DESTINATION: NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire embraces its Live Free or Die motto with a passion one expects from such a declaration. As you cross into the state, you feel a sense of ease and freedom. Here, arts and culture seekers will discover thriving arts communities of all shapes and sizes in the state’s larger cities and tiny hamlets. Yet don’t let the casual atmosphere fool you—there is serious art happening here amidst the breathtaking White Mountains and serene lakes.
Here’s a mere glimpse into the season’s cultural happenings, now laced with the promise of the holidays. From major museum and gallery exhibitions, to nature walks, poetry readings, and performances, ‘tis the season to explore New Hampshire’s artistic side. Pair these events with the state’s burgeoning culinary scene and famous inns and B & Bs and you have the makings for a family weekend adventure or a romantic getaway. Already holiday shopping? Arts festivals and fairs abound.
Looking forward to winter weather? Bring your skis, skates and snowboards and experience that exhilaration of living free while breathing the freshest air under a sunny New Hampshire sky. You’ll never feel more alive.
Alva de Mars Megan Chapel Art Center—Manchester
The Alva de Mars Megan Chapel Art Center at Saint Anselm College is housed in what was once the college’s chapel, which retains its vaulted ceilings and allegorical lunettes painted by Father Raphael Pfisterer, O.S.B. (1877–1942). The Center features special exhibitions and houses a permanent collection of over 400 art objects. The exciting upcoming exhibition, Woman as Artist/Woman as Subject, is on view from November 15 to December 6, 2024, and again from January 21 to February 14, 2025. This celebratory exhibition commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the admission of women to all programs at Saint Anselm College and honors the contributions of women to the world of art as both artists and muses. In addition to exhibitions, the Center hosts lectures, concerts and tours, all of which are free and open to the public. Experience art in a unique setting in this reimagined chapel and enjoy the natural beauty of the landscape that surrounds this campus on the edge of the city.
Strawbery Banke Museum—Portsmouth
The Strawbery Banke Museum is an outdoor history museum of nearly ten acres in charming Portsmouth. With historic houses on original sites, costumed historical role-players, traditional craft demonstrations and heirloom gardens and landscapes, this multifaceted museum remains dedicated to preserving and celebrating the nearly three hundred years of history in this seaside city. The museum is open seasonally from May to October with programming, workshops and special events taking place year-round. During the holiday season, the Museum invites visitors to experience seasonal traditions of times past during Candlelight Stroll events on weekends throughout December. Visitors can call on the many families that once lived in the Puddle Dock neighborhood and tour decorated houses. The glow of hundreds of lighted candle lanterns illuminates the way for guests to enjoy seasonal greetings from costumed role players and performers.
AVA Gallery and Art Center—Lebanon
For fifty years, AVA Gallery and Art Center has offered a robust yearly exhibition series featuring solo exhibiting artists showing concurrently, small curated groups and large group exhibitions. The AVA campus consists of two buildings, a beautifully renovated factory with studios, classrooms and galleries, and a sculptural studies facility for working with clay, wood, metal, and stone. AVA’s five spacious contemporary exhibition galleries embrace the historic roots of the mill factory this gallery calls home. AVA is committed to exhibiting New England artists through meaningful and engaging contemporary art, cultivating an exchange of ideas and dialogue between the local art community and beyond.
Hood Museum of Art—Hanover
The Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College was founded in 1985. The museum houses Dartmouth’s remarkable 65,000-object collection of historical and art objects representing the artistic traditions and cultural heritage of six continents. On view through December 15, Immersive Worlds: Real and Imagined pulls from the permanent collection to present works created after 1950 using a variety of mediums and methods. The immersive exhibition offers a creative writing space, scent station and original poems by local poets commissioned for this exhibition. Other exhibitions include The Grief of Almost, on view through April 6, 2025, featuring the large-scale paintings and sculptural work of Enrique Martínez Celaya, and Living With Sculpture: Power and Presence in Europe, 1400–1750, on view through March 22, 2025, exploring everyday sculptural objects from across the European continent. Admission to the Hood is free.
Gallery at WREN—Bethlehem
The Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network (WREN) was founded in 1994 with a mission to support better lives and livelihoods for people in the North Country through education, community engagement and economic development. Established in 2001, the Gallery at WREN is a cultural outlet for the entire community, where the public can gather to enjoy and learn about art and where artists can have their work appreciated by the community around them. On display November 8 to December 29: WRENchanted Holidays: WREN’s Annual Members Show features work from the diverse WREN member community. Join the Holiday Craft Fair at The Rocks on November 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is the opening day of The Rocks, the northern headquarters for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, and tree and wreath sales will be live, as well as horse-drawn carriage rides. On Saturday, December 7, visit WREN for a holiday open house during the town-wide Christmas in Bethlehem celebration, and stop by the Holiday Fair at the Adair Country Inn, featuring pop-up shops from WREN members.
