• Drawing On the Wall

    Students in Edward Vazquez’s spring course “Minimalism: Art, Objects, and Experience” finished recreating Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #394 in the museum’s Overbrook Gallery this week, and Middlebury Magazine was on hand to produce a great short video about the process.

  • Minimalism, Hands On

    The First Commandment for museumgoers — thou shalt not touch — has been suspended this week for 13 Middlebury College art-history students. They’re drawing with crayons on a wall of the college’s Museum of Art. What would usually be considered totally transgressive behavior is actually an essential act in regard to the centerpiece of a show titled “Linear Thinking: Sol LeWitt, Modern, Postmodern and Contemporary Art from the Collection.” The students in Middlebury professor Edward Vazquez’s course on minimalism are completing a LeWitt wall drawing in accordance with instructions from the artist’s estate. Read the full story in Seven Days.

  • 'Nature Transformed' Highlights Our Impact on the Environment

    “Looking at the photos, you might decide they reflect the scarring of a gorgeous landscape. You might also be struck by the sharp color and dramatic angles Burtynsky extracts from the quarries and tell yourself he’s not showing a scarring of the landscape, but instead he’s pulling back the curtain to reveal Vermont’s inner beauty. Stare at the photos long enough and you’ll probably bounce between those two views several times.” Read the full story in the Burlington Free Press.

  • Lining Up for Contemporary Art

    Linear Thinking was conceived in conjunction with several spring courses in the History of Art and Architecture. It includes prints and one sculpture by artists in the museum’s collection as well as a temporary wall drawing by Sol LeWitt (1928–2007). LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #394, which was first conceived in 1983 at the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux in France, is on loan to the museum from the artist’s estate and will be installed during the week of February 25 by students in Professor Edward Vazquez’s course “Minimalism: Art, Objects, and Experience.”

  • Rokeghem Hours (Use of Rome), by the Masters of Raphael de Mercatellis

    This recent acquisition, a richly illuminated late 15th–early 16th century manuscript called the Rokeghem Hours, is named for the family for whom is was originally made, the van Rokeghem, who owned lands outside of Bruges, in present-day Belgium. It was created for one of the members of that family—likely for one of the women—by a group of Bruges illuminators called the “Masters of Raphael de Mercatellis.”

  • Museum Transformed by Vermont Quarry Photos

    In February the Middlebury College Museum of Art will open Nature Transformed, an exhibition which takes as its starting point a remarkable series of photographs by pioneering, internationally celebrated artist Edward Burtynsky. The show, which was previously mounted at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, will be on view through June 9.

  • Political Caricatures Set an Electoral Mood

    On the occasion of this year’s national presidential election the Middlebury College Museum of Art has mounted an exhibit of twenty political cartoons—and one bronze sculpture—created by the noted political cartoonist Patrick Bruce “Pat” Oliphant (b.1935). The exhibit features ten caricatures, acquired by the museum in 2010 and never previously exhibited, which provide historical insight into issues that preoccupied Americans during the thirty-sixth through forty-third presidencies—i.e., from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush—as well as ten caricatures pertaining to the current election which are on loan from the artist himself.

  • Himalayan Culture Greets Dalai Lama

    In honor of the recent visit by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to Middlebury and to celebrate Vermont’s connection with Himalayan culture, Middlebury College is hosting an exhibition of contemporary Tibetan art. Contemporary Jewels: An Offering presents eleven works by five artists of Tibetan heritage—Tenzin Norbu, Dorje Sherpa, Tsherin Sherpa, Tenzing Rigdol, and Palden Weinreb—all of whom were granted residencies at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson.

  • Modern Chinese Graphics Take Center Stage

    On September 13 the Middlebury College Museum of Art opens China Modern: Designing 20th Century Popular Culture, an in depth exploration of 20th century Chinese advertising images, mass media, graphic and product design that demonstrates how political ideologies and cultural values are transmitted through everyday objects.

  • Stieglitz Course Leads to Museum Exhibit

    The Middlebury College Museum of Art will reopen on Tuesday, September 4, with a fall exhibition highlighting three luminaries of American photography: Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Paul Strand, along with lesser-known artists in their circle. Camera Work: Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, and Company was organized for the museum by Charles A. Dana Professor of History of Art and Architecture Kirsten Hoving and students in her 2011 course “Camera Work: Alfred Stieglitz and Photography.”