Virginia MOCA hosted a free Community Day on Saturday, May 9, at its new Virginia Beach location, in partnership with Virginia Humanities. The event featured inaugural exhibitions including Nina Chanel Abney: The Pursuit of Happiness and Seamless: Art and Design, along with hands-on art making, live performances, artist demonstrations, a U-Haul art gallery, food trucks, and workshops for all ages.
May’s art guide highlights several exhibitions across Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, including "The Future of Female" at the Dayton Society of Artists, a juried show exploring women-identifying artists' perspectives; "At This Moment" at the Main Library's 2nd Floor Gallery, reflecting on contemporary life; "Teresa Olavarria: Lichen" at The Contemporary Dayton, featuring works in vitreous enamel and bronze; and a color-themed collaborative exhibition at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery in partnership with Dayton Collaboratory. The guide also features a 35mm film series by photographer Jake Schneider documenting Greenville’s Swinging 8’s Square Dance Club.
Masonicare Hospice & Palliative Care has launched "Completing the Journey: The Art of Hospice Care," an art exhibit featuring works created by patients in hospice care across its senior living communities in Connecticut. The exhibit, the first of its kind from Masonicare in over 15 years, includes small artworks on self-standing screens, accompanied by portraits of the artists and brief statements about their creative process. It opened at the Hartog Activities Center in Wallingford on April 28 and will travel to other Masonicare facilities, including Rocky Hill, after previous stops in Chester and Mystic. The project was funded by the Masonic Charity Foundation of Connecticut.
Atelier Gallery in Salmon Arm will host "Springing Forth," the first exhibition in the city from the Federation of Canadian Artists' Thompson Nicola Shuswap Chapter. The show runs from May 1 to May 16 and features works by artists from the Shuswap, Kamloops, and Okanagan regions, selected through a peer jury process.
Urban Sketchers Milano, a local chapter of the international Urban Sketchers community, recently held an event at Casa Galimberti, a notable Liberty-style building in Milan. The group, founded in 2007 by journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario in Seattle, brings together illustrators who draw urban scenes directly from life, on location. The Milan chapter, active since March 2008, is currently managed by Valentín Di Salvo, Stefano Ziffarelli, and Daniela Paglia, and organizes events such as a recent gathering at the garden of Via San Martino, which drew over 90 artists.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) has reopened after undergoing major upgrades. The glass facade, once a quiet mirror to Woodward Avenue, now actively draws visitors inside, marking a new chapter for the institution.
Seven senior artists from Moapa Valley High School presented their work in 'Seven Visions: Advanced Studies in Art,' an exhibition held in the school library on April 22. Led by art instructor Donna Swanson, the showcase featured drawing and ceramics by students Taylee Bunch, Mattingly Bradford, Emme Bowler, Erick Alfaro-Gonzalez, Jesse Evans, Sydney Dorsey, and Mitchell Stoker, each exploring personal themes developed over four years in the invitation-only program.