Jaffrey Civic Center

The Jaffrey Civic Center, at 40 Main St., hosted an exhibit from this program that ended July 16.

By displaying these works, the non-profit cultural organization is fulfilling a mission begun in 1966 to provide a place where citizens, residents and visitors of the Monadnock Region can pursue artistic, educational and civic activities.

All the art shows and receptions at the center, which is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, are free to the public.

The center is at once a place that supports artists and enriches those who view their works, says Executive Director Rebecca Fredrickson.

Magnify Voices, which is organized by the National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI] - New Hampshire, is a good example of the way the center boosts the arts and the community. The program is intended to raise awareness, erase stigmas and make positive change for the emotional health of young people.

The display includes paintings, photographs, videos and written materials by students in grades 5-12.

“This unique effort gives youth a creative outlet to share their feelings and emotions in a way that is comfortable for them and that they may not be able to express otherwise,” said Michele Watson, Magnify Voices committee chair and N.H. Family Network Coordinator at NAMI New Hampshire.

“Mental health is a very serious issue, and our goal is to build greater awareness for children and youth and create ways that they in turn can influence decision-makers to effect change in our state.”

One in six young people in New Hampshire experience a mental health disorder each year, and many do not receive care, according to NAMI-NH.

An essay written an 18-year-old Concord student explained her process and experience.

She said she craved seclusion.

“Those were the moments when I would paint, in the heart of night, when no one else was awake, but me and the stars.

“The world around me was sleeping, but this was a new world waiting for me to wake it up.”

She associated a stay in the hospital with white, the color worn by doctors and nurses. One day, she was offered the opportunity to produce art.

“That day, for an instant, the loneliness was covered in hues of blue, purple, yellow and orange, and I felt revived.”

In addition to displaying art like the Magnify Voices exhibit, the center also seeks to educate, Fredrickson said.

She said she’s been working hard to increase class offerings. There are currently teachers for painting and pastels. Sessions are held for figure drawing. Improv workshops are being planned.

Public sessions will be held on the front lawn of the center on Friday afternoons this summer, featuring visual artists as well as musicians, dancers, sculptors, puppeteers and other performers.

Keene artist Craig Stockwell recently had an exhibition at the center that consisted of 10 large paintings and 10 videos. Exhibit literature described his offerings:

"The subject of each work is, really, mortality, but also how to research and consider history. The histories considered are personal, ancestral, art historical, and periodic."

Susan Wadsworth of Rindge, a member of the center’s board of trustees, said local artists appreciate having a place to celebrate and display their works.

Wadsworth, who nominated the center for a Ruth and James Ewing Arts Award in the Presenter of the Arts category, is an artist herself, working in ink and pastel.

Wadsworth had a 2019 show at the center that included “childscapes,” images of women and their children in everyday life, from baths to dinner to reading before bed. A poetry reading was part of the show.

She also does abstracted landscapes inspired by her travels to western Europe, Asia, Central America and across North America.

Wadsworth said there is a strong artistic and music community in the Monadnock Region.

“I feel very lucky to live in such an artsy area,” she said.

The center, which was funded and built by Marion Mack Johnson, a Jaffrey native and teacher, serves as an “art hub” for Jaffrey and beyond, helping artists and boosting the arts community, Wadsworth said.

“We’re reaching out with the arts, and artists are reaching in at the same time, so that we get local and regional expertise in music, art and poetry,” she said.

“There’s always something going on at the civic center.”