Montserrat College of Art

Artist Talk: Karmimadeebora McMillan with Charla Jones
2024-03-06 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Hardie 101, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Artist Conversation between Karmimadeebora McMillan and Charla Jones
Open to the public.
Karmimadeebora McMillan Montserrat Gallery Exhibit Info

2024 Congressional High School Art Competition and Exhibition
2024-03-14 - 2024-03-16 | Montserrat Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
The 6th District Congressional Art Show, sponsored by Congressman Seth Moulton and hosted at Montserrat College of Art, will be held this year March 14-16 in Montserrat’s main gallery at 23 Essex St., Beverly.

Visibility
2024-03-18 - 2024-03-30 | Bare Gallery, 275 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Visibility Exhibition Opening – Bare Gallery
Tuesday, March 19, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Join us in celebration of Disability Awareness Month

Artist Talk: Alyssa Coffin
2024-03-19 14:50 - 15:30 | Library Gallery, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Artist Talk with Montserrat Alumn Alyssa Coffin
Tuesday, March 19, 2:50pm
Montserrat Library, 23 Essex Street, Beverly

Open to the public

Alyssa Coffin is an interdisciplinary artist from New England, USA currently based in Helsinki, Finland. She graduated from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, with studies in visual art as well as creative writing. She has traveled widely, including a formative period in Ireland, focusing on environmental interventions and performances. She recently completed her master’s in Time and Space Arts at Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts.

Visiting Artist Talk: Alyona Snegirova
2024-03-20 11:00 - 12:00 | Hardie 101, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Ukrainian Artist Alyona Snegirova
Wednesday, March 20th, 11-12PM
Virtual Screening in H101, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA
Open to the public
Alyona Snegirova has been engaged in Petrykivka painting for more than 22 years and has been teaching for over 13 years. She has earned the title of Folk Master of Ukraine and has won multiple prizes in Ukrainian national art competitions.
Alyona was born and lives in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, which is in the southeast part of the country. Since 2015 she has maintained a studio in her hometown, where she has taught Petrykivka painting to people of all ages. During those years Alyona organized five exhibitions of her students’ artworks, which were well-reviewed in the local press and media. Alyona has been teaching online since Covid.
Since the start of the war in 2022 Alyona has been decorating decommissioned weaponry with Petrykivka painting to raise money for the Ukrainian army as a volunteer. The city museum has acquired one of these artworks for its permanent collection.
Alyona has just received one of the scholarships for young artists awarded by the president of Ukraine.

Faculty in Conversation with Funlola Coker
2024-03-20 14:50 - 15:30 | Hardie 101, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA
Open to the Public
The Life of One Working Artist After Grad School
“In the final semester of any graduating degree, you might hear the age-old dreaded question – “what next?” Come find out about my what-next-journey after school and how I navigate multiple paths in our beloved art field. My story involves carving fake waterfowl and turkeys, sculpting miniature food, craft fairs, and a full 360 to my first loves in craft.”

2024 Senior Thesis: Illustration
2024-03-27 - 2024-03-30 | Montserrat Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Trip Across the Universe
It has long been said that when you sneeze, someone is thinking of you. And that when thunder shakes the sky, the gods bowl. Through stories, what is unknown is given form. Humans have told stories for as long as they have been perplexed by the world around them. These stories are a fundamental part of the human condition, and not only allow us to make sense of what we don’t understand but to form complex emotional connections.
The stories that we have chosen to share explore facets of our own experiences as we attempt to not only be understood but to make sense of what we have yet to master. Beneath the layers of fantasy and social commentary housed within our stories is an attempt to tell you what we know, so that you can apply it to your own experience. It is to form a connection between you and me.
Reception: Wednesday, March 27, 5-7 pm
23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA
Open to the Public
Featuring:

Kelly Aquilar
Hiro Alvarez
Sam Bissitt
Allison Codner
Kira Cohen
Ash Cruz
Lucas Francisco
Sarh Ginocchio
Nyk Griffith
Scott Hayden
Junkai Kai
Ben Kingston
Aidan Kitt
Meaghan Lamontagne
Tobey Marroquin
Marisa Perez
Natalie Plourde
Dominic Sepulveda
Anita Sousa
Gisselle Torres
Kelaya Valliere

BIOS
Kelaya Valliere
Kelaya Valliere is a pet illustrator from southern Maine. For her thesis, Kelaya painted stylized animal portraits focusing on adopting pets from rescues. To do so Kelaya reached out to several organizations and painted many kinds of animals from each. By choosing to paint on unorthodox wooden rounds she hopes that people choose to keep an open mind while considering a new furry or feathery companion to a household.
Marisa Perez
Marisa “Mari” Leyla Francisca Perez, is a Mexican-American non-binary, queer illustrator. Their work mainly focuses on creating mythical and otherworldly concept art with engaging character designs that strive to capture the beauty of the Fantasy and Sci-fi genre. Mari’s thesis project, “The Luminaries,” is a series of visual development illustrations based on the characters and world of a current DND campaign. Mari’s goal was to create a visual representation of how they see the world and characters while allowing the illustrations to tell their story without it being written.
Nyk Griffith
Nyk Griffith is a tattoo artist, primarily inspired by horror and metal music, with other inspirations sprinkled within his art. To begin learning how to tattoo, Nyk used his thesis project to design tattoos that stem from aspects of his interests and past life experiences and tattoo them onto synthetic/practice skin. These tattoos all vary in terms of what part of the human body they are designed for and, alongside help from his internship at Salem Ink Tattoo and Art Gallery, kickstart Nyk’s journey down the road to becoming a professional tattoo artist.
Benjamin Kingston
Benjamin Kingston is an illustrator and concept artist from Billerica, Massachusetts. His process includes a blend of both traditional and digital mediums utilized together. Benjamin’s thesis project is creating various props under two distinct themes. Themes are fantasy dwarves life and grandmas of the post-apocalyptic world. His goal with these two themes is to create wild, outlandish designs and have fun with them while still having their structure grounded in reality.
Aidan Kitt
Aidan Kitt is a Beverly-based illustrator specializing in the digital medium who uses bold colors and sharp linework to create new worlds and unique, character-based storytelling. His comic, Caspin, is a retro-futuristic science fiction space opera following the titular character as he is hunted and chased throughout the galaxy.
Anita Sousa
Anita Sousa is a New England-based illustrator and creative writer. Her work focuses on the fantastical and whimsical, specializing in character and creature-based illustrations. Passionate about world-building and storytelling, Tracks of the Taraxippus is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game module following two adventurers, Callahan and Talieson, as they search for the titular Taraxippus. Along the way, they discover a plethora of enchanted artifacts and curious creatures.
Junkai Kai
I’m a trans, queer, first-generation Cambodian-American digital illustrator and concept artist from Lowell, Massachusetts. Human emotions are difficult to understand. There are some in this world much more in touch with their own emotions, and some much more understanding of others. However, in my case, it was neither. As a result, the intent that goes into different aspects of a character or scene fascinates me and has helped me to understand others around me. People are a product of nurture and nature, and this affects how they present themselves to others… In a similar way, deep sea creatures tend to have a bad reputation simply because they look a certain way, but they have evolved as a result of their circumstances. So, based on deep sea creatures and my own observations as a first-generation Cambodian American, I created character designs for a pixel-simulation game called Tartha.
Hiro Alvarez
Hiro Alvarez is a Puerto Rican, queer, non-binary illustrator focusing mostly on fantasy horror-based world-building and concept design. Their pieces are created digitally, using a mixture of bold lines and watercolor-inspired texture. Their thesis project, “The Decay of Eurocin”, combines these elements, creating a uniquely whimsical yet horrifying narrative with a fresh take on the classic theme of infection and cosmic horror.
Kira Cohen
Kira Cohen is an illustrator who specializes in blending traditional and digital work in her art, with a focus on fantasy and horror. Kira’s thesis project had her creating dust jackets for various books, focusing on bringing out the unique ideas from each book.
Scott Hayden
Scott Hayden is a New England-based illustrator and writer who utilizes narrative to make sense of a world that can otherwise be enormous and terrifying. Scott believes that stories are not only how humans have communicated with one another for centuries, but how we have come to share our individual experiences and empathize with those around us. Their comic, MECHANICA: Displaced, exercises this philosophy by interpreting the universal experience of change in an attempt to better understand it.
Allison Codner
Allison Codner is a New England-based illustrator who uses acrylic paint, graphite, and watercolor to create moments of fantastical narrative. Magic dwells within the sea, sky, and world beyond reality, and is where she draws her inspiration from and where her illustrations play within. Where the organic world meets its more whimsical counterpart is where her work truly shines, with saturation and luminous qualities. Her collection of work “Celestial Commentary”, communicates and highlights the lesser-known constellations as they were storytellers and storybooks to those long before us.
Tobey Marroquin
Tobey is an internet-dwelling comic artist in love with the concept of space, spaceships, weird planets, corporations, bureaucracies, black suit-and-tie-clad secret agents, and the horror of having a body. He is currently making an example of himself, hoping to embody the dangers of allowing yourself to be led by the madness of the narrative.
He isn’t here right now, so please don’t confuse him with Norman.
Sam Bissitt
Sam Bissitt is an illustrator and fine artist based in New England. He takes inspiration from the natural world around him and creates visually appealing illustrations with pleasing environments and unique animal-based characters. Sam’s thesis project is a picture book about a frog and a turtle, promoting the idea that different kinds of animals can coexist together and be friends.

Dominic Sepulveda
Dominic Sepulveda is a New England-based concept artist with a passion for fantasy who works digitally, designing wondrous characters and creatures chock-full of personality and charm, and intricately crafting the worlds they inhabit. Dominic’s project explores the process it takes to create a fantasy world that feels unique, considered, lived-in, and engaging. Showing off every stage of development from ideation to completion, Dominic’s work will introduce you to a cast of characters that inhabit a world that fuses ancient and futuristic.
Lucas Francisco
Lucas Francisco is an illustrator and comic artist from South Coast Massachusetts. Inspired by superheroes and manga, Lucas seeks to create Sci-Fi Fantasy stories filled with lovable characters and breathtaking action. His thesis work gives you a small glimpse into just one of his worlds. Don’t worry though, he has plenty more on the way!
Gisselle Torres
Gisselle Torres is a Non-Binary Mexican-American Illustrator, focusing on realism and semi-realism portraits. Their thesis is based on their culture and the topic surrounding immigration and its effects on their family. Each piece represents their interpretation of some of the most important and influential people in their life, their grandparents. Gisselle wishes to tell the story of their family and background to potentially connect with others like themselves and become a voice for many and speak for their people.
Kelly Aguilar
Kelly Aguilar is a first-generation Mexican American artist whose artistic journey is a celebration of color, texture, and cultural fusion. Her thesis project, “Papel Cultural”, is a statement of her passion for representation and connectivity through her love of stationery items. Each piece within this collection is imbued with the essence of her heritage and aims to inspire others to embrace their roots, finding beauty in the simplicity of everyday life.
Ash Cruz
Ash Cruz is a Black and Puerto Rican illustrator. The work they create emphasizes imaginative concept design, blending natural elements of the real world with aspects that exist purely in fantasy. Their thesis project centers around the fear of the unknown, creating atmospheric concept environments and more than what meets the eye. The aim of these works is to create environments with character and ambiguity that others can immerse themselves in. Each person is a storyteller, whether they are aware of it or not. This project is meant to drive others to begin making their own narratives and become a part of the creative process.
Meaghan Lamontagne
Meaghan Lamontagne is an illustrator and comic artist who delves into the absurd with a unique style of dark, referential humor inspiring many of her creations. She works to inject her art with a delicate elegance while still embracing its Kafkaesque qualities. For her senior thesis project, she created the 26-page comic, Our Faire End, an urban fantasy comic about a human girl living in a crime-riddled city who gets roped into joining two mercenaries on a dangerous mission.
Natalie Plourde
Natalie Plourde is an American artist and illustrator from central Massachusetts. She utilizes soft colors along with subtle lines and edges in order to convey delicateness and sentimentality. Her work tends to focus on femininity and invokes a sense of nostalgia for a simpler but ultimately imaginary time. She creates an idealized world that is inhabited by doll-like women— it’s as if you could reach through the page, pull them out, and hold them in your hands.
Sarah Ginocchio
Sarah Ginocchio is an Illustrator and comic artist based in Massachusetts. She captivates storytelling through traditional graphic novels, but also through a visual array of color, expression, and surrealism. Her thesis project “Burnout” is the visual story of her experiences, and her thoughts during the Covid 19 pandemic, and how it impacted her as an Art student at the time. Burnout narrates the looming melancholy, nostalgia, and the effect on mental health throughout a series of pages and illustrations.

Taliyah “Starr” Shepard: No Cops, No Creeps, No Phobes
2024-04-01 - 2024-04-06 | Library Gallery, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
In every state, in every town, there’s a culture that is under your nose and your feet. It has a strange aura and it draws you in. The basement culture scene is an ancient practice that holds as much weight as religion. Every week we gather and partake in the wine and other things. We listen to music and lose ourselves in a moment that brings us together. The prophets speak to the feelings of the youth. They usher us into a collective consciousness that is somehow still individual. How do so many youth find peace here amidst the swinging arms of a mosh pit? The darkest corners of the basement? I’ve never felt so alive as water drips from the mysterious source in the ceiling onto my face. I’ve danced with future lawyers, doctors, and musicians. I’ve heard them preach about advancement for all minorities and cultures. They speak with more love and knowledge than our senators and presidents. If you fall to the ground many hands are quick to uplift you. We take acceptance seriously that’s why there are: No Cops, No Creeps, and No Phobes allowed.
This show sheds light on the beauty of basement show culture. Going to college you find “your people,” now put those people in someone’s basement on or off campus. This is my experience with the culture. I started attending these spaces in 2021 and have since been to 20+ shows in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. The culture spans many decades and that’s the recorded ones. One of the things I found the most endearing was the statement “No Cops, No Creeps, No Phobes.” This is a statement that means the safety of those at the show. Even with those regulations, some things slip through the cracks. I’ve been to shows where they called the cops or someone’s actions were questioned. The response in these situations is something I’ve always admired as it comes from a place of love and support. The creeps aren’t tolerated, the (homo)phobes are non-existent, and we all escape the watchful eyes of the cops.
I’ve always had a problem with fitting in; here you don’t have you.
You do need $5 though.

2024 Senior Thesis: Graphic Design
2024-04-03 - 2024-04-06 | Montserrat Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Reception: Wednesday, April 4, 5-7 pm
Montserrat Gallery

Gallery statements:
Aesthetic Syntax Alex Pint
Aesthetic Syntax is about the concept that design is art, and this show comprises two aspects: an insult and a vehicle. The insult is that design is lower than art, but poster design is the vehicle to disassemble that narrative.
Emotion Capsules Brianna Brand
“Emotion capsules” can be feelings in the present moment, memories from the past, or fears of the future. They are in the form of posters with attached poetry of experiences.
Golden Standards Cas DaBreo
“Golden Standards” is an album and design identity based on an amalgamation of songs written in order to unleash a monster caged for 21 lifetimes. These tracks demonstrate insecurity, expectations, and seemingly never-ending journeys.
Imperfect Little Guys Misha Huntington
All my life I’ve struggled with fine motor skills. It has been a barrier that has put me behind my peers and requires accommodations. Despite this, I have always had a passion for working with my hands. With sewing, I discovered that what I make is always a little funky and unique, and that uniqueness makes them endearing. Sometimes what makes us imperfect can bring us joy.
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay Grace Perry
“It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” is a children’s poetry book made on the same principle as the title. It’s 46 lines telling the reader in multiple different ways, that it’s okay, they are okay, and everything will be okay.

Artrageous!38
2024-04-06 | Massachusetts
As Montserrat’s annual auction fundraiser, Artrageous has become the signature art event on the North Shore
to benefit financial aid awards for deserving Montserrat students.
The night features a live and silent auction including spectacular works by renowned and emerging artists and designers
and the opportunity to watch and experience art being created “in-the-moment” by Montserrat’s accomplished students.
Join us for art, design, music, food, drinks, and most importantly, the ability to make a difference by directly supporting the next generation of creative talent!

National Library Week exhibit
2024-04-07 - 2024-04-14 | Library Gallery, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Students in Bernadette Carr’s Using Images class created a poster series celebrating National Library Week (4/7 – 4/13).
Posters created by Deon Agyeman, Jorielle Arlock, Mikayla Bogus, Lilly Caporuscio, Erin Cox, Whitney Farnsworth, Kamille Ryan, Marina Stagliola and Sam Wilkinson.

The Improbable Places Poetry Tour
2024-04-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Massachusetts
The Castle Will Have the Monopoly on Poetry on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.
140 Rantoul St, Beverly
The Improbable Places Poetry Tour, hosted by Colleen Michaels of Montserrat College of Art, features game-related poems for a most unique reading event. On April 9th, Beverly’s boardgame restaurant and bar, THE CASTLE, will host a night of poetry and play. Doors open at 6:00 for those who want dinner or game time, and the reading begins at 7:00 The reading is free and open to the public.
Started in 2010, the Improbable Places Poetry Tour has brought poetry to unlikely places like bike shops, Laundromats, tattoo parlors, and a power plant on Boston’s north shore. We will roll the dice on a new season and pack the room Jenga style with players, readers, and poems about the games people play.
2024 Poster by Abbey Phelps
The 2024 Improbable Places Poetry Tour is funded by Montserrat College of Art, Beverly Cultural Council, and Mass Cultural Council.

Artist Talk: Astin Jay of Sunny fox Apothecary
2024-04-12 14:00 - 15:00 | Hardie 101, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States

Student Showcase
2024-04-13 - 2024-04-18 | Montserrat Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Open House: Saturday, April 13, 2 – 4 pm
Each spring, Montserrat celebrates the work of our students during what is known as Student Showcase.

The mission of Student Showcase is to recognize and honor the accomplishments of student artists and scholars. We want to make the Showcase an opportunity to share those accomplishments—and Montserrat’s creative spirit—with our community at large. This annual weekend event includes the enjoyment of visual and literary art forms and social activities involving the entire college, the public, alumni, parents, friends and future students of Montserrat College of Art.

Faculty in Conversation: Mark Hoffmann
2024-04-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Hardie 101, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
In this talk, Mark will walk you through his latest picture book SOREN’S SEVENTH SONG written by Dave Eggers.
With a focus on creative mistakes and how they can influence a whole career, Mark will take students through the process of getting rid of expectations and celebrating being a kid at heart.
Hardie Room 101
23 Essex Street, Beverly
Open to the public.

Monchella
2024-04-19 15:00 | Massachusetts
April 19
3pm
Behind the Hardie Building
Featuring:

Tysk Tysk Task
The P.A.’s
Neck Dive
Roaches

Montserrat Renaissance Fair and Market
2024-04-20 11:00 - 18:00 | Beverly Common, 31 Dane Street, Beverly, 01915, United States
Montserrat College of Art’s Campus Activity Board (CAB) is hosting an open to the public Renaissance Fair and Art Market.
April 20, 2024
11 am – 6 pm
Beverly Common (Next to the Hardie Building)
There will be over 60 student artists selling work ranging from jewelry, prints, books, paintings, and more!
We encourage you to dress up!

Upswingin'
2024-04-21 - 2024-04-26 | Bare Gallery, 275 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
A Collage Exhibition
Featuring Spencer Kall and Alex Pint.
Opening Reception on Wednesday, April 24
11am–12pm
1A Knowlton Street, Beverly
Open to the public

Re-Collections
2024-04-23 - 2024-05-03 | Library Gallery, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
April 23 – May 3, 2024
Paul Scott Library Gallery
Curated by Josue Bessiake
Opening Reception on April 24 at 3pm

The works presented in Re-Collections have been selected from the Montserrat College of Art Teaching Archive, an archival body affiliated with the college that spans from the distant to the recent past. The Teaching Collection consists of diverse media acquired throughout Montserrat’s history–from paintings by former faculty and alumni to vintage adverts from the early days of Montserrat. The works selected here include such disparate works as an incomplete suite of Matisse lithographs, acquired from an unrecorded source, student prints by current faculty members Len Thomas-Vickory and Stacy Thomas-Vickory, to a printed poem by James Merrill.
The selected works from the archive illustrate how the meaning and significance of an artwork can change or evolve over time. Because of the ephemeral nature of the archive, the intent of specific objects that have entered the collection is not always clear or perhaps even lost. Therefore, the works shown here explore the spontaneous nature of the archive. In other words, the exhibition shows the randomness and range of artifacts in the collection. Such as the “Poem for Vassili and Mimi” by James Merril, a story that reminisces on a fond memory of having fun on a summer night. An incomplete suite of lithographs by Henri Matisse, entitled Rondeau, is a poem recalling a dream of a woman whose beauty is so great it warrants praise. Despite coming from vastly different origins the works come together to appear cohesive.
Re-Collections is a record of history and memory. The works represented are part of the chronicle of Montserrat College of Art consisting of former students, faculty, and staff as well as artists who have contributed their time and art to the college.

2024 Senior Thesis: Animation + Interactive Media
2024-04-24 - 2024-04-27 | Montserrat Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Feast Your Eyes!
Reception: Wednesday, April 24, 5-7pm
23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Open to the public
Works featured in:
Montserrat Gallery
Schlosberg Gallery
Bare Gallery
Featuring
Animation

Mountain Lily, Brooke Bates
When the World is Safe, Catherine Cardenas
Followed, Cassandra Elizabeth
COME BACK TO WHAT YOU KNOW, James Marquez
Ferret Bound, Nina Nichols
Liquid Stars, Adrianna Palleschi
Lost Connection, Alexzander Powers
Paleo Resurrection, Emma Russell

Games

Catch and Release, Ruby Cenci
Resting Place, Owen Serre
DustCutter, Sariel Yim

Books

The Tale of Kamaria, Charlotte Fecteau
Cryptics!, Rita Green
Fragmented, Alexianna Richard
Isthera, Makayla Tompkins

Patchwork Pedagogy
2024-04-25 - 2024-05-07 | Massachusetts
An Art Education Exhibition
Hardie Building, Second floor
Opening Reception May 2, 5–7pm

2024 Senior Thesis: Senior Studio Arts Seminar
2024-05-01 - 2024-05-04 | Montserrat Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Reception: Wednesday, May 1, 5-7 pm
Open to the public
Human Constructs
Montserrat Gallery
This show serves as a collection of intimate evidence categorizing experiences of identity. The artists investigate the figure through visual representation and/or the body’s spatial and internal relation to the work. Human Constructs surveys painting and drawing, sculpture, installation, and sound to bring together an archive unique to each artist.
Featuring:

J. Adam Bee
Angelina DeDominicis
Mary Hall
Delilah Jaros
Pyre Klein
Relena LaBoy
Elias Rackliffe
Andrew Steinberg

What Once Was
This two-person show explores memory through painting and mixed-media installation. Within this work, there is an attempt to reach out and revive the moments and experiences the artists yearn for from a dormant state in their subconscious.
Carol Schlosberg Gallery
Featuring:

Gillian Avelar
Nicole Andrade

Yard Sale
This solo show examines the intersection of childhood toys, perception, and the journey of growing up.
Bare Gallery, 1A Knowlton St
Featuring Elijah Fernandes

Ebbing Flow
2024-05-05 17:00 - 19:00 | Massachusetts
A storefront installation by Montserrat College of Art Students.
On view at the Peabody Essex Museum
181 Essex Street, Salem, MA
May 5 through Fall 2024
Opening reception on May 5 from 5–7pm.
Created by:
Kirsten Andersen, Jude Arnott, Jay Granniss, Shane Halleran, and Relena LaBoy
Show statement: Throughout Salem’s history, its reliance on the nearby ocean led to the initial artistic interest in creating an environment inseparable from its history and natural influences. This diptych is focused on domestic life, faux sterility and aged but comforting living quarters after its immersion with the sea. With the ever-increasing landscape of natural disasters such as hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, and floods, the question of home as separate from shelter and the level of removal from the natural world in modern design remains somewhat ironic. Salem is an iconic area in the history of seaside New England and recent housing practices have led to a clear discrepancy of where the inside ends and the outside begins.

2024 Senior Thesis: Senior Studio Arts Seminar
2024-05-08 - 2024-05-11 | Montserrat Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Reception: Wednesday, May 8, 5-7 pm
Open to the public

Not For You features the work of Amanda Antunes, Crow Stevenson, Jael Nieves, Jessica Matos, Josue Bessiake, Kaylyn Sverker, and Ziggy Smith. The show explores themes of love, grief, vulnerability, intimacy, memory, transformation, and the weight of history. This is how we navigate human existence. This exhibition is a history only we can own — it’s not for you.

The Itch I Can’t Scratch by Amy O’Rourke is a collection of paintings and rag rugs. Each work heals and/or tells the story of what it’s like experiencing living with daily pain. Amy explores the trials of having an ovarian cyst, along with the removal of her right ovary and fallopian tube. She made the paintings while she still had the ovarian cyst, and the rugs after it was removed in June of 2023. The work is symbolic of the journey she’s taken and the strength it takes to confront the weight of illness.

Kote’M Sòti (Where I Come From) by Marc Elie Mordan is a vibrant explosion of color and culture. Marc uses oil to explain where he comes from, Haiti. With the joy of color, he creates bold bright, daring pieces that draw from his roots. This show is about human identity and self-discovery. (Bare Gallery 1A Knowlton St.)

DUPLICITY by Brandon Acosta: In their uneventful town, six colleagues discover that bloodthirsty doppelgängers have replaced everyone they know. They all band together to fight against this otherworldly force, but can they tell each other apart? DUPLICITY is a three-episode-long animated horror comedy show that takes place in Beverly, Massachusetts during the present day. The show comments on the dangers of the Chameleon Effect and fake personalities in society, along with the importance of truth, comradery, family, and love. It throws the protagonists into a world where their true personalities and behaviors are revealed in an attempt to prove that they are human. However, they all struggle to distinguish the doppelgängers from their colleagues because they do not truly know each other. In their desperate attempts to survive, they must do anything to prove their humanity and to differentiate who’s who.

Saving Strays by Abbey King explores personal experiences working with the shelter that inspired the work. It focuses on making others aware of the struggles that stray cats face, and the work that animal rescue organizations put into finding them their forever homes.

Welcome to STARWORLD, Exhume the Last MC by Taliyah Shepard is an Afrofuturistic exploration of current events and looks to the abstract future of Black Americans. It’s a thorough examination of how we illuminate the reality of “every n**** is a star” that has the potential to make a positive difference in the world. ST✦RWORLD serves as a platform for exposing the vibrant tapestry of our culture since it’s fundamentally an unashamed celebration of Black joy.

Media & Animation Showcase (MASh)
2024-05-10 19:00 | The Cabot, 286 Cabot St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Free admission and open to the public!
https://www.montserrat.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/MASh_Trailer_WIP3.mp4

Never Stop Growing
2024-05-14 - 2024-05-17 | Bare Gallery, 275 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Art Education Practicum Art Show by Meghan Ayer
Showcasing artwork from the Albert N. Parlin School grades K–8
Opening Reception on May 14, 5 – 7pm.
1A Knowlton Street, Beverly

Artists are like nature; they never stop growing. They are continually inspired, motivated, challenged, and mentored inside and outside the studio! This show is a collection of finished and in-progress work reflecting the student artists’ personal evolution alongside my growth as an art educator.

2024 All Senior Show
2024-05-15 - 2024-05-17 | Montserrat Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Featuring work by graduating 2024 Seniors across all concentrations including animation, graphic design, studio arts, illustration, interdisciplinary, and art education.

Commencement 2024
2024-05-17 | The Cabot, 286 Cabot St, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
Commencement 2024 will be Friday, May 17 at The Cabot

Summer Immersive Workshops
2024-06-17 - 2024-06-21 | Massachusetts
Non-credit Courses open to adults 18 and over

Join us for a weeklong immersive workshop June 17 – 21, 2024
Choose from five different courses:

Experimental Photography
Screenprinting
Painting Life: Towards Abstraction
Playing with Fire: Cast Metal Sculpture
Letterpress: Greeting Cards and Broadsides

Information and registration here.

Art Educator Summer Institute in Japan
2024-06-18 - 2024-06-29 | Massachusetts
A 10-day artmaking and museum-going experience for art educators.
More information here.
