Art shows are opening this weekend all over the Upper Valley, many of them with a holiday theme. At this time of year, the distance between an art gallery and a store grows smaller.
There’s an exception to that trend. A retrospective of work by Hanover artist Robin Nuse opens Saturday in the Ledyard Gallery of Hanover’s Howe Library. The show is on view through December.
Nuse, who grew up in Pennsylvania and learned to paint from her grandfather, the Impressionst painter Roy C. Nuse, died May 3 at age 67. She studied photography at Rhode Island School of Design.
Known for donating her work to charity auctions for worthy causes, Nuse has paintings on walls all over the Upper Valley. While the exhibition includes a selection of her work, a video accompanying the show features many more.
According to her obituary, Nuse organized a retrospective show of her grandfather’s work, which had fallen into obscurity as painting turned to abstract expressionism and minimalism. (All artwork is obscure to some degree. A relatively small slice of the public knows who Jeff Koons or David Hockney are.) It’s good to see her work recognized in a similar way. Nuse’s husband, Arthur Gardiner, has organized the exhibition over the past six months and is still unearthing slides of her work from the 1980s to 2008, when she started making digital records of her art.
Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in White River Junction opens its annual Holiday Show with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday.
Scavenger Gallery in White River Junction hosts “Say nice things to me,” recent work by Brooklyn, N.Y., artist Myra Musgrove and holds a reception and wine tasting from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. Also on view are works by Rich Fedorchak, Ria Blaas, Lois Beatty and Luciana Frigerio.
Long River Gallery also holds open hours for White River Junction’s First Friday, as do other venues, many of which also will host live music.
AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon holds an open house on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Artists will open their studios to visitors and there will be music as well as art demonstrations going on throughout the day, including a preview of the Christmas Revels at 4 p.m. See AVA’s website, avagallery.org, for a full listing. The day ends with an opening reception from 5 to 7 for AVA’s Holiday Exhibition, a massive group show that’s on view through Dec. 28.
Windsor artist Amy Hook-Therrien is among the artists with work in “I am …,” a multi-media exhibition in the Vermont Arts Council’s Spotlight Gallery in Montpelier that tackles the question of what it means to be a Vermont artist. Through Dec. 20.
AVA Gallery and Art Center, Lebanon. New Members Gallery shows work by 19 of the nonprofit art center’s artist-members. Watercolorist Margaret Dwyer shows work in the lobby. Through Dec. 28.
BigTown Gallery, Rochester, Vt. “Family Matters,” work by outsider artists Jordan Laura MacLachlan and the late Morton Bartlett. Through February.
Center for Art + Design, Colby-Sawyer College, New London. Art by members of Colby-Sawyer’s art faculty. Through Feb. 14.
Center for the Arts, New London. 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.
Chelsea Public Library. Artworks by five generations of the Dunleavy/Reed family
Betty Grant Gallery, Converse Free Library, Lyme. “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.
Gifford Medical Center, Randolph. Paintings by Brookfield, Vt., artist Jyl Emerson. Through Jan. 2.
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.
Library Arts Center, Newport. “Gallery of Gifts” holiday show. Through Dec. 22.
Long River Gallery, White River Junction. Hartland potter Amanda Ann Palmer is the artist of the month. “Feathers, Ferns and Fish,” prints by Coleen O’Connell, through Dec. 31.
North Common Arts, Chelsea. Assemblages of found objects by longtime builder John Parker.
Piermont Public Library. “Gardening and our distorted relationship with nature,” new paintings by Piermont artist Ben Gitchel.
Sculpture Fest, Woodstock. Contemporary sculpture in the fields at the Prosper Road home of Charlet and Peter Davenport.
Taylor Gallery, Kimball Union Academy, Meriden. “In the Eternal Now,” a student selection of paintings by Quechee artist Helen Shulman. Through Dec. 21.
Tunbridge Public Library. “My Winter World,” acrylic and watercolor paintings by Barnard artist Kate Reeves. Through Feb. 18.
White River Gallery, South Royalton. “Breathe the Wind,” paintings by Kate Emlen. Through Dec. 20.
Zollikofer Gallery, White River Junction. “The North Country — How We See It,” 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.
