EAST WALL: West Acton Village: Apples, Trains, and Churches

WEST WALL: West Acton Villageworks: Planning a 21st Century Village Center

We are pleased to host the 2022 Senior Visual Arts Graduation Show in the Gallery for this year’s graduating Seniors from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School.

Reception on Thursday May 12th

We are pleased to host the 2021 Senior Visual Arts Graduation Show in the Gallery for this year’s graduating Seniors from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School.

Celebrate the creativity of the Acton Boxborough Visual Arts (ABVA) Faculty!  They've taught our kids art skills and encouraged their creativity. This is a chance for the ABVA Faculty to share their own artwork with our community. Join us for an opening reception on Thursday February 6th 6-7:30pm.

Presented by Miranda’s Hearth in The Gallery at Villageworks, FIBROUS: A fiber arts exhibition features both innovative and traditional fiber art side-by-side. This combination emphasizes the rich history and dynamic contemporary usage of fiber materials.

Sunanda Sahay grew up in Darbhanga, the heart of the Madhubani region in northern India. The region carries a rich pastel of cultural legacy in art and literature. Artistic interests led Sunanda to seek out practitioners of the art from local villages and learn directly from them. Now she practices and popularizes the art in the U.S.A.  This exhibit features several of Sahay's paintings surrounded by the work of her Madhubani Art students (who range in age from second graders to retirees). More at colorofindia.com.

Curated by The Umbrella Community Arts Center

An exhibition of original art, prints, labels and fan art celebrating independent craft breweries’ commitment to supporting creativity. 

Reception Friday, May 10, 7:30-9:30pm.  Open to the Public.

Born and raised in the UK, it was only after Ceri Herd moved to the USA in 2014 that she felt she found her true photographic voice. The Imag[in]e Exhibition is the culmination of her first experiences and interpretations of New England. Her style has become predominantly characterized by in-camera creative techniques that create a dream-like ideal. Whether it is with intentional camera movement, double exposures, shooting through objects or freelensing, there are always extra elements that can be incorporated into an image to transport the viewer to the moment or place in a unique way. In October 2018 Ceri and her family were unexpectedly ordered to leave the USA. Imag[in]e is a unique and finite interpretation of what she left behind. 

hello@ceriherd.com | www.ceriherd.com

"The natural forms found in the landscape have always uplifted me, even in uneasy times. The beauty of nature is generous and and humbling. There is an irresistible urge to capture and paint particles of its endless combinations and wonder.  I have enjoyed mixing abstract designs with flowers. It creates a different sensibility. My aim is to give a bit of joy to the viewer." 

The artwork shown in this exhibition is divided into two groups. CITYSCAPES features panoramas of New York and other cities. AERIAL VIEWS is a series impressionistic landscapes based on locations real and imagined. Although two groups of works may appear to differ stylistically, all of the pieces emphasize lines, colors, and patterns that coalesce into images that are recognizable to varying degrees. My approach to making art is not about choosing realism or abstraction. Both sensibilities operate in tandem and inform all my works. I rely on solid observation of actual places to depict light and space. Delineating the abstract qualities of an image frees me to create new techniques and designs. Please join Anna for a reception celebrating her exhibit on Sunday July 8th, 4:30pm-6:00pm.  The event is FREE and open to the public. Contact Anna Herrick via email aherrick63@comcast.net. For more information, please visit annaherrick.com.

Nancy Tobey's exhibit Grounded in Dreaming, is on display in The Gallery at Villageworks through April.  Nancy works in encaustic medium -a combination of beeswax, damar, resin, and pigment - to create abstract works that are reminiscent of landscapes, cityscapes and geology.  'Grounded in Dreaming' represents Nancy's exploration of lightness, color, transparency and space.  Join us for a reception celebrating the show on Sunday, April 22 from 4:30pm-630pm.

My fiber art explores traditional textile techniques with a contemporary twist. As a native of Finland, my work reflects the Scandinavian sense of simplicity in design. I enjoy the process of weaving and the unique textures that it creates. My motifs vary from abstract to representational images and are often merely suggestive, hinting at shapes and forms. I strive to expand the boundaries of traditional weaving by achieving a more painterly sensibility that weaving alone does not offer. To fully express my artistic intention, I incorporate several different techniques such as dyes, paint, appliqué and stitching, to create a layered, dimensional effect.

2017 marks one hundred years since America entered Word War I, 'the war to end all wars.' This November, come to The Gallery at Villageworks to view Dr. Elliott Lilien's remarkable collection of WWI propaganda posters.  Join Dr. Lilien on November 12th for a special presentation and discussion of their historical context, artistic merit, and value. 

Driven to Abstraction is inspired by artist Gifford Pierce’s (1937-1999) geometric studies in color and form. Pierce's work is displayed alongside juried abstract artwork from around the region curated by The Umbrella.  Pierce’s artwork, from the collection of Nancy and Elliot Lilien, is on sale to benefit The Umbrella Community Arts Center, a non-profit whose mission is to build a vibrant community through the arts.

"In Suspension" premiers over 20 new works - many of which were created specifically for The Gallery at Villageworks - by artist Janet Shapero.  For almost two decades, Janet has been applying thin layers of pigment, both directly and indirectly to open-weave backings in order to create images of varying translucencies, held afloat in a diaphanous grid.  Rete-Chrome (pronounced rět-ě-krōm - derived from rete, Latin for net; and chrome, Greek for color) is the term she coined for the process and the resulting two-dimensional artwork.  Similarly, the term Rete-Form relates to a like use of pigments applied to metal screen which is then modulated into sculptural forms.  Ranging in size from miniature to monumental, Rete-Chromes and Rete-Forms have been widely exhibited; as individual pieces and as elements in larger installations.

In 2001 Linda Hoffman, a sculptor, moved to a small farm in Harvard with an old apple orchard. For this exhibit she combined her love for the orchard with her passion for art by (re)using apple prunings, the branches she lops and saws from the trees each winter. Hidden Fruit, Snowy Branches, and A Grafted Life, are just a few of the new sculptures by Hoffman and friends, a collaborative exhibition with apple branches, agricultural artifacts, natural fibers, and Hoffman’s sculpted figures.

Element: An Exploration of Process, Dimension, Texture + Tonality.  
Element is a collection of fine art photographs and paintings that explore the relationship between light, texture, dimension and tonality. Shot entirely on medium format film, the collection is tactile and emotive. The process of film photography is unique in its ability to preserve a moment through beautifully rendered light, shadow and color. By pairing the photos with abstract paintings, the line becomes blurred between documented reality and artist expression.

Janet Wolahan works out of Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, MA. Her fifth floor studio looks over Kazanjian Used Auto Parts, the inspiration and subject for her series, Salvage. According to Janet: “I enjoy working with the vast array of compositional possibilities within the heaps of aged and damaged vehicles, stacks of stripped and crushed auto bodies, and the rusted and nearly unrecognizable debris of automobile salvage.