The Kent
Every year about this time, there is an art show at a former tavern in my little town of East Montpelier.
It’s actually not my town. It’s just over the line into the next town, which is called Calais. That’s a detail that we sometimes bother with. But it’s fun to claim some ownership of the most wonderful art show of the year.
It takes place at the Kent Museum for a month at the end of summer. The Kent is a sort-of restored place that was the home of the Kent family, which farmed and did business on this little rural corner of Vermont.
The Kents’ Corner State Historic Site is administered by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and is part Historic Kents’ Corner, Inc., a nonprofit.
The art exhibit is called Art at the Kent, which is accurate as far as it goes. To say that Art at the Kent is about art is like saying living in Vermont is because of the good hiking.
The art of course is the core of it all. From September 10 to October 10, the old tavern becomes a focal point of the reason we are here, in this place.
First of all, you know the people behind the scenes. A small group of arts obsessives who work all year to put together the exhibit with local artists. This year is about seeing the past, its technologies, and lifestyles. The woman greeting you and handing you a clothespin as your ticket is the finest wedding flower arranger in the area.
The ever-present David Schutz is there. Schutz is the curator of the Kent museum, not to mention the Vermont Statehouse. He can tell you anything about virtually anything in Vermont history.
Second, you know the artists. There is my dear friend John Parker, who built our house 25 years ago as a contractor. In “retirement’’ he has turned to repurposing broken furniture into gems. For this show, he put together “found’’ objects from the past into something new to contemplate.
Then there is Heidi Broner, who paints working people in motion. Stunning. And she is my neighbor, although I have never met her. Her work is direct and real - a joy of the exhibit.
Painter Tom Leytham is there too. You can chat with Tom about his work in person as he is a constant presence in downtown Montpelier, getting a coffee or cycling through town. He paints old stuff that worked and now doesn’t. Tractors in the field, shipwrecks, old brickyards.
Chris Jeffrey is a stained glass artist focused on the interaction of light in space. Oh - we play tennis.
Third, and most important, is that little group in the front yard, catching up, swapping stories. To stereotype - they are the hippies who came here in the 70s and took the place over. They left their up-tight conventional suburban Mad Men upbringings for a freedom they didn’t know.
They started on communes and dusty old farmhouses they got for cheap. They grew up and raised kids and formed the backbone of the Vermont lurch to the political left from the rock-ribbed Republicanism of the early 20th century.
Here they are now, mostly retired, swapping stories at the Kent. Join in. They will welcome you.
The Kent and its supporters raised the money for an elevator and two bathrooms and other updates. But for the most part, the place is as it was. Wallpaper from 100 years ago. The floorboards are the same. Down the road is the Robinson sawmill, the oldest in the country. The Old West Church is up the road.
The best way to see the art is to park a mile away and walk in. Park at the Maple Corner store and just ask for the Kent at the register.
By all means, do the art, which is inside and outside the museum. But just as important, soak up the history of the place. It’s real and in the bones of the old tavern and the grounds. And take your time.
