Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Robert SCHUMANN (arr. Kirchner) 6 Pieces in Canonic Form, Opus 56 (selections)

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Trio in E Minor, Opus 67

Arvo PÄRT Mozart-Adagio

Felix MENDELSSOHN Piano Trio in D Minor, Opus 49

Tickets: $30-65, Under 19 Free

Musicmountain.org or 860-824-7126 for tickets and more information

"Opera" on our Theater Screen

Doors Open: 5:30

Join fellow opera lovers to view and discuss Falstaff

Running time is approx. 3 hrs and there will be one short interval when coffee will be available.

FREE, Donations Welcome

* Pre-registration encouraged

The 2025 season of free concerts in the Park opens on Monday, June 16th at 7 pm with a concert by The Elderly Brothers. The concerts are returning to the renovated Seth Thomas Park on South Main St. in Thomaston. Each concert begins at 7 pm and concludes at 8:30 pm. The Fine Arts Connection of Thomaston’s concert series is indebted to the Thomaston Savings Bank Foundation for core funding.

 Long-time popular solo artists, T-Bone Stankus (guitar) and Brian Gillie (keyboards) have teamed up as The Elderly Brothers, serving up mint-condition ‘oldies’ rock ‘n’ roll, pushing the envelope of sweet surprise with pitch-perfect harmonies and soulful improvisations as fresh as the originals. No sleepwalk down memory lane with these guys! Their radiant renditions and audience interaction are unsurpassed. Enjoy the solid groove and upbeat ‘50s and ‘60s rock-hop repertoire that have made each of them such innovative and celebrated performers. Sh- BOOM!

Alcohol is not permitted in the Park by Town ordinance. Bring your lawn chair, your friends, and your love of music to Seth Thomas Park on Monday, June 16th!! All ages welcome, and the Park is handicap-accessible. In the event of inclement weather, the concert will move to the Thomaston Opera House, 158 Main St. in the Town Hall.Visit the FACT website for further information or weather alerts concerning concert

relocation: www.thomastonfinearts.com.

Mail artists have sent in their creative post cards from 17 countries.

Snail mail has never been so creative and clever.

https://personaland.com/hut/exhibition/going-postal-2-gallery-1-of-2

Personaland is an artist-driven global village transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge time zones and cultural boundaries. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Since its 2018 launch, Personaland, in its global reach, has showcased over 800 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, and poets from 68 countries in 32 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions, many with videos of artist profiles.  https://www.personaland.com

We want your wildest image, film, music or poem. NO ENTRY FEE

Deadline for submissions - June 30

https://personaland.com/submit/wearing-wild.php

Personaland is an artist-driven global village transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge time zones and cultural boundaries. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Since its 2018 launch, Personaland, in its global reach, has showcased over 800 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, and poets from 68 countries in 32 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions, many with videos of artist profiles.  https://www.personaland.com

The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens is pleased to present Just Passing Through, an art exhibition by Brooke Hirsheimer, on view beginning Friday, June 6.

An opening reception will be held at the park on Saturday, June 7, from 3 to 5 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

Brooke Hirsheimer is a contemporary mixed media artist whose work explores the whimsical and grounding relationship between humans and the natural world. Her playful yet introspective style combines color and abstraction, reminding us that we’re all here navigating a beautiful and wild planet.

This show will remain on view through Sunday, June 29. Check our social media for weekly open hours: @judyblackpark on Instagram and Facebook.