Rural Arts Collaborative is pleased to announce our fall art show, Animalia: GRACE Artists and the Animal Kingdom, on display September 27 through December 27 at The GRACE Gallery at 59 Mill Street in Hardwick, VT. Please join us for the opening reception on Friday, September 27th from 5 - 7pm. Free and open to all (suggested donation of $5-10), enjoy fall refreshments and live music from Will Miller and Family Bluegrass Music. 

Additional activities will include

• Relief printing demonstration with Aidan Lodge

• Folk arts from Eurasia with Elena Reingard

Donations and commissions from sales will support free arts programming in our community.

About Animalia: The show highlights a long and productive tradition of GRACE artists finding inspiration in the animal world and the people who coexist with them. As many of these artists lived and worked for much of their lives in rural Vermont, it’s no surprise that the abundance of nature features so prominently in their art. Set against serene, timeless landscapes, the complicated human and animal subjects who populate these canvases are pops of life that encourage introspection. A pack of polar bears braving the arctic wind, a family rounding up the cows at day’s end - scenes like these invite us to appreciate the people we hold close through the ups and downs of life, and savor the softness and impermanence of it all.

Featured prominently is the artwork of James Nace, a GRACE artist currently living and working in Pennsylvania. Perhaps more so than any artist in the GRACE collection, Nace has made the animal world a subject of intense focus. His paintings run the gamut - from joyful to somber, familiar and comforting to imaginative and eerie. His works, along with those of other GRACE artists on display, are a pleasure to behold. A portion of all the sales from this group show will benefit James Nace.

Accompanying the works on display at The GRACE Gallery is an extended selection featured on our Digital Archive, linked below.