118 Elliot

Creative Relations Artist Discussion
2023-06-15 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | 118 Elliot
Select artists from the exhibition Creative Relations will share personal perspectives on how relationships influence their work in a round table discussion led by an insightful, experienced moderator. The public is invited to join this discussion on what fuels creativity and how it relates to specific events in your life.

Musical Improvisation for All, with Anna Patton
2023-07-06 19:30
Series of first thursdays of every month
Suggested Donation: $15
7:30 pm
Anna Patton and 118 Elliot invite you to create music through structured group improvisations, game-pieces, and other interactive sound-making at 118 Elliot. This is a recurring series, with structured improvisation on the 1st Thursday of every month.
This event is for any and all instrumentalists and vocalists willing to experiment with improvisational play. We’ll come up with musical/sonic material on the fly and use various cues to organize, disrupt, or otherwise mess around with the sounds. No experience is needed as long as you have a curious ear and a willingness to make things up.
Program Director Anna Patton is a clarinetist/singer/composer who performs in a full spectrum of styles. She teaches vocal and instrumental ensemble classes, aural skills, improvisation, and music theory. In 2006, Anna started the Soubrette Jazz Choir at the Vermont Jazz Center which performs her creative arrangements of historical and contemporary American music. Anna holds a Masters of Music from New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Improvisation program.
For more information contact: johnloggia@gmail.com or annameryl@gmail.com

Nu Mu 2023: Music and Art Festival
2023-08-04 17:00 - 20:00
Opens Friday Aug 4 Gallery Walk with ‘Sounds & Signs’ Community Art Making Event, and extends through Sunday, August 27
Full Nu Mu Festival Schedule

The Nu Mu Music and Art Festival returns to 118 Elliot for a second year as ‘Nu Mu Tu’. A community art making event at Brattleboro’s August 4th Gallery Walk begins a month of musical performances celebrating improvisational music.
Nu Mu Tu, a collaboration between 118 Elliot’s John Loggia and Jeff Lederer’s Little(i)Music, offers a creative convergence of new music and art organized around celebrated jazz musician and teacher Lederer’s yearly pilgrimage to the Brattleboro area and the spirit of ‘free jazz’ where everything is always new.
Throughout August, Nu Mu Tu will present a series of weekend performances by both established and up-and-coming musicians including: Jeff Lederer, Payton MacDonald, Jeremey Slater, Ayumi Ishito, Aron Namenwirth, Paul Austerlitz, Ayizon Sanon, Julian Gerstin, Bonnie Kane, and John Loggia. A full Nu Mu Tu Festival schedule is available here.
Hallie Lederer leads ‘Sounds & Signs’
During the August 4 Gallery Walk, artist Hallie Lederer of Brooklyn’s Powerhouse Arts will lead participants in ‘Sounds & Signs’ an art making event to create ‘graphic scores,’ visual representations of music that will be interpreted by the Community Improvisational Orchestra to close the festival at 6pm Sunday August 27. Select graphic scores will be exhibited as part of ‘Signs & Sounds’ exhibit up through August at 118 Elliot gallery.
August 5th will feature Payton MacDonald’s ‘Sonic Peaks’ project. MacDonald makes graphic topographical scores of his mountain hikes and performs them on Marimba.
On the weekend of August 18, Nu Mu will converge with XFest, an invitational improvisational convergence of more than 50 musicians, artists and dancers will be held at 32M Center for Creative Work in Ashuelot, NH (just past Hinsdale). Performances will run from Friday evening through Saturday. Bring a lawn chair to enjoy non-stop creative experimentation from 6 – 11pm Friday and Saturday.
The closing weekend (Aug 25/26/27) will feature “Flowers for Albert” a musical Tribute to Albert Ayler concert at 118 Elliot on Saturday August 26th at 7pm. An Albert Ayler Benefit Golf Outing at 10am that same day will benefit local human services groups. Jeff Lederer will lead an ensemble that includes Ras Modhe, Bonnie Kane and Dave Peck among others. For more information on the golfing event contact jeff@littleimusic.com. Opening the weekend, on Friday, a night of interactive video and live music will feature Dave Seidel/Greg Kowalski, Andrew Neumann”, and Bonnie Kane/John Loggia performing a mix of analog electronics, video projection and acoustic instruments .
The festival will close on Sunday, August 27 at 6pm when Lederer leads the Community Improvisational Orchestra in interpreting and performing the graphic scores created by community members at the August Gallery Walk (more info here). Anyone interested in participating in the orchestra should meet at 118 Elliot on August 17th and 24th at 7pm to prepare for the final performance, or write to 118Elliot@gmail.com for more information. A community celebration and dance party featuring Freakuency will follow at 7pm.
A $15 suggested donation for each concert goes directly to the musicians.
click here for the full Nu Mu Festival Schedule

NU MU collaborators John Loggia and Jeff Lederer

Jeff Lederer is a celebrated saxophonist/clarinetist/composer and teacher who has been included in the Downbeat Critics’ and Readers’ poll each year since 2014. He leads ensembles including the “Shakers n’ Bakers”, “Sunwatcher Quartet” and “Brooklyn Blowhards” and is the founder and director of the Visionary Youth Orchestra. Lederer also plays in the groups of Matt Wilson, Bobby Sanabria, Allison Miller, Jimmy Bosch and many others. Lederer was named as a “Musician to Watch in 2017” by JazzWise magazine in London and has appeared in the North Sea, Molde, Monterey, Chicago, Earshot Seattle, Azores and Guimaraes Jazz festivals where he was the 2017 artist-in-residence. Lederer is currently serving as Director of Jazz Studies and professor of Jazz Saxophone at Long Island University.
John Loggia is a multimedia artist who has worked in the visual arts and music throughout his career. As a musician, John has performed with many great Jazz musicians including Bonnie Kane, Daniel Carter, Ras Moshe, Erc Zinman, Vance Provey, Anders Nillen, Stephen Gauci, Zach Swanson, Eric Plaks among others. John is a producer of the recent documentary on Free Jazz, “Fire Music” that can be seen on the Criterion Channel. His new album, Ventilation, with Bonnie Kane, will be released in August.

Sounds & Signs: Live Community Art-Making Event
2023-08-04 17:00 - 20:00
Nu Mu Festival Overview
Nu Mu Festival Schedule

118 Elliot welcomes all to participate in a community art-making ‘Sounds & Signs’ event where visual representations of sound or ‘graphic scores’ will be made to be ‘played’ later by an improvisational orchestra. The free event, which kicks-off 118 Elliot’s month-long Nu Mu Tu Music and Art Festival, runs from 5 to 8 pm at the August 4th Brattleboro Gallery Walk at 118 Elliot, 118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro, Vermont.
The event will be led by Hallie Lederer, who works in community outreach at Brooklyn’s Powerhouse Arts. Some of the graphic scores created at this event will be interpreted by the Improvisational Community Orchestra on Sunday, August 27 to close the Nu Mu Tu Festival and exhibited throughout the month as part of the ‘Sounds & Signs’ exhibit at 118 Elliot gallery.
118 will be prepared for art making with various stations equipped with free art-making materials. There will be a large central collaborative composition that anyone can work on with guidance from Lederer. Various smaller stations, each with their own art-making materials, will be available to artists who prefer to work individually or in smaller groups.
Additionally, ‘Sounds & Signs’ will feature an exhibition with a scholarly overview of graphic scores which will be on display throughout the month to guide participants and provide a context for the community project.
Interested community members are also invited to participate in the Community Improvisational Orchestra performance on the 27th. Please come to our run-throughs on August 17th and 24th at 7pm at 118 Elliot to prepare.
Please see the 118 Elliot website for additional details or email 118Elliot@gmail.com.

HALLIE LEDERER BIO
Hallie’s pursuit in life and art is focused on social change and impact. As an experimental artist from Brooklyn, New York, she works in many different mediums including oil and acrylic paints, spray paint, collage, found object and recycled material sculpture, drawing, and digital art. In addition to these mediums, she is the owner and founder of the streetwear clothing brand HailNYC. Her creative process is reflective of the experience of growing up in capitalist American culture. Hallie recently completed her Master’s Degree in Art Education from Brooklyn College. As an educator, she is interested in using art making as a means for fostering community, togetherness and creating social impact.

Payton MacDonald's 'Sonic Peaks'
2023-08-05 20:00 - 22:00
Nu Mu Festival Overview
Nu Mu Festival Schedule

Payton MacDonald is a percussionist/composer who is also an avid mountain climber. In his multi-year project “Sonic Peaks,” he climbs local mountains and creates graphic musical scores for improvising musicians to interpret. The audio/visual performance will feature MacDonald on Marimba and Jeff Lederer on wind instruments.

Musical Exchanges
2023-08-12 19:00
Nu Mu Festival Overview
Nu Mu Festival Schedule

A night of musical exchanges in an immersive environment of video projections. Featured musicians include Ayumi Ishito, Jeremy Slater, Paul Austerlitz, Aron Namewirth, Ayizan, Sanon, Ben James, and Scott Moore.

The Albert Ayler Benefit Golf Outing
2023-08-26 10:00
Nu Mu Festival Overview
Nu Mu Festival Schedule

“Flowers for Albert” is a night of celebration of the musical legacy of the great free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler that will take place on Saturday, Aug 26 as part of August’s Nu Mu Tu Music and Art Festival at 118 Elliot in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Albert Ayler was a forward-thinking improviser who in his short lifespan (1936 -1970) revolutionized approaches to his instrument, and to the jazz language as a whole. Saturday evening starting at 7pm, we’ll host a community-based music making event interpreting the repertoire of Albert Ayler in new ways with a flexible ensemble of local musicians and guests.
During the day on Aug 26 (starting at 10am), a very informally organized “Albert Ayler Memorial Golf Outing” will happen at the Brattleboro Country Club. Ayler was a championship golfer as a youth in Cleveland Ohio. Fees for this event will be donated to local social services organizations. Please contact jeff@littleimusic.com if you wish to participate or for more information.

'Flowers for Albert' Tribute Concert
2023-08-26 19:00
Special Nu Mu Tu Event at 118 Elliot!

Late saxophonist Albert Ayler performing in 1970

Nu Mu Festival Overview
Nu Mu Festival Schedule

“Flowers for Albert” is a night of celebration of the musical legacy of the great free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler that will take place on Saturday, Aug 26 at 7pm as part of August’s Nu Mu Tu Music and Art Festival at 118 Elliot in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Albert Ayler was a forward-thinking improviser who in his short lifespan (1936 -1970) revolutionized approaches to his instrument, and to the jazz language as a whole. The night will be a community-based music making event interpreting the repertoire of Albert Ayler in new ways with a flexible ensemble of local musicians and guests.
This special evening will be led by saxophonist Jeff Lederer, Nu-Mu part-time Guilford Vermont resident and the co-producer of the recent “Revelations” box set (Elemental Records), a re-mastered and for the first time complete recording of the final concert performances of Albert Ayler from July 26-28 at the Fondation Maegth in St Paul du Vence, France.
During the day on Aug 26, a very informally organized “Albert Ayler Memorial Golf Outing” will happen in the Brattleboro area. Ayler was a championship golfer as a youth in Cleveland Ohio. Fees for this event will be donated to local social services organizations. Please contact jeff@littleimusic.com if you wish to participate or for more information.
Suggested admission to the evening concert is $15 – pay as you are able – but all participants and audience members are encouraged to bring a flower. There will be a community meal prior to the performance at 6pm. Contact Jeff at the email above to RSVP.

“For all their abrasiveness and clamor, these mid-sixties recordings have the feel of instant classicism; though lacking the underpinnings of pop-music forms, they have the inner logic of intellectual conviction and emotional necessity. These recordings were instantly, vastly influential, as was Ayler himself”
~from New Yorker review of Ayler “Revelations” box set (2022)

Improvisational Community Orchestra Plays Graphic Scores
2023-08-27 18:00
more info to come…
Nu Mu Festival Overview
Nu Mu Festival Schedule

Community Celebration + Dance Party featuring Freakuency
2023-08-27 19:00

Rescheduled: Improvisational Community Orchestra Plays Graphic Scores
2023-09-01 17:00
All are invited to join The Brattleboro Community Improvisational Orchestra to perform the Graphic Scores created at the last Gallery Walk.
Light for a while on 118’s island of thoughtful, spontaneous, creative kindredship amid the hubbub of Brattleboro’s September first Friday Gallery Walk!
118 will host the ‘Brattleboro Community Improvisational Orchestra’ from 5 to 9 pm at Gallery Walk with music starting at 6. These free improvisers will jam their interpretation of graphic musical scores created by community members at the previous (August) Gallery Walk.
118 continues to encourage creative responses to the ‘Sounds & Signs’ exhibit, curated by visiting jazz artist and educator Jeff Lederer, at the September Gallery Walk. The exhibit explains what graphic musical scores are with interesting examples of them. 118 Elliot will provide material and work areas so people can enjoy experimenting with creating graphic scores, assigning sounds to musical drawings created in groups or alone within the evening’s collective spirit. Friday September 1st at 5pm. Bring an instrument to use or use one that will be provided.

‘SOUNDS & SIGNS’ EXHIBIT
2023-09-01 17:00 - 21:00
Opens during September’s Gallery Walk
Light for a while on 118’s island of thoughtful, spontaneous, creative kindredship amid the hub-bub of Brattleboro’s September first Friday Gallery Walk!
118 will host the ‘Brattleboro Community Improvisational Orchestra’ from 5 to 9 pm at Gallery Walk with music starting at 6. These free improvisers will jam their interpretation of graphic musical scores created by community members at the previous (August) Gallery Walk.
118 continues to encourage creative responses to the ‘Sounds & Signs’ exhibit, curated by visiting jazz artist and educator Jeff Lederer, at the September Gallery Walk. The exhibit explains what graphic musical scores are with interesting examples of them. 118 Elliot will provide material and work areas so people can enjoy experimenting with creating graphic scores, assigning sounds to musical drawings created in groups or alone within the evening’s collective spirit.

The Long Way: New Work by Aron Namenwirth
2023-10-06 17:00 - 2023-10-28 17:00
On exhibit until October 28th
Email 118elliot@gmail.com or call 802 380 9072 for an appointment

Aron Namenwirth, Untitled
“The Long Way”
New Art by Aron Namenwirth at 118 Elliot
Opening on Gallery Walk October 6th 5pm
Through October 29th

BRATTLEBORO — September 6th, 2023, Brattleboro,VT: “The Long Way” comes to 118 Elliot for an exhibition of new drawings by Aron Namenwirth.

“The Long Way” is a reflection of a philosophy of life that Aron arrived at after a life of striving. ‘In my younger life I was always in a hurry to start my day. I would wake early and get to it whatever it was. Getting ready for work or whatever the day requires. I would rush diving headfirst with energy and passion. In this body of work exactly the opposite has been the case. Whatever needed to get done was taken care of and only when nothing else needed attention did I slowly start to embark on a drawing or painting. The goal was to prolong the activity of the work as long as possible. The work was looking. Like a good walk or conversation, the journey is the end.”

Aron Namenwirth has worked as an artist for over 45 years, at The Bronx Museum, Momenta, VertexList and Galapagos in New York. His “Video and Animations” have been screened at Diva in Miami. He also ran an art moving company who’s truck doubled as a gallery and performance space during art happenings in Soho and Chelsea.

These drawings are systematically made. Following a process that is akin to meditation, they are imbued with the thoughts and energy from the moment they were created. According to Namenwirth “The drawings are turned like a pot on the pottery wheel, knitted like a hat, grown like a tree from seed. Water and fertilized, repotted as it slowly grows.The objective is to prolong the experience.”

Gallery Hours by appointment
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118 Elliot, 118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro VT 05301
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FREE! Monthly Architecture + Design Film Series: Mary Cassatt: Painting the Modern Woman
2023-10-18 18:30 - 20:30
Join us for this thoughtful, popular, monthly series, free to all, which simultaneously screens live in Brattleboro and Burlington. It is curated/presented by the American Institute for Architects Vermont and hosted by local architect Jim Williams. Full schedule and link for free same-day streamings can be found at the series website at: adfilmseries.org

KaneLoggiaHYPOTHESIS presents: Masters of Sonic Liberation Series
2023-10-28 19:00 - 23:00
The KaneLoggiaHYPOTHESIS presents Masters of Sonic Liberation, a new performanceseries highlighting world renowned musicians in the ever expanding field of experimentalmusic at 118 Elliot on 3 Saturdays: October 28th, November 18th, and December 16th.Doors are at 7pm; $10 Donation Suggested.Arising from the modes of improvisation, free jazz, noise, avant-garde, moderncomposition, electronics, electro-acoustic, vocal work, and traditional instrumentation,the unifying principle of these artists is their dedication to exploratory,hypothetical, investigational, probing, observational, theoretical,innovative, inventive, radical, avant-garde, anti-normative,alternative, fringe, unfamiliar, unorthodox, unconventional, unusual,eccentric, avant-garde, avant-core, free thinking, way-out music.Both physical and streaming audiences will be treated to unique sounds and first-timeever performances, guaranteed to inspire wonder, amazement and delight. Each eveningwill bring the listener deeper into the world of musicians who have left the norms andabandoned the pop and easy listening culture, to continually investigate and create musicof the greatest depth and personal expression that reaches directly into the algebra ofthe mind, heart, and soul.
Curated by dedicated improvisor and sax/flute/electronics artist, Bonnie Kane, some ofthe New York/New England based musicians appearing are:Aron Namenwirth, Federico Balducci, Marc Edwards, Tor Snyder, Takuma Kanaiwa, EricDahlmen, Dave Pek, GlynisLomon, Ayumi Ishito, Dei Xhrist, Bonnie Kane and John Loggia.Experience a new world of expansive sound.Mark your calendar for October 28, November 18 and December 16.
SCHEDULE (subject to change)
Saturday, October 28:• Aron Namenwirth / Federico Balducci (2 guitars + electronics)• Marc Edwards / Tor Snyder / Takuma Kanaiwa (drums, guitars power trio)• Craig Chin – (ambient guitar electronics)• KaneLoggiaHYPOTHESIS – (sax/flute/electronics, percussion/electronics avant-core)• Compactor – (electronics/film)
Saturday, November 18:• Eric Dahlmen – (solo trumpet, electronics, throat singing)• Dave Pek, Glynis Lomon, + 1 (woodwinds, cello, electronics)• Ayumi Ishito / Eric Plaks / Jon Panikkar (sax, electronics, keyboard, drums – psych free jazz trio)• KaneLoggiaHYPOTHESIS + Ben JAMES – (sax/flute/electronics, percussion/electronics, bass/drums)• Walter Wright – (electronics)
Saturday, December 16:• Dei Xhrist (chantreuse: vocals, electronics)• Michael Larocca / Kaelen Ghandi (drums, guitar)• Adam Arritola – (electronics, percussion)• Isaac Tyler – (electronics, film)• KaneLoggiaHYPOTHESIS + Ben JAMES Big Band
About KaneLoggiaHYPOTHESIS:KaneLoggiaHYPOTHESIS is the experimental duo of master improvisors, Bonnie Kaneand John Loggia, burning through the realms of noise, psych, free jazz, and avantgarde,bringing you out of your brain and into your heart where the sound is felt and does it’smost needed work…Internationally renown, dedicated improvisor, BONNIE KANE, is a pioneer in electronicprocessing for flute and saxophone. She is captivated by the focus required to be in themoment of creation, and the purity found there.With over 40 releases as a soloist and bandleader, she is featured on Godspeed You!Black Emperor’s album, “Luciferian Towers”, and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’salbum,“Orange”. A record dealer and music curator, she belongs to the lineage of freesonic space explorers.Multi-instrumentalist, JOHN LOGGIA draws the percussive nature out of eachinstrument he plays: drums, piano,electronics, guitar. He can play in the deepest ofpockets and manifest all manner of sounds.Immersed in the arts, he is a painter, production designer for film, co-director of the artsand educational venue, 118 Elliot Gallery in Brattleboro, Vt and the executive producerfor the acclaimed documentary film, “Fire Music”.

KaneLoggiaHYPOTHESIS presents:Masters of Sonic Liberation Series118 Elliot, Brattleboro, Vt3 Saturdays: October 28, November 18, December 16 – doors 7PM, $10Suggested. Donation $10

Monthly Architecture + Design Film Series: Levitated Mass
2023-11-15 18:30 - 20:30

Brattleboro Words Trail: Murals, Maps and Sound
2023-11-23 00:00
May 2021 through August 2023
Local artist Cynthia Parker-Houghton was commissioned to create a map representing, and inviting exploration of the Brattleboro Words Trail, community-created audio pegged to places and people significant in the region’s unique history of writing, publishing, printing, thought leadership and all things ‘words’ (see history below).
Choosing the imagery for this project was challenging because of the large and diverse scope of the research involved. The landscape itself with its mountains and rivers became the uniting feature for the more than 100 audio stories currently pegged to the Trail, and more stories are still being discovered and created. People who’d like to tell a story can contact: brattleborowords@gmail.com
The murals are updated with ceramic buttons imprinted with the initials of the characters each time a community-created story is completed. The murals were created in order to print the companion maps that visitors can pick-up at the exhibit.
Viewers can use the maps and murals in conjunction with the stand-along Brattleboro Words Trail app and website, which allow you to listen to stories associated with more than 80 sites in and around Brattleboro – with 50 sites within walking distance of 118.
The imagery for the map was created using Sgraffito, a ceramic carving technique which creates a look similar to wood block or linoleum printing. In sgraffito a layer of dark slip is carved through to reveal lighter clay underneath. Cynthia honed her skills with this technique as Lead Designer at Natalie Blake Studios where she has created murals for public and private installations throughout the United States for more than a decade.
Our Storied Landscape: Brattleboro Words Trail Sites and Sounds debuted at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center October 2020 – February 2021 as “Our Storied Landscape: Revealing the Brattleboro Words Trail”
Next Stop: Amtrak!
The murals will move to the exterior, platform-facing wall of the new Brattleboro Amtrak station as part of a permanent Brattleboro Words Trail exhibition. The unveiling will occur with the opening of the station in Fall of 2024.
Brattleboro Words Project Background
The Project began in 2017 when a group assembled at 118 Elliot to discuss what the town could do to apply for a new National Endowment for the Humanities “Creating Humanities Communities” matching grant.
Five local groups took the lead: Brattleboro Literary Festival, the Brattleboro Historical Society, Brooks Memorial Library, Write Action and Marlboro College (which closed in 2020). The original NEH proposal, written by William Edelglass PhD and Lissa Weinmann, secured the four-year 1:1 NEH matching grant for the work.
That initial phase of the Project was successfully completed in January 2021 when the Trail and a companion book were released to the public. The book, entitled “Print Town: Brattleboro’s Legacy of Words’ won a national design award in 2022. The Trail itself has also won regional and national awards, including an ‘Award of Excellence’ from the American Association for State and Local History.
The Words Project mounted exhibits at 118 Elliot, Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center and in MILES, a ‘Mobile Interactive Literary Exhibition Space’ parked in 118 Elliot’s back lot. MILES hosted the Brattleboro Words Project’s first exhibit “Lucy Speaks” about Lucy Terry Prince, the nation’s first known African American poet and a Brattleboro-area resident, as a pop-up on Main Street during the 2017 Brattleboro Literary Festival.
118 Elliot’s In-Kind Brattleboro Words Project Support
118 Elliot donated the MILES trailer to the Brattleboro Words Project for that and other exhibitions and has provided office, exhibition and meeting/event space to the Project since its inception in 2017, free of charge. 118 Partner Lissa Weinmann continues to lead the Project with an Advisory Team at the Vermont Folklife Center including Shanta Lee, Starr LaTronica, Sally Seymour, Rolf Parker-Houghton and William Edelglass, Phd through a fiscal sponsorship project at the Vermont Folklife Center.
See more details at BrattleboroWords.org.

Abstract Expressionism in The Age of Climate Change: Artists Mary Therese Wright, Ellen Cone Maddrey, Tina Olsen, John Loggia discuss the exhibition 'Becoming The Landscape'
2023-11-25 15:00 - 2023-11-26 17:00
on exhibit during September, 2023

Mary Wright, Untitled (Walker), oil and pastel on paper, 30″x40″

November 17 2023, Brattleboro, VT: 118 Elliot will host an artist’s talk and reception on Saturday, November 25, from 3 to 5 pm. The artists, Mary Therese Wright, Tina Olsen, Ellen Maddrey, and John Loggia, will discuss the works in their current exhibition, “Becoming the Landscape,” inviting questions and reflections from the audience. Refreshments will be provided.
This is the first collaboration of these local artists whose works are deeply intuitive and reflect the natural world through personal expression. Through this first collaboration these artists have discovered their shared process and the communication between their paintings.
These works reflect the larger art movement towards landscape painting and emotional expressionism. The artists share a reverence for nature as a refuge but recognize the anxiety that accompanies climate change and the significant transformation it causes and will continue to cause. Since Irene, their art has evolved to reflect this tension; we turn to nature as an asylum and at the same time are confronted with its erratic and diminishing elements. Yet nature continues to show resilience, and as we strengthen our relationship with the environment, we can enhance our own ability to face climate change.
The discussion will encourage participation from the attendees concerning our emotional and physical connection to the mountains, trees, water and stones of our earth, the anxiety surrounding climate change, and the way that this tension can be expressed with color, shape, and texture. The relationship between the works will be explored, as well as the individual artists’ processes and inspirations.
Mary Therese Wright’s artwork and community-based projects have been shown throughout the United States since 1989. A lifelong artist, Wright founded Gallery Wright, a brick-and-mortar retail exhibition and teaching space, co-founded Campicaso@, a traveling artist-run educational organization and has led workshops for over 30 years. Wright has a keen interest in materiality whether painting, printmaking, or metalsmithing. Her current work is a response to the vibrant colors and dynamic shapes of nature. She lives in Jacksonville, VT. She states:
I have spent more time in conversation with Lake Whitingham and its trails than I have with most people I know. My paintings are a reflection, a portrait of sorts, of that relationship.
Ellen Cone Maddrey came to painting later in life, after careers as a lawyer and elementary school teacher, but her inspiration is embedded in the mountains and seas of her childhood home, Seattle. She allows the emotions and colors that arise as she treks the trails and swims in the waters of Vermont to guide her hands as paint connects with canvas. Maddrey states, “Through my painting, I continue to learn about myself as part of the brilliant life that surrounds us.” She and her husband, Wendell split their time between Montclair, NJ and Wilmington, VT.
Tina Olsen, a lifelong artist and poet, has been a creative arts therapist, taught art at The Walden School, and exhibited her work both in New York and Vermont. She lives in Brattleboro, Vermont with her partner Schuyler Gould. Tina has a deep emotional connection with her work, referring to it as therapeutic creative expression. She works in both watercolor and oils, and her work reflects her interest in the line between abstraction and reality. She refers to her painting in this poem excerpt:
I paint as if it were a Holy thing.
I surrender to it and
become a Holy thing. . . .
And the marks I makeare the footprints of that Holy Thing. . . .
John Loggia has been painting and working in the arts since 1979, when he worked as an artist’s assistant to Dan Flavin and other major minimalist artists. He maintained a practice of drawing and painting while working in film as a production designer and producer, most recently on the documentary Fire Music, released in 2021.
From 1984 to 2000, Loggia ran a multipurpose art and music space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 2015, John opened 118 Elliot, an arts and education center in Brattleboro that he still runs with his partner. Loggia is also a musician who has played with jazz greats including Daniel Carter, Jeff Lederer, Blaise Siwula and Bonnie Kane, among others.
II8 Elliot is a collaborative environment for the creative arts and education. Programming includes film showings, gallery exhibitions, musical performances and conferences as well as physical culture classes. 118 Elliot also provides a modern, fully accessible space in the heart of historic downtown Brattleboro for community use at affordable rates. It is home to the National Endowment for the Humanities-supported Brattleboro Words Project and has its interactive Brattleboro Words Trail landscape mural maps and community audio stories as a permanent exhibit until the murals move to the new Brattleboro Amtrak station opening late 2024.
118 Elliot, 118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro VT 05301 118elliot.com

Becoming The Landscape: Tina Olsen, Mary Wright, Ellen Maddrey, John Loggia
2023-12-08 17:00 - 2023-12-31 20:00
“Becoming The Landscape” New Artwork by Mary Therese Wright, Tina Olsen, Ellen Cone Maddrey and John Loggia

Fall Group Show 2024

“Becoming The Landscape”, an exhibition of recent large scale paintings by artists Mary Therese Wright, Tina Olsen, Ellen Maddrey and John Loggia, will inaugurate a new curatorial partnership among the artists at 118 Elliot. The show opens with a reception from 5 to 8 pm on Friday, November 3 and runs through November 26th, 2023. Gallery hours are by appointment at 118Elliot@gmail.com

Ellen Cone Maddrey

Ellen Cone Maddrey came to painting later in life after careers as a lawyer, an elementary school teacher and a parent of three. She explores her feelings through color, texture, and shape. She has traveled widely, including living for three years in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her artistic inspiration is deeply embedded in the mountains and waters of Seattle, her childhood home, and the natural world of Vermont. She currently divides her time between Montclair, New Jersey, Wilmington, Vermont, and Paris, where her eldest daughter lives.
Through my painting, I continue to learn about myself as part of the brilliant life that surrounds us. ~ Ellen Cone Maddrey

Mary Therese Wright

Mary Therese Wright’s artwork and community based projects have been shown throughout the United States since 1989. A lifelong artist, Wright founded Gallery Wright, a brick and mortar retail exhibition and teaching space, co-founded Campicaso@, a traveling artist-run organization focused on connecting school age children through media and creativity, and taught workshops for over 30 years in school systems, artist-run spaces and non-profits. Wright has a keen interest in materiality whether painting, printmaking or metalsmithing. Her current work is a response to the vibrant colors and dynamic shapes of nature.
I have spent more time in conversation with Lake Whitingham and its trails than I have with most people I know. These paintings are a reflection, a portrait of sorts, of that relationship.~ Mary Therese Wright

Tina K Olsen

After growing up in Springfield, MA, Tina Olsen traveled widely before moving to New York City where she taught art at the Walden School and worked therapeutically with the arts at the South Beach Psychiatric Center on Staten Island for many years. Throughout her life, no matter what else was going on, she maintained a practice of painting for what she calls ‘therapeutic creative expression.’ For Tina, to experience art is to be bathed in a cleansing and healing light. She moved to Brattleboro in 2006 to live near her daughter and found a community of artists at the River Gallery School and and118 Elliot. She curated the ‘Creative Relations’ shows at 118 and nurtures other artists with her positive energy.

I have been able to look back and see how my work reflects the time and place when it was created, but living in Vermont has brought me closer to nature and that has opened my art to pure abstraction. ~ Tina Olsen

John Loggia

John Loggia has been painting and working in the arts since 1979 when he worked as an artist’s assistant to Dan Flavin and other major minimalist artists. He maintained a practice of drawing and painting while working in film as a production designer and producer, most recently on the documentary ‘Fire Music’ released in 2021. From 1984 – 2000 John ran a multi-purpose art and music space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 2015 John opened 118 Elliot, an arts and education center in Brattleboro, Vermont that he still runs with his partner. John Is also a musician who has played with Jazz greats including Daniel Carter, Jeff Lederer, Blaise Siwula and Bonnie Kane, among others.
“Playing music and painting are two sides of the same coin with each practice informing the other, encouraging more experimentation, more risk, and more unexpected revelations .” John Loggia

Monthly Architecture + Design Film Series: Aalto
2023-12-13 18:30 - 20:00

Monthly Architecture + Design Film Series: Alice Street
2024-01-17 18:30 - 20:30

Improvisation for All with Scott Moore
2024-02-08 19:00 - 21:30
Join us for a monthly session of improvisational music led by Scott Moore on the second Thursday of each month.

Monthly Architecture + Design Film Series: Vanish, Disappearing Icons of a Rural America
2024-02-21 18:30 - 20:30

JULIAN GERSTIN SEXTET
2024-03-02 19:00 - 22:00

Monthly Architecture + Design Film Series: New England Modernism
2024-03-20 18:30 - 20:30

Monthly Architecture + Design Film Series: The Color of Ink
2024-04-17 18:30 - 20:30

Yoga Dance
2024-04-18 18:00 - 19:15

Turbulence Orchestra & Sub-Units: Smear Out the Difficulties
2024-04-20 19:30 - 22:00
$15 Recommended Donation
The Turbulence Orchestra is a large format improvisation ensemble comprised of six or more horn players and a rhythm section. For this performance we will play four 15-minute improvisations each with a quarter of the total ensemble, take a short break and then perform an hour-long improvisation with all the musicians.
Since the pandemic, the Turbulence Orchestra has Livestreamed to YouTube eight times from Evil Clown Headquarters in Waltham with the ensemble size between 8 and 10 musicians – the largest unit that can easily fit in the Evil Clown Livestreaming Studio Space. Each of these performances is posted on the Evil Clown YouTube channel, released on CD/download available at bandcamp and other locations, and has an album page on the Evil Clown Webpage.
This is only the second Live Performance of the Turbulence Orchestra & Sub Units, and is the largest ensemble yet for this project (currently booked 13 performers with a few more likely). Another Evil Clown ensemble, The Leap of Faith Orchestra, however, has had many performances with units this size and larger. We performed 13 times in three years before the pandemic at the Third Life Studios in Somerville MA with as many as 15 players in the orchestra. The Third Life Studios sessions used exactly the format we will use at this concert – Short 15 or 20 minute improvisations by Sub Units of the entire ensemble followed by an hour long improvisation with everyone. The entire run of performances was released on download/CD and is available both as a 25 CD set and individual double CD sets of each performance. The Evil Clown Album page for the box set is evilclown.rocks/lofosu-boxset/ which contains links to bandcamp, YouTube and other web content.
Also, between 2016 and 2019, the Leap of Faith Orchestra performed six Graphic Scores composed by PEK with the orchestra size as large as 25. The vision of the overall Evil Clown project is to create an extremely broad universe of sound and to realize music which transforms into widely different sonorities within a single performance. The full Leap of Faith Orchestra performing a PEK frame notation score is the most complete implementation of that vision. The large ensemble size (15 to 25 performers) and the details provided in the score directing the improvisation allowed us to create a story through a huge number of controlled textures over the 75 minute duration of the works. See the Evil Clown website: evilclown.rocks/lofo-graphic-scores/.
So, Evil Clown’s projects have been working for many years on the very interesting and difficult aesthetic problem of large ensemble free improvisation. Free improvisation is typically performed by smaller ensembles (duos to quartets). Larger ensemble size combined with a broad-palette approach where most of the players play many different instruments allow us to construct a journey through a series of highly varied sonorities of the duration of the work. This ensemble is comprised of seasoned improvisors from the Evil Clown Roster who are all very experienced at large ensemble broad palette free improvisation. I’m expecting a stellar concert in this wonderful space.
Performers:Reeds: PEK, Bonnie Kane, Michael Caglianone, Victor Signore, Dennis LivingstonBrass: Bob Moores, Eric Dahlman, Vance Provey, John Fugarino, Duane ReedPiano: Eric ZinmanBass: Scott SamenfeldDrums: John Loggia

A Reality Check on Climate Change with Dr. Alex Moore
2024-04-28 17:00
Free Public Event | $10 Recommended Donation

The Frontrunner: Reading & Book Launch with Brad Fawley
2024-06-01 18:00 - 20:00
