ARTISTS
Donald Baechler
André Butzer
Ann Craven
Matt Dillon
Inka Essenhigh
Torben Giehler
April Gornik
Andy Hope 1930
Richard Jacobs
Michael Kagan
John McAllister
John Newsom
Erik Parker
Raymond Pettibon
Alexis Rockman
Ouattara Watts
Wendy White
FOREWORD
For half a century beginning in 1916, travelers entered through the heavy oak-and-glass doors of the building that today houses the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center to embark on expeditions to destinations nearby and around the world. This was Brattleboro’s Union Station, and the gallery where EXPEDITION is on view was its grand lobby — a liminal space charged with the energy and anticipation of adventures just completed and those that lay ahead.
For the past 50 years, the building has served as a portal for journeys of a different sort — those of the imagination, spirit, and intellect. Its two histories — first train station, then art museum — and the presence of those whose expeditions began or ended here are embedded in the space itself. They can be seen and felt in the original steps made from Vermont marble, in the time-worn terracotta-tiled floor, and in the streamlined architectural details that evoke an unmistakable sense of motion: We are here now, but not for long. We are on our way.
Through the first half of the 20th century, travelers making their way from Brattleboro up the Connecticut River Valley to Reading, Vermont, would have purchased tickets to Proctorsville or Woodstock at the window located alongside Wendy White’s fantastic installation, Double Rainbow (Multiple Levels). Once they reached their destination, if they were to time travel to the summer of 2019, they might find themselves at a festive gathering of artists, curators, and museum directors hosted by the Hall Art Foundation, our contemporary art neighbors to the north.
That’s where John Newsom and I met, each of us enjoying a mini-expedition of our own, away from home, eyes and minds lifted above the everyday, open and attuned to new possibilities, ideas, and collaborations. We hit it off immediately. As I recall, John’s vision for EXPEDITION was nearly fully formed from the start. He rattled off the names of most of the artists he planned to include — an exciting, diverse group, many of whom had never shown in Vermont before. The exhibition would “depict aspects of venturing into unknown lands and territories,” he said, and I was sold. He had tapped into one of the things I love most about art and museums (and train stations, for that matter) — their ability to transport us to new realms.
We had no way of knowing back in 2019 how powerfully many of us would be longing to go on a journey in the summer of 2021, following an unprecedented year of hunkering down and isolation. In that sense, EXPEDITION feels perfectly suited to this place and time. I hope you enjoy the journey.
— Danny Lichtenfeld, Director