BRATTLEBORO — Four new exhibits open at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) on Saturday, March 11, with an opening reception at 11 a.m. “The highlighted artists probe some of the most fundamental aspects of human experience,” say organizers, “including how we connect and relate to one another and to ourselves.” Mental health, immigration, ritual, and memory take center stage.
These new exhibitions join “Keith Haring: Subway Drawings,” which remains on view through April 16.
The opening reception, will feature many of the exhibiting artists. Theses exhibits will remain on view through June 11. Various related events will be held in conjunction with these exhibitions, including artist talks, workshops, and a storytelling roundtable. For more information and tickets, visit brattleboromuseum.org.
Daniel Callahan, a multimedia artist, award-winning filmmaker, and designer based in Boston, engages in a practice of ritual face painting that he calls “MassQing.” The exhibition “En-MassQ” includes works from two series in which Callahan, intrigued by ancient traditions of body decoration, painted his own face and the faces of others and detailed the performances with photographs, writing, and audio and visual vignettes.
On Friday, April 21, at 7 p.m., Callahan will give an Artist Talk at the museum and online, and on Saturday, April 22 at 2 p.m., he will lead a hands-on workshop on his practice of MassQing.
In “Letters Mingle Souls,” Mitsuko Brooks, an artist and archivist of mixed Japanese and European descent, explores the impacts of mental illness and suicide. Collaborating with suicide-loss survivors, Brooks creates works of mail art that incorporate imaginary letters addressed by survivors to their deceased loved ones.
“In the works on view, Brooks offers a space for mourning but also a space for hope and for community, support, and connection,” states the news release.
On Friday, April 28, at 7 p.m., Brooks and Brattleboro Area Hospice staff will present “Stories That Heal,” an evening of stories shared by people who have lost loved ones to suicide.
Brooks will lead a workshop on Saturday, April 29, at 2 p.m. in creating mail art addressed to a loved one who has passed away.
The child of Peruvian immigrants, multimedia artist Juan Hinojosa creates collaged figures that represent travelers seeking comfort and acceptance. “Paradise City” reflects upon the challenges of moving to a new place and creating a new home.
According to a news release, Hinojosa collects and cobbles together found materials from the streets of his home in New York City. The figures on view speak to the power of material resourcefulness and chance encounters to create personal meaning.
On Thursday, May 4, at 7 p.m., Hinojosa will give a tour of the exhibition and then will lead an evening of storytelling on the theme of newcomers and immigration.
In “Portals and Portraits,” Vermont-based photographer and painter Cathy Cone explores human relationships. Cone modifies tintypes from the late-nineteenth century to create ghostly portraits that speak to the power and limitations of memory. Cone obscures the subjects' faces, she says, “playing with the innate human desire to intimately connect with a portrait's subject and inviting us to consider the process of knowing and understanding ourselves and each other.”