The Southern Vermont Arts Center’s much-anticipated “Solo Exhibitions,” which brings together 12 artists under one umbrella, take place in two increments: Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer, which allows its small staff to include more artists, and experience a wider array of curation.
Alison Crites, exhibitions director and curator for “Solo Exhibitions,” has received ever-increasing batches of submissions from which to select her well organized and thoughtful shows. The artists’ works flow from one room to another seamlessly, with Crites taking great care to either separate the works by contrasting patterns of presentations, or by those artists whose works seem to melt together as a whole.
“When selecting artists, I aim to present a broad range of contemporary artists to our audience both in terms of media, style, and subject as well as lived experience, geography, age and more,” Crites said. “Audience members tend to really enjoy this diversity in the galleries in addition to the sometimes-unexpected connections they might discover between one artist and another.”
Crites was assuredly on the right track when she placed Diane Novetsky’s work in the greeting area that visitors see immediately upon entering the building. Novetsky’s work beckons viewers, bursting open like multicolored popcorn into visual pop rocks. Her painting is visceral and organic despite the otherworldly colors. In her painting “Bacchanal,” the suggestion of a figure fills two-thirds of the surface; warm colors are punctuated by cool blues and greens, creating the tension of perpetual motion inherent in the dancing, celebratory energy.