There are many ways to explain visual insight, and the clichés abound: What you see is what you get; perception is reality; seeing is believing, and so on.

But what if what you see is an illusion?

That’s the way Bill Ramage sees seeing, at least when he has a pencil in hand. Ramage believes his visual perception of the physical world is merely a projection of his mind.... Read more

Brooklyn-based Doug and Mike Starn are identical twins who’ve been making art together since childhood — and are now making it big in the art world. Where one brother’s handiwork stops and the other’s begins isn’t known; they simply share credit for all their creations.... Read more

The nexus of poetry and visual art encompasses more than vivid verbal imagery. “Picture That Poem,” at Studio Place Arts in Barre, demonstrates how diverse and thought provoking the two arts’ links can be.... Read more

Discarded and Salvage,” the current exhibit at the Flynn Center’s Amy E. Tarrant Gallery in Burlington, is an expressive collection of 11 large-scale “paintings” that are essentially textile assemblages. Peacham artist Muffin Ray transforms vintage quilt patches, found tapestries and other sumptuous yet cast-off textiles into broad fields of texture and color.... Read more

Red Square, on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, has been a popular bar and art venue since 1997. Its 2009 exhibition schedule kicks off with a selection of abstracted, digitally printed photos by Aimee Daniel entitled “Life Abstractions.” Daniel manipulates natural elements to reveal new details in their makeup, creating dynamic, otherworldly forms in the remixing process.... Read more

This year will mark the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s first canoe trip on the body of water known by the Abenaki as Bitowbagok. Later, when asked what the place was called, the Frenchman simply replied, “It is named Lake Champlain.” Maybe Bitowbagok was too tricky for him to pronounce? The explorer’s immodest christening of Lake Champlain will be celebrated this year by its valley’s current inhabitants.... Read more

A broad range of artistic influences is displayed by the four current exhibitors at Burlington’s Artpath Gallery: Two delve deeply into art history; one explores the spiritual meaning of organic forms; and another is primarily inspired by her inner muse, along with an odd piece of dental technology.... Read more

A 45,000-square-foot building can hold a lot of art. The Maltex Building on Pine Street in Burlington is one of the area’s biggest venues, and it’s always well curated by the Burlington City Arts sales-and-leasing program. The current show sprawls over all four floors of the postindustrial edifice, featuring about 80 paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures by nine Vermont artists.... Read more

Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery’s winter exhibition highlights the monotypes of Vermont artist Carolyn Shattuck and presents diverse works by 15 additional artists affiliated with the venue. The lively show of prints and paintings ranges from expressive landscapes to nonobjective abstractions.... Read more

Just as musicians practice with scales and études, visual artists have always sharpened their chops with figure drawings. But practice doesn’t mean drudgery. The 25 untitled figure drawings by John Matusz now showing at The Men’s Room in Burlington are alive with investigation and discovery. The large-scale works on paper, measuring as much as 24 by 36 inches, show the artist focusing on an array of challenges as he draws. His figures evince his attention to line, mass, proportions and composition.... Read more