Peter Schumann Exhibits Original Work at Rabble-Rouser Chocolate & Craft Co.
New Capital City Gallery Space Will Foster Creativity and Culture
MONTPELIER, VT – Rabble-Rouser Chocolate & Craft Co. is hosting art exhibits in its downtown Montpelier café and event space from now through Summer 2021 . Entitled The In and Out Show, “Off We Go” riding through “The All” with Bedsheet Mitigations, this exhibit features paintings done on discarded king-sized bedsheets by octogenarian cultural icon, Peter Schumann of Bread & Puppet Theater, hung in Rabble-Rouser’s 8-foot windows overlooking Main Street.
The exhibit extends from inside the Rabble-Rouser factory and windows out into the giant black brick outside wall adjacent to the alley. A wide selection of posters and publications from Bread & Puppet Press/Cheap Art are available for sale in the Rabble-Rouser cafe during the exhibit. In addition to visual art, the gallery includes a piano that is open for passers-by to play.
The paintings featured in this exhibit were all created during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some were featured in Bread & Puppet’s Insurrection – Lamentation – Resurrection Service performances of 2020-21. This exhibit of The Bedsheet Mitigations is dedicated to the memory of Bread & Puppet collaborator Penelope T. Gregory, “Poppy,” (1929-2012). She organized for Bread and Puppet and produced shows in the Boston area, hosting the theater innumerable times, feeding the puppeteers her famous dolmas and spanakopita. A grandmother to B&P community, a generous and upbeat woman, Poppy is being honored because of her lifetime support of justice and peace. When asked for comment on the dedication, Schumann said “the divine spanakopita poppy of the sacred heart singing glory.”
Art is an ancient coping mechanism for oppression, inequality and boredom–all the conditions of 2020. People’s creative impulses have exploded the whole world over as a result of the intense solitude experienced by all of humanity, all at once. At the same time, public institutions, including theatres and museums, are shuttering–whether temporarily or permanently–and formerly immersive cultural experiences are being relegated to the small corners of our lives. The new Rabble-Rouser art gallery represents a “third place”– a place where people can go besides their homes and workplaces, if only briefly, to experience beauty and briefly escape the mundanity of the times.
“History shows us that when times are tough, people make art to help their spirit survive,” says Rabble-Rouser rising-owner and shopkeeper, Maia Castonguay. “In turn, this art lifts the spirits of the community. Our customers often just come in for a macchiato and are thrilled to stumble upon this art gallery – it’s been a bright spot for them in the middle of this dreary pandemic.”
As a result of social distancing measures (Rabble-Rouser is currently operating at 30-50% capacity) and through the leveraging of state and national COVID-19 relief funding, the chocolate factory was able to dedicate 1,200 square feet of their downtown Montpelier space to this free community art gallery. The ingenuity at 64 Main Street is an example to other business owners of how to think in new, radically generous ways about their resources and communities, and to engender cultural growth where there would otherwise be shuttered windows and taped-off spaces.
Rabble-Rouser has already curated multiple exhibits in the space, featuring the work of local artists Ryan Geary, MytheBe, Natasha Bogar, and Nicholas Hecht of the Pyralisk Theatre. Upcoming events include a book release and visual art exhibit from Eleanor Ott in April, and a 75th birthday show from Diane Kaganova that will launch on Mayday. They are hopeful that Schumann will be able enact a live event outside the chocolate factory later this spring, and that their gallery will evolve as an outpost for theater and Cheap Art Press over the long term.
About Rabble-Rouser
Rabble-Rouser Chocolate & Craft Company is a Vermont-based, 100% worker-owned cooperative creating the highest quality chocolate confections and granola. They produce a variety of handcrafted delights from their headquarters in Montpelier, Vermont, including gourmet chocolate bars, truffles, toffee, granola, Magic Chunks – chocolate covered granola clusters – and CBD chocolate confections. They are two-time winners of the Good Food Awards, for their Dulcey Salted Caramel Bar (in 2014) and their Dulcey Truffle (2021).
Formerly known as Nutty Steph’s, Rabble-Rouser strives to strengthen, nourish, and support their community through the unifying power of exceptional chocolate, art, craft, and culture. With an emphasis on high-quality, local and ethically sourced ingredients, Rabble-Rouser’s confections serve as a delicious way to pursue their mission of tasteful social change.
Rabble-Rouser products are sold in their downtown Montpelier, Vermont café and store, as well as co-ops and independent grocery stores around the region. To order online, and to learn more about Rabble-Rouser’s vision of building a better status quo, please visit rabblerouser.net.
About Bread & Puppet
Other locations “In and Out” to see more work of Peter Schumann and The Bread and Puppet Theater are: The Bread and Puppet Museum,The Highland Center for the Arts,The Hardwick Inn, Front Seat Coffee, and The Plainfield Community Center Gallery.
Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side, initially featuring rod-puppet and hand puppet shows for children. More complex theater pieces followed, in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners.
In 1974, Bread and Puppet moved to a farm in Glover, in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. A 140-year old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two day outdoor festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.
The company makes its income from touring new and old productions, both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press’ posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company, to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.
Bread and Puppet is one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theater companies in the country.
Photos with credit to: Ryan Dell’Amico, Bread & Puppet Theater and Rabble-Rouser Chocolate & Craft Co, respectively.
