For the 33rd annual South End Art Hop, which runs this Friday, September 5, through Sunday, September 7, Burlington’s South End Arts + Business Association polled the public to determine a theme. According to SEABA executive director Christy Mitchell, there was one hands-down favorite: abstract expressionism.
The abstract expressionists were famous for their unrestrained exuberance, flinging paint, working big, getting their whole bodies involved in the action. Were Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning hopping around the South End this weekend, they’d probably enjoy the goings-on at Green Door Studio. At the back-alley venue, painting and projections coexist with a lineup of bands and DJs going late into the night — a callback to the wild Hops of yore.
This year’s Hop features several revisions and reimaginings of South End events past. Thirsty Hoppers have many options on Flynn Avenue and can now enjoy their beer with barbecue at Switchback Beer Garden & Smokehouse. If that’s not quite your palette, — er, palate — stop to smell the rosés in the wine garden at La Reprise, a revival of Dedalus’ former Pine Street spot.
Speaking of reprises, next door at the erstwhile ArtsRiot space, STRUT!, the Friday-night fashion extravaganza, returns to Art Hop for the first time in five years.
Of course, some aspects of Art Hop don’t need a redo to be new and exciting — most notably, the art. Check out SEABA’s official Art Hop program for full details of the weekend’s festivities at more than 100 South End sites. f that’s overwhelming, we’ve selected a handful of artists and vendors to FIND. For those fully embracing the theme, there’s no better place to begin than at the Generator Makerspace studio of sculptor David Stoltz, whose history in the barely post-abstract expressionist art world is as surprising as his artworks.
But like the abstract expressionists, Art Hoppers will do fine with any approach, so long as it’s bold. As Bennington College alum Helen Frankenthaler once said, “There are no rules … That is how art is born; that is how breakthroughs happen.”
This article appears in Art Hop Guide 2025.
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