Milton Arts Guild to host Portraits reception Aug. 31

Milton Arts Guild will host a reception from 3 to 5 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 31, in its gallery at 107 Federal St., to announce awards for Portraits, its latest judged exhibition.

The exhibit, which runs through Sunday, Oct. 5, features a wide variety of artists’ interpretations of the Portraits theme, from the traditional to the exotic to the playful. The public is invited.

Guests will also have a final chance to bid on pieces in the guild’s 8x8 silent auction, and award winners of the 8x8 exhibit will also be announced at the end of the reception.

A special opportunity to support the Milton New Music & Wind Fest for 2026 will also be available at the Portraits exhibition. “A Silent Laugh (John Cage turns 70),” a painting by Bill Warrell, is for sale, with any proceeds going to support the artist fees for the upcoming event, planned for Saturday, May 30.

John Milton Cage Jr. (1912-1992) was an American composer and music theorist. An openly gay Zen Buddhist, and a pioneer of electroacoustic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Choreographer Merce Cunningham, who first met Cage at Cornish College of the Arts, became the greatest influence on his practice, his closest collaborator and his life partner until Cage’s death in 1992.

Warrell met John Cage in 1982 and helped celebrate his 70th birthday in Washington, D.C., joining Cunningham and the Washington Performing Arts Society in programming a musical circus in the Old Pension Building where Buffalo Bill had presented his Wild West Show a century before.

At one end of the massive atrium, a stage was erected with a grand piano for a David Tudor solo, and later the full Bowery Ensemble. At the other end of the block-long building sat a steel mobile by Alexander Calder that was brought in to be played by percussionist-dancers with soft mallets.

In the middle was a raised balcony with a small desk and one light for the maestro to tell stories and read from his book “Silence.” Serving as magical interludes between words, he would pause and give a breathy, near-silent whisper of a laugh. Warrell’s painting captures the essence of that occasion.

Warrell creates paintings from memories and inspiration following 40 years of presenting modern jazz and chamber music, and producing festivals. Now retired from that life, Warrell paints in his home studio on Federal Street in Milton and on the beach at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge.

The Milton Arts Guild, located in historic downtown Milton, celebrates creativity in all forms of visual arts by engaging the community through an array of educational opportunities, events, exhibits and benevolent programs. Fueled by its volunteer members and supported by a large, diverse community locally and beyond,  Milton Arts Guild welcomes everyone to explore the power of art and to inspire them in their own creativity. For more information, go to miltonartsguild.org.