Join us on Friday, February 26, at Noon, for a Dunkerley Dialogue on the exhibition Energy in All Directions. The dialogue features poet Nickole Brown, painter Cary Smith, Shaker Museum Director Lacy Schutz, and Jeff Bailey.

Register via Zoom.

Dunkerley Dialogues are made possible by a generous gift from Michele Dunkerley ’80.

About the Speakers

Nickole Brown received her MFA from the Vermont College, studied literature at Oxford University, and was the editorial assistant for the late Hunter S. Thompson. She worked at Sarabande Books for ten years. Her first collection, Sister, a novel-in-poems, was first published in 2007 by Red Hen Press and a new edition was reissued by Sibling Rivalry Press in 2018. Her second book, a biography-in-poems called Fanny Says, came out from BOA Editions in 2015, and the audio book of that collection became available in 2017. She was an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for four years until she gave up her beloved time in the classroom in hope of writing full time. Currently, she is the Editor for the Marie Alexander Poetry Series and teaches periodically at a number of places, including the Sewanee School of Letters MFA Program, the Great Smokies Writing Program at UNCA, and the Hindman Settlement School.

Cary Smith’s hard-edged, abstract paintings find their individual character from highly intuitive color interactions, boldly direct paint application, and hand-painted precision. Smith’s paintings are made freehand with a variety of small sable brushes without the use of tape to mask the edges of the areas of color. This precision creates an energy that is highly experiential and like the paintings as a whole creates a believable space that is familiar yet completely new to the eye. Smith was born in 1955 in Puerto Rico. He lives and works in Connecticut. Smith has had numerous solo shows. His most recent was at the Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, Ct. His group exhibitions include The Jewel Thief curated by Ian Berry and Jessica Stockholder at the Tang Teaching Museum, The Geometric Tradition in American Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and 1989 Biennial Exhibition, also at the Whitney.

Lacy Schutz is Executive Director of Shaker Museum and has overseen a period of growth and evolution for the institution since joining in 2016. She previously served in various senior management roles at the Museum of the City of New York, including Director of Collections, and began her career as the founding Archivist at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA.

Jeff Bailey is the former owner and director of Jeff Bailey Gallery (2003-2018), established in New York City in 2003 and relocated to Hudson, New York in 2014. He has been a Trustee of Shaker Museum since 2012, and currently serves as Chair of the Exhibitions Committee and Secretary.