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A mix of clouds and sun. High 81F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable.

Eva Sturm Gross: Detail from “.....” print installation

James Secor: “The Blue Under the Bridge”

Eva Sturm Gross: Detail from “.....” print installation

Eva Sturm Gross: Detail from “.....” print installation

James Secor: “The Blue Under the Bridge”

Eva Sturm Gross: Detail from “.....” print installation

In most art exhibitions, the walls quietly stay out of the way. Not at Art at the Kent.

At the Kents Corner State Historic Site, aged walls in various stages of deconstruction converse with contemporary art. Exposed 19th-century lathe, historic wallpaper, bare plaster with penciled notes from 1913 — walls of 15 rooms and hallways don’t just provide background for innovative new artworks, they engage with and spark dialogue between them.

Since 2008, contemporary art and the historic site come together in an annual fall Art at the Kent exhibition. Dynamic interplay pervades. This year, “Interplay” is the show’s fitting theme — offering layers of connections, and play, to discover and savor.

“Interplay,” Art at the Kent’s 2022 exhibition, opens Friday, Sept. 9, and features more than 200 artworks by 20 Vermont artists, indoors and out, at the Kents’ Corner State Historic Site. The public opening celebration will be held 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10; the closing celebration, 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9.

The show continues to Oct. 9, its calendar including many special events — Friday Art Cafés with music; an evening with artist and author David Macauley; Mahjong night; a kite-flying extravaganza; and the Words Out Loud series with contemporary central Vermont writers reading from their works, all at the 1823 Old West Church meetinghouse.

Launched in 2008, Art at the Kent is a seasonal program of Historic Kents’ Corner Inc., a private nonprofit, partnering with the Vermont State Curator’s Office and the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

The annual event is led by co-curators Nel Emlen, Allyson Evans, and David Schütz — all residents of Kents Corner, which, they note, probably has the highest per capita number of curators in the country.

The Kent site comprises the handsome Georgian-style Kent Tavern built in the 1830s, the original Kent home, and the attached 1854 general store.

After mid 20th-century restoration led by Louise Andrews Kent, the Vermont Historical Society operated the site as a seasonal museum from 1953 to 1988. Now owned by State of Vermont, the building is only open to the public for special engagements. Art at the Kent is the annual highlight.

For the exhibition, the curators transform the nearly empty complex. One enduring presence, Mrs. Kent’s delightful miniature rooms always are in residence in the back of the former store.

Inviting artists for “Interplay,” Emlen said the team particularly sought out artwork with “elements that could talk to other artists’ work.”

“We love it when people feel it on some subconscious level,” said Emlen. “We try to amplify the art with interplay between the art, with the building and sometimes with things we bring in.”

The selected artwork and artists — Art at the Kent never repeats artists, so always a new group is assembled for the shows — have plenty of connections in the “inter” part. Viewers will find abundant connections in palette, patterns, composition and themes.

There also are connections between artists. Printmaker Eva Sturm-Gross and Rachel Gross whose shaped wood panels and sculpture also feature collage and etching, both of Hartland, are mother and daughter. Josh Bernbaum and Marta Bernbaum are married glass artists from West Brattleboro.

Among interplay with the building, Evie Lovett’s photographs of family journals and scrapbooks in the former office over the general store, relate to the room’s 1913-1914 penciled notes about the weather and accounts.

The show also delivers a welcome dose of buoyancy for the “play” part. A handsome Shaker-style bench defies gravity to curve straight up a wall; a touching tribute to the late exuberant Maggie Sherman includes her green polka dot “Honey” waitress dress; Pamela Smith’s enchanting women ride bareback on cats and wear crowns in their gardens.

Among the interplay themes, the curators reached out to furniture makers and sculptors who, as Emlen said, “took the theme of seating and turned it on its head.”

Indoors, visitors see George Sawyer, of Woodbury’s Shaker bench, gone awry; his bicycle chair with handlebar bell; Timothy Clark of Waltham’s hybrid Windsor bench more. Two couches sit on the lawn, one open for seating, the other for looking. From a distance, the big comfy looking sofa by Katherine Clear, of Ferrisburgh, appears to be well worn leather — up close, it is all steel. A 12-foot-tall chair of branches and saplings by Mark Ragonese, of Bellows Falls, towers over visitors.

Interplay between patterns, shapes and color connect many artists. Bright paintings and re-assemblages by Jane Davies of Rupert in the entry hall launch visitors into “Interplay” — viewers will likely return to her work, revisiting a sense of skyline or coastline that perhaps comes to mind again seeing other artists’ works.

Some patterns in paintings by James Secor of Montpelier — lines from smokestacks, in skies, on table linens — converse with lathe lines of the tavern room walls. His triangles — a bus flies through one — also recur. Secor’s work also connects family: His first book, a tiny volume of paintings and words composed with his father is here.

The delightful tribute Sherman, a larger-than-life community artist who died last year, includes her “Honey the Waitress” costume, a selection of her aphorisms, and a well-supplied cookie jar, all evoking her ebullience and performance art. It also focuses on Sherman’s acclaimed 1981 “Masks of Montgomery” project.

The Vermont Studio Center also has a spotlight at “Interplay” with artwork by 10 of the center’s faculty and writing by two. The Johnson-based Center, the largest fine arts residency program in the United States is approaching its 40th anniversary.

“Words Out Loud” will mark the eighth year of Sunday afternoon readings by Vermont writers at the Old West Church. Six Vermont writers will present from their work across genres, all at 3 p.m.: Judith Chalmer and Michiko Oishi (Sept. 18); M.T. Anderson and Erica Heilman (Sept. 25); Brian Clark and Jericho Parms (Oct. 2). Go online to www.kentscorner.org for information.

Art at the Kent presents “Interplay,” Sept. 9-Oct. 9, an exploration of diverse creations that illuminate time, memory, and personal story at the Kents Corner State Historic Site, 7 Old West Church Road in Calais. Hours are: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday, and by appointment; call 802-223-6613, or go online to www.kentscorner.org

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