Local Notes: Claremorris duo are All-Ireland handball champions

A local news column from Claremorris, Ireland, reports on multiple community items, including a new art exhibition. Claremorris Gallery will host 'Slow Heat', a solo exhibition by artist Emma Stroude, opening on September 27, 2025. Stroude, a graduate of Chelsea College of Art and Design and the Slade School of Art, is known for her work in painting, drawing, and mixed media. The column also covers the victory of Claremorris handball players Niall Joyce and Paddy Murphy in the All-Ireland Senior Hardball Doubles Championship, a visit from the No Name Club to St Colman's College, and local golf competition results.

Temporary art gallery to open at McLean shopping center

The McLean Art Society will open a temporary art gallery at Chesterbrook Shopping Center in McLean, Virginia, on September 17, 2025. The pop-up gallery, located behind Starbucks at 6224B Old Dominion Drive, will feature paintings, sculptures, cards, and other works from 35 local artists, with sales and public workshops running through the end of 2025. An opening reception is scheduled for October 10, and the gallery will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Chashama provides affordable studio space to painters, sculptors and other artists

Chashama, a nonprofit founded by Anita Durst in 1995, transforms vacant real estate into affordable studio and gallery spaces for artists. The article highlights the Matawan, New Jersey location, which has 11 studios rented at below-market rates to painters, sculptors, photographers, and other creatives. Artists like Justin DeMattico and Konrad Korzunowicz have found essential workspace and community there, with 24-hour access and opportunities to exhibit. Chashama has repurposed $100 million worth of unused space across New York and New Jersey, hosting over 350 events annually.

UNC Asheville hosts post-Helene symposium, storytelling event with local NC media

UNC Asheville will host the Post-Helene Symposium from September 24-26, 2025, to commemorate the anniversary of Tropical Storm Helene, which caused historic flooding in Western North Carolina in September 2024. The free, three-day event includes panels, concerts, art exhibitions, and a storytelling collaboration with NC Local titled "The Heart of the Mountains," featuring 12 news organizations including the Asheville Citizen Times. Highlights include the art exhibition "Looking Back to Move Forward" in the S. Tucker Cooke Gallery and a music faculty showcase concert "Hard Times, No More."

'Rhino World Order' to open Tyler Art Gallery season

SUNY Oswego's Tyler Art Gallery opens its fall season with 'Rhino World Order,' an exhibition of large-scale ceramic and plaster sculptures by Buffalo-based artist Richard Tomasello. The show runs from September 2 to October 8, with an opening reception on September 5. Tomasello's work draws inspiration from Eugène Ionesco's 1959 absurdist play 'Rhinoceros,' using the rhinoceros as a metaphor for fascism and conformity. His sculptures address themes of physical assault, school shootings, mob mentality, toxic masculinity, and systemic violence, emphasizing the power of individual resistance. Related events include a panel discussion with the artist and gallery director Davana Robedee, and a student reading of the play.

Chronicles from the Studio. 130 years of Vasil Zahariev – artist, teacher, researcher

The Regional Historical Museum – Sofia is opening an exhibition titled "Chronicles from the Studio. 130 years of Vasil Zahariev – artist, teacher, researcher" on July 17, 2025, running through November 30, 2025. The show marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Bulgarian graphic artist Vasil Zahariev, featuring original works, personal belongings, documents, and photographs from his archive. Zahariev was also a lecturer and rector at the Academy of Arts, and a researcher of Bulgarian Renaissance art.

Blue Fern Artists Collective Gallery will host grand opening in Peterborough on Sept. 5

Blue Fern Artists Collective Gallery will hold its grand opening and ribbon-cutting on Friday, Sept. 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 40B Main St. in Peterborough, N.H., in a space formerly occupied by Grey Horse Candles. The gallery, founded by Deborah Caplan and a group of local artists, had a soft opening during the Aug. 8 Night Market. It features 18 artists working in diverse media including paintings, drawings, collage, multimedia, ceramics, felting, jewelry, leather work, and photography. The collective is collaboratively owned and run, with each artist paying a nonrefundable buy-in and monthly dues, and working two shifts per month. Artists receive 82% of sales profits, far above the typical 40-50% gallery commission. The gallery is also partnering with MAXT Makerspace to showcase makers’ work and plans to host classes, art history lectures, poetry readings, and evening events in the adjacent alley.

Throughline Announces Artists Selected for “Future Forward” Exhibition

Throughline Collective in Houston has announced the 15 artists selected for "Future Forward," a group exhibition featuring graduate and undergraduate art students from across Texas. Guest curated by Madi Murphy, Associate Curator of FotoFest, the show opens with a public reception on August 8, 2025, at Throughline Gallery and runs through August 30. Selected artists include students from universities in Denton, Houston, Lubbock, and San Antonio, working in painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and textile-based art.

From Auction Spotlight to International Stages: Catching Up with Natalia Lashkhi, BI Auction Winner and Rising Art Voice

Georgia Today interviews Natalia Lashkhi, winner of the 2020–2021 BI Auction Competition for Young Artists, organized by the BI Auction House in Georgia. Lashkhi discusses how the award provided early exposure, sales to collectors, and a career springboard, leading to international exhibitions, residencies in Germany, Malta, and Lithuania, and her works entering private collections across multiple countries. Since 2024, she has also become a lecturer at the Apollon Kutateladze Tbilisi State Academy of Art.

Journeys Onward: NYC Veteran Art Exhibit

The Salmagundi Club in New York City is hosting "Journeys Onward: Military Veterans’ Experiences," a veteran-curated exhibition featuring art and written works by military veterans, active-duty service members, and their families. The show includes contributions from Citadel cadets, alumni, and faculty, as well as Marine Combat Artists Michael D. Fay and Michael L. Reynolds. The exhibition is free and open to the public through July 25, 2025, with a special reception for Citadel alumni and friends on July 16.

Opening celebrations for artist-led Woy Woy gallery

A vacant retail space in Deep Water Shopping Centre, Woy Woy, Australia, has been transformed into a new artist-run gallery called Deep Water Art Space. The gallery will officially open on July 5, 2025, with a community celebration featuring free activities for children and adults, a ribbon cutting by Member for Gosford Liesel Tesch, and a roster of rotating exhibitions, workshops, and live art demonstrations by 21 local artists.

'Room of Wonders' exhibit opens at Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross

The 'Room of Wonders: A Worcester Wunderkammer' exhibition has opened at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the Priory Arts Center, College of the Holy Cross. Curated by Birgit Straehle, the show features works by artists including Abu Mwenye, Caelum Lam, Jose Vicente Criollo, and Madeleine Lord, with sculptures such as Criollo's 'Night Owl' (2025) and 'Fish' (2023), and Lord's 'Old Friends' (2022) and 'Saint Recyclus' (2024). The opening reception took place on June 6, 2025, drawing local arts organizer Tina Zlody and Holy Cross staff member Casey Denis.

Science goes surreal with an art exhibition by a Grainger lecturer

Surrealistic Views of Life, an art exhibition featuring paintings by Dr. William Roy, a nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering lecturer at the Grainger College of Engineering, will be on display at the Illini Union art gallery in Urbana from June 5th through June 28th. Roy, who works professionally in engineering, is also a local artist whose surrealist works draw from reality and imagination.

Estonian students open new sound art exhibition in Berlin

Students from the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) opened a new sound art exhibition titled "TRACKING _ wrrrrr, bzzzt, zzrrt" at the ((NYT)) Art Space in Berlin on May 23. The exhibition features sound installations by nine artists, including Trevor Kinna, Liisi Kõuhkna, and Olev Kuma, and explores sound as a carrier of relation, interference, and emancipation. A contemporary dance group, ADAM, performed the piece "Windy Days" at the opening.

“Shelf Life: Senior Thesis Art Exhibition 2025”

Whitman College's Studio Art Department presents the 2025 Senior Thesis Art Exhibition, "Shelf Life," running from April 25 to May 25 across multiple campus venues including the Sheehan Gallery, Maxey Museum, and Fouts Center for Visual Arts. The exhibition features works by 22 graduating Studio Art majors, with additional outdoor displays near Fouts and Reid Campus Center. A series of thesis events includes an artist talk with visiting educators Jiemei Lin and Joe Hedges on April 24, an opening celebration on April 25, and a family and friends reception on May 24.

El Paso's International Museum Of Art Features A Tattoo Artists For The First Time Ever

El Paso tattoo artist Francella Baca will open a solo exhibition at the International Museum of Art on May 4, marking the first time the museum has featured a tattoo artist in a solo show. Baca, who has worked in tattooing for nearly two decades and owns the shop Dreadful Things, will display painted works alongside tattooed synthetic skins and a recreated tattoo shop environment, blending her background in tattoo culture with surrealist painting.

Coburn Gallery’s annual faculty art exhibition to open Jan. 22

Coburn Gallery at Ashland University will host its annual faculty art exhibition from January 22 to February 20, 2026, featuring two-dimensional and three-dimensional works by ten faculty members from the AU Department of Art + Design. An opening reception will take place on January 22 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., with free admission to the public.

Amid Epstein Blowback, Bard President Leon Botstein Talks About Succession Plan But With No Timeline: Report

Leon Botstein, president of Bard College since 1975, has discussed retiring and transitioning to a faculty role as a historian and musician once a successor is found, following backlash over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. According to a Times Union report, no timeline has been set, and the 79-year-old appears to have no immediate plans to leave. Botstein has held multiple meetings with students and staff since February, when details of his relationship with Epstein—including over 2,800 mentions in Epstein-related files—were revealed. He has characterized his eventual departure as a consequence of age, not the controversy, and stated that a search for a successor will begin after a law firm review of his Epstein interactions concludes by the end of May.

UNT Leaders Canceled Anti-ICE Show, Texts Reveal

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Internal communications from the University of North Texas (UNT) reveal that administrators canceled an exhibition featuring anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) artwork due to concerns over political backlash and potential funding threats. The text messages and emails show leadership discussing the "political sensitivity" of the work and the risk of alienating state legislators, leading to the abrupt closure of the show before its scheduled run.

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University of North Texas (UNT) Dean Karen Hutzel revealed in leaked transcripts that the cancellation of artist Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez’s exhibition was an "institutional directive" driven by political pressure. The show, titled “Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá,” featured art critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and was abruptly shut down shortly after opening. Hutzel warned faculty that the university is "vulnerable" to retaliation from Texas state officials who have previously targeted academic programs and funding at other state institutions over ideological disagreements.

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A small copper-alloy object, excavated nearly a century ago from a predynastic cemetery at Badari in Upper Egypt, has been re-identified as the world's oldest known Egyptian bow drill. Dating to the late 4th millennium BCE, the tool pushes back the earliest evidence for this technology in Egypt by about 2,000 years, revealing that Egyptian craftspeople mastered efficient rotary drilling much earlier than previously thought.

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Archaeologists in Oaxaca, Mexico, have discovered a remarkably well-preserved Zapotec tomb dating to around 600 CE. The tomb, found in San Pablo Huitzo, features intricate carvings, including a sculpture of an owl with a human head in its beak, and multicolored murals depicting a procession of figures.

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California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco will close by the end of the 2026-2027 academic year. Founded in 1907, the financially struggling nonprofit art school has entered an agreement to sell its campus to Vanderbilt University, which plans to establish undergraduate and graduate programs there, including art and design, and operate a CCA Institute that will house the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts and maintain CCA archives. The closure follows years of financial crisis, including a $20 million budget deficit in 2024 and declining enrollment, despite a $22.5 million gift from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's foundation in March 2025.

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Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia, laid off approximately 15 percent of its staff on January 9, 2025. The layoffs were announced abruptly during an afternoon Zoom call without prior warning, according to former employees, though the museum offered severance packages. Museum representatives attributed the cuts to reduced funding and stated the decision was approved by the board’s executive committee.

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Archaeologists working on the controversial Maya Train project in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula have discovered a 2,000-year-old limestone face carving. The 18-inch-tall sculpture, featuring deep-set eye sockets, a flat nose, and a cleft lip, was found in Sierra Papacal near Mérida during construction of the Mérida-Progreso Railway Bypass. The carving was attached to the foundation of an ovoid building with a west-facing entrance, suggesting it served as a ceremonial marker. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is overseeing the excavation of 15 other nearby structures, and the artifact will be transported to a laboratory for conservation.

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World Monuments Fund (WMF) has announced the launch of the Suzanne Deal Booth Institute for Heritage Preservation, backed by $19 million in funding as part of its $60 million endowment campaign marking the organization's 60th anniversary. The institute is established through a $10 million endowment gift from philanthropist and ARTnews Top 200 collector Suzanne Deal Booth, with additional support from the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, Denise Littlefield Sobel, and Virginia James. The institute will serve as a global hub for research, training, and innovation in heritage preservation, focusing on greenspace stewardship, digital preservation, and workforce development, including programs like the Greenspace Heritage Training initiative and Bridge to Crafts Careers.

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East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has canceled its annual juried exhibition of politically-themed art, "The Fletcher Exhibit of Social and Politically Engaged Art," at the Reece Museum. The show, established in 2013 in memory of ETSU art student Fletcher Dyer, featured works that criticized conservative figures including Charlie Kirk, Mitch McConnell, and Mike Johnson. The cancellation follows backlash from the ETSU chapter of Turning Point USA and Republican officials in Tennessee. Dyer's family, who endowed a scholarship for politically engaged art students, expressed feelings of betrayal, with the university stating its goals "no longer coincided" with theirs but refusing to provide written explanation.

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Faculty at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York have voted to unionize, with 1,200 instructors casting ballots 77% in favor of joining the United Auto Workers (UAW). The new bargaining unit, SVA Faculty United–UAW, was certified by the Labor Relations Board on May 23 and will seek its first contract this summer. Adjunct faculty, who make up most of SVA’s teaching corps, cited stagnant wages, heavier course loads, and the loss of retirement contributions and paid sabbaticals as key reasons for organizing. SVA’s administration said it encouraged participation and pledged to bargain in good faith.

Massive Cache of 42,000 Pottery Shards Reveals Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have unearthed a massive collection of over 42,000 inscribed pottery shards, known as ostraca, at the ancient site of Athribis. The shards, dating from the 3rd century B.C.E. to the 11th century C.E., contain tax receipts, religious texts, school exercises, and personal notes written in Demotic, Greek, Hieratic, Coptic, and Arabic scripts, offering an unprecedented window into the daily lives of ordinary people.

Art Students Collaborate with Elmhurst Art Museum

Art students from a local university, under the guidance of assistant professor Dawn Kramlich, collaborated with the Elmhurst Art Museum after an assignment inspired by a visit to the museum's "Living with Modernism" exhibition featuring artist Kelli Connell. The museum shared the students' resulting artwork on Instagram and invited several to exhibit in the new Emerging Artists Pavilion at the Art in Wilder Park festival. Students received private tours and one-on-one feedback from museum director Allison Peters Quinn, deepening their professional experience.