Visual arts
• Vietnamese contemporary art exhibit comes to Marlboro College: Marlboro College will host an exhibit of woodblock prints by contemporary Vietnamese artists in Drury Gallery through Nov. 28. An opening reception will take place in the gallery on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m.
The prints are on loan from the personal collection of Judith Hughes-Day, a New York City-based collector specializing in contemporary Vietnamese artists. The exhibit will focus on a series of prints by artist Phan Cam Thoung entitled A Sixty Year Cycle, which were printed in black and white using ink made from bamboo leave ashes.
In conjunction with the exhibit, Marlboro will present a video of Thoung discussing A Sixty Year Cycle, which was shot by alumna Von Ferguson.
“According to the ancient Chinese calendar, 60 years make a cycle. Having reached your sixties, you may rest, go fishing, play cards or chess, travel over land and seas or play with kids,” Thoung explains in his artist statement. “My 60 topics in the collection were suggested by the philosophical, religious and everyday life issues of the Viets, especially subjects from folk ballads and songs or idiomatic expression about predestined love, human feelings, rituals, ethics or our people's everyday behavior.”
Vietnamese scholar Trian Nguyen will deliver a lecture on contemporary Vietnamese art at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 8, in Ragle Hall. Nguyen is an assistant professor of art and the Luce Junior Professor of Asian Studies at Bates College.
The Drury Gallery is open from 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday through Friday while the college is in session. For more information, call 802-257-4333.
• Lovett exhibit at Putney library: Putney photographer Evie Lovett (www.evielovett.com) will present a free slide show of her work, “Why photography? Why people?” at the Putney Public Library on Thursday, Nov. 4, from 7-8:30 p.m., as part of the library series “Words & Images: Artists Talk About Their Work.”
Lovett photographs people with black-and-white film using a 50-year-old Rolleiflex camera . She has photographed her own children, AIDS patients in a hospital in Rwanda, Muslim women in France, circus arts professionals, and drag queens. Taking photographs is her way of connecting with and making sense of the world.
Her work has been exhibited locally at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center and the Vermont Center of Photography, in New York and as far away as Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The library is accessible. For information, call 802-387-4102 or visit www.iputney.com.
• Community altar honors the departed: On Friday, Nov. 5, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., during Gallery Walk, Brattleboro Area Hospice will celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with a community altar and live music at their store, Experienced Goods Home Furnishings at 51 Elliot St. Hallowell will sing songs of remembrance and celebration at the altar at 6:30 pm. This event is free and open to the public.
Dia de los Muertos has been celebrated in Mexico for over 3,000 years. It is not a somber occasion, but a festive event to remember our loved ones who have died and to celebrate life itself. Visitors are encouraged to bring an item on the altar to honor their loved ones. Bring photocopied pictures and/or objects of no great concern as items can not be returned.
The altar will remain open at Experienced Goods Home Furnishings until Saturday, Nov. 13. For more information, call Brattleboro Area Hospice at 802-257-0775.
Music
• Youth Battle of Bands at Gallery Walk: Area youth bands can launch their musical careers by competing at Youth Services' Battle of the Bands at the River Garden on Friday, Nov. 5, during Gallery Walk night, from 7 to 10 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend and vote for their favorite group with their applause.
In addition to the audience and youth judges, several individuals from both the recording and music industry will help choose the top band. First prize is five hours of professional recording time donated by engineer Billy Shaw of Soundesign together with a master copy of the recorded songs. Second prize is a performance at a local musical venue, yet to be determined.
According to Allyson Villars, executive director of Youth Services, this second Battle of the Bands celebrates the entrepreneurial nature of all youth represented at this event by young musicians forming bands and expressing their musical inspiration in a business endeavor.
Admission for the general public is $4 and covers refreshments and door prizes.
• April Verch Band at NEYT: April Verch and her trio, the April Verch Band, are returning to Brattleboro on Sunday, Nov. 14 to perform at the New England Youth Theater, 100 Flat St.
Verch, a versatile fiddler and step-dancer as well as a singer who presents a blend of folk, jazz, bluegrass and roots music, will appear with her band: Clay Ross on guitar and Cody Walters on bass and banjo. Verch hails from the Ottawa Valley in Canada where competition-style fiddling and step-dancing, which she excels at, are well established.
The show will feature some songs from Steal The Blue, Verch's seventh recording, as well as old favorites and some new tunes as well. Show time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance for all, $18 at the door. Tickets can be purchased at Brattleborotix.com or in person, cash only, at Everyone's Books, 23 Elliot St. in Brattleboro.
Call 802-257-1571 for more information.
Dance
• Line dancing benefit for First Baptist fuel fund: On Saturday, Nov. 13 from 7-10 p.m., a line and social dancing evening will be held at the Masonic Center, 196 Main St. in Brattleboro.
This event is co-sponsored by First Baptist Church and the Brattleboro Lodge of Masons. Special guests Deb Giaimo and the Monadnock Mavericks will demonstrate and teach dances.
Proceeds benefit the First Baptist fuel fund. The church provides a weekly dinner (Grace's Kitchen), as well as Sunday morning breakfast for the community throughout the year. And for the fourth year in a row, the church will host the winter homeless shelter in Brattleboro beginning in November. Alcoholics Anonymous and the Brattleboro Pastoral Counseling Center also meet at First Baptist and, although they contribute monthly rent, the cost to heat the 143-year-old church is by no means covered.
The Brattleboro Freemasons have donated the use of their building, which has a great wooden floor for dancing, and is located next door to the church.
Performing arts
• Restorative Justice Week at NEYT: New England Youth Theater partners with the Brattleboro Community Justice Center to present The Quality of Mercy, directed by Rebecca Waxman, on Nov. 12-21. An inspiring theatrical collage of disparate stories that have emerged from their Season of Restorative Justice, this production will focus on sharing awareness of restorative justice with the wider community.
The performance will be a collaboration of youth and adult students, faculty, as well as alternating surprise groups from within the Brattleboro community. Scenes, monologues, songs and theatrical events explore relevant themes of justice, retribution and healing. Material is being pulled from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and many other great works.
This production is a part of Restorative Justice Week, organized by the Brattleboro Community Justice Center. The show will be presented on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets will be $6 for students, $8 for seniors, and $10 for adults. Purchase advance tickets online at www.neyt.org, or at the NEYT box office on Wednesdays from noon to 5 p.m.
Also, on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 5:30 p.m., high school- and college-aged young adults are invited to a free gala that begins 5:30 p.m. with food, music, and a chance to socialize with BCJC staff and volunteers, followed by a 7 p.m. performance of The Quality of Mercy. Interested participants should contact Erin Ruitenberg by Friday, Nov. 5 at 802-251-8140 or erin@brattleborocjc.org to reserve their complimentary tickets.
• Taste of the Arts at MSA: Sandglass Theater founders Eric Bass and Ines Zeller Bass will share the story of the creation of their world-renowned puppetry theater as the Taste of the Arts, Tales of a Community series continues at Main Street Arts in Saxtons River Thursday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m.
Founded in 1982 and based in Putney, the theater combines puppets with music, actors, and visual imagery for both adult and youth audiences. It has toured 24 countries, performing in theaters, festivals, and cultural institutions and winning numerous international prizes. The theater produces the international Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival and the Winter Sunshine series of children's shows.
The series is offered as a fundraiser for Main Street Arts and features food by Harvest Moon Caterers, which can range from an assortment of gourmet pizzas to ethnic dishes. Cost of the series is $15 per event. Children accompanied by an adult are $5. Reservations are requested. Tickets are available at Main Street Arts or through PayPal at www.MainStreetArts.org.
• Sandglass Theater's newest piece, All Weather Ballads, a visual theater piece with original ballads by Eric Bass and music by Keith Murphy, will be performed Nov. 19 through 21 at Sandglass's 60-seat theater in Putney.
The five-song cycle, interpreted by Westminster West musician Nick Keil, portrays the stages of life through metaphors of the northern rural experience, whether stuck in the mud, lost in the aroma of harvest fruit, or reflected in the frozen membrane of an icy lake.
The show takes place Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 4 p.m. Tickets are $15, and advance reservations highly recommended.
Autumn Portraits, one of the theater's signature pieces, returns Nov. 26 and 27 at 8 p.m. This solo performance by Eric Bass has won awards in Australia and Hungary and a Citation of Excellence from the Union Internationale de la Marionette. It is a compelling evening-long solo puppet-and-mask performance, a series of five interlocking vignettes, each exploring one puppet character and its interplay with its manipulator, who might appear as a masked figure, or simply a voice from the sky.
Books
• Archer Mayor in Bellows Falls: Archer Mayor will be visiting Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls to read from his 21st Joe Gunther adventure on Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.
Village Square Booksellers will celebrate the Fowlers' 10th anniversary of ownership during November with numerous events, planned including Best of Write Action, Book II, Doug Gladstone's Bitter Cup of Coffee (former big-league ballplayers pension scandal), notecard artist Cindy Hendricks of Woodfield Prints, Willem Lange's reprise of reading Favor Johnson, and a Thanksgiving weekend celebration party including two authors with Vermont photography books.
For more information, visit www.villagesquarebooks.com.