Even with area colleges and the University of Massachusetts largely closing up shop for the summer, there’s plenty of art on view in the Valley this month. Here’s a look at what some selected galleries have this month.

D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield — Earlier this year, the Springfield Museums opened a new exhibit devoted to retrospective works by Nelson Stevens, the late artist and educator who taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1972 to 2003 and was active for years, with help from his students, in creating murals in Springfield that celebrated Black empowerment.

In “Nelson Stevens: Color Rapping,” which continues to Sept. 3, the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts has assembled paintings, prints and other work spanning 50 years of Stevens’ career, with a focus on his bright, collage-like paintings, which one critic hailed for their “fluidity and vibrancy” and their success in “shaping a radical Black aesthetic.”

In recent weeks, the D’Amour has added two smaller shows to its walls. “Artifice: New Paintings by Priya N. Green,” which runs through December, showcases the work of UMass Amherst alumna Priya N. Green, and “Mark Chester: Twosomes” offers unique work from the veteran Massachusetts photographer. His exhibit runs through July 30.

For her exhibit, Green, who received her MFA from UMass and lives in Springfield, has assembled a number of works she created during the worst of the pandemic, when she was largely housebound and got her news through various screens.

Her large, layered paintings, a mix of abstract and more realistic images, such as a car on fire, are often bathed in blue light, as through they’ve been filtered through a screen, and they seem to reflect the gaps of understanding that exist even in a world of instant communication.

“We live in this age where we feel overwhelmed by information,” Green says in exhibit notes, “yet we still have a limited understanding of reality.”

For his exhibit, Mark Chester, who previously was the photography director for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), has grouped photos from throughout his career in pairs that show unusual and often humorous connections, though the pictures were taken years and miles apart.

One combo, for instance, includes a photo of a kitschy store shaped liked a prairie schooner, the 19th-century wagon used by pioneers, and a picture, taken from behind, of a man wearing a cowboy hat as he rides a horse across a western-looking landscape.

Chester, who was born in Baltimore, graduated from Classical High School in Springfield and now lives on Cape Cod.

Anchor House of Artists, Northampton — As is customary, Anchor House is showing the work of a number of artists this month, including sculptor and painter David Moriarty of Ashfield, who brings both a sense of humor and lots of geometrical dazzle to his work.

Moriarty’s painted wood sculptures and his paintings both feature blocky, abstract figures that can also take on some human-like dimensions, such as in the painting “Los Gilligans #1,” which seems a pastiche of, in part, 17th-century Dutch paintings.

According to exhibit notes, Moriarty’s work in his Anchor House exhibit is part of a series that evokes Eden as seen in nature, inspired in part by the double-faced Greek god Janus, “with one face oriented to the future while the other looks to the past.”

“Although here,” the artist notes, “the legend goes a bit further and allows for overlapping eyes, torsos, and heads, resulting in a visual puzzle of emotion and parody.”

Among other work on display at Anchor House: “Mama Data,” a “multimedia process-based exhibit” by Christina Balch; “Labor,” a show by three female artists and moms who are part of the Valley group Mothers Institute for Collaboration and Art (MICA); and work by textile and fiber artist Leslie Dahlqvist.

Gallery A3, Amherst — Painter and sculptor Nancy Meagher and photographer Laura Holland have combined forces this month on “Emily Dickinson’s Ghosts,” an exhibit that imagines the famous poet’s presence in visual art.

According to exhibit notes, the two artists worked separately on this shared theme, with Meagher beginning a series of paintings after she saw “the ghost of a small, distressed woman exit the steep granite steps in front of Austin Dickinson’s house and then bustle towards the Dickinson Homestead next door.”

The artist has responded by creating a series of heavily layered oil paintings of both houses at the historic site, as well as a sculpture of Dickinson’s famous white dress, made of wire, paint, paper pulp and glue.

In turn, Holland has photographed details from the restored Dickinson Homestead that speak to her of the past, such as a period-style carpet that was added to the parlor last year based on extensive research into the home’s 19th-century decor. Holland has also created accordion books that combine photographs and Dickinson’s poetry.

“Our ghosts don’t jump out of the woodwork to say ‘Boo’,” Holland says. “We are trying, with visual art, to show how our personal impressions of Emily’s presence reach out from her times into ours.”

Jewish Community of Amherst — An exhibit highlighting the work of award-winning children’s book illustrator Micha Archer is continuing this month.

Archer, a former kindergarten teacher who studied multicultural education at UMass Amherst, works with an array of materials — paint, ink, collage — to create colorful, layered artwork that’s designed to create a sense of wonder in children.

The artist, who’s also a children’s book author, was awarded a Caldecott Honor last year for her book “Wonder Walkers,” which invites children to explore the natural world and ask questions about their connections to it. Publisher’s Weekly praised the story for its “sumptuous artwork.”

“Micha Archer: The Art of the Collage,” presented in cooperation with R. Michelson Galleries of Northampton, continues at the JCA through July 28.

Oxbow Art Gallery, Easthampton — The art collective’s main gallery space this month is given over to Diane Harr’s “The Baroque,” an exhibit inspired by the Northampton painter’s visits to Baroque churches in Rome and other Italian cities.

Harr, who has lived part time in Rome for over 20 years, concentrates on the interior of these venerable Italian churches, with many of her works offering an upward view to the arched and decorative ceilings of the buildings.

The Oxbow’s smaller exhibit space features “Chris’s Plants,” paintings by Frances Kidder of the flora in the Florence building where she has a studio. “My new paintings pay tribute to these plants, and to Chris, the maintenance engineer, who keeps them going,” Kidder says in exhibit notes.

Also in Easthampton: The Elusie Gallery has just opened an exhibit of work by expressionist landscape painter Laura Radwell, and 50 Arrow Gallery will have a closing reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. today (Friday, June 9) for “Women of the Antebellum” by Kay Douglas, portraits of women who have fought for the liberation of people from the African Diaspora.

Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.

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