BRATTLEBORO — Two weeks remain to view the exhibits “Out of the Shadows: Paintings by Jim Giddings” and Jennifer Stock's “Water Studies, Brattleboro” at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center. The exhibits close May 4.
“Flora: A Celebration of Flowers in Contemporary Art” continues through June 22, and three new shows open Friday, May 9. Their opening reception is set that day for 5 p.m., and all are welcome.
Giddings maintained a painting studio and exhibition schedule during the 31 years he worked as the museum's building manager and art handler.
“Out of the Shadows: Paintings by Jim Giddings” traces some of the transformations his work and approach to painting underwent during that time. With a focus on surface rather than scene, the paintings include figurative landscapes, abstract mixed-media paintings, and fields of color containing figures, numbers, letters, and geometric shapes.
In her audio-video installation “Water Studies, Brattleboro,” Stock mixes images reflected in the Connecticut River and Whetstone Brook near the museum with ambient field recordings she made at those locations. Adding synthesized music to the soundscape of rain, the distant train, and the rushing brook, Stock offers an abstract anatomy of the town, a literal and metaphoric reflection on the small details that create a sense of place.
Also coming down May 4 are the large cyanotype photographic prints by artist Tom Fels that fill the museum's Mary Sommer Room. These unusual prints are made with no more than sunlight, treated paper, and patience.
Fels carefully holds the large sheets of fragile paper behind flowering trees and shrubs in his yard, allowing the sunlight to make shadowy, often abstract images. He achieves multiple tones of blue, from nearly white to deep indigo, by bending the paper behind the leaves and branches.
Following the departing exhibits are “Opposing Forces: New Paintings by John Gibson,” “Cloaked and Revealed: Sculptural Paintings by Marela Zacarias,” and a video installation, “All the Days of the Year,” by Walter Ungerer.