Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury to host Mystic Dead show tied to gig poster exhibit

The Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut, will host a live performance by the Grateful Dead tribute band Mystic Dead on June 11, 2026, as a fundraiser for the museum's education and public programs. The event is tied to the upcoming exhibition "Psychedelic Splendor: The Concert Art of AJ Masthay & Helen Kennedy," which runs from June 13 to September 26 and features over 20 gig posters created for bands including Black Sabbath, Dave Matthews Band, and The Grateful Dead. The exhibit marks the first museum show for both Connecticut-based artists, who are known for their screen-printed concert posters.

‘Currents’ multimedia installations portray Schuylkill River in new art exhibit at Fairmount Water Works

Martha McDonald will perform original songs on a glass armonica at the Fairmount Water Works in Philadelphia as part of 'Currents,' a new multimedia art exhibit. The show features installations by 10 local artists that animate the historic water system's underground corridors, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Works include a 3D animation timeline of the Schuylkill River by Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib, photographic pieces by Julianna Foster, and an installation by Taji Ra’oof Nahl addressing water and honey bees. The exhibit runs through Aug. 8.

A unique breast cancer charity raising money through art

Belinda Gray, founder of breast cancer charity Art For Cure, shares her story ahead of the charity's latest exhibition at Wyken Vineyards. After her own breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, Gray launched Art For Cure in 2014, initially hosting an exhibition in her home and garden that drew 2,000 visitors and raised £100,000. The charity has since sold over £3 million worth of art through exhibitions and online sales, with a percentage of each sale donated by artists to fund UK breast cancer research and support services. Gray, who had no prior art-world experience, now leads a voluntary team of 10 people staging annual public exhibitions at unique venues.

Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibition Closes Following Strong Community Participation

The Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibition at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts has concluded after an extended run from November 8, 2025 to April 26, 2026. The exhibition invited artists to respond to four themes tied to America's semiquincentennial: Unfinished Revolutions, Power of Place, Tell Everyone's Story, and American Experiment. Eighty-five artists submitted 198 works, with 62 selected for display. Over 13,500 visitors attended, and more than 3,000 participated in the popular vote. The first-place winner was James Roberts for his work "Fabric," a mixed-media piece critiquing gun violence.

In Minor Keys and legacies held in common

The article reflects on the 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Koyo Kouoh, who passed away on 10 May 2025 at age 57 after a cancer diagnosis. Her curatorial concept, "In Minor Keys," will be realized posthumously by her team. The Biennale preview opens on 6 May 2026, with the public opening on 9 May. Additionally, artist Henrike Naumann, selected for the German Pavilion, died on 14 February 2025 at age 41, also from cancer; her work will be shown in her name.

Eye on Art: Museums beckon with Memorial Day offerings

The article highlights Memorial Day weekend art offerings in the Concord and Fitchburg, Massachusetts area, focusing on museums and galleries as cool retreats from the summer heat. It notes International Museum Day's theme "Museums Uniting a Divided World" and promotes special membership deals at Fitchburg Art Museum, an exhibit at the Arts League of Lowell Greenwald Gallery, and the Concord Museum's upcoming Garden Tour fundraiser.

The 81st May Show fills Mansfield Art Center with Ohio creativity

The 81st May Show has opened at the Mansfield Art Center in Ohio, featuring over 100 works selected from nearly 600 submissions by guest juror Wendy Earle, curator of the Akron Art Museum. The exhibition, which runs through the end of May, showcases a diverse range of mediums from Ohio artists aged 16 to their late 80s. Awards include the Fred "Fritz" Culler Award for Best of Show to Bradley Wallace for "Venus 1K Views," the Mechanics Bank Award of Excellence to Barbara Morejon and Luanne Bole-Becker, and the Jeff McBride & Maura Teynor Emerging Artist Award to high school senior Katerina Prykodko.

Bondi exhibition ‘Holding Light’ turns grief into collective response

Four months after the Bondi Beach terror attack that killed 15 people during a Chanukah celebration, a major exhibition titled 'Holding Light' has opened at Bondi Pavilion Art Gallery. Curated by Shalom Collective and supported by Waverley Council, the show brings together 29 artists and 28 works selected through a community call-out, spanning visual art, installation, and digital media. Artists including Ella Dreyfus, Munganbana Norman Miller, Beck Feiner, Bibi Solimani, and David Solomons respond to themes of loss, memory, courage, and hope, with works such as Dreyfus's 'Nature Morte – Zikaron' documenting the spontaneous memorial near the beachfront.

'Two Voices, One Road' show opens at C-Art Gallery

Springfield artists and married couple Randy Bacon and Heidi Herrman are opening a new collaborative exhibition titled "Two Voices, One Road" at their C-Art Gallery on Historic Commercial Street, running from April 29 to July 4. The show was inspired by a restorative road trip along Route 66 they took in 2021 after Herrman's mother died and as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Bacon contributes landscape photographs taken as far back as 1992, while Herrman presents new mixed-media works combining her own photographs with vintage handkerchiefs inherited from her mother, printed on mulberry paper and fused with encaustic materials.

New art exhibition near Penrith spotlights work of celebrated painter

Beckstones Art Gallery in Greystoke Ghyll, near Penrith, is hosting a solo exhibition of celebrated still-life painter Tim Gustard titled 'Looking for the Light' from May 16 to May 31. The show features 23 new paintings created over the past two years, including works depicting glass, porcelain, silver, flowers, and miniature self-portraits. Gustard, who moved to Cumbria in 1997, is known for his technical precision and often spends hundreds of hours on a single painting. The gallery has represented him for over 29 years and notes that his previous exhibitions have nearly sold out.

Gryphon Gallery presents "Absence of Gravity" - a Robin Love solo exhibition

Robin Love's solo exhibition "Absence of Gravity" opens at Gryphon Gallery in Califon, New Jersey, on May 30, 2026, running through September 27. The show features 22 small-format oil-on-paper paintings created over the past year, half of which were made during a residency in Orquevaux, France, along with larger works and a selection of oil-on-linen paintings. It marks Love's first solo exhibition of oil paintings, following a career as a photographer and co-founder of a multidisciplinary design studio with her late partner David Derrick.

H. F. Johnson Gallery of Art Presents: ‘Senior Exhibitions’ • Events Calendar

Carthage College's H. F. Johnson Gallery of Art and the Visual and Performing Arts Lab are presenting 'Senior Exhibitions' from May 8 to May 16, 2026, showcasing thesis projects by graduating seniors. The exhibition features works by Bee Becker, Daniel Plutchak, Jessica Villasenor, Sierra Domek, and Katrina Gacek, spanning printmaking, photography, video, and mixed media. An opening reception is scheduled for May 9 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Beyond the body: Jess Self’s emotive power at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art

Jess Self, a Decatur-based sculptor and educator, presents *Celestial Perspectives* at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, an immersive textile environment that explores autobiography through figurative form. The exhibition features works in resin, plaster, felted wool, fiber, and rope, including the large-scale installation *The Veil* and the compelling *She Who Ties Magic Knots*, a resin and plaster cast of the artist's pregnant torso. Self's practice draws on Jungian archetypes and spiritual traditions, and the show communicates themes of connectivity, motherhood, bodily experience, and transcendence without relying on wall text.

Equatorial Guinea debuts at the Venice Biennale with Paraguayan artist Ingrid Seall and the theme of undergrowth

Equatorial Guinea makes its debut at the Venice Biennale with a national pavilion at Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, featuring Paraguayan artist Ingrid Seall and her work "Manar." The pavilion, titled "The Forest: The Undergrowth," runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, and presents an immersive journey inspired by Equatorial Guinea's forests. Seall's piece uses materials like paper, cellulose, iron, and cassava paste to create a vertical, living organism that transforms waste into vital matter. The exhibition includes works by multiple international artists and is curated by Joan Abelló, with Brazilian commissioner Paulo Speller.

President Neufeldt Hosts Fourth Student Art Exhibition

California State University, Northridge (CSUN) President Ellen Neufeldt hosted the fourth student art exhibition, titled "Forms of Growth," at her home last weekend. The exhibition featured works by four student artists—Amber Miller, Charlotte Dumbeck, Destiny Kirchner, and Rodas Alonzo—and was curated by alumna Sarah Bricke. A reception was held where the artists and curator spoke with attendees.

‘MANA’ Exhibit to showcase the richness of Masungi through art - Pressenza

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) invites the public to 'MANA', a contemporary art exhibition organized by the Silaw Artist Collective at the NCCA Gallery in Manila from May 7 to 30, 2026. Curated by Eghai Roxas, the show features works by 15 artists including Melvin Culaba, Henri Cainglet, and Derick Macutay, exploring the tension between commodification and environmental conservation, with a focus on the Masungi Georeserve landscape.

The arrival of the Orient Express hotel in Venice reopens the historic Palazzo Donà Giovannelli (filling it with contemporary art)

L’arrivo dell’hotel Orient Express a Venezia riapre lo storico Palazzo Donà Giovannelli (riempiendolo di arte contemporanea)

Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, a 15th-century Venetian palace, has reopened as the flagship Orient Express hotel after an eight-year restoration led by architect and interior designer Aline Asmar d’Amman. Located in the Cannaregio district, the 5-star luxury hotel features 47 rooms, suites, and residences, blending historical frescoes and neogothic details with contemporary sculptures, Murano glass chandeliers, and custom furnishings. The property, owned by Arsenale Group since 2019, includes a transformed courtyard lobby, a secret garden, and a rotating selection of contemporary artworks displayed in a passage called Calle Meraviglia.

First Friday Art Walk set this weekend in Sequim

The First Friday Art Walk in Sequim, Washington, will take place this weekend from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., featuring an aqua-themed self-guided tour of downtown venues. Highlights include a reception for "May Flowers" at Blue Whole Gallery with works by Jolene Sanborn and Rick George, a fiber arts exhibit at Sequim Museum & Arts, and new works at A. Milligan Art Studio and Gallery by Lyn Conlan and Anne Pfeiffer, along with live music and local artisan offerings at multiple participating businesses.

Tamarack to host opening for ‘Best of West Virginia’ art exhibition

Tamarack Marketplace in Beckley, West Virginia, will host the opening reception and award ceremony for its 18th annual “Best of West Virginia” Open Juried Exhibition on May 16. The event takes place in the David L. Dickirson Fine Arts Gallery, with the reception at 1 p.m. and the award ceremony at 2:30 p.m. in the theater.

Westman artists take centre stage at Juried Art Show - Killarney

The 47th Westman Juried Art Show took place at the Killarney United Church's CE Center in Manitoba, showcasing 120 pieces of flat art by 87 local artists from 23 communities. Hosted by the Arts West Council and the Killarney-Turtle Mountain Arts Council, the event featured awards including Best in Show (Jacqui Beckett), People's Choice (Glenda Cairns Poirier), and a Theme Award (Shannon Desjardins), with jurors Leona Brown and Lucie Lederhendler providing written feedback on every entry. A record 41 youth participated, and 20 pieces were selected for the Travelling Gallery.