Indigenous Heritage Center Exhibit in partnership with the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum
Alnôbaiwi (which roughly translates to ‘In the Abenaki Way’) is a 501-c3 non-profit organization whose members include inter-tribal indigenous citizens, friends, and allies. Alnôbaiwi partnered with the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum for an exhibit that opened on May 3, 2019 in the Ethan Allen homestead Museum Visitor Center with regalia and ritual equipment currently used in modern public ceremonies by the intertribal Alnôbaiwi cultural revitalization group. The materials were arranged by the season of the year that the ritual materials would be used. The exhibited items are taken down periodically to be used by the dancers and performers in ceremonies at the Homestead Campus or on the road. A 20' "Abenaki Year" exhibit is the main focus, with smaller, wall-mounted displays of Vermont Abenaki crops and modern Abenaki art, as well as a display case focusing on the "Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week." The space was then expanded with three additional museum exhibits on June 5, 2021.
On view permanently Location: Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington, VT
Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability
In more than 30 works dating from the mid-1700s through today, Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability considers representations of the disabled and/or ill subject and foregrounds how body-mind variance shapes culture and informs technique, style, and form. Touching on topics from institutionalization and neurodiversity to Deaf gain and crip sex, this exhibition reflects on the ways disability has been stigmatized and centers the plurality and history of disability culture.
Image: Thomas Sgouros, Remembered Landscape 14 • VIII • 96, August 14, 1996. Museum purchase: Gift of the Artist's Development Fund of the Rhode Island Foundation. © The Estate of Thomas Sgouros, courtesy of Cade Tompkins Projects.
On View through July 3, 2022 Location: RISD Museum, Providence, RI
Opium: The Business of Addiction
In the early 19th c., New England traders moved from slave-trading to selling opium to the Chinese in exchange for tea, an American obsession at the time. Other domestic products were exported from China for American use: silk, nankeen, porcelain, and artwork. Along with the Cabots, Peabodys, Delanos, Endicotts, Coolidges and other Boston Brahmin families, eleven members of the extended Forbes family were involved in the “China Trade,” spanning the years 1784 to 1887 and including the First and Second Opium Wars. This exhibition will be installed in the Forbes family home in Milton. Each room will tell a somewhat different story. The exhibition will continue in the Historical Resource room at the Milton Public Library. There the focus will be on current events: the latest facts on the opioid epidemic, the impact of the COVID pandemic on those who have substance use disorders, and research into new treatments.
On View through March 2023 Location: Forbes House Museum, Milton, MA
Bridget Riley: Perceptual Abstraction
Bridget Riley, born in 1931 in London, is one of the most important living British artists. From her earliest period, her work has been heralded in Britain and internationally for her devotion to a specifically geometric abstraction, often described as “optical.” Conceived by the artist, this exhibition includes works dating from her earliest paintings to more recent objects and explores her formal interest in stripes, curves, light, and tonality. Riley also sees this exhibition as a kind of visual dialogue with the Center’s building, designed by Louis I. Kahn. Her geometric references resonate with Kahn’s grid and structural features. Riley studied at the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955, painting figure subjects in a semi-impressionist manner before turning to pointillism and landscapes. In 1960 she evolved her style toward Op-art.
Image: Print made by Bridget Riley, Blue and Pink (detail), 2001, screen print on paper, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of John Elderfield and Jeanne Collins, © Bridget Riley 2020. All rights reserved.
On view through July 24, 2022 Location: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT
Unbeatable Women: Power and Innovation in the work of Women Photographers
Examining women’s rich contributions to modern and contemporary photography, this exhibition presents compelling photographs that address female innovation, power, and identity. Curated in partnership with Connecticut College students, the exhibition showcases the Lyman Allyn’s growing photography collection, augmented by select loans. The title “Unbeatable Women” derives from photojournalist Donna Ferrato and her powerful work fighting domestic abuse. In addition to Ferrato’s imagery, the exhibition includes photographs by artists such as Cindy Sherman, Carrie Mae Weems, and Shirin Neshat, in addition to other photographers in the region.
On View through June 19, 2022 Location: Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT