Touch Me, Gently, Group Show - Opening Reception - Free
2026-09-19 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Dolls by Susan Flex Gilbert
Touch Me, Gently invites you to experience three-dimensional art through touch.
This tactile exhibition features fabric arts, papier-mâché, and other touchable sculptures designed to soothe during turbulent times. Gently explore textures and forms with your hands, engaging with art in an intimate, calming, and multi-sensory way.
Artists include Bonnie Cordova, Susan Flex Gilbert, Christine Novak, Jaye Alison and participants in the two-session Papier-Mâché Workshop (Sept 5 and 12).
About the artists (more to come)

Christine Novak
By nature, I am both an artist and an educator. My now-ancient undergraduate degree is in studio art with an emphasis in printmaking. Later in life, while teaching elementary school, I returned for a Master’s Degree in Curriculum Development Using the Arts. This inspired me to teach the academic subjects using the arts. For example, this allowed me to explore American history using music and recipes; to investigate math using dance and rhythm; or to create poetry as we examine science and nature. For me, it was the perfect blend of lifelong learning and a creative process. At 73, I haven’t stopped. Often, I just like to create for no purpose!
This past winter I created two papier-maché giraffes shown in the Knox Gallery Show in Monterey. They are on their way to being full-sized creations. The next step is to calculate and create a frame for the bodies. Then build out the bodies with pool noodles, wadded paper, foam, or whatever junk that works. Then cover them with papier-maché, paper-maché clay, adding painted features, finally finishing with a clear waterproof acrylic. Eventually I hope to add them to my backyard. If I could, I would create a whole LIFE-SIZE ark for people young and old to climb on!

Susan Flex Gilbert
As an artist I am a painter. I graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1981.
My work is about color, pattern and storytelling with a little humor and irreverence thrown in. It takes a couple of different forms, one being gouache on paper and the other 3D pieces constructed out of roofing aluminum and plywood painted with either gouache or oils. I work in a cartoony figurative style inspired by such artists as Red Grooms, Roger Brown and the Chicago Hairy Who. Other influences are outsider art, gothic religious art and indian miniature painting. My subject matter runs from observations about American popular culture to portraits of people I know or admire to rooms which depict exaggerated scenes from my own life.

Family Fotos - Opening Reception and Show - Free
2026-10-17 16:00 - 2026-12-05 17:00
Photo: Louie with a swollen eye, by Josie Miner
Opening reception Saturday October 17 4 – 6 PM.
Family of Man meets Sally Mann meets a box of dusty photos. An intimate and raw exploration of “family” in all its possible meanings.
Open most weekends 11 AM – 3 PM or by appointment. Contact gallery@sandisfieldartscenter.org.
Closes December 5.
