In search of fast transit

“Boxcar Getaway” (oil on panel), by Bruce Ackerson, in his show “Birds-Eye Views,’’ at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Hampden Gallery, through May 14.

The gallery says:

“From a birds-eye view, the artist presents narrative scenes which are an imaginative take on popular culture, modern life and the hidden world of the human psyche.’’

Mr. Ackerson is based in Northampton, Mass.

The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge across the Connecticut River at Northampton. The Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail, formerly the Norwottuck Rail Trail, is an 11-mile-long bicycle/pedestrian paved right-of-way running from Northampton through Hadley and Amherst, to Belchertown, all in Massachusetts. It opened in 1992, and is part of the longer Mass Central Rail Trail.

'Go home! People are dying!'

“Orthodox Jewish wedding party broken up by NYPD, Lower East Side, NYC, April 20, 2020, 10:30 p.m., 2020” (ink and watercolor on paper), by Steve Mumford, in his show through May 14 at the Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

The gallery says:

“The work evokes a sense of chaos unique to New York City and there is a sense of muted drama in the way the figures stand on the crowded sidewalk. In the background people peer from their apartment windows; in the lower right-hand corner a caption reads, ‘Someone shouts from window: Go home! People are dying!!’ {in the COVID pandemic} The sense of urgency is potent. Mumford is not a journalist…but instead allows for the complexities and tensions of the event at hand to emerge."

The dramatic Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where’s you’ll find the Hampden Gallery

Wind-powered landscape

“Dunes Ride In’’ (photo) by Trish Crapo, in her show at the Hampden Gallery, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, through Oct. 7

The gallery says:

”Through photographs, video and spoken word, Leyden, Mass., artist Crapo explores if wind, a clothesline, and a white nightgown can summon someone from the other side. She has been awarded the Dunes Shack Residency, at the Cape Cod National Seashore, two times.’’

See:
fineartscenter.com/TrishCrapo

Frizzell Hill, looking west towards the town center of Leyden, Mass. (pop 711), on the eastern side of The Berkshires and home of Trish Crapo

Leyden Town Hall

Sword play

“Rock After Excalibur (cocktail swords and rock), by Matt Garrison, in the show “A Horse Walks Into a Bar,’’ at the Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst through April 12

The gallery says the show displays the work of “artists who continue to push the boundaries of fine art toward humor and wit.’’

And ready for winter

“Empty Nesters” (branch and gold leaf), by Karen Loomis, at Hampden Gallery, Amherst, Mass., through Dec. 6.

High and low

“Worm Contemplates Mountain” (oil on canvas), by Rina Goldfield, in her show “Mythologies,’’ at Hampden Gallery, Amherst, Mass., through Nov. 6

Her show has paintings of “totems and monuments: huge mountains, blocky buildings, ancient columns with small onlookers and co-habitors offering a sweep of hugeness, but also of wonkiness and humor.’’

Sun also dresses

“Yellow’’ (found dresser: plywood, maple wood and paint), by Sarah Braman, in a group show through Oct. 6 at Hampden Gallery, Amherst, Mass.

Processing 'space/place'

“So Here So There’’ (encaustic on wooden panels), by Barbara Ellmann, at the Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, starting April 7.

The gallery says that Ms. Ellmann's large grids of encaustic paintings explore how we process and catalog our visual experience of space/place by “using varying degrees of abstraction and kinetic juxtapositions of form, color and pattern to suggest fleeting impressions, connections and memories.’’

Slow-motion-catastrophe art

"Developing Crack'' (oil on Russian birch), by Holly S. Murray, in her show "Ice to Water,'' Sept. 16 to Oct. 11, at the Hampden Gallery, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her paintings depict the vast polar ice forms that are turning to water as global warming accelerates.

The weight of war

From  the show "Atrocity Landscapes,'' large black and white photos by Sondra Peron, at Hampden Gallery, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,  Nov. 13-Dec. 7.  The curators say the photos "reveal our collective historical memory as it inhabits our landscape today.''

Distillation of man

 

"Man in a Box of Water,'' by ENID BLECHMAN, in the Hampden Gallery, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Oozing to life and death

 

"Living Paint Installation'' (acrylic, rags, foam, gloves, plants, wire and mixed media), by SARAH MEYERS BRENT, in her "Living Paint'' show at the Hampden Gallery, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, through Sept. 30.

Her works,  says the gallery, "explore the viscous ooze at the creation and termination of life.''