NEWFANE-As it does annually, Crowell Art Gallery at Moore Free Library, 23 West St., is featuring the Robert L. Crowell Art Collection.
The collection will be shown until Thursday, Jan. 30. A reception will be held Sunday, Jan. 12, from 3 to 5 p.m.
Displayed will be artwork by Mallory Lake, Jules Olitski, Emily Mason, Wolf Kahn, Janet Fish, Eric Aho, Diedre Scherer, Roger Sandes, James Urbaska, David Brewster, Marcy Hermansader, Michaela Harlow, Clare Adams, Bobbi Comfort, Susan Osgood, Johnny Swing, and Jim Florschutz.
"Initially, the gallery was only open in the summer, and so there were three short months when the collection would be hung... as time went on, we the library decided that with the full year that the library and the gallery was going to be open, that they would show different artists from the area, mostly throughout the year," said Gallery Manager Lee Anne Parker.
Parker has been volunteering there since 2016, and she has overseen the annual exhibition since 2017.
The Crowell Gallery was opened to the public in 2000 "to show the collection of contemporary Southern Vermont artists that Robert and Muriel Crowell had purchased from local artists." Parker explained.
The gallery used to be a 200-year-old barn on the Moore property that was converted to the gallery joined with an adjoining portion of the building.
The building itself was restored by local artisans Dan and Gary MacArthur, Parker said.
Robert Kroll would drive around and visit artists with his second wife, Muriel.
"If there was stuff that he liked or she liked [...] he would purchase it and bring it back and put it, you know, it would become part of the collection," Parker said. "So kind of a labor of love."
This Arts item by Alyssa Grosso was written for The Commons.