Reopening Celebration

Free Admission All Daycourtesy of Greylock Federal Credit Union New ExhibitsSee the Battle of Bennington exhibit in its 2026 home, next to the Museum Store. This is a transitional year for this exhibit while we prepare its new permanent home on the second floor. Thanks ......More

Free Admission All Daycourtesy of Greylock Federal Credit Union New ExhibitsSee the Battle of Bennington exhibit in its 2026 home, next to the Museum Store. This is a transitional year for this exhibit while we prepare its new permanent home on the second floor. Thanks to support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Vermont Arts Council. Visit the new Folk and Craft Gallery on the first floor (in the former home of the Battle of Bennington exhibit). This space will highlight extraordinary things made by ordinary people. The annual Student Art Show (April 2 – May 17) includes work from local students in grades kindergarten through 12. Student Artists can pick up their certificates during the reopening celebration.  The Student Art Show is sponsored by MSK Engineers. Art Through New EyesFor the past two months, a group of your friends and neighbors has been discovering the fun of looking at art. Today we celebrate them and share their adventures with you. Join them for a reception at 12:00 in the Paresky Court, where we’ll debut videos they’ve made describing their experiences learning to look at, enjoy, and talk about art. At 12:30, dance educator Melisa Clark will perform and lead a movement activity inspired by David Smith’s sculpture, March Sentinel. Melisa Clark is a dancer, choreographer and educator based in Bennington, VT. She is artistic director and co-founder of PIMA Group, a dance and music company, and earned an MFA in Dance/Choreography from Temple University. She performs and teaches dance and yoga classes locally and regionally. Visit www.pimagroup.org for more information. Generous support for this project has been provided by Art Bridges. Appraisal FairThe annual Antiques Appraisal Fair takes place from 1:00 – 4:00 in the Paresky Education Center. Bring your prized family heirlooms and that quirky piece you found at a yard sale for evaluation by professional appraisers. Plus chat with conservation professionals about how to take care of it. Get the details here. Plus enjoy hands-on activities throughout the Museum and live music with Veronica Jarvis from 10:00 – 12:00.

Antiques Appraisal Fair

Bring your personal treasures for evaluation by professional appraisers Charles Flint, Lorraine German, Scott Martin, Maria Siskind, and Charles Suss, and talk to members of the Collections Care and Conservation Alliance about how to preserve your precious items.  Bring......More

Bring your personal treasures for evaluation by professional appraisers Charles Flint, Lorraine German, Scott Martin, Maria Siskind, and Charles Suss, and talk to members of the Collections Care and Conservation Alliance about how to preserve your precious items.  Bring up to 5 items for appraisal at $10 per item. You may bring these and/or other items to representatives from the Collections Care & Conservation Alliance for consultation free of charge. No need to register in advance. Participants will be paired with appraisers based on order of arrival. The AppraisersCharles Flint, of Charles L. Flint, Fine Art and Antiques in Lenox, MA, has an impressive background in and knowledge of antiques. He performs appraisals and authentications for museums, as well as private collectors and insurance companies. A member of the New England Appraisers Association, he has expertise in fine arts Early American furniture, both country and formal 16th to 19th century oil paintings, both European and American Shaker furniture and accessories early blown and molded glass paper and rare books toys bottles folk art early photography vintage jewelry civil war objects stoneware and numerous other areas. Lorraine German and her late husband Steve established Mad River Antiques, LLC in 2001, with a concentration on 18th, 19th, and 20th century Americana and decorative arts. Over the years, they have received extensive recognition from their peers for their expertise in stoneware, textiles, Christmas decorations, and Indian baskets.  They have been frequent guest speakers at antiques shows, museums, and antiques organizations, where they have covered a variety of topics, including stoneware, redware, quilts, Christmas ornaments, and Santa Claus. Lorraine is a member of the Antiques Dealers’ Association of America and the Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association.  Both she and Steve have served as collection advisors for the Bidwell House Museum in Monterey, Massachusetts. Scott Martin of Great Barrington, Massachusetts specializes in sports memorabilia, antique and vintage toys, Early American country, primitives, decorated stoneware, sterling silver, advertising signs and country store items, military, Civil War, and high-end collectibles. A second-generation art and antiques dealer, Martin has over thirty years of experience in buying and selling art and antiques.  “I started as a young collector of sports memorabilia and old toys, which led to other specialized areas of expertise.” Scott also worked with Charles Flint Antiques for many years and assisted on many notable appraisals and estate solutions for valuable objects. Maria Siskind co-owns Siskind Appraisals in Williamstown, MA with her mother Patricia Siskind. Together they have been helping clients realize the intrinsic value of their possessions since 1996. Whether it is estate work, insurance values, advising on how to live with fine art and antiques, or retaining and dispersing of inherited items, they have been able to find a solution. Maria works throughout the Berkshires, Southern Vermont and adjoining New York. She is a generalists, but her special interests include fine art, 18th to 20th century furniture and decorative items, silver, and estate jewelry. Charles Suss began collecting and studying coins in grade school. In high school he served as president of the school’s coin club for two years while working part time in a coin shop. At the Bowery Jewelry Exchange he became interested in pocket watches. He is a long standing member of the American Numismatic Association (A.N.A.), Early American Coppers (EAC), the Colonial Coin Collectors Club (C4), the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) and the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). He bought, sold, attributed and appraised coins and currency with Tofel Jewelers and at Armstrong Jewelers. He was the prime coin dealer at Camelot Village until its closure in late 2019. Charles then joined Main Street Antiques as a managing partner. His experience ranges from ancients through foreign and modern US issues. He specializes in early American coins and loves timepieces. Collections Care AllianceThe Collections Care & Conservation Alliance is a network of conservation and preservation professionals that seeks to improve collections care by providing information and education to individuals, organizations, and institutions. Bring them your questions about how to best store, clean, or exhibit heirlooms how to find a professional conservator and how to inventory collections for estate planning or family discussion. These experts will be available to give you their advice at no charge.

Museum ABCs: Making Faces - Exploring Portraits

Find faces young and old in the Museum galleries. What are the parts of a face? What makes one person’s face different from another’s? We’ll find the answers to these questions, share a story, and make silly portrait collages using the faces we found in the galleries. M......More

Find faces young and old in the Museum galleries. What are the parts of a face? What makes one person’s face different from another’s? We’ll find the answers to these questions, share a story, and make silly portrait collages using the faces we found in the galleries. Museum ABCs is a collaboration between Bennington Museum and the Bennington Free Library, designed for children ages 3 to 5 and their adult companions. Siblings are welcome! Museum ABCs is FREE thanks to funding from The Bank of Bennington. Join us on the second Saturday of each month, April through November, for artwork, stories, and more! presented in partnership with the Bennington Free Library sponsored by additional support from

Michael Arnowitt: Piano Panorama

Pianist Michael Arnowitt will perform a varied and colorful program featuring a set of pieces by Claude Debussy music by the great Black American composer George Walker from his piano sonatas “Little Beginning” by the Canadian musician John Kameel Farah, which creativel......More

Pianist Michael Arnowitt will perform a varied and colorful program featuring a set of pieces by Claude Debussy music by the great Black American composer George Walker from his piano sonatas “Little Beginning” by the Canadian musician John Kameel Farah, which creatively blends the style of the Renaissance composer William Byrd with elements from Middle Eastern musical traditions Olivier Messiaen’s “The Reed Warbler,” an excerpt from the composer’s Catalogue d’oiseaux (Catalog of Birds) evoking scenes of nature and bird song the current-day Ukrainian composer Victoria Poleva’s spiritual and expressive Sonata quasi una fantasia and the exciting finale to Bartok’s Piano Sonata, a lively piece influenced by the folk melodies and rhythms of Bartók’s native Hungary. The concert will also feature Michael Arnowitt’s well-received recent creation “The Stream” based on J.S. Bach’s Fugue in C-sharp minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. Michael Arnowitt is one of today’s most creative musicians. His extraordinary sense of touch at the keyboard, his abilities to find new articulations and colors from the piano, and his warm onstage personality have delighted audiences in concert halls around the world. Michael Arnowitt has given seven concert tours of Europe, performing in France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, and he has also given concert tours in Russia and Korea. He is the subject of the documentary film, Beyond 88 Keys, filmed in both the USA and Europe and available on Vimeo. He lives in Toronto, Canada where he moved in 2018 after living in Vermont for over 30 years.  The Washington Post said of a special piano concert Michael Arnowitt performed at the National Gallery of Art, “He played with an exquisite sense of touch, color and musical imagination.” Michael Arnowitt is currently working on a book of essays about music, What Makes Great Music Great, to be published by the Vermont-based Fomite Press.   In 2017, Michael Arnowitt was honored with a special legislative resolution by the Vermont House and Senate and a personal thank you in a meeting with the Governor of Vermont in recognition of his years of contributions to Vermont music. His musical activities in Vermont over the years included being the artistic director of the Vermont Millennium Music Festival, which was a 4-day gala of 24 concerts and special events  presenting music from the year 1000 to the year 2000 in chronological order. During his time in Vermont, Michael Arnowitt was the principal organizer for a number of major fundraisers to benefit humanitarian aid for Balkan and Syrian war refugees and relief efforts after Vermont hurricanes and floods, causing the Barre Times-Argus newspaper to comment in an editorial, “Arnowitt has shown once again that his conscience is every bit as impressive as his cadenzas.” Music at the Museum programs are presented at no charge, thanks to our generous sponsors,Alison Nowak and Robert Cane.

A Monument Society Event

Join Bennington Museum’s Executive Director for a tour of the Empire State Plaza Underground and then dinner at acclaimed Villa di Como in Albany. Shuttle from Bennington Museum available on a first come first serve basis. Sign Up Here!

Old Bennington and the Continental Storehouse

a Bennington Historical Society presentation In 1777, British General John Burgoyne sent troops toward Bennington to capture supplies held in a Continental storehouse, setting the stage for the Battle of Bennington.. In this presentation, historian Bob Hoar will explore......More

a Bennington Historical Society presentation In 1777, British General John Burgoyne sent troops toward Bennington to capture supplies held in a Continental storehouse, setting the stage for the Battle of Bennington.. In this presentation, historian Bob Hoar will explore the two most important men behind gathering those supplies: original Bennington settler, church deacon, and revolutionary Republican, John Fassett and Hamilton Federalist and future governor, Isaac Tichenor. Bob will also discuss the buildings that were used as storehouses and what became of them after the Battle of Bennington, as well as the history of the State Arms house – the Vermont Republic’s storehouse during the turbulent 1780s. Bob Hoar is a local historian who has embraced the complex stories of Colonial history. Bob has done many history presentations and events, worked at the Bennington Battlefield, and currently volunteers at the Bennington Battle Monument in the summer. You can find him on Facebook posting as Battle of Bennington. supported by

Museum ABCs: Trail Tale - If You Plant a Seed

Join us for a story on the George Aiken Wildflower Trail. When Rabbit and Mouse plant tomato seeds, they get tomatoes. When they plant carrot seeds, they get carrots. But when they plant the seeds of selfishness, they get a heap of trouble. What can they do to fix it? S......More

Join us for a story on the George Aiken Wildflower Trail. When Rabbit and Mouse plant tomato seeds, they get tomatoes. When they plant carrot seeds, they get carrots. But when they plant the seeds of selfishness, they get a heap of trouble. What can they do to fix it? Share Kadir Nelson’s beautifully illustrated story, If You Plant a Seed, with us, and plant a seed of your own to bring home. Museum ABCs is a collaboration between Bennington Museum and the Bennington Free Library, designed for children ages 3 to 5 and their adult companions. Siblings are welcome! Museum ABCs is FREE thanks to funding from The Bank of Bennington. Join us on the second Saturday of each month, April through November, for artwork, stories, and more! presented in partnership with the Bennington Free Library sponsored by additional support from

Fiddle Tunes, Folksongs, and Fancy Footwork

Trish Miller and John Kirk Enjoy an afternoon of fiddle tunes, folksongs and fancy footwork with acoustic duo, John Kirk and Trish Miller. John is the primary vocalist and instrumental wizard on fiddle mandolin and more. Trish plays banjo, guitar and provides fancy foot......More

Trish Miller and John Kirk Enjoy an afternoon of fiddle tunes, folksongs and fancy footwork with acoustic duo, John Kirk and Trish Miller. John is the primary vocalist and instrumental wizard on fiddle mandolin and more. Trish plays banjo, guitar and provides fancy footwork with percussive dance steps. Together, this married couple has been working and teaching in upstate New York for over three decades. They present traditional tunes and witty songs with unique arrangements and plenty of chorus songs for the audience to sing along. In 2022 John was inducted into the North American (and New York) Fiddler’s Hall of Fame. The duo has twice been nominated for New York’s Capital Region Eddie Awards (2022 & 2023). Both are teaching music artists at Skidmore College, and John is part of the music faculty at Bennington College as well. Old time music is the basis for their repertoire, but they also like to mix in some originals, Celtic, early country songs, humorous selections and Appalachian clog dancing. Many songs and tunes are rooted in the local lore of the northeast woodlands. Their story-telling songs, poetic pieces, historical topics and contemporary folksongs make their shows fine entertainment for all ages. They have been given numerous grants for concerts and teaching including their selection by the US State Department to tour various cities in Eastern Europe, South Central America. In schools, John and Trish have conducted programs and residencies in music and dance heritage since the 1990’s. For many years they have taught and performed at summer music camps, museums, libraries, coffeehouses and more. From Carnegie Hall to their local Flurry Festival, John and Trish entertain, and they work to carry on lively traditional tunes & dances. Music at the Museum programs are presented at no charge, thanks to our generous sponsors,Alison Nowak and Robert Cane.

The Story of Hiram Bingham

a Bennington Historical Society presentation The remarkable story of the Binghams starts with Hiram Bingham who farmed on the future site of Bennington College in the early 1800s. He and his descendants impacted people and nations around the world. Bingham, and his son,......More

a Bennington Historical Society presentation The remarkable story of the Binghams starts with Hiram Bingham who farmed on the future site of Bennington College in the early 1800s. He and his descendants impacted people and nations around the world. Bingham, and his son, grandson, and great-grandson, influenced the modern history of Hawaii and other Pacific islands, the discovery of Machu Picchu in Peru, politics in Connecticut, the escape of 2,500 Jews from Nazi-occupied France, and a U.S. postage stamp. Rev. Glen Bayly became interested in the Binghams during the 1990s, when he was the pastor of the Mission Alliance Church in Bennington. When a missionary from the church came back from Honolulu with a photograph of a plaque honoring Hiram Bingham of Bennington, Vermont, Glen’s curiosity was piqued and his research began. Glen served 40 years of ministry as a pastor with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, was a campus minister at Penn State University for 7 years, and hosted a syndicated radio program, ‘The Lions’ Den University Report’ for 22 years. He and his wife, Darlene, have lived in Central Pennsylvania for the past 25 years. supported by

What's New with the Weitsman Collection?

Billings Farm & Museum collection It may seem like only yesterday that John Scherer presented at Bennington Museum on the Adam Weitsman stoneware collection and Adam signed copies of the oversize book, Art for the People, but it was in Fall of 2015 – more than a decade ......More

Billings Farm & Museum collection It may seem like only yesterday that John Scherer presented at Bennington Museum on the Adam Weitsman stoneware collection and Adam signed copies of the oversize book, Art for the People, but it was in Fall of 2015 – more than a decade ago. The collection at the New York State Museum has grown in the past 10 years and on Friday, May 29, 2026, we will receive a noteworthy update. John Scherer, Curator emeritus, and Jennifer Lemak, Chief Curator of History, at the New York State Museum will discuss exciting new additions to the collection and the status of an enlarged display area for this wonderful decorated stoneware and a revised edition of the book. $7 for Bennington Museum members$10 for not-yet-membersGet your tickets at the door or save time and buy them now using the Tickets feature below.Online ticket sales end at 12:00 PM on the day of the event.