The Phoenix

05/19/2026

SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS a film by Robert Mugge
Screening Saturday. June 6th, 6-8pm at The Phoenix Gallery & Music Hall.
$20 general admission, tix available at link in bio by Seven Days Tickets.

Followed by Q + A/book signing with Director Bob Mugge and William L. Ellis, Professor of Fine Arts at St. Michael’s College

Since 1976, Robert Mugge has produced more than three dozen documentaries about various aspects of American culture, with particular emphasis on traditional forms of American music—“Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise,” “Gospel According to Al Green” and “Deep Blues and New Orleans Music in Exile.”

Filmed in Tokyo, Japan (primarily at Tokyo Koseinenkin Hall ); in Saugerties, New York (primarity at Opus 40) and in New York City in 1986. 101 minutes long. Color. 16mm. Soundtrack recording available from Fantasy, Inc. under the title “G-Man”. Producer/Director/Editor: Robert Mugge.

“As a documentary of a supreme jazz artist and man of artistic integrity, Robert Mugge’s SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS is an electrifying record of an artist at work. Rollins’ intelligence and relaxed conversational manner make him an ideal subject, both lucid and knowledgeable. In performance, he plays with inexhaustible power matched by a vivid musical imagination. Throughout, the taste and judgement and appreciation of wrriter-director and producer Mugge are shown as keen and sensitive.” —Allen Young, VARIETY

Last slide: one of several Sonny Rollins’ jazz records available for sale

05/15/2026

NON SEQUITUR glowing :))) Open today 12-6pm. Come experience this brilliant show, spotlighted this week in

Tara Wray >> Lucy Mink >> Ben Finer

05/12/2026

BENEFIT CONCERT FOR THE PHOENIX’s legal defense
BORROW THE BONES live
SATURDAY MAY 16th
7pm doors, 7:30pm music
Sliding scale $15-$35 suggested, tickets through Seven Days Tix
Link in bio to purchase tix

This show is a benefit to help AMPS, LLC (the Vermont owner operated business that runs , .studios and ) in its legal defense of its leases at 5 and 7 Stowe Street. You can read all the details your heart desires at the link in bio, but we started this space as a commonplace for contemporary art and music in central Vermont. There are already few and far between venues that are shooting as high as The Phoenix and Paul and Danielle expressed their desire to help promote and raise money for our continued fight to keep these spaces thriving—upstairs at 7 Stowe is Waterbury Studios, home to the Hesterly Black gallery and four studios for local creative small businesses. And downstairs at 5 Stowe is our gallery and music hall that has hosted some of the best art and music in the state for the past three years. Our lease allows for a five year renewal after the two remaining years are up, and we want to see both of these spaces continue for a long time. Thank you in advance for your support. Let’s pack out the space to stand up for art and artists and community in Waterbury!

BORROW THE BONES blends collaborative songwriting with themes of growth, love, and lived-in storytelling. Rooted in Folk, Americana, Rhythm & Blues, with subtle Jazz influence, the duo’s dynamic harmonies create a rich, full sound that carries the weight of a larger ensemble. www.borrowthebones.com

04/21/2026

All three of our family owned and operated AMPS, LLC spaces will be closed Wednesday, April 21st through Friday, April 24th for a much needed spring break.

Please send us your warm manifesting energy for next Tuesday’s mediation meeting with Myers Mermel, the new building owner for our two spaces, The Phoenix and Waterbury Studios. If we do not receive a settlement offer commensurate with our significant damages from his (failed) Christmas eviction notice—intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, reputational damage, etc—we will be forced to take him to court and a Washington County jury will decide what we are owed.

04/14/2026

04/13/2026

pieces purchased from The Phoenix’s art annex TREEHOUSE by a wonderful client in East Harlem (wow right on Central Park). When we say we deliver and install pieces at no extra cost we mean it. Another reason is becoming the place in central Vermont to find art at a level you’d find in any gallery in Chelsea. By the way, is represented by a gallery in Brussels, Belgium and yet we are lucky enough to have many more pieces right here in Waterbury at TREEHOUSE, just across the street from The Phoenix in downtown Waterbury Village.

Also currently showing and available for purchase

Work by: as well as many works by via .vt which you can view in our art catalogue. Just ask for it! Denver was just featured at the Kishka booth at the in NYC.

And if you haven’t caught our current show NON SEQUITUR, curated and featuring paintings by Kishka’s own Ben Finer, with work by filmmaker and the brilliant , come check it out!

Upstairs at the Hesterly Black we have through the end of April SEA TALK, the stunning collection of photographs and video installation by . So many people have come through and seen this show, it’s probably been our most visited show we’ve had upstairs! If you’re a fan of Miranda July you will die for this show.

Soooo much art to see all within 1000 feet between our three spaces in downtown Waterbury!

03/24/2026

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NON SEQUITUR
A group show guest curated by Ben Finer .vt

Ben Finer
Tara Wray
Lucy Mink

APRIL 2nd-JUNE 26th
Opening party Thursday, April 2nd

LUCY MINK (b.1968) lives and and works in Contoocook, NH. Mink’s work has been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions including Big Town Gallery, Rochester, VT; McGowan Fine Art in Concord, NH; Jaffe-Freide Gallery at Dartmouth College; Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, St. Louis, MO; Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA; Outlet Fine Art, Brooklyn NY; Barney Savage Gallery in NYC; LABspace Gallery, Hillsdale NY; and Kishka Gallery in White River Junction, VT. She is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and has been an Artist in Residence at Dartmouth College. Mink received her MFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design.

Slide 1
Lucy Mink, “This is the best day ever”, 2010, Oil on linen, 19” x 20.5”
Slide 2
Lucy Mink, “Untitled”, 2010, oil on linen, 20 by 24”
Slide 3
Show poster featuring Ben Finer, “celestial event”, 2025, Oil on panel, 10.5” x 8”

Gallery guide with prices available upon request and in person at The Phoenix

03/22/2026

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NON SEQUITUR
A group show guest curated by Ben Finer .vt

Ben Finer
Tara Wray
Lucy Mink

APRIL 2nd-JUNE 26th
Opening party Thursday, April 2nd

TARA WRAY has spent more than twenty-five years working in photography, writing, and documentary film, and began painting in 2022. Her work has been presented at Lincoln Center, SXSW, and Kunst Haus Wien (Museum Hundertwasser) in Vienna. A graduate of NYU and a high school dropout, her photobooks blend humor, melancholy, and the absurdities of everyday life. Her recent paintings extend this personal approach through simplified forms and emotionally charged color. She lives off-grid in rural Vermont with her filmmaker husband, their twin sons, and their blue-eyed rescue dog, Hula. More info at tarawray.net (http://tarawray.net/) and

Slide 1
Tara Wray, “Untitled”, 2026, Acrylic on canvas, 16” x 12”
Slide 2
Detail from Tara’s Wray, “Friendly robot (for a child’s room)”, 2026, Acrylic on canvas, 8” x 10”
Slide 3
Show poster featuring Ben Finer, “celestial event”, 2025, Oil on panel, 10.5” x 8”

Gallery guide with prices available upon request and in person at The Phoenix

03/20/2026

Hard to believe but SENUSAL TURNS is entering its final week! If you haven’t encountered these pieces in person they deserve a close look. .rebecca.powell

Our suggestion is to give yourself a solid 15-20 minutes with the show as a whole so you can let each piece do its work on you. Treat it as an exercise in noticing—ask yourself: what shapes are standing out and what do they emotionally convey to my heart right now? What colors do I notice and how are they working together, either in opposition or harmony? What textures do I see? Roughness, smoothness, brittle or glistening? How might that texture speak to or even simply describe/bear witness to how you’re feeling right now? What actions are happening in the painting, if any? Is your attention being pulled in one direction or another or are you feeling tension anywhere? If you allow yourself the time and attention, you can go on the loveliest journeys, right there where you are!

Did you know that noticing is the first political act? And that building our skills in noticing is something that abstract artists have been powerfully helping us with for over a century? The Phoenix intentionally keeps our gallery unstaffed so you can have an unbothered sanctuary-esque experience with the artwork. We would love to invite and help you with collecting either your first or latest piece of art, but that happens best when YOU are allowed time to fall in love with a particular work. And a hovering salesperson doesn’t help with that. Security cameras are on (we ain’t dummies) and our curator is just across the street to help answer any questions you have, and while you’re at it you can explore TREEHOUSE’s highly curated selection of vinyl records, cassettes, used books and over 50 artworks on the walls, all over a freshly brewed BRIO coffee. Settle in with a COWORKS daypass and you can even get some work done while you’re at it!

Lastly, we’re thrilled to announce an extension of ’s show SEA TALK at the Hesterly Black (gallery above The Phoenix .studios through the end of April! Open whenever The Phoenix is open!