Recent catastrophic flooding in Vermont has cast water as something of a menace, but at Mad River Valley Arts in Waitsfield, a water-themed group exhibition reminds viewers of the element's inspirational side. Sam Talbot-Kelly, who curates the nonprofit gallery, said the theme for "Elemental" came to her during her daily commute from Montpelier along the Winooski River. "I flow with the river," Talbot-Kelly said of her drive, adding that a Winooski tributary, the Mad River, defines the gallery's own community. "Elemental" brings together 21 artists from around the U.S., including eight Vermonters. As with recent exhibitions Talbot-Kelly curated with themes of trees and flight, she used an online call-to-artists platform to source work. The result, which garnered artists from Louisiana to New Mexico, is equally wide-ranging in experience and media, from emerging to seasoned artists and paint to video installation. Three large-format color photographs of crashing waves, by Waitsfield resident Tesla Hausman, greet visitors from the gallery's exterior window displays. For "Bonaire Waves" 1, 2 and 3, Hausman captured the Caribbean island's translucent crests from beach level, excising any visual information that might put them in perspective. They could be surfing height or ankle dusters; either way, they look dramatically kinetic. Inside the gallery, Charlotte artist Cameron Davis' work dominates the first of two rooms. A longtime senior lecturer in studio art at the University of Vermont who also teaches in environmental studies, Davis contributed several works from her 2017 series "Airs, Waters, Soils (Places)": four 48-by-60-inch oil paintings and two installations of apothecary jars, etched and filled with water, sand, soil, stones and plants from Lake Champlain and its tributaries. The earth-toned paintings are dreamlike miasmas of plant life; Davis hints at water through dappling or threading. The luminous white apple blossoms of "Champlain Tonglen II (white)" reference invasive plants in Lake Champlain, according to Davis' artist statement, compiled in an exhibition pamphlet of writings by all the artists. Water quality is also a concern of Michale Glennon, an upstate New York fiber artist who works with scientific research organizations in the Adirondack Park. Her "Wool and Water" project, which integrates scientific data and fiber arts, is currently on view at North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier. Glennon's crocheted and knitted works, draped over pedestals, are visual representations of scientific water-quality measurements and conditions. While the artist has found that her fiber works are "more powerful than…