June 2020
Bennington Museum Monthly
Welcome to your June edition of our monthly online newsletter. As you can read below, a lot is going on at Bennington Museum despite the strange times we are all living through. This time of pandemic and social unrest has reinforced in my mind why museums are so important. They are a beacon of hope - a reminder of what was, what is, and what is still to come. This time has challenged me, and perhaps you, to the core. But museums, and our missions, will see us through these difficult moments, leading us to a future where we can better understand and respect each other as human beings who share and treasure a diverse and complex cultural history.
I hope that Bennington Museum gives you perspective and inspiration. We look forward to seeing you when we re-open in July.
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Joshua Campbell Torrance
Executive Director
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At Bennington Museum we have thought long and hard about how and when to welcome the public into the building once more. We are taking the utmost precautions to ensure the safety of visitors and of our staff and, to that end, have come up with a re-opening plan which we will outline below. Specific safety and sanitary protocol will all be posted on our website and social media pages in the coming weeks, and our next newsletter will include information on what exhibits will be on display, indoors
and outdoors.
For now, here is some important information to keep in mind:
Date for Re-Opening: Friday, July 3
Days of Operation: Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday
Hours of Operation: 1pm to 6pm, with extended hours until 8pm on Fridays
Method of Payment: Credit or Debit Card only please
Yes, we will be open on the Fourth of July!
Temperatures will be checked at the Guest Services counter and visitors with temperatures of over 100 degrees will be asked to return another day.
Hand sanitizing stations will be set throughout the Museum. All hard surfaces and bathrooms will be thoroughly cleaned each morning, and will be wiped down again in the middle of the operating time period and again at the end of the day.
The Grandma Moses Schoolhouse and the
Museum Research Library will both remain closed for the time being.
The Museum Gift Shop will open beginning
Friday, June 19th and will follow the same schedule as above. Only two family groups will be allowed to circulate through the gift shop at any given time.
We are taking the next two weeks to make the Museum a safe space to visit and we look forward to seeing you all again soon, albeit still from a distance and behind masks!
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Warm weather is here, and it is time to get those kiddos outside into the fresh air. Follow laminated signs placed along the George Aiken Wildflower Trail that tell the delightful story
The Nest that Wren Built
, a premier picture book by Randi Sonenshine with beautiful illustrations by Anne Hunter. Make sure to look around while you stroll - you may find some real life bird families among the greening branc
hes!
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While you are out, don't forget to walk to the upper field for the spectacular view, and also to admire
Joe Chirchirillo's "Crooked Crow", pictured at the top of this newsletter. Learn more about our trails and other walking and driving tours around Bennington
HERE.
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Inside the Collection
Each week our Collections Manager has been submitting a piece of interest from our collection to the Bennington Banner which appears in the hard-copy Tuesday through Sunday editions of the newspaper. These images, along with their stories, can also be found by visiting the Banner website and searching
Inside Bennington Museum's Collection
. Click on the images below to learn more about these particular items.
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Chats with Jamie
This month, we are pleased to introduce "Chats with Jamie", in which our beloved Museum Curator conducts informal interviews with some of our regional artists. Here Jamie speaks with
Kevin Bubriski
, whose black and white photographs of protests in Bennington since the turn of this century are currently still hung in the Museum in the show titled
Our Voices, Our Streets
.
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All of this virtual programming is posted on our
website
,
Facebook
,
Instagram
, and
youtube
pages, along with our “Tours at Ten” series and other fun video activities just for kids. Check them out and let us know what you think. If you have an object or topic you would like to see explored, send your ideas to
ideas@benningtonmuseum.org
and we will do our best to present it.
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What Does YOUR Exhibition Look Like?
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The pandemic has wreaked havoc on our exhibit schedule. To give our curator a break, we’re going to let YOU decide the objects in our next exhibit. Our Collections Manager has come up with a list of interesting objects in storage that deserve a little time in the galleries. Over the next few weeks we will be rolling out five mini-surveys that include a selection of seldom-seen objects from five specific categories.
In honor of Memorial Day, the first of these surveys will focus on the Military and Patriotic categories. Let us know which objects in this particular group you most want to see.
These surveys will also be posted to the Bennington Banner and to our Facebook pages, but i
f you respond to this first survey we will include you on the email group so that you can receive the other four surveys directly in your inbox. We look forward to seeing your choices!
This People's Choice exhibition will be installed for our July 3rd re-opening.
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Everyone Needs a Little Grandma Moses
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This past month we debuted our Zoom lecture series which offers a chance to participate in discussions about certain key artists or objects from the Museum's collection. Our Director of Public Programs led a wonderful pilot session on the iconic American artist, Anna Mary Robertson
"Grandma" Moses
which had over 50 reservations from across the country.
Indeed, Grandma Moses is very popular in our digital circle right now, in part because she embodies a grounded sense of place and can-do purpose that makes us feel positive and secure during this time of uncertainty. There could not be a more opportune moment for us to partner with the
Shelburne Museum
for their upcoming virtual exhibition, "
Painting at Home with Grandma Moses," that focuses on the artist’s imaginative modern-era landscapes that stir feelings of nostalgia for decades past.
The exhibition will go LIVE mid-month, and the Bennington Museum Curator and Executive Director will serve alongside the Shelburne Museum's Associate Curator as panelists for the virtual reception which will be open to members of both organizations (stay tuned for the invitation).
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The end of our fiscal year is quickly approaching, and we need to raise enough funds to keep our virtual programming going even as we prepare to re-open the Museum in July. If you have been waiting to donate, there is no better time to show your support.
Thanks to a challenge from a generous donor, from now until the end of June,
all gifts will be matched dollar for dollar
- up to $26,000
.
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We realize that not everyone is in a position to help right now, which is why it is so important for those of you who can contribute to make your gifts go twice as far.
Thank you in advance for being there when we need it most. Every donation of any size makes a difference.
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Bennington Museum engages and transforms our visitors and our community by connecting you to the region’s diverse arts, rich history, and culture of innovation.
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