Artists at the Table is a new dinner series at curATE café at the Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) that brings the gallery into the dining room, inviting artists currently on view to connect more deeply with the community over an artful, shared meal. Each evening highlights the creative voices behind SVAC’s exhibitions, offering guests the chance to enjoy thoughtful conversation, hear directly from the artists about their work, and experience how art and food can inspire one another.

For each dinner, Head Chef Julie Heins of curATE café crafts a seasonal menu inspired by the artwork on display, creating a culinary complement to the visual experience and inviting diners to explore connections between flavor, color, texture, and artistic sensibility.

The third dinner celebrates artist Michelle Samour, whose work is featured in Paper Transformed—a current exhibition that is curated by Michelle Samour. Paper Transformed presents innovative works in colored paper pulp. These artists push the boundaries of pulp as a sculptural and painterly medium through pouring, layering, casting, and surface manipulation. The exhibition reimagines what paper can be in contemporary art.

Michelle Samour is a Vermont-based multi-media artist known for her innovative installations, drawings, and handmade paperworks that investigate humankind’s attempts to understand and shape the natural world through science, technology, and the shifting meanings of socio-political borders. Her work has been featured in ARTnews, The Boston Globe, FIBERARTS and Hand Papermaking magazines, and on Boston’s NPR station WBUR. Samour taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, where she founded and led the papermaking program for nearly four decades and now holds the title of Professor Emerita. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in major collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Watson Library and the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. She has received numerous grants and residencies, reflecting her longstanding influence in contemporary art and craft.

Curator Danny Volk will be present to offer insights into the exhibition and facilitate conversation, deepening the connection between studio practice, curatorial vision, and community engagement.

Enjoy dinner at SVAC’s curATE café. Visit OpenTable for reservations or call 802.362.9100.