In “Champlain’s Lake Rediscovered: Vermont Artists Celebrate the Lake,” each of the 38 artists in this broad-reaching and beautifully executed exhibit has combined his or her own creative spirit, medium and artistic style with Lake Champlain. The result is 38 very different expressions of the lake — different lakes, if you will.

There are, for instance, several traditional, realistic landscapes. Bonnie Acker’s paper collage, “Champlain Organic” (right), and Ken Rush’s oil, “Champlain Bridge Fractal,” step away from traditional landscape forms to give us a more expressionist and intellectual view of the life surrounding the lake.

One of the most compelling images in the show is Helen Shulman’s beautiful oil, “Waiting for Champlain,” which presents the lake in three indistinct, dreamlike views, united by their warm, earthy palette. As the title hints, this is Lake Champlain as the great French explorer might have himself encountered it: wild, undeveloped, both beckoning and slightly ominous.

You have a chance to see this stunning art:
• May 8–25: Shelburne Farms, Shelburne
• June 1–15: National Arts Club, New York City
• June 29–Aug. 3: Boston Public Library
• Aug. 19–Sept. 20: Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester
• Sept. 23–Oct. 31: Vermont Statehouse, Montpelier

To read more about this exhibit and see more featured artwork, read “Open to Interpretation” in the Summer issue of Vermont Life.

For more information on the Champlain 400 celebration, read our overview of the event or visit www.celebratechamplain.org.