Art Notes: Community art projects planned in Lebanon and Newport

Community art projects sound antithetical to the common conception of how art is made. Isn’t most art the product of a tortured genius working alone in his studio?

There’s no question that in the Upper Valley, a lot of art is made in solitude, either in home studios or in the privacy of studios at places like AVA Gallery and Art Center. But a lot of art is made in collaboration and in classes. The example the springs to mind is Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, where the artist-members regularly work together in the White River Junction studio. Even if they’re working on their own projects, they’re often shoulder to shoulder, talking and working in company.

A pair of community art projects are planned for Friday.

First, AVA Gallery holds an event from 4 to 6 p.m. that event takes place inside a pair of Advance Transit buses. The 29 participants in AVA’s Art Lab and Art Stop programs made art that will adorn the interior of Advance Transit buses. AVA has made a specialty of this kind of project, having made printed grocery bags and installed art on buses, among other good works, in years past.

Art Lab, in conjunction with the Special Needs Support Center, provides weekly art classes to adults with special needs, and Art Stop provides a weekly drop-in studio for middle school students. Both programs are offered at no cost to participants.

The buses are fully accessible, the event is free and open to the public and there will be light refreshments. For more information, go to avagallery.org.

The other event is in Newport, where the town’s Library Arts Center is hosting a “Community-wide Arts Night” under a tent on the Town Common.

From 5 to 7 p.m., participants can help paint the 200 wooden bird sculptures that will decorate the town this summer, a project the LAC is calling “Birds of a Feather.”

Like the event at AVA, this one is free and open to the public. Food will be available for purchase from the Tacos Tacos food truck and Sanctuary Dairy Farm Ice Cream. For more information, go to libraryartscenter.org.

The art event is part of a weekend of community events meant to kick off summer in Newport.

The Upper Valley’s two national parks have named their artists in residence for the summer. Margaret Dwyer will be artist-in-residence at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, where she will paint and teach workshops. And Daniel Willig returns for his second year as sculptor-in-residence at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish. Like Dwyer, he will lead workshops and teach classes as well as work on his own projects.

Philip Read Memorial Library, Plainfield. “Ink Slingers,” an exhibition of cartoon drawings from the collection of New Yorker cartoonist, and Cornish resident, Harry Bliss. A reception is planned for 5 p.m. on Friday. Through June.

Matt Brown Fine Art in Lyme opens “Sculpture and Pottery by Amanda Ann Palmer,” on Friday. A reception for the Hartland-based ceramicist is planned for 5 to 7 p.m. on June 28. Through Aug. 10.

AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon hosts: “Restless,” ceramics by Newbury, N.H., artist David Ernster; “Rhythmic Compositions,” recent work by Waitsfield, Vt., sculptor John Matusz; and “Recent Paintings and Drawings” by Lyme’s Carl Mehrbach. Through Friday.

Chandler Gallery, Randolph. “Eye-catching,” the annual Area Artists Exhibition, is on view through Saturday.

Tunbridge Public Library. “Landscapes,” oil paintings by Thetford artist Jean Gerber, through Monday.

Aidron Duckworth Art Museum, Meriden. “Bugs About/Diagonal Science,” sculpture by Langdon Graves; “If Ever,” mixed media work by Glenn Goldberg; and “Duckworth XXXIII — Abstraction and the Infinite Plane,” the museum’s 33rd and penultimate exhibition of Aidron Duckworth’s work. Through July 21.

Betty Grant Gallery, Converse Free Library, Lyme. “Just People,” paintings by Liliana Paradiso. Through June.

BigTown Gallery, Rochester, Vt. “Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail,” photographs by Cathy Cone, of East Topsham, Vt., and “Pilgrimage,” mixed media paintings by Rochester artist Jason Horwitz. Through June 23.

Center for the Arts, New London. The New London Inn hosts a group photography show; Blue Loon Bakery shows watercolors by Mary Belecz and Bar Harbor Bank and Trust on Main Street shows work by Kearsarge Middle and High School students. Through July 31.

Chelsea Public Library. “Revered Vermont Libraries,” drawings in Prismacolor pencil by Woodstock artist Gary Barron. Through June 30.

Cider Hill Gardens and Gallery, Windsor. Outdoor sculpture by William Ballantyne and paintings in egg tempera and gold leaf by gallery co-owner Gary Milek.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon. Spring exhibitions include work by painter Collin Leech; photographers Joan Crimlisk and John Lehet; watercolorists Nick Mayer and Marion Blodgett; multi-media artist Stacy Harshman; and the hospital’s employees and volunteers.

Hall Art Foundation, in Reading, Vt. Shows include “Made in Vermont,” works by Vermont artists; exhibitions by Richard Artschwager and the super-realist artist Malcolm Morley. On the grounds: “English Sculptors in New England.” Admission is $10, except on the first Friday of the month.

Ledyard Gallery, Howe Library, Hanover. “Art in Wood: the White Mountains, Mt. Monadnock, and Acadia,” marquetry by Peterborough, N.H., woodworker and artist Craig Altobello. Through July 31. Altobello is slated to demonstrate his work at the library at 2 p.m. on June 30.

Library Arts Center, Newport. “ROY G BIV: a community art exhibit,” and “Doll Houses: Obsession on a small scale,” doll houses collected and created by Newport resident Mindy Thorpe. Through July 25.

Long River Gallery, White River Junction. “Littles,” 72 small paintings by Amy Hook-Therrien, of leaves on the forest floor, and “Landscape Meditations: Pattern, Texture, and Line,” ceramics by Sheilagh Flynn. Through Sept. 2.

Main Street Museum, White River Junction. “Jack Rowell, Cultural Documentarian: Portraits of Vermont People and Other Wildlife.”

Norwich Public Library. “Dancing into Summer,” paintings by the en plein air painting group Odanaksis. Through June.

Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park, Cornish. Works by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In the Picture Gallery: “Fresco,” recent paintings by Ruby Sky Stiler, who will give a talk about her work at 4:30 on June 22 as part of a reception from 4 to 6. Admission to the park is $10 per person age 16 and above, but it’s free if you attend the reception.

Scavenger Gallery, White River Junction. “Flower Portraits,” paintings by Sue Lawrence and Andrew Williams.

Steven Thomas Inc. Fine Arts & Antiques, White River Junction. Work by Upper Valley “vintage” artists, such as Alice Standish Buell, John Semple, Horace Brown, Neil Drevitson and Robert Caulfield.

Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction. hosts “You Are the Music,” prints by Hartford artist Joan Morris. Through June.

White River Craft Center, Randolph. The Vermont Pastel Society’s Annual Juried Exhibition. Through July 7.

Zollikofer Gallery, White River Junction. Paintings and fanciful Vermont tourism posters by Burlington painter Kevin Ruelle. Through June 26.

Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207. Send visual art news to artnotes@vnews.com.