On Wednesday, John Stomberg, director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, will give a talk at the Aidron Duckworth Art Museum in Meriden as part of a benefit dinner for the museum.
The subject of his talk, “Art & Brain: How Objects Save the Liberal Arts from Demise in the Digital Age,” happens to dovetail quite handily with a current exhibition of work by Michele Ratté at the Duckworth.
Ratté, of Saxtons River, Vt., not only makes prints but also sculpture from stones, fishing line and nets, and silk painted with gold leaf.
In such works as Sea Pelt, Paean, and Ocean Flower, Ratté is working with unique materials that are not mass-produced.
Her sculptures, which range in size from something that would fit on a table or column to large hangings that would need ample wall space to accommodate them, are meticulously wrought. They suggest animated forms of marine life that wave and sway under water, or are found on the shoreline or in tidal pools.
The sculptures demonstrate that there really are no shortcuts for artists who want to make meaningful work. It takes hours of conception and labor to arrive at something that appears to be effortless and instinctive.
The gold leaf-painted silk Ratté incorporates into her sculptures serves to remind us that, to achieve the luminous, rippling effects the sculptures have, only certain materials will do. The kind of painstaking, intricate techniques she uses to give the silks the appearance of seaweed, fish nets or jellyfish are the antithesis of the culture’s emphasis on speed and convenience.
Ratté also exhibits prints with subjects similar to the textile sculptures but they are pared down and leaner, with their own economy, precision and self-contained energy.
The time it takes to look at and study art like Ratté’s reminds us that the brain needs and is rewarded by such periods of reflection, even if it’s only a few minutes in front of a painting or sculpture.
Our minds want to pause and linger over art because it provokes our curiosity and sense of aesthetics. Whether we end up “liking” the art is almost beside the point. It’s the process of intellectual and sensory engagement with something three-dimensional that matters.
Michele Ratté’s work is up at the Aidron Duckworth Museum in Meriden through Oct. 30. Also at the museum: “Developing Dimension,” works by Aidron Duckworth, and the sculpture of Terry Lund, on the grounds. All exhibits close Oct. 30, when the museum closes for the season.
There are a few tickets left for the benefit and Stomberg talk, which begin at the museum at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Tickets are $55 per person. For information and to reserve call the museum at 603-469-3444.
In its new exhibition “Toward Form,” which opens this weekend, BigTown Gallery in Rochester, Vt., looks at how artists can use form and color in radically different ways. Rick Skogsberg paints women’s vintage shoes with a variety of designs, Laurie Sverdlove transforms landscapes by using psychedelic colors and Marcy Hermansader constructs black-on-black collages. There will be an opening reception Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. The show continues through Nov. 19. Also at BigTown, the paintings of Nancy H. Taplin are on view in the Projects Gallery through Oct. 22.
Something unusual comes this way in Claremont: On Friday, Maria Castellano-Usery, an artist from Brunswick, Maine, will be painting in the front window of 84 Pleasant St., (next to the Pleasant Street Restaurant) in downtown Claremont as part of a day-long “pop-up” art show of her work and a “Paint-a-Thon.”
Since 2015, Castellano-Usery, who advertises her efforts as “philanthrophy for the budget-conscious,” has been collaborating with local communities in Maine to hold pop-up art shows, which feature raffles that offer her finished painting as a prize.
The point is to donate proceeds to local charities. The money raised from the Claremont raffle will be donated to the organization Realtors Against Homelessness; and 10 percent of the sales from the pop-up art show will also go to Realtors Against Homelessness.
Castellano-Usery will be painting from around 10 a.m. to around 6 p.m. The finished painting will be around 8 inches square. Raffle Tickets are available at 84 Pleasant St., and on-line at www.carii.com/fundraising/Paint-a-ThonMakeYourselfAtHome.
Also in Claremont this weekend: Marilyn Ray, a radiologist who works at a number of hospitals in the Upper Valley, exhibits paintings inspired by the Baha’i faith at the Claremont Opera House’s John D. Bennett atrium. There will be an opening reception Saturday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The show runs through Nov. 17.
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.
ArtisTree, Pomfret. “Local Color,” an exhibition of work by area artists on the theme of fall, continues through Oct. 30.
Cider Hill Art Gallery and Gardens, Windsor. Gary Milek exhibits his work in the gallery.
Converse Free Library, Lyme. “Paul Klee: The World Through My Lens” continues through Dec. 23.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon. Painter Gloria King Merritt exhibits new work in the atrium gallery space on the 4th floor of the Williamson building. There will be a public reception next Thursday from 5 to 6:30 p.m., and the show run through Dec. 31.
Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vt. “Landscapes After Ruskin: Redefining the Sublime,” curated by photographer Joel Sternfeld, continues through Nov. 27.
Hanover League Fine Craft Gallery, Hanover. 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 Dec. 11.
Hopkins Center, Hanover. The sculpture and paintings of artist-in-residence Diana Al-Hadid are on view in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery, and “Speak! Listen! CT! A Kaleidoscope of Architectural Elements for Public Space,” with work by Zenovia Toloudi of Studio Z, and students, is in the Strauss Gallery, both through Nov. 13.
Howe Library, Hanover. An exhibition of colorful abstract work by Amy Fortier, “Mandalascopes and Faux-zaics” is up through Nov. 29.
Library Arts Center, Newport. “Voices & Visions: Empowerment Through Art,” an exhibition addressing sexual and domestic violence continues through Oct. 28.
Long River Galleries, Lyme. “Following the Silk Road: From India to New England,” works by textile artist Ann Peck, through Nov. 6.
Main Street Museum, White River Junction. The museum’s exhibition of memorabilia associated with the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and early 1960s continues through Oct. 28.
Mill at Maxham Meadow Way, Woodstock. The Mill exhibits the work of Rachel Gross, Lisa Kippen, Anne Mapplebeck, Amy Morel, and Edythe Wright. The artists are part of an ongoing critique group. The mill will be open from noon to 4 p.m. this Saturday and next Saturday. There will be a closing reception on Oct. 29 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Norwich Public Library. “Mixed Bag,” an exhibition of abstract and realist work by Lynda Knisley and Linda Reeves Potter runs through Oct. 28.
OSHER in Hanover. Photographer Thomas Urgo shows his work in the exhibition “World Views” at the OSHER offices at 7 Lebanon Street in Hanover through Dec. 20.
Royalton Memorial Library, South Royalton. Sue Lenfest shows works related to nature and agriculture through Oct. 22.
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish. Multimedia artist Candice Ivy exhibits her work in the exhibition “Within Above Below the Skin,” on view in the Picture Gallery through Oct. 31.
Scavenger Gallery, White River Junction. Margaret Jacobs exhibits her sculpture in “Lost and Found” through Dec. 2.
SculptureFest, Woodstock. The annual celebration of three-dimensional art continues through foliage season. “Grounding,” a show of site-specific work curated by sculptors Jay Mead and Edyth Wright, is on view at the King Farm, while the Prosper Road site also shows new work. For more information, go to sculpturefest.org.
Tunbridge Public Library. “Facial Recognition,” a show by painter Marianne McCann, continues until Nov. 4.
Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction. Sue Schiller and Nancy Wightman exhibit their prints through Nov. 30. A reception is planned for First Friday, Nov. 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. Two Rivers Printmaking Studio is also exhibiting work related to Northern Stage’s current and upcoming 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. Works by Brenda Garand, through Dec. 15.