Improvised abstrations

Terry Ekasala, “Backyard,” by Terry Ekasala, in the show “Terry Ekasala: Layers of Time,’’ at Burlington (Vt.) City Arts through Jan. 27. She lives near Burke Mountain, in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

— Photo courtesy of Burlington City Arts

The gallery explains:

“Kasala's work is layered, dynamic and heavily improvised — experiences, personal journeys for artist and viewer alike.’’

Burke Mountain from Lyndonville, Vt.

— Photo From the nek

Towering but playful

Hyunsuk Erickson, “Thingumabob Society’’ (ceramic and textile), by Hyunsuk Erickson, at Burlington (Vt.) City Arts through Sept. 17

— Photo by Renee Greenlee

The gallery says:

“Hyunsuk Erickson explores ideas of materiality, resourcefulness, and identity in her whimsical installation Thingumabob Society. Comprised of multi-colored, organic forms that tower in size, spring from the wall, or gather in groups, Erickson’s oddly shaped and playful sculptures suggest sprouting seeds or family groupings.

“The artist creates her Thingumabobs by merging sculpture and craft traditions. Using plastic, yarn, and found fabric, she crochets and weaves over and around more durable materials such as ceramic to produce animated and joyful forms.

“Drawing upon memories of her family’s farm in Korea with those of motherhood and family in the United States, Erickson’s creations explore the cyclical nature of life, the waste of consumer culture, and the hybrid nature of her Korean and American identity. In Thingumabob Society, the artist fashions an imaginative and hopeful space that invites us to collectively reflect on relationships – between nature, culture, and ourselves.’’ 

Artificial art?

“All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace and Deeper Meditations #1-#6” (video still), by Memo Akten, at Burlington (Vt.) City Arts, in the group show “Co-Created: The Artist in the Age of Intelligent Machines’’.

— Photo courtesy Burlington City Arts

The gallery says the exhibition “explores the impact, ethics and aesthetics of art created by artifical intelligence. The show tackles tough questions about the nature of artwork through the work of eight artists’’ — Jane Adams, Memo Akten, Minne Atairu, Lapo Frati, Jenn Karson, Mauro Martino, Casey Reas and Jason Rohrer.

ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, in Burlington.

‘Humanity’s shared myths’

“Child of the Pure Unclouded Mind” (watercolor and oil on Arches paper (detail)), by Valerie Hird, at Burlington (Vt.) City Arts through Jan. 28.

The gallery says:

“Vermont-based and nationally acclaimed artist Valerie Hird explores the connections between cultures and their environment as a meditation on the ambiguities of our contemporary world. In her first solo exhibition at the BCA Center, Hird presents a provocative visual exploration of humanity’s shared myths. The artist envisions a fantastical garden where untamed and uncivilized nature becomes a metaphor for the pressures weighing on societal systems.

“Through a diverse vocabulary of colorful patterns and iconic symbols gathered and reimagined, Hird explores personal and collective identity – weaving together social, cultural, and political themes in a range of media. In this selection of new and recent work, Hird moves forward and backward across time and memory as she reflects on the illusion, disruption, and disarray within contemporary society. ‘The Garden of Absolute Truths’’ features large-scale paintings, animated video, and three-dimensional sculpture commissioned specifically for the exhibition.’’’

— All works courtesy of the Artist and Nohra Haime Gallery, New York

A waffle or the Texas electrical grid?

”Slanting Grid” (acrylic and beeswax on muslin with canvas, polyester fiber and thread), by Meg Lipke, in her show “In the Making,’’ at Burlington City Arts, Burlington, Vt,. through May 15.

The gallery says that Ms. Lipke seeks to challenge conventional notions of painting by drawing on “20th Century modernism, past craft traditions and memories of her mother and grandmother's creative practices to create soft paintings and totemic sculptures of canvas and cloth. She works with her chosen materials to create forms that resemble long, disembodied limbs, pushing the limits of contemporary abstraction.’’

Part of her upbringing was in Burlington but she now lives and works in Brooklyn.

The Church Street Marketplace in Burlington

Good time to be an escape artist

“Boom4Real: Escape Artist Series, {After}Jean Michel Basquiat,’’ by Li Sumpter, at Burlington (Vt.) City Arts but only open for viewing on the Web.

Lake Champlain from the Burlington docks, with the Adirondacks.

— Photo by Jscarreiro

Ethan Allen Homestead (1784)

Old Mill building at the University of Vermont