June Arts: Diversity on display
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Jeddah Beach Palace Garden in Saudi Arabia is the work of internationally known landscape architect Robert Truskowski of Old Bennington, whose exhibition and talk opened June Arts! 2008. Photo provided |
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By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: June 6, 2009
BENNINGTON – The monthlong event celebrating the arts in Bennington, "June Arts! 2009," will run the gamut from Hollywood creators to statewide celebrities to a nationally known North Bennington author.
Tom Fels of North Bennington, who has been involved with the Bennington Cultural and Arts Council and organizing the annual summer event since it began in 2004, said he hopes the event will reflect the diversity of the arts community in Bennington.
"We try to make the most of what's here or bring things in that people don't get to see very often. I try to dig up stuff people don't know about that's interesting and somehow related to Bennington," he said.
This year, June Arts! actually started in May with a presentation by Hardwick artist and Johnson State College faculty member Ken Leslie. The artwork Leslie discussed, "Sky Journal," which documents changes in the sky over time, is still on exhibit at the Bennington Museum.
The museum will host a number of this year's events including the "Books for Bennington" presentations that will continue through July 2.
Television producer, creator of "Family Ties" and "Spin City" and author Gary David Goldberg, who owns a home in Arlington, will speak at the Ada Paresky Education Center at the museum on June 18.
Other speakers in the series, which all begin on Thursdays at 7 p.m., include poet Steven Sandy on June 11. Former "Vermont Life" editor Tom Slayton spoke on June 4.
The official kick-off event for June Arts! will also take place at the museum's education center on Sunday. Vermont Public Radio commentator Willem Lange will be the speaker at the free event that starts at 2 p.m. A reception will follow at the museum.
A harpsichord concert is scheduled for June 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the museum.
The Starline Rhythm Boys, regular performers at June Arts!, will play a rock and roll concert at the B&R Tavern and Bistro, formerly known as the Bennington Station, on Depot Street, on June 12 at 9 p.m.
The last Bennington event scheduled is on June 28 when the Woodbinde Medieval Band will perform at 2 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
Fels said he wanted the June Arts! event to include some appreciation for Shirley Jackson because he felt there was not enough local attention paid to the famous author.
Jackson moved to North Bennington in 1945 when her husband Stanley Hyman took a teaching position at Bennington College. She was living in the village when she wrote her most famous short story, "The Lottery."
The events scheduled on June 26 and 27 that are devoted to Jackson will take place at the North Bennington Firehouse. On June 26, a showing of "The Haunting," a 1963 film based on Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House," is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
The following day, which is also the official closing of June Arts! 2009, Jackson's children Laurence and Barry Hyman, along with other musicians, will play a concert starting at 6 p.m.
"I put these events together with two thoughts, high quality and sustainability, and indeed, all but one are annual events," he said.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com
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