Keeping Tabs on the Arts

Boston sculpture

Rosalyn Driscoll, a member of Boston Sculptors Gallery in Boston, whose local art studio is located at One Cottage Street in Easthampton, has made and installed a large, outdoor sculpture on the Christian Science Plaza in Boston. The group exhibit, called “Convergence,” is sponsored by the Church of Christ, Scientist, and will be on view through October 31.

The plaza is a 14-acre pedestrian area, and attracts thousands of visitors each year from around the world. In the heart of the plaza sits the Original Mother Church, built in 1894, and its domed extension, built in 1906.

Each of the sculptures installed by the group will “speak to its architectural surroundings, activate the site that inspired it, and create a unique destination for the Boston community to see contemporary art,” according to a press release.

Other local craftspeople and businesses assisted Driscoll in making and installing the sculpture, including Lenaerts Fine Woodworking, Lyman Sheet Metal, Metcalf Associates, LandMark Company, Cooks Builders Supply, Fleury Lumber, Kelly’s Meadow Wood, Symanski Materials Handling, Leonard’s Fine Woodworks, Mike Chermesino and David Grace.

The exhibit, which opened in May, will have a catalog launch today from 2 to 5 p.m.

At CDH

“Botanical Collage Paintings” by Charlene Wooden, will be on view in the Locust Street Gallery and “From the Valley to the Shore” by Anne Kusiak will be on view in the New Gallery, this month at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, 30 Locust St., Northampton. Artists’ receptions will be held today from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Wooden’s collages borrows calligraphy and script themes, using 18th-century fabrics, documents and botanicals, supplemented by painted flowers, fruits, and inspirational quotes.

Kusiak, a Pioneer Valley native, trained in a variety of different methods, and uses pen and ink, pastel, oil and watercolor. Kusiak has a studio in the Arts and Industry Building in Florence, Studio 454, 221 Pine St., Florence.

‘Reflections’

“Reflections,” an exhibit of oil paintings by Deerfield artist Marcia R. Wise, will open with a reception Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. and will remain on view through June 30 at the Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom, One Ashfield St., Shelburne falls.

Wise focuses on light and color in her paintings, having been long influenced by impressionism, shimmering illumination of light-filled skies, and flickering reflections on water, she said in an artist’s statement.

The showroom is open Mondays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, call 625-9833 or visit www.SalmonFallsGallery.com.

Abstract imagery

“Fractured Reality” an exhibit of work by abstract painter Mary Witt opens with a reception Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m., and will remain in view through July 1 at the Easthampton City Arts+ (ECA+) Gallery, Suite 2, 43 Main St., Easthampton.

Witt focuses on texture, depth, color and movement, rather than on literal images. She layers both wet and dry paint with varying palette knives to produce her work.

Gallery hours are Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. For information, call 527-8278 or visit www.EasthamptonCityArts.com

Fairy tales at The Carle

The magical world of fairies and gnomes will be celebrated during the 8th annual Children’s Book Festival Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 West Bay Road, Amherst.

The Carle will feature a day of fairy-inspired activities for children, including building fairy houses in the orchard and creating apple-head elfin puppets, along with the opportunity to meet artists and authors from the Western Massachusetts Illustrator’s Guild, who have been inspired by the world of fantasy and magic, such as Micha Archer, Kathryn Brown, Linda Graves, Gary Lippincott, Lauren Mills, Greg Ruth, Ruth Sanderson, Astrid Sheckels and Nicole Tadgell.

There will also be author presentations and story times; a puppet show by Galapagos Puppets, dragon drawing, fairy costume opportunities, an art sale and treats from Foley’s Franks.

For information, call 658-1105 or visit www.carlemuseum.org.

Wednesday reggae

The “Wednesday Folk Traditions” series Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, 130 River Drive, Route 47 Hadley, opens its 32nd season Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. with the reggae band ReBelle.

The group, which will perform in the Sunken Garden, performs in four languages, Wolof, Creole, French and English. Its members bring musical talent from Africa and America on lead and rhythm guitars, keyboard, bass, drums, percussion and vocals, mixing intergenerational and intercultural sounds.

Tickets cost $10; $2 for children 16 and under.

For information, call 584-4699 or visit www.pphmuseum.org.

At Amherst Town Hall

“Private Pathologies Unseen Symptoms,” an exhibit of Northampton artist’s Esther S. White’s prints at the Amherst Town Hall will be on view through Aug. 30.

The exhibit, sponsored by the Amherst Public Arts Commission, features work from an ongoing series of monotypes exploring the artist’s personal experience with chronic pain through drawings of the artist’s own hands.

“Making artwork out of pain has allowed me to externalize my illness,” White writes in an artist’s statement. Combining techniques from mindfulness with her studio practice, her work is an evocative visual exploration of the physical and emotional consequences of living with chronic pain. “I have learned to ask: ‘What color is this angst? What kind of line does it make?’ ” she writes.

More of White’s work from this series will be on view at The Laboratory, Version 1, a group show at Mill 180 in Easthampton, that opens with a reception Saturday from 5 a.m. to midnight.

Painters and poets

“Write a Painting, Paint a Poem,” an exhibit by Rita Edelman, Oriole Farb Feshbach and Carl Sesar will be on view through July 26 in the Hall Gallery of the Jewish Community of Amherst.

Edelman and Feshbach, painters, and Sesar, a poet and translator, work as independent artists. But, together, their printing, painting and calligraphy relate to the written word. They work with images and poems in a wide variety of mediums.

Edelman uses poetry and the calligraphic geometry of ancient symbols in developing her paintings. Feshbach is inspired by poetry to capture the visual panoply of the natural world. Sesar paints poetry with typewriter ribbon and rubber stamps.

The Jewish Community of Amherst is located at 742 Main St. For information, call 256-0160.

At the Elusie Gallery

An exhibit by photographer Lionel Delevingne of images from “Drylands: A Rural American Saga” (University of Nebraska Press), a book he co-authored with Steve Turner, opens Saturday at the Elusie Gallery, 43 Main St., Easthampton, and will remain on display through July 6.

Delevingne’s depicts the joy and struggle of an agrarian lifestyle through his photographs of landscapes, farmers and abandoned downtowns. Prints of his photographs, as well as signed copies of his book,[ will be available for purchase.

Gallery hours are Mondays from 1 to 5:30 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For information, call 529-9265 or visit www.eastmontgallery.net.

Funding for artists

Easthampton City Arts + is accepting submissions from artists, musicians, dancers, writers, creative groups and performers for E.A.T., a new program that is designed to supplement funds for projects made by creative people and organization. Applicants must live or work in Easthampton, Southampton or Westhampton.

At each E.A.T., attendees will give a $25 donation for which they will receive an appetizer and a ballot. They will see presentations by selected applicants and cast a vote for their favorite proposal. At the end of the night, the applicant who receives the most votes will be awarded a grant comprising equal to the funds raised by the event. Additional funds will be awarded to the winning proposal by the Easthampton Cultural Council.

Five applicants will be selected, based on the criteria of originality, community impact and feasibility of their proposals.

The application deadline is June 17. For information, or to apply, visit EasthamptonCityArts.com.

Perform jazz in July

The University of Massachusetts Amherst Fine Arts Center is accepting applications for its Jazz in July summer music programs, running July 8 through July 19.

Two programs are offered: Instrumental Ensembles and Vocal Soloists with Trios. The instrumental Ensemble Program emphasizes individual improvisation, coached by artist faculty, according to instrument.

The Vocal Jazz Soloists with Trios Program explores vocal improvisation, jazz rhythms and phrasing, and instruction to prepare lead sheets. Participants rehearse and perform with a skilled faculty trio.

Limited scholarships and teaching assistant positions are available.

For information, call 545-3530 or visit www.jazzinjuly.com.