Icy Artifacts of the Everyday

Icy Artifacts of the Everyday highlights the strength, beauty, and peril of winter through the lens of Middlebury’s history. We invite the community to reflect on our own experiences of winter in Vermont in comparison to the changing work, play, and weather practices.

These objects and photographs from the past speak with the Tempestry, an artistic display of Addison County climate data, knitted by the hands of nearly 100 current community members from locally sourced and hand dyed wool.

Our goal is to explore the past, present, and future relationships we, as humans, have with our environment.

Curated by Middlebury College Visiting Assistant Professor Robyn Barrow and students of the January 2026 course “Icy Art History in Vermont and Beyond” with special assistance from Holly Mattson and HSM staff.

Tempestry Project curated and designed by Cindy Hill, Ellery Foutch, Coco Moseley and Mike Roy.

Image: Icy Skates, Collection of the Henry Sheldon Museum.