-Sink

  


Enrollment in AVA's 2016 Summer Art Camps Is Now Open 
June 27 - August 26
Our exciting, nine-week program features some of AVA's classic camps combined with a selection of brand new offerings. Camps will include partnerships with: the Dartmouth College Architecture Faculty, the Dartmouth College Biology Department, the Dartmouth College Computer Science Department, the Enfield Shaker Museum, the Upper Valley Land Trust and the Upper Valley Music Center.

Click here to learn more about AVA's 2016 Summer Art Camps.
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AVA is delighted to have Torin Porter's 12-foot tall sculpture, Astronomer, installed in the front of the Carter-Kelsey building. Come check it out and then continue inside to see our entire suite of exhibitions this month! Astronomer will be on display until this fall. 
 
Spring 2016 Community Programs Are Winding Down
Participants, Please Add these Dates to Your Calendars


The final Art for Kids session will meet on Sunday, May 8.

Creative Beginnings will continue Tuesday mornings through May 17.

ART STOP! holds its final class on Tuesday, May 17.

CAOS for Toddlers concludes on Friday, May 20; CAOS on Saturday, May 21.

Senior Art will take place every Thursday through May 26.

Art Lab runs through Wednesday, June 8. 
Poetry Reading to Feature Vermont's Poet Laureate, Chard deNiord, and Paige Ackerson-Kiely  
April 29, 7pm, Free!
  
   
  
For years, numerous events offered at AVA have demonstrated that merging the visual arts with other mediums, such as the spoken word, music, and dance create particularly meaningful experiences. And we are delighted to continue to offer more programs in that vein.
 
This April, AVA is honored to mark the celebration of poetry month with a reading by Vermont's newly installed Poet Laureate, Chard deNiord. Last November, when deNiord was invited to read at AVA, he was also asked to choose a poet, preferably a Vermont or New Hampshire resident whose poetry he felt would merit broader exposure, to be part of the reading. His choice was Paige Ackerson-Kiely.
 
deNiord is the author of five books of poetry; his most recently published volume is Interstate (The University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015). A Professor of English, he teaches Creative Writing and English at Providence College. His book of essays and interviews with seven senior American poets (Galway Kinnell, Donald Hall, Maxine Kumin, Jack Gilbert, Ruth Stone, Lucille Clifton, Robert Bly), titled Sad Friends, Drowned Lovers, Stapled Songs, Conversations and Reflections on 20th Century American Poets, was published in 2012. His poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Harvard Review, and American Poetry Review. de Niord lives in Westminster, Vermont.
 
Ackerson-Kiely is the author of the poetry collections In No One's Land (Ahsahta, 2007), My Love is a Dead Arctic Explorer (Ahsahta, 2012), and other works of poetry and prose. She splits her time between Yonkers, NY, where she is the Associate Director of Sarah Lawrence's MFA in Writing Program, and Addison, Vermont.
 
Please join us in our galleries for this free poetry reading on Friday, April, 29 at 7:00pm. Refreshments will be served. 

Sunday Soup at AVA

Community, Food & Arts Funding in One!

Sunday, May 1, 3:00pm

$5 in Advance; $8 at the Door

   
 
AVA is excited to announce that we will be hosting quarterly Sunday Soup gatherings, beginning on Sunday, May 1 at 3:00pm. Initiated and led by Randall Szott, Head Chef at The Prosper Valley School in Pomfret, VT, these playful engagements promise great food, creative community and possibilities to have your special art project funded!  
 
What is Sunday Soup*?
Sunday Soup is a grassroots model for funding small-to-medium sized creative projects through community meals. Basically, community members are invited to share in a meal of soup prepared by Szott, accompanied by Red Hen bread, for a nominal fee. The proceeds will be pooled as a grant, and at the conclusion of the gathering, will be awarded to support a developing, local art project. Artists seeking funding for their work should bring a printed, one-page description of their goal, with accompanying images, to the Sunday Soup event. All proposals will be tacked to the wall for participants to review. Every diner gets to vote. At the conclusion of the event, the proposal with the most votes receives the collected monies - no strings attached.

Why do it?
Sunday Soup is worth engaging with because it generates independent funding for the arts, sparks dialogue among local creatives, cultivates how we think about collaboration and community, and gives artists of all ages and abilities the opportunity to propose projects they might not otherwise be able to complete. For applying artists, the proposal process is more streamlined and fun than traditional grant application packages. For participating diners, the decision-making process is quick and democratic, and the outcome will reflect our local priorities. Sunday Soup is platform that gives everyone the opportunity to discuss ongoing projects with new audiences, meet new collaborators, and share ways of working.
 
Construction of AVA's 3-D Studies Center to Begin in mid-May!


Now that AVA has been issued the long-awaited building permit from the City of Lebanon for the planned 3-D Studies Center, we are anticipating that the construction project will begin in mid-May. The nearly 4,000 square-foot building will be located on the land behind the rear parking lot of AVA's Carter-Kelsey Building, on a property acquired by AVA in 2013. See the site-plan, above. This 3-D Studies Center, to be completed in the fall, will provide opportunities for studies and creative explorations in a range of mediums, including metal, clay, glass, wood and stone. The cost of the building will be funded by our $3.5 million Branching Out, Deepening Roots capital campaign, which is ongoing, and which also will make possible further improvements to the Carter-Kelsey Building, including establishing a Member Artists' Gallery; working toward zero net energy consumption in both buildings through such initiatives as the installation of solar panels; retiring the mortgage on the Carter-Kelsey Building (in fact, generous pledges to the campaign will make that happen this fall); and establishing a reserve cash fund to sustain and expand community outreach programming.
 
The photo below was taken almost 10 years ago, in October 2006, during the groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation and new construction of our 11 Bank Street Building--a $4.5 million project that was successfully completed in fall 2007. The yellow house in the background is now history--it was taken down last fall (most of it was recycled) to provide space for the new 3-D Studies Center.
 
Call for Storytellers: The Mudroom -- Human Anatomy  
Deadline: May 15

The next installment of AVA Gallery's quarterly story-telling series, The Mudroom, will be held June 23,
on the theme "Human Anatomy." We're looking for a few good storytellers.
 
Stories are limited to 7 minutes, must be true and autobiographical, and must be told live (not read), similar in style and format to "The Moth Radio Hour."  
Click here to send story ideas to The Mudroom. Please include a very brief summary of your story (no more than 300 words) and a short bio (no more than 150 words). The deadline for story submissions is May 15. After that date, we will select five stories from the submission pool.

We welcome stories from storytellers of all ages (over 21) and from all towns in the Upper Valley. Storytellers will be given a one-year membership to AVA Gallery as a gift.
The First Upper Valley High School Student Portfolio Day!
Tuesday, May 17, 10am-1pm 

The Upper Valley Counselor's Association of Vermont & New Hampshire is excited to announce the first Upper Valley High School Student Portfolio Day on Tuesday, May 17 from 10-1. The event will be held at AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, NH.  
 
High school students from area high schools, and their parents, who are interested in careers in the arts are encouraged to attend and bring samples of their artwork.

The purpose of the event is three-fold:  
  • Give high school students and college representatives the opportunity to interact and exchange feedback on student art portfolios.
  • Give high school students and parents the opportunity to learn more about post-secondary opportunities to develop and enrich student art.
  • Allow high school students and working artists to interact and learn from one another.
Working artists are encouraged to attend in order to interact, support, and learn with their younger artistic cohorts.   

Search for AVA's new Executive Director is Underway

Following the announcement that AVA Gallery and Art Center's longtime executive director Bente Torjusen will be retiring at the end of 2016, AVA's Board of Directors secured the services of the executive search firm Arts Consulting Group (ACG) to lead a national search for a new executive director.

ACG is the leading provider of hands-on interim management, executive search, revenue enhancement, facilities and program planning, and organizational development services for the arts and culture industry.

AVA's operations and programs will not be impacted by the cost of the search, as it has been offset by donations from current and former board members. Additionally, ACG is providing its services including a generous in-kind contribution in support of AVA and the Upper Valley arts community.
 
 
Call for Artists: Ink, Press, Repeat at William Patterson University 
Deadline: May 31
 
Since 2001, the University Galleries at William Paterson University has organized an annual juried printmaking exhibition featuring traditional and digital print media and book art. One artist will be selected to have a solo exhibition at the University Galleries. Select works will receive cash prizes. 
 
Juror: Phil Sanders is the Founder/Director of PS Marlowe, a creative services consultancy firm and publisher of fine art projects. Former positions include: Chief Operating Officer of The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Director/Master Printer of Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, and Master Printer/Studio Manager for Universal Limited Art Editions. Sanders has taught business and studio courses at Stanford University, San Francisco State University, and Penland School of Crafts and trained printers at David Krut Workshop, Johannesburg, South Africa; Flying Horse Editions, Orlando, FL; and Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York.  Sanders' own artwork is contained in the public collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, University of New Mexico Fine Art Museum and the Pizzuti Collection among others.   
 
Call for Artists: Telluride Painting School Merit Scholarships  
Deadline: June 15
 
As of 2016, the Telluride Painting School will award up to 12 merit scholarships each fall. These scholarships are for students who demonstrate exceptional levels of skill, conceptual capabilities, and commitment to their craft, as well as financial need. TPS Merit Scholarships may cover up to the full tuition cost of a class, plus any studio or model fees; they do not cover materials, which are the responsibility of each student. TPS Merit Scholarships are financial awards that do not need to be repaid.

Prospective TPS fall students may apply for Merit Scholarship funding for one two-week Telluride Painting School class within a full, six-week season. For fall 2016, the Telluride Painting School features visiting artists Ying Li, John Goodrich and Ron Milewicz, each of whom will teach a two-week painting intensive focused on observation, nature and the human figure.

Merit Scholarship applicants will be considered and awarded by a Scholarship Board in cooperation with the Director of the Telluride Painting School.

Click here for complete details. 
AVA Gallery and Art Center   
11 Bank Street
Lebanon, NH 03766
(603) 448-3117
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 5pm, Open until 7pm on Thursdays
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm, Saturdays 11am - 5pm
 
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