Jay Sugarman talks with Aurora Robson and Katherine Gass Stowe—both of whom are associated with the extremely engaging and very thoughtful exhibition entitled Human Nature Walk—which is on display at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center until February 11. Aurora is a highly accomplished environmental artist whose work is being featured and Katherine is the Founder and Chief Curator of the James Company and she also served as the curator of the Human Nature Walk installation. During the program, we'll be learning why and how the exhibition came about, we'll go on a behind-the-scenes tour, and, in the process, come to better understand and appreciate Aurora’s masterful use and transformation of plastic debris into exquisite and captivating artwork.
Aurora Robson awarded Brattleboro Museum & Art Center’s inaugural Award for Arts & Humanity August 2023. Click here for information on her exhibition Human Nature Walk, on view through February 2024.
Aurora Robson, who works with plastic debris, will create an immersive installation inspired by the Connecticut River, local flora, and the immediate surrounding areas of Brattleboro. Robson will construct a reimagined environment made solely out of reclaimed plastic, transforming this chaotic, ubiquitous material into contemplative and colorful spaces of beauty that allude to our experience in nature while inviting a wider dialogue around our role in, and struggles with, climate change. Robson says, “My goal is to highlight the increasing and growing issue of plastic pollution but also the vast potential of this material to be used for art applications through a wondrous and whimsical installation that invites engagement, interaction, human connection and movement.” The exhibition is curated by Katherine Gass Stowe. For more information on the exhibition, essays, events and images, please click here.
Included along with Alison’s incredible images and writing, a foreword by the Dalai Lama, quotes and poems by Michelle Obama and Maya Angelou, among others, Katherine Gass Stowe is deeply touched to have been asked by Alison to contribute an essay to this beautiful book. Alison suddenly passed away in March 2022 and wouldn’t see this extraordinary publication come to light, but she worked tirelessly on it and we know she’d be thrilled. Please order a copy here. Some images included in this book were exhibited at The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in 2020. It was Alison’s first museum show, which opened in March, and of course was the start of the pandemic, but it was also during Women’s History Month and on the 100th occasion of women suffrage in America and we all loved that timely fact. To see images of the exhibition please click here.
Co-curated with Director of Exhibitions Sarah Freemen, Felt Experience is a group exhibition of today’s leading artists working exclusively in felt and includes Marjolein Dallying, Ruth Jeyaveeran, Melissa Joseph, Liam Lee and Stephanie Metz. To see images and details about the exhibition, watch a panel with the artist’s moderated by Sarah Freeman, and watch Katherine Gass Stowe lead a curator’s tour, please click here.
Chairs and Tapestry by Liam Lee
See a virtual tour led by Katherine Gass Stowe of Sequences: Ode to Minor White at The Brattleboro Museum of Art, Vermont with guest appearances by artist Kevin Larmon and Andrea Belag here.
A group exhibition curated by Katherine Gass Stowe of works by Andrea Belag, William Eric Brown, Niqui Carter, Kevin Larmon, featuring a selection of vintage photographs by Minor White, generously on loan from the Bank of America Art Collection, and including an offsite sculpture and projection installation by Jessica Judith Beckwith in an apple orchard titled The Seed, 2021, commissioned by James Company. Installation views by Erin Jenkins. See images and details about the exhibition along with a virtual tour here.
National Geographic Photographer Alison Wright: Women At Work
Steven Kinder: 552,830