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MONTPELIER, VT—After delaying new exhibits for two years due to the pandemic, the Vermont Arts Council announces “Elements of Shelter,” a new exhibit at the Council’s Sculpture Garden at 136 State St. in Montpelier. Held in partnership with Yestermorrow Design/Build School, the exhibit will be on view starting May 27, 2023 through May 2025. An opening reception will be held from 4-6 p.m., May 27.
“Elements of Shelter” features new works in wood, metal, and glass by Yestermorrow faculty and staff members Thea Alvin, Meg Reinhold, Nick Pattis, Anna Fluri, Sophia Mickelson, and Johno Landsman.
Located in Waitsfield, VT, Yestermorrow Design/Build School teaches hands-on courses in design, construction, woodworking, and architectural craft. Its intensive courses are taught by top architects, builders, and craftspeople from across the country. Yestermorrow students learn the art and wisdom of good design and the skill and savvy of enduring craftsmanship as a single, integrated process.
“We bring our experience as artists, builders, and teachers at Yestermorrow Design/Build School to this collaboration. We are currently interacting with the elements of structure - wood, earth, fire, water, and metal. These represent material resources which, throughout history, have been used to create shelter and provide sustenance,” said exhibit curator Anastasia Laurenzia, who is also director of the Semester Program and Design/Build Faculty at Yestermorrow. “We recognize and bear witness to the housing crisis and the changing climate. As members of a fragile, interconnected global community, we seek opportunities to teach, engage in conversation, and inspire people to create a better, more sustainable world.”
Of the seven segments that make up Vermont’s creative economy, design is the largest, comprising 26% of the state’s creative workforce, or 8,042 jobs, according to the CreateVT Action Plan published in 2021 by the Vermont Creative Network. Yet many enterprises or workers in the design segment may not identify as part of the creative sector.
“We are thrilled to partner with Yestermorrow Design/Build School, one of the nation’s premier centers for sustainable design education, to showcase the creative core of design and building, a field essential to Vermont’s identity as a state of innovative makers rooted in the land,” said Susan Evans McClure, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council. “We hope this Sculpture Garden exhibit will inspire visitors to think more deeply about the intersections of sculpture and architectural design and to consider how design creates an interface between the natural world and our daily lives.”
The Vermont Arts Council Sculpture Garden is a public/private collaboration featuring rotating two-year showings of contemporary work created by Vermont artists. Designed in 2002 by Burlington landscape architects H. Keith Wagner and Associates, it offers a place to picnic or engage in quiet reflection in Montpelier’s downtown.
For more information about the new Sculpture Garden exhibit, Elements of Shelter, visit vermontartscouncil.org/sculpture-garden
About the Vermont Arts Council
The Vermont Arts Council envisions a Vermont where all people have access to the arts and creativity in their lives, education, and communities. Engagement with the arts transforms individuals, connects us more deeply to each other, energizes the economy, and sustains the vibrant cultural landscape that makes Vermont a great place to live. Since 1965, the Council has been the state's primary provider of funding, advocacy, and information for the arts in Vermont. Learn more at www.vermontartscouncil.org
About Yestermorrow Design/Build School
Yestermorrow Design/Build School was founded in 1980 on the belief that the best built structures, furnishings, and environments depend on the joint cooperation of designers, builders, and occupants. The school empowers students to develop skills through an integrated design/build process, and to “think with their hands” whether building a chair or designing a house. Yestermorrow’s hands-on workshops, certificate programs, and semester programs are taught by nationally recognized architects, builders, and craftspeople, and are for people of all ages and experience levels. Learn more at yestermorrow.org
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