118 Elliot

Architecture + Design Film Series: My Bones Are Woven
2025-11-19 18:30 (America/New_York) | 118 Elliot
Doors open at 6pm, Screening starts at 6:30pm. Running time 73min.
The Architecture +Design Film Series continues Wednesday, November 19th with, My Bones are Woven. For the full season lineup, visit the ADF FILMS page.
Ann Sutton is an iconic British artist, author, and educator who early in her career won world acclaim as an innovative textile designer working for brands like Ralph Lauren and Issey Miyake. Then, in her 80’s, she gave up her looms and dedicated herself to pushing the boundaries of fine art. In her “laboratory” of a studio in Sussex, England she works alongside her assistant Ruth to turn her endless ideas into radical creations. Ann is a magnet for artistic collaborators who enjoy her energy and wry humor, and her world changes when curators from Britain’s biggest art institutions—The Tate and V&A—start knocking on her door. Now in her 90’s, Ann and her work defy definition as she continues to squeeze every last ounce out of life, inspiring all of us to do the same.
Directed by Jane Mote & Joshua Kershaw, 2021, UK.

Film: Teresita's Dream, Cuba's Battle Against Alzheimer's
2025-11-21 18:00
$10 suggested donation (no one turned away)

About The Size of It: Group Show
2025-12-01 - 2025-12-31
Group show featuring artwork by Mary Therese Wright, Ellen Cone Maddrey, Tina Olsen, Liza Cassidy, Gayle Robertson, and John Loggia
Official Opening December 5th Gallery Walk. 118 Elliot open gallery hours: Thursdays 3 to 6 pm
The exhibit “About the Size of It” is open at 118 Elliot Street in Brattleboro. The exhibit features the work of six painters who make up the 118 collective of artists: Tina Olsen, Ellen Cone Maddrey, Gayle Robertson, John Loggia, Liza Cassidy and Mary Therese Wright. The exhibit explores the notion of size in painting – the miniature and the monumental. Also on exhibit is the window display, “All Under One Sky,” the collective’s contribution to the Brattleboro Festival of Miniatures.
The artists contemplated the miniature and the monumental in painting, and how it is expressed in their individual work. In most representational painting, the image is exactly that – a representation of a (usually) much larger scene. The majestic landscapes of Bierstadt and Church are miniature when compared to the scenes they represent. But any painter, whether the work is representational or abstract, faces the question of how large to make the image. Queries arise for the artist and the viewer: how does the size or shape of a painting relate to what the painter is expressing, or what the viewer is seeing and feeling? This exhibit allows both the artists and the viewers to “try out” different sized works, discover how the eye reacts to each, and form new ways of seeing.
The 118 artists’ collective also worked together to create the window display “All Under One Sky” as a contribution to the Brattleboro Festival of Miniatures. These artists tend to create art from their physical interaction with the materials, rather than starting with specific ideas that are translated onto a visual medium. They used this process to work together in an improvisational mode, creating the universal sky that connects us all. The colors and shapes, and the light they create, remind us of the vastness of the natural beauty that surrounds our daily lives. Moving from “monumental” to “miniature,” the artists added whimsical miniature scenes of life under the sky.
Please enjoy our offering of color and line to brighten the winter solstice and holiday season. The exhibition will be on view at Gallery Walk, December 5, during 118 Elliot open gallery hours, Thursdays from 3 to 6 pm, as well as during all 118 Elliot events and by appointment.

Gayle Robertson has been artistically active all her life. Her experiences in the fields of lighting design, computer graphics, 2D and 3D traditional media, spirituality, end of life and bereavement, mix to bring different lenses to what happens in her studio. She uses her art as a way to engage with the moments of life and a tool for exploring all its meaning, calling upon her materials to bring her interests to light. She lives in Southern Vermont where she enjoys being part of the vibrant arts community.
Tina K. Olsen has been painting and working therapeutically in the expressive arts most of her life. She moved to Brattleboro in 2006 to live near her daughter and found a community of artists at the River Gallery School and 118 Elliot. Olsen’s works in oil and watercolor bring life to the healing light of nature.
Ellen Cone Maddrey came to painting later in life after careers as a lawyer, an elementary school teacher and a parent of three. Her artistic inspiration is deeply embedded in the mountains and waters of Seattle, her childhood home, and the natural world of Vermont. Her paintings express the comfort and thrill of nature through color and shape. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey, and has a second home in Wilmington, Vermont.
John Loggia has been painting and working in the arts since 1979. He has maintained a practice of drawing and painting while working in film as a production designer and producer. In 2015 John opened 118 Elliot, an arts and education center in Brattleboro, Vermont that he runs with his partner. John, a jazz musician, feels that playing music and painting are two sides of the same coin with each practice informing the other and encouraging experimentation, risk, and unexpected revelations.
Mary Therese Wright’s artwork and community based projects have been shown throughout the United States. 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, Vermont, and draws inspiration from her deep relationship with the trails and water of Lake Whitingham.
Liza Cassidy is a visual and performing artist with a long time studio practice in Brooklyn NYC, and for the last seven years in her home town of Brattleboro, Vermont. Her focus is on large scale abstract mixed media collage utilizing discarded materials, mostly receipts, to convey human experience, and plein air landscapes in oil. She teaches Sequencing at River Gallery School as well as painting, studio art, and community mending/sewing sessions. She is also a long time collaborator with Theaterlab in NYC as a writer, director and performer.

How Did We Get Here? Democracy in Peril
2025-12-04 18:00
Two local activists and history teachers will present a lecture and discussion on the forces that shape our current political condition. Nick Biddle earned tenure as a professor of Latin American history at Appalachian State University and later became executive coordinator of The Alliance For Democracy, a national non-profit dedicated to campaign finance reform and corporate accountability. Tim Kippt taught U.S. history and political science for 39 years, mostly at Brattleboro Union High School.
According to Biddle and Kipp, “Trump’s bulldozing of the East Wing of the White House is a grim metaphor for what his regime is doing to the republic. Running the country like one of his many failed businesses, Trump is shredding the Constitution.” Utilizing a structural analysis this presentation will explore how fundamental weaknesses of our governing systems enable Trump’s authoritarianism.
Biddle will begin by underscoring the clear disdain for democracy held by the so-called “Founders.” Governor Edmund Randolph spoke for all of them when he opened the Constitutional Convention by declaring that “our chief danger arises from the democratic parts of our government”. In September 1787 the delegates announced the Constitution. It opens with five words — “We the People of the United States.”
Enfranchisement has been the key measure of who “We the People” are. Property qualifications, gender and race have been criteria to limit civil and political rights. The disfranchised are effectively excluded from the protections enumerated in the Constitution. Each time an expansion of suffrage occurs a reactionary movement to disfranchise ensues. It’s been a tug of war since 1787.
Biddle will review a little understood weapon in the arsenal of disfranchisement, the development and expansion of “corporate personhood.” Utilized by corporate lawyers since the 19th century, corporate personhood has lifted a billionaire class to unprecedented heights of wealth and political power. Corporate personhood was used in the 2010 Citizens United case by the Supreme Court to equate money with free speech. Since then billions of dark money dollars have captured our political system. How does corporate personhood work? What makes it so dangerous? What can be done to disrupt it? These are questions we will explore.
Kipp will cover how the structural weaknesses of the Constitution have been exploited by the Trump regime to construct the most anti democratic government in U.S. history.
First, Madison and his fears about unethical leaders will be examined. Followed by a look at basic principles and formations such as popular sovereignty, and checks and balances. These essential components of the founding document today are unable to withstand the resistance of the current regime that actively undermines the integrity of congressional hearings and oversight powers.
Next the legislative function of government is analyzed. Lawmaking itself is compromised by an executive that has little appreciation for the democratic process. Executive orders and emergency decrees and the outright ignoring of the legislative branch are the new normal. The Republican Party willingly collaborates with the Trump regime. The presentation will conclude with a look at the judicial process.
The Justice Department and the Supreme Court have abandoned their historic obligations as custodians of the rule of law. Trump has transformed Justice and the highest court into instruments of partisan power. No longer do they serve as neutral overseers of a constitutional process.
These are the most perilous times this country has endured since the Civil War. The Constitution itself is under direct attack from those in power. A long train of historical influences has determined how and where we are today.

Architecture + Design Film Series: Modernism, Inc.
2025-12-10 18:30
Doors open at 6pm, Screening starts at 6:30pm. Running time 118min.
The Architecture +Design Film Series continues Wednesday, December 10th with MODERNISM, INC.: THE ELIOT NOYES DESIGN STORY. For the full season lineup, visit the ADF FILMS page.
Modernism, Inc. provides a rich, thoughtful exploration of Eliot Noyes’ influence on design, architecture, and the corporate world. Coining the term, “Good Design is Good Business”, Noyes built design programs that essentially “branded” some of America’s most powerful postwar corporations. This film weaves Noyes’ story with the broader context of corporate America’s embrace of Modernism during the period of postwar economic expansion, and culminates in the backlash against Noyes and his generation at the Aspen Design Conference during the countercultural upheaval of the Vietnam era. One of the, “Harvard Five”, Noyes also helped transform New Canaan, CT into a laboratory for residential Modernism. The idea of beauty with utility, which was generated from the Bauhaus art movement, continues to remain vital today, and for this, we thank Noyes.
Directed by Jason Cohn, 2023, USA.

Work in Progress: Group Show
2026-01-08 - 2026-01-31
Mary Therese Wright, Gayle Robertson, Tina Olsen, Ellen Cone Maddrey, John Loggia, Liza Cassidy
118 Elliot open gallery hours: Thursdays 3 to 6 pm, and during 118 Elliot events
Open Discussion with the Artists, Thursday, January 15, 3 to 6 pm.
An experimental exhibit “Work in Progress” is open at 118 Elliot Street in Brattleboro. The exhibit features the work of six painters who make up the 118 collective of artists: Tina Olsen, Ellen Cone Maddrey, Gayle Robertson, John Loggia, Liza Cassidy and Mary Therese Wright. The exhibit invites visitors to enter the studios of these six artists and share the process of creation. Each artist will hang work in progress on a section of the walls of 118, changing the pieces throughout the month.
The artists hope to engage visitors in discussion: How does an artist begin a painting, and what are the steps of layering paint? How does an artist tell when a painting is finished? What does the artist do if there is a section of the painting that doesn’t work? The artists will share their own thoughts and queries about the work with each other and with visitors, with the goal of learning from each other and building creative energy together.
The exhibit will be open on Thursdays from 3 to 6 pm, during all 118 events, and by appointment. One or more of the artists will be present each Thursday. On Thursday, January 15, all the artists will attend the 3 to 6 opening hours, and host a group discussion. Refreshments will be served!
For those who view the exhibit during 118 Elliot events, a “comment box” will be provided to share thoughts and ideas with the artists.
Please stop by 118 Elliot on a Thursday in January to view Work in Progress, and participate in musings about the process of creation!
Gayle Robertson has been artistically active all her life. Her experiences in the fields of lighting design, computer graphics, 2D and 3D traditional media, spirituality, end of life and bereavement, mix to bring different lenses to what happens in her studio. She uses her art as a way to engage with the moments of life and a tool for exploring all its meaning, calling upon her materials to bring her interests to light. She lives in Southern Vermont where she enjoys being part of the vibrant arts community.
Tina K. Olsen has been painting and working therapeutically in the expressive arts most of her life. She moved to Brattleboro in 2006 to live near her daughter and found a community of artists at the River Gallery School and 118 Elliot. Olsen’s works in oil and watercolor bring life to the healing light of nature.
Ellen Cone Maddrey came to painting later in life after careers as a lawyer, an elementary school teacher and a parent of three. Her artistic inspiration is deeply embedded in the mountains and waters of Seattle, her childhood home, and the natural world of Vermont. Her paintings express the comfort and thrill of nature through color and shape. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey, and has a second home in Wilmington, Vermont.
John Loggia has been painting and working in the arts since 1979. He has maintained a practice of drawing and painting while working in film as a production designer and producer. In 2015 John opened 118 Elliot, an arts and education center in Brattleboro, Vermont that he runs with his partner. John, a jazz musician, feels that playing music and painting are two sides of the same coin with each practice informing the other and encouraging experimentation, risk, and unexpected revelations.
Mary Therese Wright’s artwork and community based projects have been shown throughout the United States. 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, Vermont, and draws inspiration from her deep relationship with the trails and water of Lake Whitingham.
Liza Cassidy is a visual and performing artist with a long time studio practice in Brooklyn NYC, and for the last seven years in her home town of Brattleboro, Vermont. Her focus is on large scale abstract mixed media collage utilizing discarded materials, mostly receipts, to convey human experience, and plein air landscapes in oil. She teaches Sequencing at River Gallery School as well as painting, studio art, and community mending/sewing sessions. She is also a long time collaborator with Theaterlab in NYC as a writer, director and performer.

Architecture + Design Film Series: The Pavilion on the Water
2026-01-21 18:00 - 20:00
Doors open at 6pm, Screening starts at 6:30pm.
The Pavilion on the WaterJanuary 21, 2026 | Doors 6pm, Screening 6:30pmLive at Contois Auditorium, Burlington & 118 Elliot, Brattleboro Screen from Home, Same Day Only
Directed by Stefano Croci & Silvia Siberini
2023, Italy, 78 Minutes
PREVIEW
The Pavilion on Water invites viewers on an aesthetic and poetic journey into the imagination of Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa, highlighting his deep passion for Japanese culture. Inspired by impressions from Japanese philosopher Ryosuke Hashi, the narrative unfolds along the thread of a central question: What is beauty? This reflection bridges Scarpa’s works with traditional Japanese aesthetics, offering opportunities to recall the poetic and emblematic episodes that defined his life. Throughout, the narrative is infused with a sense of nostalgia for the rare phenomenon of an artist’s birth. Even after Scarpa’s passing, his works continue to inspire wonder—a lasting gift to the world.

Sky Lights/Earth Bound 2026 (Group Exhibit)
2026-02-06 - 2026-03-31
Schuyler Gould and Tina K. OlsenFebruary 6 – March 31, 2026Opening reception Friday, February 6, 5 to 8 pm
Open gallery hours:Thursdays 3 to 6 pm and during 118 Elliot eventsOr by appointment 917-860-5749Artists will be available during Open Gallery HoursContacts: tinakolsen@aol.com, skygvt@aol.com
A joint exhibit, Sky Lights/Earth Bound 2026, is opening on February 6 at 118 Elliot Street in Brattleboro. The exhibit features the work of Schylar Gould and Tina K. Olsen. Gould is exhibiting his light fixtures sculpted from repurposed objects, and Olsen is exhibiting milestone life paintings and drawings with an accompaniment of written and spoken words.
Schuyler Gould is a sculptor, retired building contractor, and anti-nuclear activist. He grew up around antiques and appreciates the beauty and craftsmanship of objects that have been discarded as no longer useful or wanted. He scours the countryside looking for the detritus of a culture obsessed with everything new, looking to repurpose such objects as unique settings for light.
In Sky Light, Gould exhibits the Metropolis series which pairs antique bottles with randomly flashing lights in old iron kettles. Other work includes perforated cylinders from obsolete kerosene cookstoves which cast webs of light in geometric patterns.
Tina K. Olsen has been painting and working therapeutically in the expressive arts most of her life. Olsen studied painting at Skidmore College, studied Abstract Expressionism with Peter Voulkas in 1978, and worked as an arts therapist for over four decades.
In Earth Bound, Olsen brings together selected pieces from decades of work, highlighting how her dedication to her artistry has formed, changed, and enlightened her life. Olsen is also a poet and will perform spoken word pieces relating to selected exhibit works during Thursday gallery hours. Olsen includes in her exhibit a piece by her grandson, Nicolas McHugh, illustrating ten generations of Mennonites since the family’s immigration from Germany.
I want to illuminatethe finding of my own voicethrough painting and spoken word.~Tina K. Olsen

Architecture + Design Film Series: Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers February 18, 2026 | Doors 6pm, Screening 6:30pm
2026-02-18 18:00 - 20:00
Van Gogh: Poets & LoversFebruary 18, 2026 | Doors 6pm, Screening 6:30pmLive at Contois Auditorium, Burlington & 118 Elliot, Brattleboro Screen from Home, Same Day OnlyDirected by David Bickerstaff2024, UK, 90 Minutes
PREVIEW

A century after acquiring its first Van Gogh, the UK’s National Gallery hosted it’s biggest and most successful Van Gogh exhibit.This film provides the only way to see what Forbes called “a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition”. The picture quality is entrancing; every brushstroke and ridge of impasto is reproduced with extraordinary fidelity. Tracing Van Gogh’s journey from his early years in the Netherlands to his prolific period in France, the film shines a light on the events and people that shaped his evolution as a painter. Through readings from Van Gogh’s own letters, viewers are drawn into the artist’s inner world describing colors and compositions, and where longing, hope, and despair gave rise to masterpieces that would ultimately redefine the boundaries of post-Impressionism.

Schindler Space Architect March 18, 2026 | Doors 6pm, Screening 6:30pm Live at Contois Auditorium, Burlington & 118 Elliot, Brattleboro
2026-03-18 18:00 - 20:00
Schindler Space ArchitectMarch 18, 2026 | Doors 6pm, Screening 6:30pmLive at Contois Auditorium, Burlington & 118 Elliot, Brattleboro Screen from Home, UNAVAILABLE
Directed by Valentina Ganeva
2024, USA, 93 MinutesPREVIEW
Austrian-born and educated, R.M. Schindler laid the foundation for what is now considered the California lifestyle of indoor-outdoor living. This documentary explores his richly complex work, with its influences from turn of the 20th century Vienna, early work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the pueblos of Taos. It is an investigation into Schindler’s philosophy of Space Architecture as contrasted with the International Style that ruled modern architecture during most of the architect’s life. The film reexamines Schindler’s complicated relationship with his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright and his rival Richard Neutra, asking key questions about the importance of domestic architecture in creating a national culture and as a living entity that shapes humanity. Schindler Space Architect affirms the singular genius of one man and the eternal challenge every artist faces to stay true to their vision and leave a lasting impact.

In the Path of Typhoons
2026-03-31 19:30

The Automat April 22, 2025 | Doors 6pm, Screening 6:30pm Live at Contois Auditorium, Burlington & 118 Elliot, Brattleboro Screen from Home, Same Day Only Directed by Lisa Hurwitz 2021, USA, 79 Minutes
2026-04-22 18:00 - 20:00
he AutomatApril 22, 2025 | Doors 6pm, Screening 6:30pmLive at Contois Auditorium, Burlington & 118 Elliot, Brattleboro Screen from Home, Same Day OnlyDirected by Lisa Hurwitz2021, USA, 79 Minutes

PREVIEW
Originating in Philadelphia, Horn & Hardart’s Automat was America’s original and most beloved restaurant chain where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee at elegant communal marble tables, free from social barriers. Pie? Coffee? Put your nickel in, then open the little glass door to a freshly made delight. This ritual made Horn & Hardart the place to meet, where people connected over good food and coffee. The Automat illustrates how the company served the public great food and at the same time treated its employees with fairness and integrity. The legacy of the Automat spans a century, chronicling it’s rise as an iconic restaurant chain that inspired Starbucks, and it’s eventual decline, sealed by the rise of fast food that forever transformed the American dining landscape.
