In her solo show, “The Skies Cried as my Fathers Died,” Rhode Island artist Rachel Brask, who has a studio in East Providence, displays her paintings of rainy skyscapes that express the complexity of grief and of mourning the loss of two fathers in the same year, while also seeking beauty and light in the dark. This new series of oil paintings, created in 2022, will be on exhibit from March 1 through 30 at the Preservation Framer Churchwood Gallery, 31 North Washington St., North Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Shared Habitat Earth (SHE) continues its collective efforts to save the planet through two exhibitions featuring over 30 artists in Massachusetts on March 10 through April 30 at the Belmont Gallery of Art, 19 Moore St., Belmont, and March 18 through April 23 at QArts Gallery, 1229 Hancock St., Quincy. “At a time when life on our planet is in imminent danger, the artists have made it the focus of their work, calling for action and social justice. Through painting, fiber art, sculpture and photography, they dramatize the tension between what humanity has enjoyed for thousands of years, and what will be left if we don’t act now.”
For years to come, Vermonters will reflect on 2022 as the muddiest Mud Season of them all. Two local artists, Nancy Banks and Rosalind Daniels, memorialized the day-to-day struggles of last year by assembling an exhibit, “Mud Season in Fiber and Photos,” on view from March 15 to April 29 at Studio Place Arts, 201 North Main St., Barre, Vermont. Mud Season is an integral part of life in Vermont, especially for those who reside on dirt roads. It is the season when “we are forced to slow down,” according to the artists. “Snow can be plowed away, and ice sanded, but the thaw of mud requires us to sit, and wait, and wait, and wait. It is the slow season.”
Scottish artist John Mackechnie recently rediscovered an archive of photographs of urban landscapes and street scenes, sometimes made looking skyward, abstracting the buildings of American metropolis, from a 1982 photographic tour of the United States. During the pandemic, he created new works from these images that “echo a sense of romantic nostalgia”, combining his love of printmaking and painting. They’ll be exhibited alongside works by metal sculptor Ray Ciemny in “Living Alloy” from March 29 through May 7 at Three Stones Gallery, 32 Main St, Concord, Massachusetts.
Approximately half of the works in “Frontiers of Impressionism,” which opens April 1 and runs through June 25 at the Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St., Worcester, Massachusetts, will be on view for the first time in decades. The exhibition explores the evolution and expansion of the revolutionary artistic movement through time and space by chronicling the emergence of Impressionism in 19th-century France, its subsequent expansion to much of Europe and the United States, and the lasting changes the movement has brought to the art world. Over 30 artists will be highlighted, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam and Max Slevogt.
Exploring societal barriers and personal relationships, touching on themes of hope, inclusion, uncertainty and love, New York-based artist Kate Bae’s “A Rite of Passage” can be seen through April 9 at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St., Hartford, Connecticut. “This installation started with the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, during which Bae experienced physical assaults and psychological violence living in New York City. The shift in social and power dynamics during the Covid-19 pandemic deeply impacted Bae’s way of life. As an Asian woman from South Korea, Bae was regularly targeted due to her identity. Through her work, Bae offers an inclusive space for hope and processing uncertainty while mourning the loss of many loved ones.”