Purdue University Fort Wayne’s College of Visual and Performing Arts broke ground on the Dorothy and Paul Shaffer Fine Arts Gallery, a $1.3 million project. The ceremony took place at the university’s Visual and Performing Arts Building, with donor Dorothy Shaffer in attendance and remarks from campus leaders and faculty. The gallery is expected to open in November 2027.
Rotherham-born, Sheffield-based textile artist Jodie Cooper, who specializes in free-motion embroidery, discusses her journey from completing a degree in Fine and Applied Arts at University Centre Rotherham to becoming a full-time artist. She was commissioned by ArtWorks Together International and East Midlands Railway to create a tactile tapestry installation at Sheffield Train Station, running until 15 June, which explores themes of travel anxiety, neurodiversity, and accessibility. Cooper also shares her work through ArtWorks Together International Festival at Millennium Gallery and local art markets.
Broken Hill City Art Gallery in New South Wales will launch three exhibitions on May 8, 2026: 'Saltbush Country,' featuring contemporary Aboriginal women artists from regional South Australia; 'ARTEXPRESS 2026,' showcasing exemplary Higher School Certificate Visual Arts works by students across the state; and 'Footsteps in the Desert,' a solo show by local artist Ann Evers using natural and found materials. The opening night is free and includes bar facilities, with exhibitions running through July 26, 2026.
The 33rd Annual Creative Youth Art League exhibition opened at the LaGrange Art Museum on April 26, 2026, with award winners announced for student-created artworks. Jackson Rakestraw, a 9th grader from Heard County High, won the Morrill Hutchinson Award for Best of Show, while Taylor Norred, an 11th grader from Troup High, received the Wates Keller Award for Best of Show in Troup County. The exhibition features over 384 students from 30 schools and homeschool groups across four Georgia counties, with categories spanning drawing, painting, mixed media, sculpture, ceramics, and photography.
A landmark £5.36 million UK touring art exhibition, "Earthly Paradise: Radical Living in the UK," part of the Going Places scheme coordinated by Art Fund, will conclude at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh from March to September 2028. The exhibition is one of several initiatives under Going Places, which also includes "Making Her Mark: A Celebration of Women in Art" launching April 30, 2026 at Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance, touring to Kirkcaldy Galleries in 2027, and "Communities of Making" at Inverness Museum & Art Gallery exploring Scottish wool traditions, plus "New Faces New Focus" at Aberdeenshire Farming Museum.
The Chester County Art Association in West Chester hosted the Chester County High School Art Exhibition and PA 6th District Congressional Art Competition reception on April 15. The event featured nearly 500 student works including sculptures, oil paintings, colored pencil pieces, and photography, with awards presented for both competitions. Josiah Fung of Wilmington Friends School won first place in the congressional competition for his piece "Friends for Life," which will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year. The exhibition was coordinated by the Chester County Intermediate Unit and partially funded by CCRES Educational and Behavioral Health Services.
The Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi is hosting "Cuộc Chơi Với Lá (A Game with Leaves)," an exhibition showcasing over six decades of work by self-taught Vietnamese artist Tạ Hải. The show features dozens of artworks selected from more than 500 pieces he has created entirely from natural materials, primarily fallen leaves, since his first work in 1965. Hải, who works outside formal artistic traditions, transforms leaves into landscapes depicting rivers, rooftops, and village paths, driven by a philosophy that sees fallen leaves as enduring symbols of life rather than discarded remnants.
Florence is undertaking a major restoration of Giotto's Campanile, the first comprehensive conservation of the 14th-century bell tower since its construction. The project, budgeted at over €7 million, addresses decades of damage from pollution, acid rain, and natural aging, including detached stone slabs, darkened facades, and microfractures. The four-year scaffolding will be designed to minimize visual impact and gradually reveal restored sections. Separately, the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore is executing a €60 million program to restore the Collegio Eugeniano (which will become its new headquarters) and expand the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo to 11,000 square meters by 2030. The Ponte Vecchio will also undergo summer cleaning and consolidation of its piles, funded equally by the municipality and the Antinori family.
Jasper Arts presents a solo exhibition titled 'Talitha Cumi' by Marion, Indiana artist Tashema Davis at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center, running May through July 2026. The show features original oil and acrylic paintings, with an opening reception and gallery talk on May 7, followed by additional receptions on June 4 and July 2. Davis, who teaches art at Marion High School, creates vibrant portraits focused on brown faces, drawing from her childhood in Gary, Indiana, and her graduate training at Ball State University.
A gallery has corrected the title of a portrait by British artist Tom McGuinness after the artist's daughter identified the subject as an unknown man, not her grandfather as originally thought. The drawing, initially labeled "Cathy's Dad," has been renamed "Portrait of an Unknown Man" and is included in the exhibition "Tom McGuinness: Out of the Darkness," which runs through the rest of the year and features oil paintings, sketches, lithographs, and family portraits.
The CU Art Museum at the University of Colorado Boulder is presenting an exhibition titled "Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder," running from February 6 through May 2026. The show brings together artworks, books, and maps that explore the themes and narratives of fairy tales, examining how these stories blend realms of fantasy, hybrid creatures, and liminal spaces to challenge cultural norms and offer new perspectives on human experience. The exhibition is supported by CU Boulder Student Arts and Cultural Enrichment fees and is coordinated with concurrent shows at the CU Museum of Natural History and Norlin Library.
Vault Artist Studios, a Belfast-based arts collective with over 100 members including musicians, circus performers, and visual artists, has moved into a temporary hub at Bankmore House on Bedford Street after spending three years at Victoria Street and the Shankill Mission building. The collective, formed in 2017 to transform derelict buildings into affordable studio space, now provides studios for 30 artists plus a gallery and project space, with further space opening soon in a former Masonic Lodge on the lower Newtownards Road. Their first exhibition in the new space, titled 'Mayday Mayday', serves as both a distress signal and a rallying call for workers.
Al via Buongiorno Ceramica! 2026. Tutti gli eventi da non perdere della dodicesima edizione
The twelfth edition of "Buongiorno Ceramica!" will take place on May 23-24, 2026, transforming historic centers, museums, and workshops across Italy into open-air laboratories. The event spans from Piedmont to Sicily, featuring exhibitions, installations, guided tours, performances, tastings, and gastronomic events. Highlights include the Ceramiche Sonore competition in Castellamonte, the Museo della Ceramica's tribute to Marco Levi in Mondovì, and open studios in Montelupo Fiorentino, with participation from 60 cities organized by the Associazione Italiana Città della Ceramica.
The Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum & Art Gallery in British Columbia is opening a dual exhibition on May 28, 2026, featuring the Shuswap Plein Air Troupe and artist Nancy Vince. The Main Gallery presents "Together: From There to Here," a group show by Diane Akey, Maureen Howard, and Patricia L. Smith, who paint together as the Plein Air Troupe, capturing landscapes with varied textures and emotional depth. In the Freeze Gallery, "A Touch of Whimsy" showcases Vince's high-definition metal prints filled with vibrant, playful imagery of flowers, cottages, and lakeside scenes. The exhibition runs through June 27, with a reception on opening night.
An exhibition in Kingston, New York, titled 'Art from everyday items takes center stage,' showcases artworks created from ordinary, found objects. The show features pieces made from household materials, repurposed goods, and common items, challenging traditional notions of what belongs in a gallery space. Curated to feel accessible and relatable, the exhibition aims to break down barriers between art and daily life.
An original painted ceiling tile from the historic DeWitt County Courthouse, built in 1896, has been loaned to the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. The DeWitt County Commissioners Court approved a 10-month loan agreement in late April, with the tile on display from May 1 through January 31, 2027. The tile, valued at $3,000, was discovered hidden in the courthouse attic before its 2007 restoration and is now featured in the museum's Texas Art Gallery as part of an exhibit celebrating Texas courthouse architecture.
The Auckland Project has launched a public appeal to identify a mystery miner depicted in a charcoal portrait by the late pitman-turned-painter Tom McGuinness. The drawing, currently on display at the Mining Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland as part of the exhibition "Tom McGuiness: Out of the Darkness," was originally labeled "Cathy's Dad" but was corrected by the artist's daughter, Corinne Aspel, who confirmed it does not show her grandfather. The work has been retitled "Portrait of an Unknown Man," and curators are seeking help from the public to name the sitter.
A mystery portrait has prompted a public appeal in County Durham as a major new exhibition celebrating miner-artist Tom McGuinness opens at Bishop Auckland’s Mining Art Gallery. Visitors are being asked to help identify an unknown man depicted in a 1963 charcoal drawing, *Portrait of an Unknown Man*, now on display as part of *Tom McGuinness: Out of the Darkness*, which marks the centenary of the artist’s birth and runs throughout 2026. McGuinness, born in Witton Park, worked in the mines for nearly four decades, and his art captures the physical and emotional realities of mining life. The portrait was initially thought to depict the artist’s father-in-law, but his daughter Corinne Aspel has challenged that assumption, noting clear differences in facial features.
The Fredericksburg Visitor Center is hosting a photo exhibition throughout May in honor of Older Americans Month. Created by Healthy Generations Area Agency on Aging, the exhibit features portraits of local seniors paired with their words of advice and inspiration, with an opening reception on May 1 during First Friday.
David Sainsbury, the supermarket heir and philanthropist, has donated £90 million to fund the renewal of the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich. This gift is the latest in a series of substantial donations to UK museums, signaling a surge in mega-donations from wealthy individuals supporting cultural institutions.