Children’s Museum hosts textile arts exhibit

Dover was once known as one of the textile capitals of the nation. The Children’s Museum is revisiting the city’s legacy in Gallery 6 with a summer exhibit called “A Continuous Thread,” on display through Sept. 6.

The new art display complements the museum’s recently completed Cochecosystem exhibit, which shows visitors the natural life on the river as well as its industrial past. In contrast, the museum’s Gallery 6 showcases three fiber artists with a contemporary take on the medium.

The gallery walls are alive with colorful work by weaver and art educator Sarah Haskell; master printmaker on paper and fabric Lisa Grey; and Suzanne Pretty, a founding member of the Tapestry Weavers in New England and two-time Artist Fellowship winner from the N.H. State Council on the Arts.

This exhibit goes beyond the usual parameters of textile arts. It includes an area where visitors are encouraged to touch woven pieces. There will also be woven painted paper, ribbons, large tapestries and traditional wall hangings in the exhibit, which was coordinated by local nature illustrator Tess Feltes.

The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire is located at 6 Washington St., Dover, 603-742-2002. For more information, visit www.childrens-museum.org.

Clay Hill Farm shares with fairy houses

For the third year in a row, Clay Hill Farm Restaurant’s Sanctuary Garden area will share its land with fairy houses from Tuesday, June 30 through Aug. 25 from 10 to 11 a.m.

Clay Hill Farm is an ideal natural setting for fairy house building. It is certified by the state of Maine as an environmental leader and was the first restaurant to be designated a bird sanctuary and wildlife refuge by the National Wildlife Federation.
Materials will be supplied for free, but visitors are welcome to bring their own natural touches to help attract the fairies. Wear comfortable outdoor clothing and enclosed footwear.

The nearby Ogunquit Playhouse will show “Fairy Houses, the Musical,” based on the book, on Saturday and Sunday, July 18 and 19. There will also be tours of artist-built fairy houses on the grounds. Visit www.ogunquitplayhouse.org for more information.
Clay Hill Farm is located at 220 Clay Hill Road, Cape Neddick, Maine, 207-361-2272. Visit www.clayhillfarm.com.

Portsmouth Athenaeum joins Art ’Round Town

The historic Portsmouth Athenaeum is the newest feature of the city’s monthly Art ’Round Town event.

The 192-year-old membership museum and library is exhibiting “Selections from the Ogunquit Museum of American Art” in the Randall Gallery through Oct. 31. It features 40 paintings, sculptures, prints and photographs, curated by Susan Kress Hamilton with Ron Crusan, director of the Ogunquit Museum.

The exhibit will include a Marsden Hartley painting, a Charles Demuth watercolor, an Augustus St. Gaudens relief sculpture, an Edward Hopper print, a Childe Hassam etching of Portsmouth, an Alexander Calder lithograph, a Wolf Kahn oil, a Mark Tobey tempera and other artworks that will resonate with residents of New Hampshire and Maine.

Artists were selected because of relevancy to the region, including Maine-born Marsden Hartley, whose work was influenced by life on the sea. He wrote of his visits to his mother in Maine: “I always recalled and still do, that particular location of the emotion, and I still feel it when the train crosses the bridge over the Piscataqua between Portsmouth, N.H., and Kittery, Maine, and the landing on the Maine side seemed to settle everything as it does at this moment, more than ever.”

Other artists in the exhibit include Rockwell Kent, Walt Kuhn, Charles Woodbury, Arnold Newman, Fairfield Porter, Dozier Bell and William Zorach.

Rob Crusan will present two talks, on Thursday, July 16 and Thursday, Sept. 17, both at 5:30 p.m. Reservations are required for lectures by calling the Athenaeum at 603-431-2538.

Art ’Round Town is a self-guided walking tour of Portsmouth’s galleries on the first Friday of each month from 5 to 8 p.m. The Randall Gallery will also be open every first Friday evening through October in addition to its regular hours.

The Randall Galley is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. See www.portsmouthathenaeum.org.