SHELBURNE, Vt. (February 14, 2023) Shelburne Museum has announced its slate of exhibitions for the 2023 season. This year, the museum will feature a variety of special exhibitions focused on creative play, whimsy, and beautiful masterworks of Native American pottery.

Toys, woodblock prints, sculpture, children’s printed textiles, and outdoor inflatable sculptures, along with a significant exhibition of pottery from the Southwest are all featured in the exhibition lineup for the coming season.

This year’s focal exhibition, Built from the Earth: Pueblo Pottery from the Anthony and Teressa Perry Collection, elucidates the techniques and artistry of potters from eight of the Pueblo communities in New Mexico.

Northern New England’s largest art and history museum will be open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., beginning Saturday, May 13 through Sunday, October 22. This season’s exhibitions include:

Object/s of Play: The Work of Cas Holman and Karen Hewitt

May 13 – October 22                        

Object/s of Play: The Work of Cas Holman and Karen Hewitt explores the creative processes of two award-winning American toy designers—a generation apart—who interpret the concept of open-ended play in their own unique ways. Instead of providing step-by-step instructions or written rules about how to engage with their toys, both Holman and Hewitt design playthings that encourage children to use their own imaginations, fostering creativity, ingenuity, and independent thinking.

Pet Friendly: The Art of Stephen Huneck
May 13 – October 22

The colorful exhibition Pet-Friendly: The Art of Stephen Huneck highlights the prolific career and multimedia artwork of the celebrated Vermont artist Stephen Huneck (1948-2010). Despite limited training, Huneck worked fluidly between artistic media, including sculptural woodcarvings, furniture, paintings, stained glass windows, prints, children’s books, and more. Bridging Huneck’s varied artistic ventures is his subject matter. Huneck is perhaps best known for his depictions of dogs—especially his beloved black Lab, Sally—a faithful source of inspiration for over two decades. While canines and their humans feature prominently throughout his oeuvre, Huneck also highlighted a menagerie of other adored creatures, including cats, birds, fish, and farm animals in his art.

Pop Up: Inflated Sculpture
May 13 – October 22

Pop Up: Inflated Sculpture celebrates the innovative designs, diverse materiality, and technological advancements of contemporary inflatable sculpture. Disrupting Shelburne Museum’s landscape with large, sensuous forms and bold pops of color, the inflated artworks imbue playful humor and wonder while also facilitating conversations related to larger sensory, socio-political, and cultural topics. Pop Up features work by three talented contemporary artists: Claire Ashley, Tamar Ettun, and Pneuhaus. Every two months, a new large outdoor sculpture by one of the participating artists will be on view at different locations across the museum’s grounds. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, additional multimedia artwork by each artist will be on view in conversation with various museum buildings and collections.       

Right Under Your Nose: Children’s Printed Textiles from the Collection of J.J, Murphy and Nancy Mladenoff

May 13 – October 22

Featuring selections from the collection of J.J. Murphy and Nancy Mladenoff, Right Under Your Nose is inspired by the more than 3,200 examples of children’s printed textiles gifted to Shelburne Museum in 2020. Themes as varied as insects, alphabets, circus clowns, shadow puppets, the solar system, and a lumberjack beaver appear on these printed cotton handkerchiefs manufactured for children between the 18th and 20th centuries. Usually worn on or carried close to the user’s body, these intimate, everyday objects taught lessons, instilled social and cultural standards, and sometimes even inspired a giggle while providing soothing relief for a runny nose. Close examination of these objects reveals technological innovations in manufacturing, shifts in understandings of children and the concept of childhood, the development of ideas like nationalism and cultural identity, the evolution of gender norms and racial stereotypes, and more.                                            

Built from the Earth: Pueblo Pottery from the Anthony and Teressa Perry Collection

June 24 – October 22

Built from the Earth: Pueblo Pottery from the Anthony and Teressa Perry Collection highlights important items from the Perry collection. The exhibition focuses on the skill and artistry of potters from eight of the Pueblo communities in New Mexico: Acoma, Cochiti, Laguna, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo, San Ildefonso, Zia, and Zuni. Built from the Earth will introduce visitors to the techniques of creating these works of art, discussing the historic methods rooted in the land and materials of New Mexico.

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