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SHELBURNE, Vt. (October 6, 2025)—As Shelburne Museum’s season draws to a close on October 26, visitors are invited to explore the final weeks of an extraordinary lineup of exhibitions celebrating art, sound, craft, and imagination. From Sound, Art, & Ink: Higher Ground Gig Posters, which chronicles Vermont’s vibrant music scene, to the playful textile creations of artist Dahlov Ipcar, the galleries are alive with creativity and storytelling. Highlights include the immersive sonic and textile expressions of Making a Noise: Indigenous Sound Art, the striking cyanotypes of David Sokosh, and the ceramic “love letters” of Mara Superior—along with Karen Petersen’s graceful bronze horses installed across the museum’s grounds.
Exhibitions include:
Making a Noise: Indigenous Sound Art
Five contemporary Native American artists merge sound and textile design in interactive works that explore connections between humans, the natural world, and ancestral traditions in contemporary expression. Featuring works by Aerius Benton-Banai (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Tribe, b. 1999– ); Chelsea Bighorn (Lakota, Dakota, and Shoshone-Paiute b. 1989– ); Nanibah Chacon (Diné and Xicana, b. 1980– ); Kite (Oglála Lakȟóta b. 1990– ); Marie Watt [Seneca Nation of Indians (Turtle Clan) and German-Scot Ancestry b. 1967– ].
Sound, Art, & Ink: Higher Ground Gig Posters
Celebrates 27 years of collaboration between music venue Higher Ground, design studio Solidarity of Unbridled Labour, and printmakers from Iskra Print Collective. Together, they created gig posters that memorialize Vermont’s vibrant music scene, transforming fleeting moments into enduring works of art that evoke nostalgia and celebrate the interplay of sound, community, and design.
Blueprint of a Collection: Cyanotype Photography by David Sokosh
Using the cyanotype process, Sokosh reimagines Shelburne Museum objects with striking blue tones. From traditional photographs to experimental compositions on textiles, Sokosh’s work bridges past and present, offering a contemporary interpretation of American material culture through a historic lens.
Porcelain Love Letters: The Art of Mara Superior
Ceramic artist Mara Superior’s work is inspired by many interests, including art history, patriotism, environmentalism, and everyday life at home. These themes come together to create an artistic style that feels both romantic and thoughtful. Each piece is like a love letter from the artist to the world, honoring tradition while expressing a vision uniquely hers.
Dahlov Ipcar: The Possibilities of Pattern
Dahlov Ipcar, renowned for her children’s books, brought her whimsical aesthetic to textiles, creating needlepoints, hooked rugs, and soft sculptures. This exhibition celebrates Ipcar’s mastery of pattern, color, and form, offering a rare glimpse into the artist’s lesser-known but equally compelling creative pursuits.
Herd: Karen Petersen’s Bronze Horses
Bronze sculptures that reimagine the horse’s form, distilling it to its essence. Stripped of details such as manes and tails, her works capture the animal’s innate power, grace, and sensitivity. Inspired by ancient mythologies and modern aesthetics, Petersen’s creations transcend representation, evoking timeless beauty and strength.
For a pdf version, download HERE.
High-resolution images are available for download HERE.
Image credits:
1) Winter Storm Jingle Dress and Belt, by Aerius (Jingogiizhigookwe) Benton-Banai (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Tribe) is framed by works in the foreground by Marie Watt (Seneca Nation of Indians [Turtle Clan] and German-Scot Ancestry) Sky Dances Light: Forest IV, Forest V, Forest VI (detail).
2) EMI Nahasdliiby Nanibah Chacon (Dinéand Xicana) and Lucas Gonzalez (Bogatá,Colombia). On view in Making a Noise: Indigeous Sound Art at Shelburne Museum through October 26, 2025. Photography by Daria Bishop.
3) Visitors experience the Sound, Art, & Ink: Higher Ground Gig Posters exhibition.
4) David Sokosh, Mermaid Weathervane (Atop the Round Barn) Against the MOON, 2024. Cyanotype print, 24 x 20 in. Courtesy of David Sokosh.
5) Mara Superior, Only One Planet Earth, 2019. High-fired porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglaze, glaze, and gold leaf, 16 x 16 x 1 1/2 in. Courtesy of artist and Ferrin Contemporary. John Polak Photography.
6) Dahlov Ipcar, Garden of Eden, 1961. Cloth collage, 37 x 32 in. Courtesy of Rachel Walls Fine Art. © Dahlov Ipcar.
7) Karen Petersen, The Dreamer, 2006. Bronze, 28 x 43 x 12 in. Courtesy of the artist. Photography by Andy Duback.
Shelburne Museum exhibitions and programs are made possible by the generosity of our Members and donors to the Annual Fund.
About Shelburne Museum
Founded in 1947 by trailblazing folk art collector Electra Havemeyer Webb (1888–1960), Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, is the largest art and history museum in northern New England and Vermont’s foremost public resource for visual art and material culture. The Museum’s 45-acre campus is comprised of 39 buildings including the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education and Webb Gallery featuring important American paintings by Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses, John Singleton Copley and many more. Construction is underway for the Perry Center for Native American Art, designed in partnership with Indigenous voices and devoted to the stewardship and exhibition of the Native American art in the museum’s care, scheduled to open in 2027. For more information, please visit shelburnemuseum.org.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Leslie Wright
Director of Marketing and Communications
Shelburne Museum
lwright@shelburnemuseum.org
802-985-0880
Kristen Levesque
Kristen Levesque Public Relations
kristen@kristenlevesquepr.com
207-329-3090
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