WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Like many arts jobs, a career as a gallerist can be tough to build, especially if you’re starting in a metropolitan area where the work is competitive.
For Hans Jovine, managing his mother’s gallery on Gates Street in White River Junction has been a way to learn the ropes in a more comfortable, familiar environment.
Until recently, his mother, Olivia Janna Genereaux, used Janna’s Gate Gallery as a studio and retail space for her paintings.
But in the last few months, Jovine, who recently moved home to Hanover after years of running a bespoke jewelry company in South Korea, and his mother have turned their attention to exhibiting and representing other artists.
Jovine, 31, has taken on the responsibilities of gallery manager, which include planning the shows, coordinating with artists and getting their name out to potential buyers.
“I’ve been wanting to work in a gallery and art space; I just wasn’t expecting it to be so rapid,” said Jovine, who has ambitions to open his own gallery one day, perhaps in New York City.
The gallery’s first show, “Custom All The Way,” a collection of steel sculptures from Sharon artist Scott Gordon, opened with a busy reception last Thursday, Aug. 6.
A trained welder, Gordon constructs his pieces from discarded farm implements he finds in old dumps, on hikes and on people’s property. “I try to get as much as I can locally. For me it’s really fun to go out on a treasure hunt,” Gordon said in an interview at last Thursday’s reception.
It’s also a way to incorporate sustainability into his work. “I’m doing something essential for the environment,” Gordon said.
Though the works in “Custom All The Way” are largely abstract, many of them make nods to the figurative.
A tall, curved slab of steel attached to a circular piece is titled “Tortoise,” while two metal implements, one slender, the other short and rounded in the center, are titled “Man” and “Woman,” respectively.
Along with running the gallery, Genereaux and Jovine also have begun to focus on displaying their clients’ work at art fairs outside the Upper Valley. “The farther you go, it’s a very different audience and reception,” Jovine said.
The art fairs also tend to be more profitable than the gallery, though the space still serves as a “good incubator” for the work, Jovine said.
He and Genereaux recently took some of Gordon’s pieces and those of Sharon artist Ria Blaas, another client, to the Hamptons Fine Art Fair in Southampton, N.Y.
Several of Blaas’ pieces sold and Gordon’s work “got a lot of positive reception,” Jovine said.
Blaas, whose many disciplines include sculpture and painting, will exhibit her work at the gallery after Gordon’s show closes in two months.
“Custom All The Way” can be viewed by appointment, and the gallery also shares hours with Lampscapes, the lampshade store that leases the space to Genereaux. The store’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Farm installation
Carol Langstaff, founder of the now-defunct theater troupe Revels North, has an installation opening this Thursday at her home on 135 Mountain Rd. in Sharon, with a reception scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. The work is a mixture of still photographs and images printed on fabric along with mobiles made from old farm items gathered from the land.
Langstaff, who also founded the Flock Dance Troupe, picked up photography after a stroke left her unable to produce performances a few years ago.
“As in all her work, (Langstaff) strives to give us a sense of place and make us all more aware of our surroundings, which will lead us to cherish what we have been given and work harder to take care of it as we pass it on to future generations,” her husband, Jim Rooney, said in an email about the upcoming show.
Learn more by calling 802-765-4454.
QDP: August edition
Babes Bar in Bethel is hosting one of their Queer Dance Parties from 8 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, Aug. 15. DJs this time around will be DJ f@g@tron and Georgia Maxine, a special guest from Portland, Ore. Lalo’s Taqueria also will be serving tacos. Tickets to the party are $5. Learn more at Babes’ Instagram: @babesvt.
Sweeney in concert
Northern Stage is hosting a concert version of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” on Aug. 13 through 16 in White River Junction. The company’s Producing Artistic Director Carol Dunne will return to the Byrne Theater’s stage for the first time since 2018 as Mrs. Lovett, and Managing Director Jason Smoller will make his Northern Stage debut on the oboe. Tickets are $28-$73. For more information, go to northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
