The Shelburne Museum

WHERE have you been all my life? Why, after almost 33 years of living in Boston, am I only discovering this incredible museum now?!

In our mini-vaca's northward push, still thinking we'd get to Montreal, we stumbled on the Shelburne Museum in, duh, Shelburne Vermont. The joint's seven miles south of the 'big' city of Burlington which had been one contemplated destination. We never made it.

The Shelburne Museum's 39 exhibition buildings (!!!) are set on 45 stunningly gorgeous acres. They have paintings (Hudson River School, Impressionist, Primitives and more), folk art (Weathervanes, whirligigs, cigar store figures, trade signs, carousel figures and more), quilts and rugs, Decorative arts (pewter, brass, cast and wrought iron, ceramics, glass, furniture, etc.) and more.

So. Much. More. Go to the website and look. Rilly.

An entire vaca could easily be built around visiting this place. The steep entry fee ($22) is for two days. Good thing too as there’s no way to see everything in just one afternoon (which was, sadly, all the time that Jen and I had).

I was way keen on seeing the quilt exhibit and it didn't disappoint -- just LOVE the patterns and vibrancy. 

Shelburne Museum’s 400-plus 18th and 19th-century American quilts form the largest and finest museum collection in the country and are known internationally for their exceptional artistic quality. The collection features masterpieces from New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest, and the South. Styles include album, Amish, appliqué, chintz, crazy, pieced, white work, and whole cloth. Changing exhibitions each year display about 30 works, including recent acquisitions. 

What I didn't expect to find was an exhibition of Velda Newman's fabulous work.

An internationally recognized contemporary textile artist, Velda Newman’s award-winning  quilts have a three-dimensional quality to them. The Californian artist works in vivid colors and close-up detail of her subjects – shells, flowers, fruit are a few examples – creating stunning works of textile art.

She does more than fish, those are what nailed me though. Go look at her site and the Shelburne's for more. Better yet, go to the museum and see them live and in person but hurry. The exhibit ends Thursday.

 The current exhibit of American painting is Wyeth Vertigo

Wyeth Vertigo examines extreme perspectives, unconventional angles and powerful narratives  in 36 works by  N.C.,  Andrew,  and  Jamie Wyeth, three generations of one of the most influential families in modern American art.

Unfortunately but understandably, I couldn't take pics of the amazing work on display -- check out the museum link as well as this, this one and this though. These maybe don't give you a sense of how scorchingly brill their work is but, at the least, it's an intro. I've long been a big fan of the Wyeth family's talent and POV, particularly N.C. and Jamie -- that love's just double downed.

And then we found The Alphabet of Sheep hooked rug series by Patty Yoder. So much fun!

On view in the Patty Yoder Gallery, the second installation in the Alphabet of Sheep series.
Patty Yoder (1943-2005) created whimsical rugs with an acute attention to detail and an aesthetic eye for color.
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Her rugs incorporate her family, friends, or sheep as the subject matter, a joyous celebration of one woman’s life. Through her affiliation with the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild, Patty helped to continue contemporary interpretation of this New England artistic tradition.
Rugs in the exhibition were donated to Shelburne Museum in memory of Patty Yoder by her family.

The bottom one, at right, is her tribute to Susan B. Anthony. LOVE Patty Yoder!

The museum has a few fab examples of automata (real steampunk!) along with their wild circus figures and posters. Crazy, cool shit.

We didn't go into all of the Historic Houses and Community Buildings seeing as we were focused, primarily, on seeing art, craft and odd shit (see above) -- that just leaves us with more coolness to discover next time.

Oh yeah, there WILL be a next time. Perhaps we'll pair that with a visit to the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury.