Wet Paint! Issue #007

A jolly 2026 to you and yours! I don’t know about you, but the last few months have been a whirl of wind. Having to change a physical calendar is a great opportunity to reflect and reboot on how I’m spending my time, as is receiving personal feedback from people I admire. External validation aside, I want to get back to spreading the word on local arts - for fans and artists alike. I’m also excited to invite you to join me for [Re]Frame the Dark - a group show I curated opening Thursday!

Shall we?

Here’s what’s on my Worcester-based visual arts radar January 9 - 30, 2026, in 5 minutes or less.

Events

Exhibit receptions, gallery shows, markets, and the like.

Multidisciplinary visual artist Flor Delgadillo curated the group exhibition Kaleidoscope to examine the depths of memory and the vitality of motion. Playing with light, texture, and form, this multilingual exhibit highlights how language has unseen color that both facilitates and resists translation. Kaleidoscope is on view at the JMAC 2-6p Wed-Sat through the closing reception 4-7p on 1/24. 

The Blackstone Valley Art Association’s 14th Annual “Anything Goes” Photography Show features a diverse range of styles and subjects, and you can be among the first to see it at the opening reception from 5-7p tonight! Anything Goes will be on view at the BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Gallery 10a-3p Mon-Sat through 2/28. 

ValleyCAST welcome the New England Sculptors Association back to the Whitin Mill Complex for the annual Inside & Out Sculpture Exhibit. A total of 31 sculptors created 44 pieces which can be seen inside the Heritage Gallery and by touring the grounds outside the complex through 2/22. An opening reception takes place 2-4p 1/11, after which regular viewing hours are 9a-4p Mon-Fri. 

I’ve been busy preparing for [Re]Frame the Dark, opening at Hunchback Gallery 6-9p Thursday 1/15! Rather than let my annual vitamin D deficiency get me down, I challenged artists to think about what’s good about the extended night, and these submissions do not disappoint! More than 40 original works range in medium and theme, exploring the cozy and creepy, mundane and mystical, the organic and electric, from the ground to the stars. Beyond Thursday’s opening, [Re]Frame the Dark will be on view through 2/21: 4-8p Fridays and 12-6p Saturdays.

Save the date - the Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery’s next group exhibition Play! will be on view 1/22 - 2/21. The call closes today, and challenges artists submit works which evoke the unburdened joy and fun that are cornerstones of children’s play. As I personally object to the idea that play has an age limit, I’m looking forward to breaking stereotypes down at this one.

For its January Reception 6-9p 1/23, ArtsWorcester is preparing to present 2 exhibitions. Taylor Apostol and Evan Morse’s Here and Gone features clay, plaster, marble, and stone works in the West Gallery, and the East Gallery will be broken into 4 Artist Shoeboxes, or mini solo shows, featuring Matthew Burgos, Ashley MacLure, Nina Menard, and Susan Swinand. Both shows will be on view 12-5p Wed-Sun until 3/1. 

In conjunction with THT Rep’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the JMAC presents Radical Reverie // Raging Revolt. Reimagining the play’s enchanted forest as a punk queer nightclub, this group exhibit invites viewers to step into a dreamscape in which glitter meets grit, fairies wear leather, and moonlight glows neon. Should I see if my mom still has the hair crimper she used on me when I played Titania back at summer camp? (NO) On view 1/28-2/14, with a reception 6-9p 1/31.

Opportunities

Grants, residencies, calls for art, and more.

Art League RI invites artists to submit works using the broadest possible definition of drawing for Drawn In, including sketches, performance remnants, and pieces made with unorthodox materials. Open to all media, the exhibition will be on view 2/21-3/22. Apply by 1/10, $35 app fee, artist retains 60% of sales.

Wanna get away? Check out the Audubon Artist Residency at Hog Island, which offers a 2-week solitary retreat for artists of all disciplines in rustic cottages on an island in Maine. Apply by 1/15, $45 app fee, artist receives lodging, dinners, and a break from the racket of modern life.

The Maguire Art Museum in Philadelphia has an open call for Evolving Freedoms. Contemporary photography and print-based artists can submit works that reflect on the shifting landscape of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Apply by 1/30, $0 app fee, from what I can tell the compensation is exposure to Philly audiences and adding “my work was in a museum” to your resume. 

seeing rainbows seeks original writing and visual art for the upcoming zine Dreamwork for the Revolution. They’re looking for work that explores transness, liberation, joy, resistance, imagination, and futurity - work that dares to dream. Apply by 1/31, $0 app fee, $200 to all contributing artists.

The Hopkinton Center for the Arts celebrates the Boston Marathon with Winged Feet displayed around its Town Common, which I assume is near the starting line. This call will select 26 artists to create original designs and assemblages on a 2’ x 3’ cutout foot. Apply by 1/31, $0 app fee, $500 stipend.

On view at the Co+Creative Center in New Bedford, Curious Figures 3 will highlight figurative artists whose craft and storytelling mirrors the currents of our time, offering vivid reflections of the human experience in all its complexity. Apply by 1/31, $20 app fee, artist retains 60% of sales.

The Artists Association of Nantucket designed an immersive program for artists of all media whose practice engages with the subjects of the environment, climate issues, and the natural world. Artists selected for this Environmental Funded Artist Residency will live and work on the island 4/6-25, 2026, to create new work informed by the island’s environment, engage with community, and contribute to public dialogue around climate and environmental stewardship. Apply by 2/1, $0 app fee, artist receives 3 weeks of lodging and private studio space, $3k stipend, $500 to travel, and an exhibition in Nantucket. What a deal!

What does one do in the face of declining public trust, polarization, incivility, personal attacks, societal disengagement and disillusionment, rampant misinformation, lies, and alternative facts? For Artisans Asylum in Boston, “We Embrace the Absurd!” I agree with their sentiment that art has the power to overcome complicity, apathy, and indifference; it is an antidote for slop and banal escapism. So, how do you embrace the absurd? Apply by 2/1, $25 app fee, artist retains 60% of sales.

That’s it for this week. If you enjoyed this newsletter, your support can help me keep it going - send me a note to share your thoughts, or consider making a donation here!

Thanks for reading, stay creative Worcester!