The 87th Regional Exhibition of Art & Craft  

Now through August 27, 2023

The 87th Regional Exhibition of Art & Craft is one of the longest-running juried exhibitions in New England. This annual show at the Fitchburg Art Museum spotlights the artists and crafters of our region by providing a museum environment for their work and connecting them with fellow creators, patrons, and art enthusiasts. Please join us in celebrating the vitality and importance of our immediate artist community!

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La bodega de mis sueños (The bodega of my dreams)  

Now on view

In this inaugural installation of public art on the museum’s façade, Cuban-American artist and educator Gabriel Sosa considers the stories of Spanish-speaking residents in Central Massachusetts, contemporary visual culture in downtown Fitchburg, and the complexities of the American Dream.

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Andrius Alvarez-Backus: Desastre!
Now through August 27, 2023

Lancaster artist Andrius Alvarez-Backus employs a collage aesthetic that brings together a wide variety of materials: fabric, paint, pastels, wood, wax, feathers, grass, raffia, sand, stones, and found objects. These juxtaposed and aesthetically altered things work in concert with evocative colors, abstract images, and precarious compositions to elicit a sense of uncertainty, instability, and possible disaster. The artist’s work has been deeply informed by images and objects from his Filipino heritage that bear the weight of centuries of colonialism.

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Call and Response: Impact
Now through August 27, 2023

Impact is the eleventh iteration of the annual collaboration between ArtsWorcester and the Fitchburg Art Museum, featuring ten works from ArtsWorcester artists created in response to pieces from FAM’s permanent collection. This year’s theme explores humanity’s complex and reciprocal relationship with the environment.

Featured artists from ArtsWorcester include: Colleen Fitzgerald, Amanda Kidd-Kestler, Joseph Landry, Stevie Leigh, Carrie Nixon, Melissa Parent, Anju Pillai, Donalyn Schofield,  Luca Webb, and David Wesley White.

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Ari Montford’s Freedom Arrows
Now on view

Ari Montford’s Freedom Arrows amplifies the arrow’s symbolism as tool, weapon, and message to explore Indigenous Black themes through the lens of the Native American experience of genocide. Within the museum lobby, a volley of hand-beaded arrows is suspended midair (as if just unleashed from unseen bows) and embedded in the walls. Dual concepts of protection and service, aggression and power blend with the arrows’ spiritual presence to create a space that provokes conversation about racial justice and narrative-making. Montford’s installation engages with the impact of structural racism, Indigenous trauma, and the process of creating safe spaces for restorative justice through their own voice as a Black Two Spirit Indigenous cultural practitioner.

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Rania Matar: Oceans at My Door
Now through January 7, 2024

The Fitchburg Art Museum is thrilled to present an exhibition celebrating its recent acquisition of Rania Matar’s stunning portfolio SHE. Matar is a Lebanese-American photographer internationally renowned for her explorations of cross-cultural identity and femininity. The arresting, intimate portraits in SHE evoke the transitional states of Becoming, what Matar describes as “the fraught beauty and vulnerability of growing up” as a young woman. This portfolio is shown alongside other works from Matar’s subsequent series Where Do I Go?, an ongoing project that focuses on Lebanese women at a crossroad as they navigate national crises of corruption, inflation, lockdown, and shortages.

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In the Eye of the Beholder: Gender through the Camera Lens
Now through September 10

In the Eye of the Beholder delves into the Fitchburg Art Museum’s permanent collection to explore how photographers have used the “gendered gaze” across the 20th and early 21st centuries. This exhibition highlights some of the museum’s iconic favorites and recent acquisitions—including work from Sir Zanele Muholi, Cindy Sherman, and Yasumasa Morimura—to examine how power is embedded in the male and female gazes. In the Eye of the Beholder further explores artists who experiment with or outright reject the gender binary, questioning and complicating methods of perceiving gender and its performance.

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Programs

Free First Thursdays

Thursday, August 3
12:00 – 7:00 PM

Every first Thursday the museum is FREE for all visitors.

Free First Thursdays is supported by an endowment given to the Fitchburg Art Museum in memory of Martha Malm.

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FAM @ Night

Thursday, August 4
6:00 – 10:00 PM

Get ready for a vibe with FAM @ Night! Brought to you by Alignment Auntie with support from Dream it Create it - Join us for an evening to remember with a panel talk of remarkable women who lead and build creative collectives, two electric DJ sets, drinks and refreshments, and an outdoor sculpture tent hosted by Burnett Studios. Admission is free with an optional suggested donation.

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Yoga in the Galleries

Tuesdays, August 15, and 22
6:15 - 7:30 PM

Experience the combination of going inside to see the beauty within and coming into the gallery to see the beauty around you. Join the practice of yoga with Dianne Tousignant where you are guided through breath awareness, warm-up poses, strengthening, and relaxation. Beginners are welcome. Instruction can be adapted for new students as well as those with more experience. $15 drop-in per class payable in class.

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Hidden Treasures

Thursday, August 17
1:00 - 3:00 PM

Hidden Treasures is a specialized art appreciation program for individuals with early to middle stage Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia and their caregivers. Programs are limited to 16 participants and require a caregiver with each individual adult with Alzheimer’s and professional staff with a group. Hidden Treasures is free, and participants must pre-register with the Fitchburg Art Museum by calling 978-345-4207 or by emailing [email protected]

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Artist Talk: Andrius Alvarez-Backus: Desastre!
Sunday, August 20 at 3:00 PM

A unique opportunity for exhibiting artists to share the stories behind their work and provide insight into their broader artistic practice. Using autoethnography as a point of departure, Andrius Alvarez-Backus explores the intersection of queer and Filipinx histories, and how systems of beauty operate in both pre- and post-colonial contexts. Join us to listen, ask questions, and make observations during these dialogues. Free with museum admission.

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Your Support Makes a Difference!

Whether you visit, attend an event, spread the word, or contribute, you make a difference at the Fitchburg Art Museum – for yourself and for the lives of others. You are impacting our community, our region, our artists, and our families.

Thank You!