The Northampton Arts Council works to support and nurture the arts in the city of Northampton. The Council awards grants twice each year to artists and arts groups from both state and locally-raised funds, and seeks to improve public awareness of the arts. Its' goals include maintaining and preserving the rich and diverse cultural heritage of Northampton, programming such annual events of interest to the community as First Night Northampton and Transperformance.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

2017 Visual Arts and Poetry Biennial: A Juried Exhibition at Hosmer Gallery

Image by Priya Green

October 3rd - 28th, 2017
Forbes Library, 20 West Street, Northampton, MA
Hosmer Gallery Hours: Mon/Wed 9am to 9pm, Tue/Thu 1pm to 5pm, Fri/Sat 9am to 5pm


The Northampton Arts Council is proud to announce the 2017 Northampton Biennial. This is the second Northampton Biennial to include both poetry and visual arts.

Our opening celebration will take place in conjunction with Arts Night Out at Hosmer Gallery, Forbes Library on Friday, October 13th, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.



For the 2017 Biennial, the Northampton Arts Council asked artists and writers who live and work in Western Massachusetts to submit their best work created in the past two years which most closely represents their personal artistic vision.



The visual art for the Biennial Exhibition was selected by three jurors: Rosemary Tracy Woods from Art for Soul Gallery in Springfield, Justin Kimball, photographer and faculty member at Amherst College, and H. Emerson Blake, Editor-in-Chief at Orion Magazine. The jurors selected work in a wide variety of styles and media from 32 artists, including painting, printmaking, book arts, photography, video, and sculpture. Their selections reflect their shared interest in experimentation, innovative use of materials, and an open-ended approach to narrative.


The poetry, which will be presented at a reading and in a publication, was selected by three jurors: Northampton’s poet laureate Amy DryanskyDiana Babineau Owen, Managing Editor at Orion Magazine; and Robbie Dunning, poet. The Biennial Poetry Reading will be held on Monday, October 23rd at 7:00 p.m. in the Calvin Coolidge room at Forbes Library. Accepted poems will be available at our opening reception as well.


The Northampton Arts Council has partnered with The ArtSalon to present a special Biennial ArtSalon on Sunday, October 15 at 6:30 p.m. at STUDIO4, 25 Main Street, Northampton. Six artists represented in the 2017 Northampton Biennial will each present their work in the engaging Pecha Kucha style of 20 slides x 20 seconds each.


Priya_Green-276140.1131611.jpg
Priya Green, Pleasure Index 4, 2016, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in


“My work reveals the underbellies of the American consciousness. The moral quandaries that arise through forays of desire, seduction, violence and power. A perpetual state of warfare that wages on, hidden by promises of candy-coated fairy tales and infinite bouts of pleasure. The emotional landscape which yearns for more and is never satisfied.”


Springfield, MA
diane_danthony-275115.1128334.jpg
Diane Danthony, Door To Nowhere, 2017, print on aluminum, 16x24


“I want my photographs to reveal an overlaying of the past and the present... to show how things are...to invite one to imagine how they once were... and lead the viewer to see what they might become.”


Northampton, MA
abraham_ravett-275807.1130564.jpg
Abraham Ravett, Sanok 1933, 2017; b/w digital print, 11in x 17in


“The three images submitted for consideration are part of an ongoing series that resurrects family photographs and memorabilia with the hope of reconnecting with my deceased parents and gaining deeper insights into the upheavals caused by our emigrations from Poland to Israel and then to the USA.”


Northampton, MA; Faculty at Hampshire College


Steven_Daiber-274065.1124934.jpg
Steven Daiber, Cuba waiting; for change?, 2017; Silkscreen and pencil on paper, 11.75 x 9ins, 34 x22.5cm, Edition of 13, each with a unique drawing


“During my grandfather’s retirement from farming in the 1960’s he completed over 400 drawings. Silkscreened over these drawings are a map of the U2 spy plane flights over Cuba, the geographical marker locating the US Embassy in Havana and a Cuban worker.”


Florence, MA


William_Brayton-275042.1128037.jpg
William Brayton, Islander, 2016; aluminum, acrylic, bronze, concrete, 92x72x34in
Brayton’s abstract sculpture will be installed on Forbes Library lawn.

Conway, MA

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