Don Wilkinson

Abele’s paintings brought back a flood of memories connected to tenement living — the shared hallways … the cramped pantries where meals were cooked … the rights of passage from first kiss to first fistfight …

In “The Fluidity of Perception,” ceramicists Chris Gustin and Nancy Train Smith draw inspiration from nature but remain unbeholden to it as their sensibilities shift into different but complementary realms.

This year’s theme is focused enough to provide common links and visual conversation but vague enough to allow for personal quirky stories that reveal glimpses into what reverberates for each …

Curators regularly take months to plan an art display. And then there are the shows that seem to come out of nowhere, brought about by little more than a serendipitous moment.

It was never just about the building. It was about the camaraderie and the constructive criticism, it was about the solidarity and the support system and the culture and the community and the care. It was about romancing the past, revering the present and readying for the future.

Twenty-five years is a big deal. And without hyperbole, this party may be the biggest bash downtown New Bedford has seen this century, perhaps ever. AHA! Started in 1999. On Thursday night, take some advice from Prince: “Party like it’s 1999!”

With his exhibit at the New Bedford Art Museum, he cleverly illustrates his environmental sensibilities, as well as traversing into truly unanticipated subject matter. He is much more than the knot guy.

Exhibiting with Kim Barry at the Marion Art Center, Hoss is one of the people who helped make the New Bedford art community what it is.

For “Bad Andy,” the figures of folklore became a way of making sense of emotionally sterile spaces, imbuing them with symbols of transition, dread and ultimately, acceptance.

The new show features work from William Bradford, his photographers George Critcherson and John L. Dunmore, as well as Inuit and Indigenous artists and contemporary creatives.