Home to the works of T.W. Wood and Vermont’s works from the Federal Art Project,
bringing the best of today’s art to central Vermont at 46 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT
What do you look for in artists when considering representation?
Ginny Callan (Executive Director): The Gallery has a visual arts committee that reviews artists’ work for exhibits in our contemporary exhibit room. The contemporary hallway exhibits Vermont art association works. We highlight quality artistic works of Vermont artists.
The Gallery also has a large permanent collection of works of T.W. Wood and his contemporaries from the 1850s–1890s. In addition the gallery is the Vermont repository for Vermont’s portion of the Works Progress Administration. We have ninety works of art on permanent loan for the Federal Art Collection and another ninety pieces from the gallery collection from the period of the 1930s–1940s. The gallery loans works of art, including forty pieces currently at the Vermont State House, seventeen currently showing at the Central Vermont Medical Center, and six at Montpelier City Hall.
What is the core aesthetic that the gallery is founded on?
Callan: The T.W. Wood Gallery’s mission is to preserve our artistic heritage and bring the best of today’s art to Central Vermont. Primary purposes of the gallery are to conserve, maintain, and exhibit our two permanent art collections. In addition we operate a contemporary art gallery and work to educate and enrich the life of Central Vermonters and beyond. We hold regularly changing contemporary art exhibits highlighting Vermont artists’ work, partnering with Vermont art associations.
What makes your gallery a desirable venue for both artists and art enthusiasts (i.e. art buyers)?
Callan: We are both a museum and gallery and so bring both a historic art collection and contemporary Vermont artists to the same venue, offering a broad array of exhibited art.
As curator, what do you see as differentiating your gallery?
Callan: We have a Gallery curator for the permanent collection and a Visual Arts Committee for contemporary art exhibits. That said, our Gallery highlights the works of Vermont artist Thomas Waterman Wood (1823–1903) and his colleagues. The Gallery is the Vermont repository for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with ninety pieces from the Federal Art Collection and an additional ninety that are part of the Gallery’s permanent collection. The Gallery’s contemporary art exhibits highlight the works of Vermont artists that include group, juried, and individual and two-person shows.
What is the cost range of works for sale?
Callan: Works range from as low as $200 in the contemporary hallway group shows to $10,000 for individual artist’s work.
Do you represent emerging or established artists, or both?
Callan: Both.
As curator, what do you want to convey about your gallery, to other artists and art enthusiasts?
The gallery houses two large historic permanent art collections of Thomas Waterman Wood and his contemporaries and a significant collection of Federal Art developed through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with ninety works of art from the 1930s–1940s plus ninety additional pieces from that period in the Gallery’s permanent collection. In addition, we operate a contemporary art gallery and work to educate and enrich the life of Central Vermonters and beyond. We hold regularly changing contemporary art exhibits highlighting Vermont artists’ work, partnering with Vermont art associations. We hold regular art exhibit opening receptions where visitors can meet the artists and enjoy some wine and cheese.
Education and outreach to both the local community and visitors is a primary goal for the Gallery. The Gallery offers free and changing art exhibits, tours and lectures, poetry readings along with fee-based art classes, vacation and summer art camps and an after-school arts program for children, film showings, and more.