On Sunday, Feb. 25, at 10 a.m., Arts Alive invites artists, creatives and art-lovers to join a field trip at the Monadnock Community Hospital's Healing Arts Gallery in Peterborough.

Attendees will meet other artists and learn about each other as well as the gallery and how it operates. The Healing Arts Committee, which organizes three shows in the gallery per year, will engage participants with a conversation about themselves, the gallery, its artists and exhibitions, and the impact the gallery has on the community. Attendees will then hear from one of the gallery’s artists whose work will be on display during the event.

Registration is $10 at monadnockartsalive.org/artist-field-trips. Arts Alive encourages participants to arrive at 10 a.m. for coffee, tea and a pastry before the conversation begins at 10:15 a.m.

The Healing Arts Gallery curates four shows per year, showcasing local artwork of various mediums for the benefit of patients and visitors. The show on display during the Arts Alive field trip, “Winter Rest,” will focus on photography. Attendees will be able to peruse the work of nine local artists and hear from one, photographer Larry Davis, on his process using collage and his relationship with the gallery.

The field trip will focus on questions of how the MCH gallery is organized and run, how it decides what kinds of shows to display, how it finds and selects artists, how hospital patients, staff and visitors interact with the gallery and how the arts support healing and recovery Attendees are encouraged to bring their own questions.

Field trips are casual, exploratory events for artists, creatives and art lovers in and around the Monadnock region. Attendees dive into local arts spaces and businesses to see spaces they might not otherwise explore and learn about available resources and opportunities for community-building and creative growth. Coffee, tea and light bites are included at these trips.

Previous field trips to visual and performing arts venues in New Hampshire’s Monadnock region and Brattleboro, Vt., include DublinArts & Muse Gallery, MAXT Makerspace’s Ceramics Center, 17ROX Artist Studios, Historic Harrsiville and Harrisville Designs, the Keene Public Library’s Kingsbury Makerspace, Stone Church, Mitchell Giddings Fine Arts, First Proof Press, Epsilon Spires and individual artists’ studios.

Arts Alive launched the field trip series in January 2023 in response to a November 2022 community survey that highlighted a need in the arts community for connection, creative inspiration and professional growth. 

Field trips cost $10 to cover the cost of refreshments and $5 for Arts Alive members. To register for the event and future trips, visit monadnockartsalive.org/artist-field-trips. For information about accessibility, call 603-283-0944 or send email to nina@monadnockartsalive.org.