Arts Briefs: A dance performance and a book fair in Northampton, an Irish harpist in Amherst, and more

NORTHAMPTON — The city’s Arts Council, in partnership with the School for Contemporary Dance & Thought (SCDT) and A.P.E.@Hawley, will host “Exchange” Sept. 18, a performance led by six local and regional dancers who work with spoken word, videography and community engagement.

The performance, which takes place at 7 p.m. in the Workroom Theater at 33 Hawley, has been designed as a fundraiser for the Arts Council’s spring ArtsEZ Grant round.

The six lead dancers will present a range of solo and ensemble pieces that explore a variety of themes: resistance and survival, the integration of dance with ecological processes, finding inner beauty, and more.

The dance film “PLOP!” by Toni Lawrence, for example, features a “cubed character” performed by dancer Ellie Goudie-Averill, who guides the viewer on an unexpected, whimsical adventure in the abandoned deserts of Utah and southern Oregon.

Sakina Ibrahim’s “Ode to Nina,” meantime, invokes fabled artist and activist Nina Simone as it examines a Black woman’s journey to discovering her inner and outer beauty.

Tickets for “Exchange” are $10 and can be purchased in advance at brownpapertickets.com/event/5390788.

New art exhibit to feature the work of “WOW” artists

WARE — The work of women artists from the Valley, the Berkshires and New York City will be presented beginning Sept. 24 in what’s titled “WOW” — Wild Ornery Women — a showcase for 15 mature female artists who may have been overlooked in the past but who continue to “voice their opinions visually,” as program notes put it.

The exhibit, at The Workshop13 Artworks Gallery on Main Street, has been curated by Amherst artist Terry Rooney, founder of the Amherst Biennial and the Pioneer Women exhibits. In a statement, Rooney says women “have worked caring for families, surviving sickness and financial insecurity, yet we continue to make vital work which needs to be seen and heard.”

Artwork in the exhibit considers issues such as climate change, social justice, mass shootings, and the rise of disinformation and political extremism. Drawings, painting, three-dimensional constructions, and photography are all featured, including “Prayer for Antarctica” by Gabrielle Senza, which depicts a woman in a trailing white dress crossing a huge snowfield.

“WOW” runs through Oct. 23 and can be viewed 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays or by appointment by calling (413) 277-6072 or (413) 537-5575. An opening reception takes place Oct. 1 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Art on view at senior center

NORTHAMPTON — Work by Northampton artist Laura Curran, who works in a number of mediums, is on display this month at the Northampton Senior Center.

Her show at the Senior Center features paintings of local landscapes and venues, such as the corner of Old South and Main streets in Northampton, where a bicycle is locked up beside a stop sign and signboards for Raven Books and a nearby hair salon.

Curran, who studied art at UMass Amherst and Harvard University, also does a variety of craftwork, including with fabric and jewelry, and she has taught in numerous setting including at Snow Farm in Williamsburg.

NORTHAMPTON — After a two-year hiatus, the Northampton Print & Book Fair returns Oct. 1, when over 20 artists will gather at 33 Hawley for a one-day celebration of contemporary artist publications, prints, and other work.

The free event, from noon to 5 p.m., features a range of artwork by artists, publishers, and collectives from across western Massachusetts and throughout New England. Artwork available for sale will include books, zines, chapbooks, poetry, comics, screenprints, photographs, wearable art, and more.

All sales go directly to the artists, about which more information is available at northamptonprintandbookfair.net.

Also taking place that day at 33 Hawley from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. will be sales from A.P.E. Gallery’s Flat File program, a collection of media such as drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and textiles. This collection includes work by 50 local, regional and national artists. Through this event, A.P.E. looks to give more exposure to emerging artists and experimental work.

AMHERST — Áine Minogue, an Irish native and harpist and singer who has entertained presidents and prime ministers, will perform at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Minogue, who’s also an arranger and composer and now lives in Boston, has released 12 albums, and her music has been heard on a number of U.S. television shows. Born into a family of musicians in Ireland, Minogue learned traditional Irish music but also used that as a springboard for her own music.

As Billboard Magazine puts it, “Áine Minogue is close enough to her Celtic sources to be nourished by them, but not so close they root her to the spot.”

Tickets for the her Sept. 17 performance, produced by Halcyon Arts New England, are $20 and can be purchased at hartsne.org.

AMHERST — The 10th annual Tell It Slant festival at the Emily Dickinson Museum will take place Sept. 19 to 25 and will feature a range of workshops, panels, and readings led by a diverse group of poets from around the world, all of them devoted to celebrating Emily Dickinson’s poetic legacy.

Events this year will be in-person at the museum as well as online and will include an appearance by Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess, as well the reading of all 1,789 of Dickinson’s poems.

You can find out more about the festival and register for it at emilydickinsonmuseum.org.

DEERFIELD — Nathan Laube, a leading organist who has taught and performed in the U.S. and numerous other countries, will play at First Church of Deerfield Sept. 25 at 3 p.m. in a fundraising concert for the church.

Laube, a native of Chicago, will perform music by Bach, Böhm, Mozart and Mendelssohn, and while at the First Church will play on the Richards, Fowkes & Co. tracker organ, dubbed a “‘gem of an instrument’ by many musicians and the general public,” according to program notes.

Among his various teaching positions, Laube is an associate professor of organ at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. and an international consultant for organ studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in Birmingham, Great Britain. He is also a regular performer at organ festivals in Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, the U.S. and other countries.

A donation of $10 to $20 is requested at at the door for his Deerfield performance. Attendees are required to wear face masks. For any additional questions, please contact Artistic Director Jean Pitman Turner at (413) 774-2657.

 — Compiled by Steve Pfarrer