Category: Art & Theater

The Art Roundup 23/11/09

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

Make place cards for Thanksgiving

• For the Thanksgiving table: Twiggs Gallery (254 King St. at the junction of Routes 3 and 4 in Boscawen; twiggsgallery.com) is offering a Thanksgiving-themed make & take craft on Saturday, Nov. 11, from 1 to 3 p.m. Make place cards for the Thanksgiving table with mixed media artist Shela Cunnigham; all the supplies will be available, according to a press release. The gallery is open Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m.

• Celebration: Taste and Art of Greece (32 Hanover St. in Manchester; tasteandartofgreece.com) will celebrate the grand opening of its store and the fifth anniversary of the business with events Friday, Nov. 10, through Sunday, Nov. 12. On Friday, the shop is open from noon to 7 p.m. and will feature Kefi FM Boston Greek music radio station from 5 to 7 p.m. On Saturday, Nov. 11, the store will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. with Greek Girl Artisan Soaps (from noon to 3 p.m.) and an olive oil tasting with Lakonian Olive Oil (2 to 5 p.m.). On Sunday, Nov. 12, the store will be open from 1 to 6 p.m. On Wednesday, Nov. 15, the store will be open from 1 to 7 p.m. with Koukla’s Bus-Tique from 4 to 7 p.m., according to a press release.

• From Mass.: Isaac Fitzgerald will discuss his memoir Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional at Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St. in Concord; gibsonsbookstore.com) on Monday, Nov. 13, at 6:30 p.m. Author Peter Orner (whose book is Still No Word From You: Notes in the Margin) will join Fitzgerald in conversation.

• Holiday comedy: Majestic Theatre (880 Page St. in Manchester; 669-7469, majestictheatre.net) will present the comedy In-Laws, Outlaws and Other People (That Should Be Shot) at its theater on Friday, Nov. 17, through Sunday, Nov. 19, with shows at 7 p.m on Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $15 for 65+ and 17 and under.

• A trip to Bikini Bottom: Kids Coop Theatre presents The Spongebob Musical on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 19, at 1 p.m. at Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway in Derry). Tickets cost $15 in advance; $20 at the door. See kidscooptheatre.ludus.com

• Holiday concert: Save the date for a Saturday, Dec. 2, holiday concert at First Parish Church (47 E. Derry Road in Derry; fpc-ucc.org). The Granite Statesmen men’s chorus group will present a holiday-themed concert at 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets cost $20, and $5 for kids, according to the website, where tickets are on sale.

Courtesy photo

Lungs
Described as “a bracing two-person comedic drama about a couple deciding whether or not to have a child in the age of climate collapse,” Lungs, presented by Bolt Cutter Productions, will play at the Hatbox Theatre (Steeplegate Mall, 270 Loudon Road in Concord; hatboxnh.com, 715-2315) starting Friday, Nov. 10, according to a press release. The show will run through Sunday, Nov. 19, with shows on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and students, the release said.

The Art Roundup 23/11/02

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Whodunit: The Hillsborough Community Center will present Murder at the Malt Shop, billed as a “zany mystery … with a heap of nostalgic 50s references,” on Friday, Nov. 3, at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m at Hillsboro-Deering Middle School (6 Hillcat Dr. in Hillsboro). Tickets cost $20 ($10 for 60+ and15 and under). See hccnh.org/play.

• New London stroll: The Center for the Arts will hold a gallery stroll on Friday, Nov. 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring six New London locations — New London Inn (353 Main St.) with the works of Peter Anderson; Bar Harbor Bank (32 Main St.) with the creations of Carole Sanetti; Blue Loon Bakery (12 Lovering Lane) with oil painter Tatiana Yanovskya-Sink; the Fleming Center at the New London Barn Playhouse (88 Main St.) with the “Art Cafe” exhibit; Candida Clayton Gallery (210 Main St.) with five featured artists, and Tatewell (277 Newport Road) with Ludmila Gayvoronsky, according to a press release. See centerfortheartsnh.org.

• Gallery show: There’s still time to catch “Images of Life Re-Envisioned” at Two Villages Art Society (846 Main St. in Contoocook; twovillagesart.org) featuring the work of Barbara Morse, an Amherst artist who specializes in graphic drawings, according to a press release. The exhibit closes on Saturday, Nov. 11; the gallery is open to the public Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

Route 3 Art Trail
Enjoy art, open studios, demonstrations, a raffle and more during the Route 3 Art Trail on Saturday, Nov. 4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 15 locations from North Concord through Penacook, Boscawen and into Franklin. A map and passport are available at route3arttrail.com; visit (and get the passport stamped at) five places to be entered in a raffle, the website said.

At Twiggs Gallery (254 King St. in Boscawen; twiggsgallery.org, 975-0015), one of the spots on the tour, Sleighbell Studio, the gallery’s annual holiday art fair, will open on Saturday, Nov. 4. The gallery will feature fine art and craft times from more than 20 artists, according to a press release. The gallery is open Thursday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Through Saturday, Dec. 16, the gallery will feature events on Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m., such as make-and-take crafts.

• More symphony: The Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra opens its season on Sunday, Nov. 5, at 3 p.m. with the world premier of “At This Point,” a piece commissioned in honor of Portsmouth’s 400th anniversary, according to a press release. The concert will take place at the Music Hall in Portsmouth; tickets cost $25 to $35 for adults ($30 for seniors, $15 for students). See portsmouthsymphony.org.

• New show: Creative Venture Gallery (411 Nashua St. in Milford; creativeventuresfineart.com, 672-2500) will open its annual “Small Works — Big Impact” show on Tuesday, Nov. 7, and hold an opening reception where you can meet many of the participating artists on Friday, Nov. 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. The show features work in a variety of media from more than 30 area artists and most pieces are smaller than 12 inches in diameter, according to a press release. The gallery is open Tuesday and Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m.; Thursday from noon to 6 p.m.; Friday from noon to 4 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., according to the website.

• Yes, those mittens: Vermont author and fiber artist Jen Ellis will visit Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St. in Concord; gibsonsbookstore.com, 224-0562) on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m. to discuss her book Bernie’s Mitten Maker: A Memoir, according to a press release. Ellis is the maker of the internet-famous mittens Bernie Sanders wore to the 2021 presidential inauguration and the book discusses her life and the fame those mittens brought her, according to a press release.

Intown Concord’s Art Walk
Intown Concord will hold an Art Walk for the First Friday event on Friday, Nov. 3, from 4 to 8 p.m. At the Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St.), Saad Hindal, an Iraqi artist, will discuss his newly completed mural, according to a press release. Concord Arts Market will have a pop-up in Bicentennial Square with live music from Brian Burnout from 4 to 5 p.m. The New Hampshire Art Association and Queerlective will hold an artist pop-up at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce office (49 S. Main St.) featuring the exhibit “Magical Realism” from artist William Turner. Penumbra (10 N. State St.) will feature demonstrations by Meadows Madsen (pottery) and Heidi Pauer (jewelry). Pillar Gallery (205 N. State St.) will show off its new exhibit “Flora & Fauna” and Pompanoosuc Mills (28 N. Main St.) will feature works by artists Jess Barnett, Michelle Motuzas, Helen Fitzgerald and more, the release said. See intownconcord.org and find a map of participating locations on Intown’s Facebook page.

A community pillar

New gallery brings art hub to Concord

Mike Howat and Fallon Andrews had been deliberating their vision for about a year before officially opening the doors to PILLAR Gallery and Projects at 205 N. State St. in Concord on Saturday, Sept. 30. The pair will showcase art across a variety of media. Their inaugural exhibition, “Flora & Fauna,” is on display now through Friday, Nov. 17.

“I think there’s a need for it in the area,” Howat said. “There’s a lot of amazing artists and art-minded people and I think [there’s] a need for a place for professional artists to show their work and for the community to have a gathering place outside of bars and restaurants.”

Andrews adds, “With the New Hampshire Institute of Art dismantling over the years and there not being a lot of hubs for artists, we wanted to be a pillar in the community.”

Andrews and Howat met a few years ago through mutual friends. With over a decade of combined experience — Andrews having worked on different events throughout the state and Howat being a working artist and an art teacher for about eight years — the duo decided to team up to curate two salon-style exhibitions, Salon 2021 and Salon 2022, at Kimball Jenkins in Concord.

“It held over 700 works of art and over 350 or so artists,” Andrews said. “With that momentum going in the community and feeling like we just wanted to be something that people still could get excited about, that’s why we wanted to collaborate and work together to open this up.”

On their opening day, they debuted their first ever exhibition, “Flora & Fauna,”with acrylic work by Lauren Welch, fabric art and stoneware by local artist Rachel Montroy and ceramics by Cierra Vigue, among others.

“We wanted it to be something that caught people’s eyes and attention and be the opposite of what people thought of when people hear the subject, [flora and fauna],” Andrews said. “Normally around these parts you see traditional landscapes and things that are pretty digestible, and we wanted to do something radically different, and that’s why ‘Flora & Fauna’ is bright and it almost looks like a little alien world inside of this small sleepy town.”

Their upcoming exhibition “As the Light Wanes”follows the theme of the changing seasons and the losing of light that comes with descending into the winter months and will be on display from Saturday, Dec. 9, through January 2024. The gallery also includes a shop where stickers and prints are for sale, and Andrews hopes to start offering coffee, tea and treats in the coming weeks.

“We’re definitely really excited to bring something else to [this] side of the neighborhood,” Andrews said. “My goal in the next few years is to extend downtown Concord and really have it reach more of those suburban areas and really connect the whole city.”

PILLAR Gallery and Projects
Where: 205 N. State St., Concord
Hours: Sunday and Monday, noon to 4 p.m.

“Flora & Fauna”
When: On display through Nov. 17

Featured photo: PILLAR Gallery. Courtesy photo.

Memory Café

Currier program helps those experiencing memory loss and their care partners

On the first Wednesday of every month, Currier Museum of Art in Manchester holds Memory Café, a program for individuals experiencing memory loss along with their care partners.

“The Memory Café is something that the Currier has done for quite some time, but we stopped doing it during the pandemic,” said Corey Lyford, who administers and designs the program. “We were only able to relaunch the program this past June. It’s designed to be a really joyful art looking experience for people in early stages of memory loss along with their care partners. A care partner could be a spouse, an adult child [or] a friend. … Any and all are welcome.”

Each session starts in one of the studio spaces at the museum, where attendees gather for light refreshments and socialization to get to know each other before heading to the gallery.

Before Covid, the entirety of the session would take place in the studio, where the art would be presented on slides. While this approach made it possible to look at multiple pieces, including ones that were not in the Currier collection, the team felt it was important to offer the true gallery experience.

While looking at the art, program facilitator Lucie Chmura likes to encourage people to use the method of “slow looking.”

“People get to really take time and relax into looking at a piece of artwork, much longer in front of it than one normally would when moving through the gallery spaces,” Lyford said. “Folks get to think about engaging their different senses, such as looking at a painting and thinking about what [they] hear when looking at this painting. Are there any sounds that come to mind? Everything is very open-ended. There are no wrong answers. People don’t have to draw on memory. This is really about what we’re all experiencing together in the moment.”

When deciding what art to select for the program, Lyford said she and Chmura think about the conversations the pieces may inspire, going for ones that are likely common to everyone in the group, to create an enjoyable, positive experience for both those experiencing memory loss and those who are not. Prompts are used to help viewers engage with the piece and to enliven conversation.

“We’re trying to blur that line between a care partner and someone with memory loss,” Lyford said. “We’re trying to help people not feel stigmatized and not feel like they’re standing out [or] like the attention of the program is on the fact that they have memory loss.”

She says the purpose of Memory Café is to create a support system and build connections while enjoying a creative experience.

“We hope for people to find respite and to find the museum as a resource for them and to keep engaging with these creative opportunities even if they are in a place in their life where they may have felt like that wasn’t possible anymore,” Lyford said. “We want people to feel safe and that applies to the person with memory loss and also for their care partners. They can be going through some pretty difficult times, so we’re hoping that this provides a creative space for them and one that they’ll want to come back to and see familiar faces from month to month.”

Memory Café
When: The first Wednesday of every month. The next session is Wednesday, Nov. 2, from 1 to 2 p.m.
Where: Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester

Featured photo: Memory Cafe. Photo Courtesy of the Currier Museum of Art.

The Art Roundup 23/10/26

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

  • Bard-adjacent: Actorsingers presents the musical farce Something Rotten at the Keefe Center for the Arts (117 Elm St. in Nashua) on Friday, Oct. 27, and Saturday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and students. The production is set in the 1590s when brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are trying to write a hit play that will get them out from the shadow of “The Bard” and are told by a soothsayer that the future of theater is singing and dancing and acting, according to actorsingers.org.
  • Spooky soiree: The Windham Concert Band and the Amherst Town Band will play a Halloween-themed selection of music including Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” Edvard Grieg’s “March of the Trolls” and more on Sunday, Oct. 29, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Souhegan High School (412 Boston Post Road in Amherst), according to a press release. Costume-wearing is encouraged; the event is free.
  • Quoth the raven: “Nevermore,” an exhibit that “pays homage to the mesmerizing allure of the darkness,” is on display at the Mosaic Art Collective (66 Hanover St., Suite 201, in Manchester; 512-6209, mosaicartcollective.com) through Tuesday, Oct. 31, according to a press release. The gallery is open Wednesdays through Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., and by appointment.

NH Furniture Masters
The New Hampshire Furniture Masters are collaborating with the League of NH Craftsmen for the exhibit “Connecting through Craft” on display through Thursday, Dec. 14, at the League of NH Craftsmen Headquarters Gallery (49 S. Main St. in Concord). The pieces in the exhibition were created during a partnership that paired New Hampshire Furniture Masters with League members, according to a press release. The gallery is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from noon to 4 p.m., the release said.

On Saturday, Oct. 28, from 5 to 7:30 p.m., the Furniture Masters will hold a Signature Fundraising Gala at the gallery. Attendees can explore the exhibit, talk to the makers and bid on silent auction items as well as enjoy food, drink and live music from Hot Skillet Club (a jazz band trio), the release said. Tickets cost $50 and are available at furnituremasters.org/the-main-event.

  • Landscapes: The New Hampshire Antique Co-Op (323 Elm St. in Milford; 673-8499; nhantiquecoop.com) is currently featuring the exhibit “Celebrating the American Landscape” featuring pieces from the late 1800s to the present, highlighting The White Mountain School, the Dublin Art Colony and the Hudson River School, according to a press release. The exhibit is on display through Jan. 31. The Co-op is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Veterans’ art: New Hampshire Veterans Home (139 Winter St. in Tilton; nh.gov/veterans, 527-4400) will host an art show in the Town Hall great room on Friday, Nov. 3, from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. featuring veterans’ art displays as well as live music, demonstrations and conversations with veteran and visiting artists (from The Galleries at 30 Main in Meredith), according to a press release.

Ceramics, signs and everything nice

The Great New England Craft and Artisan Show returns to the Hampshire Dome

By Mya Blanchard
[email protected]

Jewelry, upcycled lamps, books, sports apparel, jams, candles and more handmade products will be on display and for sale at the eighth New England Craft and Artisan Show on Saturday, Oct. 21, and Sunday, Oct. 22, at the Hampshire Dome in Milford.

Jody Donohue created the event back in 2016.

“My children were playing sports [at the Hampshire Dome] … and I had been helping out with that for years,” she said. “My youngest aged out of the program and they … [wanted me to] stay on and do other [events] there.”

After talking with the owner, she set up tables in the function room to promote the products of the venue’s members, an event so successful they decided to do it again the following year, this time bringing in outside vendors and opening up the event to the public.

“It blew up. It was packed,” Donohue said. “The owner, Rick, and I were sitting down afterward talking about it … and he said, ‘I dare you to fill the Dome next year.’ I said ‘Game on.’ He said, ‘No, you’re kidding.’ I said, “No, I’m not kidding.’ … That next October, the Great New England Craft and Artisan Shows was born.”

In addition to the crafts, there will also be live music, food trucks, including Carla’s Coffee and Yahso Jamaican Grill, and raffles. Cathedral Ledge Distillery will be providing samples, and Renaissance Massage will offer messages.

Returning to this show this year is Dana Selliken, an artist originally from Washington who does wall painting as well as chainsaw carved wall art.

“I’ve always been intrigued by chainsaw carvers,” she said. “They have a lot of that kind of stuff there. When I met my boyfriend, I talked about how intrigued I was, and it was fun especially when you saw women doing it.”

Nine years ago, in the town she and her boyfriend were living in, there was a chainsaw carver who sold carved bears on the side of the road who was happy to teach her the craft.

“I was always good at art at school [and] I always loved art classes,” Selliken said. “I’ve tried a different variety of things to do, but this is my niche now.”

Her carvings range from loons, cardinals and flowers to pumpkins and ghosts. She also makes figurines and Halloween and Christmas ornaments using the clay she makes from the sawdust.

While multiple shows are held throughout the year and at different locations, Donohue says that the Milford show features the highest-end products.

“We change it up,” she said. “My motto is ‘Never the same show twice, but always just as nice.’”

Products include painted gourds, chocolate, ceramics, natural photography, cards with designs made from aluminum cans, pet products, furniture and upcycled lamps made from various materials like a pipe from a sink, a piece of a railroad track, or a handle from a dresser.

“What makes us different from your local craft fair is the quality of the products [and] the intricacy that goes into creating [them].” Donohue said. “I think that’s why people keep coming back year after year.”

The Great New England Craft & Artisan Show
Where: Hampshire Dome, 34 Emerson Road, Milford
When: Saturday, Oct. 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 22, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Featured photo: Art by Dana Selliken. Courtesy photo.

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