![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Montpelier-Art-at-the-Kent-exhibit-1200x900.jpg\")
Curators Allyson Evans and Nel Emlen stand by the wall of 39 portraits that greet visitors when they start their tour of \u201cHolding: Mementos Kept, Memories Kindled,\u201d this year\u2019s Art at the Kent exhibit. Photo by Tom McKone\/The Montpelier Bridge.<\/p>\n
This story by \u00a0Tom McKone\u00a0was first published<\/a>\u00a0by The Montpelier Bridge on Sept. 17.<\/p>\n Almost two dozen terra cotta and stoneware clay faces emerge from the surface, top to bottom, starting small and gradually increasing to full heads, creating the illusion they are coming into the room from the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n These are the faces of struggling people. Life\u2019s hard for so many around the world today, as it was for all ancestors, I think, as I look at Burlington artist Susan Wilson\u2019s \u201cBecoming I,\u201d at the opening of \u201cHolding: Mementos Kept, Memories Kindled,\u201d this year\u2019s Art at the Kent exhibit at Kents Corner in Calais.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I work clay over, my simplified head forms \u2014 the faces of those who inspire me \u2014 emerge,\u201d she writes. \u201cI travel with those who are searching, yearning, asking questions, and struggling to move forward in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson\u2019s works evoke the past, our shared and personal memories and our shared humanity \u2014 themes developed by the 22 Vermont artists in the Kent exhibit.<\/p>\n As visitors start their journey in the rambling, nearly two-century-old building, they walk through a hallway with 39 portraits.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to show the breadth of humanity on this wall,\u201d says Cornelia \u201cNel\u201d Emlen, one of three curators. \u201cWe all have our own stories that we\u2019re holding.\u201d<\/p>\n Curator Allyson Evans calls the wall a \u201chuman container \u2026 emblematic of every person.\u201d<\/p>\n Twelve of those works are exquisite portraits by Middlesex artist August Burns, who has two additional portraits in other parts of the exhibit. Burns, who painted the official portrait of Gov. Howard Dean, is one of two artists in this show who have painted official portraits of former Vermont governors. Middlebury artist Kate Gridley painted Gov. Jim Douglas\u2019 portrait.<\/p>\n David Schutz, the third curator, says when they met with artists and developed the theme for this year\u2019s exhibit, talking with Gridley convinced them to focus on memory. They gave her a room for 58 small paintings, in which she painted objects from her earliest memories, more or less chronologically, through her life.<\/p>\n In a brochure accompanying her installation, Gridley writes that years ago, when her very smart, aging father began experiencing dementia, he \u201camassed an enormous library of neurology books,\u201d and the brain and memory became a regular part of their conversations.<\/p>\n \u201cAs daughter, I was losing him. As artist, I wanted to find a way to embody the explorations about memory that we had been sharing,\u201d Gridley writes.<\/p>\n Burlington artist Jennifer Koch\u2019s installation, \u201cSpecimens,\u201d is distributed through the show and includes plenty of found objects. In an extraordinary series of shadow boxes, Koch starts with classic European paintings, then constructs an outrageous, three-dimensional headdress out of incongruous objects, from musical instruments and kitchen utensils to paint brushes, trophies and parts of toys. At first, the shadow boxes are just interesting, then they become addictive.<\/p>\n \u201cGratitude in a Time of Loss,\u201d East Montpelier artist Daryl Burtnett\u2019s installation about Covid-19, which was shown in the Vermont Supreme Court Gallery last fall, is the first art to ever be given a room on the museum\u2019s third floor. The hundreds of small pieces, each acknowledging a Vermont life lost to the epidemic, are now in a different configuration from the previous show.<\/p>\n Juliana Jennings, co-owner of J. Langdon\u2019s antique shop in Montpelier, has filled a space the size of a walk-in closet with hundreds of old items from her home \u2014 not from the store.<\/p>\n Self-trained Barre folk artist Gayleen Aiken (1934-2005) is featured in the self-contained Spotlight Gallery. With crayon, pen, pencil, and oil paints, Aiken created paintings, drawings, and cardboard cut-outs. Her works are in the permanent collections of several large museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n The monthlong exhibit opened Sept. 12 and runs every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Oct. 12. In addition to Words Out Loud, there are several special events during the month, all described at kentscorner.org.<\/p>\n With beautiful weather, live music, and catered food, the opening celebration on Sept. 13 attracted several hundred visitors. The closing celebration will be held on Oct. 12, from 3 to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n Latest stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Then](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Johnson-Ride-to-Freedom-1-1200x900.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/young-writers-project-trees-1-1200x900.jpeg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Vermont](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DSC_8850-1200x900.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n