BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Canal Street Art Gallery presents the “Form and Function” group show, the “Aspen & Sequoia” duo show, and the Sandy Sherman “Grotoons” solo show, all open Oct. 16 – Dec. 13. Join the gallery on Oct. 16, from 5-7 p.m., for Bellows Falls Third Friday and an opening reception for the artists featuring live jazz by Ashok & Co. All gallery events are free and open to the public; for wheelchair accessibility, call 802-289-0104.
The “Aspen & Sequoia” duo show, by artists Aspen Lapham Fersch and Sequoia Isis Mayer, both based in Rochester, Vt., presents a mixed-media collaboration including portraits of impactful family members and friends, and found objects of deep personal importance. These two series, titled “Mod(ern) Portraits” and “In a Jar” are inspired by both artists’ love for the natural world as expressed by observing and immersing themselves in nature, along with travel, encouraging kindness, and the process of learning new things. “In a Jar” is influenced by the book of the same title by Deborah Marcero. Both Aspen and Sequoia are students at the Penn Program, a place- and project-based, independent education program, in Rochester, Vt.
Sherman, based in Stoddard, N.H., has developed a series of paintings titled “Grotoons” inspired by art historical “grotesques,” especially figures which appeal to a certain bizarreness, invoke emotions of sympathetic pity, and combine with humor. Examples in painting of such creatures, often mixed between animals and humans, are seen in the margins of illuminated manuscripts, where they are known as a “drollery.” In other times of history, grotesques were developed into entire systems of ornamentation and decoration using foliage, garlands, and other details along with outlandish and senseless human and animal figures to embellish interior architecture. Sherman’s “Grotoons” paintings are being offered as hand-touched and varnished archival pigment prints on canvas, mounted, matted, and framed by the artist.
The “Form and Function” group show is inspired by the success of the gallery’s Form and Function Shop, and the gallery is pleased to welcome new artwork to Bellows Falls by Chris Archer, Whitney Barrett, Robert Burch, Robert DuGrenier, Terresa Flowers, Judi Forman, Corinne Greenhalgh, Nicholas Kekic, Mark Ragonesse, Susi Ryan, Andy Snyder, Sarah Sweeney, and Almut Yakovleff.
Canal Street Art Gallery is located at 23 Canal Street in historic downtown Bellows Falls, Vt., and is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday, from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., and the third Friday of every month, from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.canalstreetartgallery.com, call 802-289-0104, or email artinfo@canalstreetartgallery.com.