A stroll down South Main Street in White River Junction shows you how much art has changed the face of the town in the past five to 10 years.
Beginning at Main Street Museum you can, in five minutes or less, walk to the Hotel Coolidge, where the Zollikofer Gallery has rotating exhibitions, and continue to Scavenger Gallery which features the jewelry of Stacy Hopkins and other artists.
And you can now add to the list a “pop-up” branch of Long River Gallery and Gifts in Lyme, which for the next few months will occupy the space once rented by White River Yarns. Farther down South Main is, of course, the Center for Cartoon Studies.
Turn the corner onto Gates Street and you have the Barrette Center for the Arts, which has an exhibition space. Head back to Main Street, turn north and you have the Tip Top building, which houses Two Rivers Printmaking Studio as well as a rabbit warren of artists’ studios.
It’s worth stopping into the Hotel Coolidge to see the abstract paintings of Mary Jane Morse, whose Winter River Series, in moody tones of gray, brown, black and white, hangs on the walls of the lobby. Morse is not painting a picturesque landscape of trees and river in dappled light but the worn stones and clefts of rock in a river bed, seen through water. The colors are deep and dark, but not murky. Morse is able to get the geological forms down to their essence. Also on view are Morse’s paintings from the Black Series. The exhibition continues through Jan. 18.
If you step through the Coolidge lobby into what is now Long River Gallery and Gifts South, make sure to look at the weavings of Doug Masury, of Henniker, N.H.
These are remarkable wall hangings of rigorous workmanship and complexity. Masury weaves in the subtlest gradations of color and shifts in the warp and weft, so that the lines flow from one to the other. He also adorns the weavings with smaller beads, bones and buttons from Asia and Africa. His sense of color is instinctively right, and the life that jumps out of the weavings is quite exhilarating.
Long River is also exhibiting the figures and sculptures of artist-in-residence Anna Hranovska Vincelette, who creates both large-scale imaginative, mixed media figures that seem to spring from fairy tales, and smaller ceramic sculptures of fish, turtles and other animals into which she has tucked hidden pockets and spaces.
If you look more closely at some of the turtles and fish, a human face emerges from the shells and scales. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and Monday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you want to see Hranovska Vincelette at work, stop by the gallery in the evenings after 7.
Stacy Hopkins’ Scavenger Gallery, at 41 South Main St., is currently exhibiting some large-scale wood work by Ria Blaas. Among the pieces to admire are a chair, painted black, and made from a single piece of butternut that has Shaker lines, and some handsome large wooden bowls.
The word “bowl” makes them sound more conventional than they really are: Blaas has enhanced the naturally-occurring properties of the wood so that they have the weight and presence of a kind of living sculpture. This Friday Hopkins will hold a wine tasting with some specialty, small-batch wines. And when you leave the gallery look up at the raven over the door: another Blaas piece.
Recently opened at the Ledyard Gallery in the Howe Library in Hanover is an exhibition of watercolors by Marion Kummel. “A Life in Watercolors” runs through Jan. 3.
The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen store at 13 Lebanon St. in Hanover will host jeweler Lucy Golden on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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. The annual holiday exhibition and sale continues through Dec. 24. The gallery will offer additional hours on Mondays, Dec. 12 and 19 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 24 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
BigTown Gallery, Rochester, Vt. “Figuration,” which features the works of Lucy Mink-Covello, Mark Goodwin and Fulvio Testa, runs through Feb. 25. There will be a reception for the artists on Saturday, Dec. 17 from 3 to 6 p.m. The show of textile art by Randolph artist Bhakti Ziek in the “Projects” Gallery ends Friday.
Center for the Arts, New London. The Center is sponsoring the 2016 Regional juried art show on exhibit at the New London Inn at 353 Main St. The show runs through Jan. 28
Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph. The annual Artisans Holiday Market runs through Dec. 21.
Converse Free Library, Lyme. “Paul Klee: The World Through My Lens,” work by the Lyme-based photographer, continues through Dec. 23.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon. The photography of Nicolas Doak; acrylics and pastels by Norman Rhodes; work by members of the Upper Valley Ship Modeler’s Guild; fiber art by Dianne Shullenberger; digital art by Gloria King Merritt and oils and acrylics by Prabhjot Kaur are on view throughout the hospital through Dec. 31. For information call the Dartmouth-Hitchcock arts program at 603-650-6187.
Hanover League Fine Craft Gallery. The autumn exhibition features work by ceramicists Robin Ascher and David Ernster, textile artists Rachel Kahn and Kathleen Litchfield, and photographer Rosamond Orford.
Hood Downtown, Hanover. The photographs of Laetitia Soulier are on view in the exhibition “The Fractal Architectures” through Sunday.
Kilton Public Library, West Lebanon. An exhibition of work by Enfield painter Penny Koburger continues through January.
Library Arts Center, Newport. LAC’s annual holiday Gallery of Gifts is open through Dec. 23.
Long River Galleries and Gifts, Lyme. “Of Transcendent Joy,” an exhibition of landscape paintings by the late Deborah Frankel Reese is on view through Jan. 8.
Osher at Dartmouth, Hanover. Photographer Thomas Urgo shows his work in “World Views” at the Osher offices at 7 Lebanon St., through Dec. 20. Also showing photography are Anne Baird, Janice Fischel, Nora Gould, John Lehet and Lilian Shen. Hours are Monday-Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Royalton Memorial Library, South Royalton. A show of work by 20th century commercial artist Louis Chap is on view through Feb. 18.
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish. The Saint-Gaudens NHS has closed its picture gallery for the season. The grounds are still open to visitors.
SculptureFest, Woodstock. The annual celebration of three-dimensional art continues. While some works have been removed, 80 percent of the show is still on view. “Grounding,” a show of site-specific work curated by sculptors Jay Mead and Edythe Wright, is on view at the King Farm. For more information, go to sculpturefest.org.
Tunbridge Public Library. Anne and Mitch Beck, of Royalton, exhibit their mixed-media collages through Jan. 13.
Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction. The Holiday Print Show, where prints by studio members are on sale as unique presents for the holidays, runs through Jan. 31.
Two Rivers member-artists are also exhibiting work related to Northern Stage’s productions of Macbeth and A Christmas Carol in the lobby of the Barrette Center for the Arts, through December.
White River Gallery at BALE, South Royalton. “Touching at a Distance,” works by Brenda Garand, ends Sunday. Hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Or by appointment: contact gallery director and curator, Dian Parker at dianparker9@gmail.com.
Nicola Smith can be reached at nsmith@vnews.com.