CURRENT AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
🎨 What to Expect:
Walk & Talk Tours: Guided storytelling sessions exploring the history of Chinese empresses, their unique personalities, and the artistic process behind the work. Coloring Tables: Family-friendly art stations with crayons and markers so kids (and adults!) can create their own empress-inspired art. Tea Tasting: Sip on a curated selection of Chinese floral and herbal teas that connect to ancient traditions. Scent Experience: Discover perfumes and incense reminiscent of imperial court life and cultural rituals. Digital Fusion (Optional Workshop): For those curious about the blend of tradition and technology, a bonus session may include an AI art demo using Adobe Firefly—demonstrating how classical Chinese art can inspire modern digital expression. |
Multi-Sensory Chinese Empress Art and Culture ExperienceON DISPLAY MAY 13-23, 2026
Join artist Xiang Li and her daughter and creative partner Fei Wu for an immersive, multi-sensory experience celebrating the art, culture, and stories of Chinese empresses— brought vividly to life through silk scroll paintings, storytelling, tea tasting, incense, and more. This two-week exhibition features Xiang Li’s internationally recognized Chinese Empress Collection, created using traditional techniques with mineral pigments and gemstone-infused watercolors on 100% silk. In addition to her empress works, Xiang will debut a selection from her Panda and Chinese Zodiac series—playful, accessible, and beloved by children, teens, and adults alike. 🎉 Opening Reception: Thursday, May 21 Celebrate the opening with light refreshments, a short welcome talk (6:30–7:00 PM), and a multimedia presentation featuring behind-the-scenes footage and the making of Xiang Li’s work. A projector and large screen will display highlights from past exhibitions and cultural festivals in both the US and China. This experience is made possible by a 2026 JMAC Access Grant, awarded for its unique and inclusive vision. The organizers welcome attendees of all backgrounds to discover, connect, and be inspired. Free and open to the public. All ages welcome. |
Molly's World ExhibitionON DISPLAY: MAY 13-23, 2026
In the JMAC salon, Molly Belanger is opening her world of art to the public and welcomes everyone to step inside the fun mind of a 9-year-old! Reception: May 24, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm |
|
|
Threads of the UnseenON DISPLAY: MAY 27, 2026 - JUNE 7, 2026
This is a group exhibition presented by visual artists: Bayda Asbridge, Lynn Simmons, and Elisa Vanelli. The opening reception is May 29th, 5pm to 7pm. There is a Shamanic Journey Event accompanying this exhibition. It will be taking place June 7th, 2pm to 4pm. Join us for a unique immersive experience where art, sound, and energy come together. Guided by wise woman and spiritual guide Jane Justice, this shamanic journey invites you to move beyond observation and into direct experience. Surrounded by the sculptures of Elisa Vanelli, you will be gently led into a meditative state through drumming and the sound of Mayan flutes. Each sculpture holds an inner architecture—chakras aligned within, hidden water chambers, and intentional energetic design. These works are not only seen, but felt. As the journey unfolds, the sculptures become active participants, interacting with your own energy and inner landscape. This is an invitation to slow down, to listen, and to enter a space where art becomes a living presence. Allow yourself to be guided inward. Allow the sculptures to meet you there. |
Goals Beyond The GameON DISPLAY: JUNE 10 - 20, 2026
Presented by Unity Street Soccer, Goals Beyond The Game (GBTG) is not just an exhibition; it’s an experience that begins in the streets and culminates in the gallery, bringing together art, culture, and the global language of football (soccer) in one powerful, unifying moment. On June 13, 2026, Worcester becomes the stage for a full-day cultural celebration rooted in storytelling, identity, and community. From 2:00 PM – 5:30 PM, in front of the Jean McDonough Arts Center (JMAC) will come alive with a Street Soccer Festival, made possible through a city-approved street closure of Franklin Street. Youth, families, and community members are invited to step into the game—whether playing, watching, or simply taking in the energy of a space transformed by movement, music, and shared joy. From 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM, GBTG presents its opening exhibition reception, unveiling original works from seven (7) artists of African descent spanning photography, fashion, and visual art. Each piece reflects deeper themes of unity, resilience. 
|
Goals Beyond The Game and Unity Street Soccer are 26/27 JMAC Access Grant Recipients! This project is partially funded by the grant.
Want to know more about what they do?
Check them out their website or give them a call! |
Events Related to This Exhibit:
Opening Reception: Evening of June 26, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Panel Discussion with community members and historians: July 12 at 2:00 pm Closing Community Reception: Afternoon of August 2, at 2:00 pm -- Trigger Warning/ Archival records often reflect the language and assumptions of those who produced them, including terms and classifications that diminish, distort, or overwrite Native identities. These documents also contain derogatory and dehumanizing language used to describe Black people, revealing how racial categories were constructed and enforced. Such labels were never neutral—they were fluid, inconsistent, and shaped to serve colonial interests. In some cases, Indigenous identity was deliberately minimized or obscured, while anti-Black language was used to justify enslavement, exploitation, and the rigid hierarchy imposed by colonial systems. |
Hidden CensusON DISPLAY: JUNE 24, 2026 - AUGUST 2, 2026
This pop-up exhibit brings forward the lives of Black and Nipmuc people in Central Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War. These individuals were often reduced, misnamed, or omitted from the historical record. Drawing from censuses, military lists, tax rolls, and other archival materials, the project reinterprets these documents not as neutral records, but as systems that both reveal and obscure. Through data visualizations, relationship maps, and interpretive storytelling, the exhibit traces names, labor, kinship, and presence across fragmented sources. It highlights women sustaining families, men serving on land and at sea, multi-generational kin networks, and individuals whose lives appear only briefly, if at all, in the archive. The installation features a traveling exhibit alongside original artwork and contributions from descendants of Revolutionary-era participants, grounding the work in both historical research and living memory. These pieces extend the archive, offering knowledge, interpretation, and connection that the written record alone cannot hold. An accompanying digital platform expands the exhibit beyond the gallery space, providing access to transcribed records, interactive visualizations, and educational materials for classrooms and the public. The website allows visitors to explore the data more deeply, trace connections across records, and engage with the project as an evolving, community-informed resource. |