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Local Color
Monastery Gibbon’s “Visions of Monadnock.”
By Heidi Masek hmasek@hippopress.com
• Monastery’s back: Three artists from the Monastery Artists Collective have found a “comparatively cheap” space in Manchester. Until recently, they held gallery events in a large open space at 21 West Auburn St. But it was “financially unwieldy,” said Dei Xhrist. It’s been broken up into smaller studio space.
Some Monastery artists are launching the Underground MAP Project on Friday, April 4, at 76 Lowell St. It’s a storefront with street access, unlike the somewhat hard-to-find third-floor studios on West Auburn.
Across from Red Arrow diner, the former quilt shop is “kind of a weird space that only a gallery or bunch of art freaks could find use for,” Xhrist said. It’s “semi-subterranean” with “weird cutouts” in the walls. The setup will allow them to have several programs going at once. Events can include music, arts, poetry and low-volume cabaret-style performances, Xhrist said.
MAP will be different than the art jams Monastery was running, which Xhrist said they had become synonymous with “rent parties.” MAP will be modeled on the former Zeitgeist Gallery of Cambridge, Mass. It will be a community gallery during the day with arts activities and workshops for all ages and skill levels. In the evening, it will hold more gallery or music events.
The MAP (Music Arts Poetry) is also close to the New Hampshire Institute of Art.
Birdbath Records selected acts Tan Vampires, Moons of Jupiter and Christine Hayward to perform at the opening event, Friday, April 4, from 6 to 10 p.m. Paintings, sculpture, spoken word and performances will be scheduled throughout the evening. Call 969-9928.
• Pull of Monadnock: Author Craig Brandon talks history and lore of Mount Monadnock, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forest’s largest forest reservation. The Forest Society acquired the title to 600 acres on the mountain in 1915. Today, the Forest Society owns 4,000 acres on the mountain. The state’s Department of Parks and Recreation maintains trails. Brandon has put together stories of early hikers, secret places, writers, poets, photographers, musicians and dancers who were drawn to the mountain in his new book, Monadnock, More Than A Mountain. A collaborative of six Monadnock-area artists called The Lone Mountain Artists is exhibiting at the Forest Society’s Conservation Center, 54 Portsmouth St., Concord, 224-9945. The “Visions of Monadnock” show includes work by Diane Gibbons, Carole-Anne Centre, Evelien Bachrach Seeger, Martine Villalard-Bohnsack, Gundy Khouw and Donna Allen. Meet the artists Thursday, April 3, at an open house from 5:30 to 7 p.m.; Craig Brandon’s presentation runs from 7 to 9 p.m. and includes a book signing. The art exhibit runs through April 17, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call ahead before visiting, to confirm that the gallery space is not in use for a function or meeting. A percentage of sales benefit the Forest Society’s conservation work.— Heidi Masek.
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