Haitian art doesn’t often get a viewing in the Upper Valley, but a show currently on view in the Atrium Gallery in the Claremont Opera House has an unusual provenance by way of Florida and Vermont.
The 14 works by four of Haiti’s best-known postwar artists are part of a collection of some 60 paintings that were donated this January to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Hartland by Jack Casey, a town resident who, in the late 1960s, founded and owned the Tavern at Four Corners, now Skunk Hollow Tavern.
The collection is to be sold and the proceeds from the sale will help the church pay for the restoration of a building it purchased last year, said Jill Crowley, a Hartland resident, and a member of the church’s board of trustees.
The building, which is around the corner from the church on Route 12, formerly housed the Ladies Aid Society, a post office and several businesses but now stands empty, said Crowley.
The eventual plan for the building is to use it for both church and community needs, said the Rev. Paul Sawyer, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church.
“We’re exploring all the possibilities for a couple of years,” Sawyer said.
Casey traveled to Haiti over the years and became familiar with the Haitian art scene. During the 1980s and early ’90s he owned three art galleries in Florida that sold Haitian art.
Over time he has sold off his collection, and as a longstanding member of the Unitarian Universalist church, said he hopes that the donation of the Haitian art will help the church move toward its goal of restoring the former Ladies Aid building.
The paintings in the Claremont Opera House show were curated by Christine Hawkins, an artist who lives in Claremont and is on the opera house board of trustees. (Her work is also on view at the Library Arts Center in Newport as part of its Juried Regional Exhibit, which closes today.)
The artists included in the exhibition, Etienne Chavannes, Levoy Exil, Gerard Fortune and Richard Antilhomme, depict scenes from Haitian rural and city life, as well as figures significant in Vodou, one of the religions predominant in Haiti. Vodou, a Creole word, derives from West and Central African religious practices brought to Haiti in the 17th century by people brought as slaves to the Caribbean.
During World War II, Casey said, an American named DeWitt Peters was sent to Haiti by the U.S. government to teach English. Peters helped to found the Centre d’Art in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, which became an important vehicle for artists looking to show and sell their work.
Prior to the founding of the Centre, Casey said, artists weren’t making work with the intention of selling it. “It was part of their religion, and many of the most famous Haitian artists were Vodou priests,” he said.
The paintings on view in the Atrium Gallery don’t draw on the tradition of the Western European salon or academy and so have been labeled by some as “primitive” or “naive” art, a designation that seems beside the point.
There are lyrical landscapes that show verdant green hills and meadows, with chickens roosting in trees, while in other works black cats and dogs, which appear to be rooted in the Vodou tradition, saunter on two legs across fields.
The paintings that derive from Vodou are intricately designed and exuberantly colored works that bring the viewer directly into contact with what are called “loas,” spirits that act as intermediaries between humans and the Vodou supreme being, Bondye, a derivation of the French “bon dieu,” or good God. In that, the Haitian works on view don’t seem so far removed from the religious paintings of the Italian or Netherlandish Renaissance, which depict human awe and humility in the face of God, Jesus and Mary.
“It’s a powerful, unique, and interesting style of art. I think there will be some folks who will be really excited to see it,” Sawyer said.
To see the work in the Atrium Gallery, interested viewers have to call the Claremont Opera House Box Office at 603-542-0064 to arrange a viewing. The show is up through Aug. 12.
Asbury Shorts, a film festival devoted to short movies from all over the world, is coming next Thursday, June 23, to the Flickinger Auditorium at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden.
The festival, which is in its 35th year, presents a national touring program that includes both recent films and past selections. The screening begins at 7 p.m. and proceeds will benefit the Aidron Duckworth Art Museum in Meriden.
Among the films being screened are Love at First Sight, a love story about two people in their 70s, which stars John Hurt and Phyllida Law. It was nominated for a British Academy Award for short film.
Fait d’Hiver from Belgian director Dirk Belian is a dark comedy that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in the early 2000s.
Tickets are $15. Reserve tickets online at aidronduckworthmuseum.org or call 603-469-3444.
ArtisTree Gallery in South Pomfret hosts “Painting the Air: Landscapes Inspired by our National Parks,” a show of work by artist Joan Hoffmann that opens Friday with a reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The show runs through July 9. The show was exhibited previously at the Tunbridge Library.
An exhibition of landscapes and cityscapes by Lyme painter and illustrator Meg McLean has recently opened at the Kilton Public Library in West Lebanon. It is on view through Sept. 30.
The Chandler Gallery in Randolph opens an exhibition on “Boundaries” on Saturday with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Curated by Central Vermont artists Gowri Savoor and Angelo Arnold, the show features the work of Arnold, Savoor, Galen Cheney, Jason Galligan-Baldwin, Karen Henderson, Liz Kauffman, Kerrin McCadden, Rachel Moore, Evan Premo, Jason Swift and Mary Zompetti. The evening will include a poetry reading by McCadden, winner of the Vermont Book Award 2015, and a live performance by Premo, who is also a composer and musician, and Vermont opera singer (and Lebanon native) Mary Bonhag.
On Tuesday, the Main Street Museum of Art in White River Junction celebrates both the summer solstice and Make Music Day, a global cultural holiday celebrated in over 120 countries. This year Vermont is the first state in the U.S. to join in the celebration. The event, which runs from 4 to 7 p.m., is partly music show, and partly open mic.
Windsor-born artist Loren Howard, who now lives in North Sutton, N.H., is exhibiting work at Chelsea’s Agora Gallery in New York City. The show runs through July 5.
Artist Helen Shulman exhibits 20 paintings at the Quechee Club on Main Street in Quechee through June 17. There will be an opening reception Friday from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in White River Junction offers workshops on printmaking throughout the summer, beginning Saturday and Sunday, June 25 and June 26, with “Woodblock Printing: The Freedom of Limitations with Amparo Carvajal-Hufschmid,” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. The fee is $195, with a $20 materials fee.
From June 27 through June 30, Patty Castellini will offer an introductory printmaking class for teens camp, from 9 a.m. to noon. The fee is $180, plus a $20 materials fee.
In July, Rachel Gross will offer a five-day intensive introductory class on printmaking from Monday through Friday, July 18 through July 22, 9 a.m. to noon daily. The cost is $225, with a $20 materials fee.
From July 31 through Aug. 1, Dan Welden, who is known for his solar plate techniques, leads a workshop on solar plate printing. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and there is a $295 course fee, which includes materials. Plates, frosted glass, and other materials can be pre-ordered and available for purchase from Welden at a discounted rate.
Finally, Janet Cathey will give a course for aspiring printmakers age 12 and up: “Experimental Play with Gelli and Collograph Printmaking,” on Tuesday, Aug. 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fee is $95, plus a $20 materials fee.
Workshop participants receive a 20 percent discount on a 60-day studio membership the month following the workshop.
For information and registration go to tworiversprintmaking.org, or call 802-295-5901. The email address is TRPS@sover.net.
Arabella, Windsor. The gallery exhibits works by local artists and artisans in a variety of media, including jewelry, oils, acrylics, photography, watercolors, pastels and textiles.
AVA Gallery and Art Center, Lebanon. Artists Brenda Garand, William Haust, Dan Gottsegen, Greg Gorman and Liz Sibley Fletcher show their work through July 13. Fletcher will give a gallery talk on Saturday, June 18 at 4 p.m; and Gottsegen will give a gallery talk on Wednesday, June 22 at 6 p.m.
BigTown Gallery, Rochester, Vt. “Director’s Choice,” a show of work by Varujan Boghosian, Ira Matteson, Helen Matteson, Nicholas Santoro, Hugh Townley, John Udvardy, and Pat dipaula Klein, continues through July 9. “Earthly,” an exhibition of drawings by Marcy Hermansader, is on view through July 16.
Cider Hill Art Gallery and Gardens, Windsor. Gary Milek exhibits egg tempera paintings in the show “Plant Forms” through June.
Converse Free Library, Lyme. The collages of Barbara Newton can be seen through June 30.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon. Watercolors by Marlene Kramer, digital art by Eric Hasse, photographs by John Rush, oil paintings by Emily Ridgway, and pastels, acrylics and oils by Gail Barton, are on view through June.
Aidron Duckworth Museum, Meriden. “Color–A Theory in Action,” a show of works by Duckworth runs through July 24. An exhibition of prints and collages by Philadelphia artist Steven Ford is on view through July 24. The sculpture of Terry Lund, on the grounds, is on view through Oct. 30.
Great Hall, Springfield, Vt. An exhibition of photographs documenting life in Springfield, taken by students participating in the Springfield Photovoice initiative, continues through July.
Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vt. “Landscapes After Ruskin: Redefining the Sublime,” curated by photographer Joel Sternfeld, continues through Nov. 27.
Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College. The Senior Major exhibition is on view in both the Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries through Sunday.
Howe Library, Hanover. “Paths, Streams and Days of Small Things,” a show of more than 25 pastels and water colors by Lynda Knisley, runs through July 27.
Library Arts Center, Newport. The Juried Regional Exhibition, a group show, runs through today.
Local Buzz Coffee Shop, Bradford, Vt. Portraits by members of the Dodson Studio Group are on view through June 30.
Long River Galleries and Gifts, Lyme. “Paradise Found,” a show of oil paintings by South Woodstock artist Liliana Paradiso runs through July 4.
Royalton Memorial Library, South Royalton. The exhibition “The VLS Community,” which features art work by people affiliated with the Vermont Law School, is on view through Saturday.
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish. The park is open for the season through October. “Arrangements,” work by 2014 Saint-Gaudens Fellow Kirsten Hassenfeld, is on view through July 18.
Scavenger Gallery, White River Junction. “Cataclysms,” a series of pastels of cyclones by Randolph artist Laurie Sverdlove, are on view through June 28.
Tunbridge Library. “Quartets,” a show by artists Janet Cathey and Kristen Johnson, is on display until Sept. 3.
White River Gallery at BALE, South Royalton. The oil paintings of Charlotte, Vt. artist James Vogler are on view through June 24.
Nicola Smith can be reached at nsmith@vnews.com.