On August 28, 2023, the Alliance for Visual Arts Gallery and Art Center celebrated its 50th anniversary as “a visual arts anchor” for the Upper Valley community, according to executive director Shari Boraz.
AVA co-founders Lili Mayor and Emmabelle Egbert initially opened the nonprofit in Hanover in 1973, according to the AVA website. The gallery moved to Lebanon in 1990, opening at 11 Bank Street — home of “the original Carter Overall factory,” Boraz said — where it has since remained.
According to Boraz, AVA’s programming centers around art and community.
“Our main functions are art education, art exhibitions and community programming,” Boraz said.
AVA, which is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., serves the Upper Valley community and shows work from mostly living artists in Northern New England, according to Boraz.
On May 3, AVA hosted the opening reception for “the lift of blue,” an exhibition in support of mental health awareness. The exhibition, which marks the fourth annual collaboration between AVA and West Central Behavioral Health, contains 60 artists’ work — the largest group AVA has had in the Linda Roesch Visual Arts Gallery, according to AVA exhibition manager Samantha Eckert.
Eckert said the title of the group show comes from Amy Nezhukumatathil’s poem “Sea Church,” which, according to the Poetry Foundation, is “an extended meditation on the relationship between nature, poetry and identity.” These motifs are resonant with the exhibition’s focus on the color blue, Eckert said.
“The theme is based on water and sky and how those things can alleviate stress,” Eckert said.
The exhibition will be on view through June 29.
On May 10 from 5 to 7 p.m., AVA will host opening receptions for exhibitions of works by Peter Anderson, Caleb Brown, Joan Hanley and Denis Versweyveld. The exhibitions will be on view through June 8.
Eckert said she purposefully paired the four artists’ works together because “they’re all painters that are considering the space” — or, considering the viewer’s experience and dimensionality.
“I put artists together with intention so that there’s this conversation between all galleries,” Eckert said.
In the Rebecca Lawrence Gallery and the Clifford B. West Gallery, Anderson and Brown will stage a two-person show, “Mapping Memories of Place and Space.”
“Peter Anderson documents his travels using geographical maps and makes these wonderful mixed-media collaged works that end up being very abstract,” Eckert said.
Brown, on the other hand, will document his day-to-day activities in the home, using non-traditional painting materials such as insulation boards. Brown “will have some neat pieces that extend off of the walls,” Eckert said.
In the E. N. Wennberg Gallery, Hanley’s body of work, “The Vegetative Soul,” will be on view.
“[Hanley is] really looking at family members and the human relationship with the device,” Eckert said.
Eckert emphasized that Hanley’s solo show contains spatial components.
“I believe she’s doing an installation on the walls and then paintings that will be installed over the installation,” Eckert said.
The Elizabeth Rowland Mayor Gallery will hold Versweyveld’s exhibition “Stilleven” — the Flemish word for “still life.” Eckert said she expects Versweyveld to have “really interesting mixed media works on the wall, and then sculptural pieces coming onto pedestals off the wall.”
In addition to the nine exhibitions that AVA has scheduled for 2024, the gallery and art center offers many other community events and activities.
According to education manager Nick Gaffney, AVA offers tuition-based educational programs for children and adults. Classes are taught by local artists and are offered in a diverse range of artistic mediums, including ceramics, drawing, painting, stone carving, welding, woodworking and 3D printing.
“I consider the tuition based programs opportunities for someone to learn real, good skills from working artists [and] opportunities for artists to get paid for doing what they do well,” Gaffney said.
Gaffney added that AVA also offers free community art programs, which “are usually for specific constituencies,” such as seniors, young families or adults with special needs. These programs function as open studios and drop-ins.
“I think one of our missions is to make art accessible and available to everyone,” Gaffney said.
Gaffney said he recognizes that money can be a barrier to the organization’s goal of accessibility, noting that AVA has “a pretty solid financial assistance program.” Financial assistance is fully funded by donations and helps cover the cost of classes when needed, he explained.
AVA tries “to open our doors for as many people as possible,” Gaffney added.
Boraz echoed this sentiment but acknowledged that some people still feel disconnected from the arts.
“There’s still a large number of people who feel like the arts are for other people and not for them,” Boraz said.
She explained that this belief is the “furthest thing from our minds,” emphasizing that AVA “encourage[s] creativity in everyone,” regardless of their artistic abilities.
“The goal is to make people feel like this belongs to them,” Boraz said. “It’s their community center.”
In addition to classes, AVA offers other events for the Upper Valley community. For example, inspired by The Moth Radio Hour, AVA hosts Mudroom — an event where four to six local speakers share a story related to a theme — every few months. The program is “really popular,” according to Gaffney.
Dartmouth and AVA have “a wonderful relationship,” according to Boraz. Various studio art professors are connected to AVA through education and exhibition committees or have shown their work there, while AVA and the Hood Museum have a “strong” relationship, Gaffney said. He added that he wants to strengthen the bond between the two institutions further.
“I would love to have more people at Dartmouth come here,” Gaffney said.
Boraz also said more Dartmouth students should visit AVA to connect with the broader community.
“It’s a nice way to … find out what the community is like at a more intimate level,” Boraz said.
