BRATTLEBORO — A local arts patron is donating her art collection for a cause.
In the early 1980s, Beverly Alberts became a fan of the area's many fine artists. With just one dedicated gallery in town, however, she decided to extend their marketing outreach by serving as an artist's representative further afield in New England in 1981-84, an effort cut short by a bout with breast cancer.
Her devotion to promoting local artists had been noted by George Becker, who invited her to help plan creation of the Windham Art Gallery (WAG) in 1989. Alberts coordinated the volunteer sitters and spent many a turn on the sitter schedule herself.
The Arts Council of Windham County was closely allied with WAG and shared its eventual space on Main Street for the bulk of the gallery's 20-year run through 2009. Alberts had worked with Marie Procter in that collaborative space to establish Student Art Month.
When the council created its Friend of the Arts Award, the first one was given to Alberts.
Her close relationship with the area's many fine artists helped in her responsibilities as curator for shows at Brooks Memorial Library from 2000 to 2002, and was a boon to her work co-leading the Arts Committee at All Souls Church in West Brattleboro from 2002 to 2012.
She selected artists for most of the exhibits at the church, oversaw show hangings, and helped run opening receptions. She is still a committee member and frequently a reception co-host.
Over the years, Alberts has also been an avid art collector, whether making a direct purchase of original work or an archival print from the artist, or the winning bidder of something offered at any number of art auctions to benefit several of the area's causes. Now the story of the gradually accumulated “Beverly Alberts Collection” has come full circle.
A couple of months ago, Alberts decided to downsize her life, leaving an expansive apartment to “retire” to a space only 16 feet by 16 feet at Bradley House. Her walls are still filled with many favorite pieces she couldn't part with, but after sending a number of the collection off with family members and close friends, there were still more than 50 works of art to donate to her spiritual home, All Souls Church (ASC).
Her intent with this gift was to help the church raise funds for upkeep of the building and grounds - its heating oil supply and cost of maintaining a famously steep and long driveway, in particular, were big expenses over the past two difficult winters.
Currently hanging in the church's gallery spaces, the Beverly Alberts Collection includes works by Maisie Crowther, Carolyn DiNicola Fawley, Gennaro Prozzo, Petria Mitchell, Susan McDormand, Karen Becker, Simi Berman, Dorothy Kehaya, Bob George, Trudy Crites, Gib Taylor, Brian Cohen, and Linda Wright. The exhibit includes photographs, prints, and paintings in a variety of mediums, and a few artful posters.
The minimum bids for a silent auction of these 47 pieces in the collection, many professionally framed, start at $50 for some pieces. Six larger pieces - by artists Jeanne Carbonetti, Arrin Fancher, Bill Hunt, Eric Slayton, and Sally Warren, as well as a four-panel Chinese screen - will be sold by live auction.
The ASC Arts Committee invites the public to an exhibit reception and benefit auction from 4 to 6:30 p.m., on Sunday, June 14, with hors d'oeuvres and desserts, as well as a glass of wine or non-alcoholic beverages for a donation of $10 per person. (Wine refills will be available for purchase.) A few interludes of live music will punctuate the event.
For food and drink planning purposes, RSVP to [email protected] or call the church office at 802-254-9377.
The All Souls gallery is otherwise open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. All Souls Church Unitarian Universalist is located at 29 South St. across from the West Brattleboro village green and fire station. Follow the wooded driveway up to a large parking area by the building.