BRATTLEBORO — Throughout September and October, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center will present a series of events exploring issues surrounding guns. Offered in connection with the exhibit “Up in Arms: Taking Stock of Guns” (on view at the museum through Oct. 23), three illustrated lectures and two panel discussions will examine guns through the lenses of history, media and entertainment, art, law enforcement, and regulation.
“We hope these presentations will broaden our community's understanding of this challenging social issue and encourage constructive dialogue among those with divergent viewpoints,” Museum Director Danny Lichtenfeld said in a news release.
On Thursday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m., Carrie Brown, a curator with the American Precision Museum in Windsor, will discuss the history of gun manufacturing in the Connecticut River Valley.
Entitled “The First Arsenal of Democracy: 'High Tech' in the Connecticut Valley, 1795-1900,” Brown's illustrated lecture focuses on the region's vital contributions to American military might.
The presentation is offered by the museum in collaboration with the Vermont Humanities Council and is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Admission is free.
On Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m., the museum will present a panel discussion: “Artists Taking Stock of Guns.”
Visual artists Linda Bond and Susan Graham, whose work is included in the exhibit at the museum, will be joined on a panel by playwright and theater director Ain Gordon and a member of the musical ensemble So Percussion, who have collaborated to create “A Gun Show,” a theatrical program presented by Vermont Performance Lab on Sept. 23-24.
The four artists will discuss the ways guns have informed their artwork.
On Thursday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m., a second panel discussion entitled “Guns in Our Community” will bring together a gun control advocate, a survivor of gun violence, a hunter safety expert, and a law enforcement officer to discuss the state of gun ownership and use in the greater Brattleboro area.
Finally, on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., photographer Kyle Cassidy will discuss his 2007 cross-country odyssey, during which he photographed gun owners in their homes and asked them why they own guns.
The result of his journey was the coffee-table book, “Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes,” selections from which are included in the exhibit at BMAC.
Admission to the events on Sept. 21 and Oct. 6 and 20 is $5 for adults, free for BMAC members, students, and youth 18 and under. For more information, call 802-257-0124 or visit www.brattleboromuseum.org.