Since the 19th-century caricaturists, who embroidered their illustrations with text, artists have combined words and images to comment on society.
The most prominent assemblages of words and imagery in our own era are comics, an art form that continues to expand its possibilities as new practitioners adapt it to new stories.
It makes sense to me that when other art forms mix text and image, it has to be through the prism of cartooning. Edward Gorey, because of his way of looking back to the 19th century, could get away with putting a line of text beneath an image. (I’m thinking mainly of his “Blemished Escutcheons,” which appeared in the Tina Brown-era New Yorker. My favorite reads: “Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymns Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse.”) Who else could get away with that?
Comics and painting have been in dialogue at least since the Pop era and Roy Lichtenstein. That longer-lived Pop icon Ed Ruscha still messes around with words in his prints and paintings, and photographer Jeff Brouws, whose work draws heavily on Ruscha’s, specializes in depictions of language in the landscape.
All this is a way of saying that a show opening this week in White River Junction promises some of the fun to be found in words and paint. “Say nice things to me,” recent work by Brooklyn, N.Y., artist Myra Musgrove, opens Friday in White River Junction’s Scavenger Gallery. Musgrove’s paintings pull together techniques from cartooning, portraiture and 19th-century textile patterns to comment on women’s lives. A reception is planned for 5:30 to 7:30 Friday, along with a tasting of wines from Artisanal Cellars.
Also at First Friday in White River Junction, Two Rivers Printmaking Studio holds its annual “(not so) Silent Auction,” on Friday at the studio in the Tip Top Building. There’s a preview at 4 p.m., on Friday followed by bidding from 5 to 7 p.m.
Amanda Ann Palmer is the artist of the month at Long River Gallery in White River Junction. “Feathers, Ferns and Fish,” prints by Coleen O’Connell, is on view through December. Long River also has curated exhibitions of prints by Elizabeth Mayor and abstract photographs by Richard Wilson to accompany Northern Stage’s production of Jordan at the Barrette Center for the Arts.
An exhibition of hooked rugs and other fiber arts is on view at the Pompanoosuc Mills showroom in East Thetford, through Dec. 2. This is the second such show, which takes place every two years. Among the 25 artists in the show are Kris Burnett, Jennifer Davey, Delsie Hoyt, Peg Irish, Ed O’Keeffe, Mary Jane Peabody, Gisele MacHarg, Nancy Thun, Suzanne Dirmaier and Dana Psoinas.
“Gardening and our distorted relationship with nature,” new paintings by Piermont artist Ben Gitchel, including a painstakingly made acrylic on canvas, goes on view at Piermont Public Library with a reception from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Gitchel will be on hand to talk about his work.
The Center for the Arts hosts an art walk in New London from 5:30 to 7:30 on Friday. CFA members show work at the New London Inn and Bar Harbor Bank and Trust; Blue Loon Bakery shows photographs by Scott Snyder; Whipple Hall hosts work by Kearsarge Middle School students; and Tatewell Gallery features mixed media work by Elizabeth D’Amico, photographs by Rick Stockwell and sculpture by Ann Feeley.
Also on Friday, La Casa, Dartmouth College’s Spanish and Portuguese Language Living Learning Community, will celebrate the Day of the Dead by dedicating two ofrendas, Day of the Dead altars, in memory of migrant and indigenous women and children who have lost their lives. The dedication is planned for 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday in the main hallway of Baker-Berry Library.
Mark your calendars: The Aidron Duckworth Art Museum has closed, but is holding a tag sale to clean out its former Meriden schoolhouse from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from Nov. 9 to 24. The sale includes many of Aidron Duckworth’s personal effects, from furniture to books to tools and art work he’d collected.
Longtime Upper Valley photographer Jon Gilbert Fox gives a talk at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Morrill Education Center in Strafford that sounds like an ode to his adopted hometown: “How the town of Strafford changed my life and took my career in a whole new direction.” There will also be a raffle for prints of Fox’s work and calendars for sale.
AVA Gallery and Art Center, Lebanon. “Remembering Aya,” a retrospective of work by longtime AVA artist Aya Itagaki; “Borders of Consciousness: Dreaming in Color,” work in fiber and mixed media Shari Wolf Boraz, of Lebanon, and color photographs by Mary Gerakaris, of Canaan; “Compost Compositions,” photographs by Evelyn Swett, of Hanover, who will give a talk about her work at 5 p.m. on Friday; “Martha Stein: A 40-Year Retrospective.” Stein, of Windsor, works in fiber and other materials. Her daughter Leah Stein will lead her dance company into AVA on Saturday to perform a work choreographed for the exhibition.
Matt Brown Fine Art, in Lyme, holds a reception for the artists of “Wild about Watercolor!” a show of paintings made with water media celebrating connections to Lyme and Thetford, from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Through Nov. 30.
Chelsea Public Library. “Cats, Landscapes and Figures,” mixed media prints by Deborah Sacks. Through Thursday.
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Woodstock. “Creating an American Landscape,” a show of eight of Carleton Watkins’ Yosemite photographs, reproduced from originals in the Billings Family Archives. Through Thursday.
Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, Cornish. “On View in Cornish: American Art at the Picture Gallery, 1948–2019” looks back at all of the exhibitions sponsored by the Saint-Gaudens Memorial and features work by Maxfield Parrish, Marguerite Zorach, Paul Sample, Varujan Boghosian, Ben Frank Moss and Shona Macdonald. Through Thursday.
Kendal at Hanover. “Virginia Rice Kelsey: A 64-Year Retrospective” is in the first floor gallery space at Kendal. Through Thursday.
Sculpture Fest, Woodstock. Contemporary sculpture in outdoor settings at the Prosper Road home of Charlet and Peter Davenport, at the nearby King Farm, and at the Woodstock History Center, which hosts “Vermont Carvers & Sculptors Exhibition,” work by 15 Vermont sculptors. Both the King Farm and History Center shows are open through Thursday. The work at the Davenports’ is on view year-round.
Chandler Gallery, Randolph. “An Archive of Feeling,” a group show curated by J. Turk. Through Sunday.
Cider Hill Gardens and Gallery, Windsor. Limited edition prints are on display Fridays through Sundays, through Dec. 1.
Betty Grant Gallery, Converse Free Library, Lyme. hosts “Serendipity,” street photography by Hanover resident Jim Lustenader. Through Dec. 30.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Arts Program, Lebanon. Fall exhibitions feature photographer Karen Bobotas, painters Jan Fowler, Amy Hook-Therrien and Ann Young, pastelist Phyllis Orem, textiles by Delsie Hoyt, the Saxtons River Art Guild and Hartford High School Art Students.
Fairlee Town Hall Gallery shows recent linocut prints by Todd Renninger, through Nov. 28.
The Great Hall, Springfield, Vt. “Alchemy: Metal, Mystery & Magic,” features work by Jeanne Carbonetti, Sabrina Fadial, Alexandra Heller, Peter Heller, Pat Musick, Dan O’Donnell, Gerald Stoner and Johnny Swing, and is on view into February.
Hall Art Foundation, in Reading, Vt. Shows include “Made in Vermont,” works by Vermont artists; exhibitions by Richard Artschwager and the super-realist artist Malcolm Morley. On the grounds: “English Sculptors in New England.” Admission is $10, except on the first Friday of the month, when it’s free. Through November.
Ledyard Gallery, Howe Library, Hanover. “Watercolor Journal: A work in progress,” paintings by Elizabeth Greene. Through Dec. 4.
Library Arts Center, Newport. The Soo Nipi Quilters Guild exhibits around 70 quilts, including three by the late Marie Bugbee, the show’s featured artist.
North Common Arts, Chelsea. “Hanging Around,” figures made of found materials by Barre, Vt., artist Janet Van Fleet. Through Nov. 9
Piermont Library. “Faces of Piermont,” photographs by Mel Gitchel.
Tunbridge Public Library. “Colors in Life,” paintings by members of the Connecticut River Chapter of the Vermont Watercolor Society. Through Nov. 10.
White River Gallery, South Royalton. “Breathe the Wind,” paintings by Kate Emlen. Through Dec. 20.
Zollikofer Gallery, White River Junction. Pastels by Diane Taylor-Moore and watercolor and oil paintings by Cathy Finnegan. Through Dec. 30.
Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.
