Downtown Public Art
Public art has the power to energize public spaces transforming where we live, work, and play - making strangers talk, children ask questions, perspectives shift, as well as foster a greater sense of attachment and pride in the communities we live. River Arts strives to work with artists, organizations, and local businesses to bring more public art into the everyday life of downtown Morrisville.
Learning to Fly, 2019
by Judith Wrend
Permanently installed in front of River Arts in November 2019, Learning to Fly greets and inspires visitors as they enter the building.
Judith Wrend (she/her) is a sculptor living and working in Morrisville, VT. Her sculptures represent an unspoken language developed over many years of focused creative attention. Shapes, lines, and openings repeat and reinvent themselves in a progressive continuity. Within each sculpture, she explores relationships of light, space, color, and reflection. Sited outdoors, a sculpture forms a relationship with its surrounding landscape and with the changing wind and light. Propelled by wind or touch, the kinetic works dance in space and time. Her non-moving sculptures participate in the dance with their implied movement. These works stimulate a closer look at the inhabited space, at relationships, balance, and movement. The effect is to merge thoughts and feelings as we join in the dance.
The purchase of this sculpture was made possible by the generous support of Dr. Fred Rossman & Leslie Abramsam, Paul Gruhler & Jane Marlin, and Peter & Brenda Christie.
Spiral Canopy, 2016
by Gordon Auchincloss
Two of Gordon Auchincloss’s sculptural trees are permanently installed in downtown Morrisville. Find one of the Spiral Canopy outside the Morrisville Centennial Library and another in the pocket part adjacent to the Morrisville Post Office.
Gordon Auchincloss (he/him) specializes in a range of contemporary styles. Auchincloss' aesthetic interests wind their way through innovative freestanding public sculptures, as well as classic and modern mobiles.
The purchase of this sculpture was made possible by the Animating Infrastructure Grant by the Vermont Arts Council and the generous support of Community National Bank.
Garden Mural, Public Art Camp 2021 lead by artist Jess Graham
Public Art Youth Programs, Ongoing
Every summer Mural Project camp designs and paints a new mural to be installed downtown. In the Spring of 2022, students in the LSSU’s Afterschool Unbound Program also joined River Arts for a Public Art class to complete murals and other public art activations.
Look for semi-murals installed around downtown Morrisville. Mural locations include the bandstand at Oxbow Park, along the Lamoille Rail Trail Bridge, across from Ten Railroad Cafe, and on the side of the River Arts building.
Around Town
River Arts helps curate art activations around town. Several locations host semi-permanent installations of community projects. The Morrisville Post Office has rotating exhibits that change every two months.
News and Updates Featuring Art Around Town:
Updates & Events
Community Projects
Mosaics Project, 2018 - 2019
by The River Arts Gallery Committee
In the spring of 2018, the Gallery Committee at River Arts initiated two community projects that culminated in two exhibitions in the Fall of 2018 and Spring of 2019. The first project was a call for photographers to document “Morrisville - Favorite Places.” A juried group show exhibited the best photographs that captured beloved scenery in our community. After the exhibition, the gallery committee selected 6 of the works that they felt best utilized a range of subject matter. A large collaborative interpretation of these photographs were planned.
Each of the selected photographs were divided into grids, and masonite panels of the same dimension were prepared for community distribution. 66 panels of 16” square of masonite were offered up to community members, artists, and volunteers along with a section of the original photograph. None of the participants were to know what comprised the larger composition, and were simply asked to translate the image onto the masonite board. No direction about medium or application was stipulated and the only constraint was that participants were asked to follow the original compositional elements from the original photograph. The final exhibition represented 35 different participants and engaged individuals across a diverse range of artistic abilities, ages, and interpretations.
The final installation of these mosaic compositions took place in Spring 2019. Once installed, it became clear that the project echoed the importance of individual contributions to a collective. These mosaic panels do not stand alone and together these individual interpretations form familiar places we all love. It is together we create community. When we bring our artistic expression and interpretations into the spaces we share, together we create a mosaic of human expression that reflects commonality and that which makes us human.
Downtown Banners Project, 2018
by River Arts, People’s Academy, and Morrisville Alliance for Culture & Commerce
Students from Peoples Academy took photos of local business owners, conducted interviews, and painted Pop Art inspired banners to hang around town. This project celebrated getting to know your community better, honoring the people that make it run.
Previous community Projects:
Spring/Summer 2021- Community Birdhouse Project
In celebration of spring and to welcome back our migrating birds, River Arts is thrilled to announce that our Community Birdhouse Project has been installed. Check out this fabulous collaborative public sculpture project along the Morrisville Rail Trail, installed for the 2021 summer season.
