Augusta Savage Gallery. Gallery hours are Monday & Tuesday 1-7pm, and Wednesday through Friday 1-5pm while the University is in session.

Current Events || Past Events

Transporting: oil, water, arteries and veins in the Amazon Installation by Patty Bode and Ecuadorian Artists Monday, November 17 - Friday, December 5, 2008   This exhibit features paintings by artists from the Secoyan community in Ecuador, and artist / educator Patty Bode. This collaborative show transports us to the Amazonian rainforest at the intersection of indigenous life and global oil production, consumption and contamination.

Gems in the Valley: A Toast to Nelson Stevens Opening Reception Monday February 9, 5-7pm Monday, February 9 - Friday, March 13, 2009   The exhibit will showcase works by renowned painter and long-standing member of the Pioneer Valley, Nelson Stevens. Featuring a range of styles and mediums dating back to the 1970s, his works on paper, canvas, doors, board, album covers, prints in magazines and calendars attest to Stevens’ prolific career as a visual artist, teacher, arts activist, and cultural ambassador. Some works in this show are on loan by collectors, while others have been part of the Augusta Savage and Afro American Studies permanent collections. For more information about Nelson Stevens visit: www.nelsonstevens.com

Showcase Poets and Writers of the MFA program Thursday, March 12, 2009  7:00 pm A reading featuring several graduates of the MFA program for poets and writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Nomad: Women On the Move Opening Reception Wednesday April 1, 5-7pm Wednesday, April 1 - Friday, April 10, 2009    Through video, photos, audio materials, and objects, these artists will research in the cities where they live among the many women who are affected by migration. They leave their land, their families, their cultural roots and face an usually hard welcome in those rich promiseland nations.

Art from the Heart Opening Reception Thursday April 16, 5-7pm Thursday, April 16 - Thursday, April 30, 2009   A solo exhibition of recent works by Yusef Lateef. Lateef's trees, created in the last two years since his retirement from the University of Massachusetts Amherst are far from conventional, as one might expect, giving us yet another glimpse into his fully engaged life.

Beginning Again An evening of poetry and music with Dr. Frederick C. Tillis Tuesday, April 21, 2009  7:00 pm Reading from his most recent book of poetry, this Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts brings us reflections and a celebration for those meaningful moments in life. Dr. Tillis, a native of Galveston, Texas is an accomplished poet, composer, saxophonist, professor, and administrator. He has published numerous books of poetry; and his music catalog is extensive, including more than 125 compositions and commissions, spanning both jazz and classical European traditions in various media - orchestral, jazz, instrumental, choral, chamber music, and vocal works.

BFA Thesis Opening Reception May 4, 5-7pm Monday, May 4 - Friday, May 8, 2009   Student Elliott Rufo, exhibits his Senior Thesis.

Student Exhibition Opening Reception May 11, 5-7pm Monday, May 11 - Friday, May 15, 2009   Moonlight Davis exhibits his photography.

Student Exhibit Opening Reception May 18, 5-7pm Monday, May 18 - Friday, May 22, 2009   Exhibition by student artists from Greenfield Community College

My Journey Through Line:paintings and drawings by Carolyn Mae Lassiter Opening Reception: September 14, 5-7pm Monday, September 14 - Friday, October 2   Carolyn Mae Lassiter was raised in Ahoskie, North Carolina where her family worked as sharecroppers until she was twelve years old. Picking cotton, tobacco and peanuts alongside her family, she spent little time in school. Carolyn developed her interest in art during the early 1970's when she lived in Mexico with a family of indigenous artists. A self-taught artist, she began drawing in 1989. Her artwork is critically acclaimed at shows internationally. Carolyn's work includes various types of multi-media art inspired by dreams, spirituality, life in the country, family, and animals.

Who Does She Think She Is? A woman still has to choose between what she loves and who she loves. What if she didn't? Wednesday, September 30  7:00 pm Screening of the film "Who Does She Think She Is?" cosponsored by Everywoman's Center and Women of Color Leadership Network. For more information call (413) 545-0883.

POP: A Celebration of Black Fatherhood; Featuring photography by Carol Ross Opening Reception: October 7, 5-7pm Wednesday, October 7 - Wednesday, October 28   As both a photographer and former actor Carol Ross has always maintained a position in front of and behind the camera. Based on her first book entitled POP: A Celebration of Black Fatherhood, this exhibit features photographs of devoted fathers. Since its unveiling her book POP has been featured in Essence, Heart & Soul, O Magazine, Baby Talk, ABC Chicago, Oprah & Friends Radio and countless publications. Ross says: “In my work I seek to challenge angles and break conventional technical rules, always searching for new ways to view and interpret the world--sometimes with humor, always with compassion.”

Inside the Outside/Paintings by Three Outsider Artists: Jay Dickens, Arnold Nelson, & Floyd Nelson Opening Reception: November 2, 5-7pm Monday, November 2 - Friday, November 20   These three outsider artists from New Mexico live with developmental disabilities, have experienced confinement in an institution, and have come into their own individual artistic paths later in life. Like many Outsider Artists, Jay Dickens, Arnold Nelson, and Floyd Nelson have developed artistically without any preconceived notions or limitations regarding art. Collectively, their work illustrates the triumph and strength of the human spirit.

It's a Flea Market World: New Works by Kelly Moore Opening Reception: February 11, 5-7pm Thursday, February 11 - Tuesday, March 9   Fully-engaged and totally original, Santa Fe artist Kelly Moore paints on canvas and paper, as well as on other more unlikely surfaces such as used tubes of paint, discarded paint brushes, wooden boxes, and electrical wiring. His dolls, hung along the sides of his flea market vendor’s booth, pop up between paintings of faces, crows, hillsides, and a range of references, marks and gestures that emerge from deep places inside him. His works have a poetic quality, giving back to us what we bring to them.

Untouchable Reaches Out: The Dalit Art of Savi Savarkar Opening Reception: March 22, 5-7pm Monday, March 22 - Thursday, April 8   In this exhibition, curator and art historian Gary Tartokov introduces Indian artist Savi Savarkar to our community in a thoughtfully organized exhibition. Savi Savarkar’s art is most remarkable for the expression of his social situation in South Asian culture as a Dalit, and for the immediacy, depth and power with which he expresses the meaning of that situation to us.

Clean Slate: New Paintings by Anne LaPrade Seuthe Opening Reception: April 12, 5-7pm Monday, April 12 - Friday, April 30   Beginning with discarded maps, LaPrade Seuthe carefully color matches the hues in the existing maps and applies these opaque paint mixtures to eradicate names, symbols and other location identifiers. Once the clean slate has been established, she adds drawings of images culled from encyclopedias, dictionaries, travel guides and assorted manuals. For her, this process is parallel to an internal process of creating a clean slate or starting over. Her painting is complete when connections between seemingly random images are revealed.