Over 350 art enthusiasts and community members celebrated at the Fleming Museum of Art during their Fall 2026 Kickoff Party. I, like all the party goers, got to view this season’s featured exhibition Catalyst: Art as Inquiry. Vibrant colors of oranges, yellows, reds, and blues stand out against the museum walls, the mood was festive, and the Kickoff was the perfect opportunity to talk to some of the artists involved in Catalyst and get first impressions from visitors seeing the show for the first time!
When I spoke with Misoo Bang, lecturer, about her works, she shared that sometimes people can “…see Asian women as very silent people or that we have a submissive personality. So, I wanted to break that." Speaking about Heavenly Guardians, she says, "I made these Asian gods bigger than the Western gods. For the Giant Asian Girl, [again] I reversed that so that Asian women are bigger. And then they [the subjects] usually sit with very confident gazes and body language. I want to show that Asian women are strong and resilient.”
“I've taken a lot of art classes before” said Lucien, a senior art history major and the student member on the Fleming's Advisory Board. “It's so inspiring to see professors in their natural habitats and see what they can make. So yeah, it's [the Kickoff] really, really nice. And it's just such a good interaction with UVM and the campus, and it's just amazing.”
Steve Buddington, associate professor of painting, spoke with me about the ideas behind his work, tributary with spirit level. “This painting works with a map of my neighborhood. I've been thinking a lot about the landscapes we actually live in and inhabit and have an effect on, so the tributary [represented in the center of the work] goes to Lake Champlain. It's important it actually has rare species in it and is impacted by development around it. It's a place I go hiking and make drawings, and I wanted to work with this space that I knew intimately. Then I use public data, wind maps, and so forth. How the elements come together asks people to make connections for themselves and their own experiences with landscape in our changing world."
Catalyst features sixteen different artists who work in all different kinds of mediums, like painting, sculpture, video, interactive installation, and more.
“Yeah, I always love interactive pieces,” said junior art history major, Joseph Darling, as we sat at Jaimes Mayhew’s The Table for Queer/Trans Utopian Imagining. “I think of welcoming people to the table and…giving you the option to sit down, sort of relax a little bit, open up one of the zines, I think is really lovely.”
Kelley Helmstutler, Executive Director of UVM’s School of the Arts, spoke during remarks about the importance of arts experiences on campus and beyond. “Access to high-quality arts at UVM is a critical way we serve the state, increasing people's sense of belonging, inspiring activism, and benefiting mental health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. And we're fortunate to be part of this state with an extraordinary concentration of artist organizations and a deeply engaged creative community with which we are connected.”
If you want a chance to hear from Catalyst artists and School of the Arts faculty members Mildred Beltré, Misoo Bang, and Erika White as they discuss the current exhibition, and how inquiry plays a role in their art, research, and teaching practices. Catalyst: Artists in Conversation is on Wednesday, October 14, from 5pm to 6pm at the Fleming Museum of Art. The Museum and all events are free and open to all.
Sam Hansen, is a junior English major at the University of Vermont. She is the Content and Communications Assistant at the Fleming Museum of Art, an avid skier, and chicken pot pie enthusiast.
