After its closure for a couple of months, Fitchburg Art Museum reopened yesterday and is ready for visitors and set to celebrate its centennial.
On view now through next May 24 is “Tara Sellios: Ask Now the Beasts.” Sellios is a Boston-based artist whose monumental photographs highlight the beauty of the grotesque.
She creates still life vignettes from organic materials including animal bones, insect specimens, and dried flowers which she photographs using a large format 8 X 10 camera. Printed at a large scale, Sellios’s photographs capture the vivid details of her materials.
Her imagery takes inspiration from Christian devotionals including illuminated manuscripts, altarpieces, and stained-glass windows while engaging with historical traditions of still life painting, particularly Dutch vanitas paintings.
Sellios’s series, “Ask Now the Beasts,” derives its title from the Book of Job, exploring the concepts of the harvest and the apocalypse. In this new work Sellios considers the cyclical nature of Earth, intertwining symbols of death and references to life with the beauty of decay.
Also, on view for the next year is “FESTIVAL: A Celebration of African Art at the Fitchburg Art Museum.” It’s the first in a series of exhibitions honoring FAM’s centennial.
Drawing upon universal themes of life, death, power, love, and celebration, “FESTIVAL” presents highlights of FAM’s African Art collection organized around the concepts of masquerades, ceremonial life, ritual life, and domestic life.
From first millennium CE terra cottas, to contemporary sculptures, “FESTIVAL” spans time and space, demonstrating both the breadth of FAM’s collection and the diversity of cultures and contexts across the African continent.
Join us as we kick off our Centennial Celebrations today from 5:30-8 p.m.
The Annual Meeting will include a 100th Anniversary Toast, a visit from FAM founder Eleanor Norcross, portrayed by Sally Cragin from Stratton Players, and a sneak peek of the Centennial Exhibition. Drinks and appetizers by Finicky Fork will be served throughout the evening
Event sign-up is encouraged to help plan but is not required to attend. This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome.
Visit fitchburgartmuseum.org for info, schedule, hours, and admission.
Gallery notes
LOWELL SCENE: Don’t forget to shop locally this holiday season. And the artists of Lowell invite you to check out the gifts that they have made for you. The Arts League of Lowell (ALL) is pleased to announce ALL’s holiday members show for 2025. In “Joy” ALL members have created art with themes of their own and most are priced under $150. This show features abstract, neo-impressionist, realist, surrealist, jewelry, and expressionist works in both two- and three-dimensional forms. An artists’ reception is Saturday, Dec. 13, 3- 5 p.m., at Arts League of Lowell, 307 Market St., Lowell. Light refreshments will be served … The annual holiday party and art auction at the Whistler House Museum of Art, 243 Worthen St., starts at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 5 and includes drinks, dinner, entertainment and a silent and live auction. Tickets are available at the door for this much anticipated holiday tradition … Western Avenue Studios holds its Holiday Open Studios on Saturdays, Dec. 6 and 13, noon-5 p.m. Visit westernavenuestudios.com/wa-events for the calendar with exhibitions and other info.
Nancye Tuttle’s email is [email protected].
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