EXHIBITS 2026

Community Calls – Winter 2026

Black, White, and in Between

Our first Community Calls of 2026 invited artists to submit work exploring the power, contrast, and nuance of black, white, and everything in between. From photography to graphite drawing, artists responded with a range of works—including animal portraits, atmospheric landscapes, and abstract pieces.

Cups & Reliquaries

Greg Cochenet

His work is a creative remnant, much like the agrarian structures that inspired him; it is the product of observation and experience with the juxtaposition of rural and urban landscapes.  Growing up in an average Midwestern city, surrounded by agriculture, agrarian icons became his vernacular of self-expression. As urban sprawl altered his home, he expressed his feelings about this change through dilapidated sculptural vessels, influenced by silos, barns, and grain bins. Transplanted to the urban East Coast, his work has evolved to be a reflection of, rather than a reaction to, the transformation of his Midwestern home.

A native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, Greg is a ceramic artist and educator whose work is influenced by rural Midwestern culture and architecture that is disappearing amidst urban sprawl. Greg earned his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2000 and his M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2004. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States in an array of exhibitions. Greg Cochenet is a professor of ceramics at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut. 

Paper Trails: From Piece to Place.

Kristi Colbert

Composed entirely of junk mail painted with gouache, colored pencil, and neocolor crayon, Kristi W. Colbert’s work explores the wonder of place, as familiar and quietly transportive landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes emerge from reclaimed paper fragments. In both its process and aesthetic, the work is brought to life through dualistic synergies. It is painterly and sculptural; deconstructive and reconstructive, realistic and abstract; intricate and unfussy. It is a record of places traveled and a map to what lies ahead. And, situated in a time of such global upheaval, it is an energetic manifestation of hope and repair, transforming simple scraps into something whole again. In all, Kristi’s work is a gentle reflection on place, restoration, and the beauty that can emerge from what might otherwise be overlooked.

Kristi W. Colbert (she/her) is a mixed media artist specializing in painted paper collage – a medium she wandered into experimentally as a means of breaking out of her perfectionism and into her creative freedom.
With a B.A. in Studio Art and Geology from Colgate University, a M.S. in Leadership from Northeastern University, and nearly 20 years experience working in various sectors of education, Kristi returned to her lifelong passion for art in earnest at the onset of the pandemic. Now working from her home studio in Leverett, MA, she draws inspiration from her surroundings – daily life in the Connecticut River Valley as well her travels and wanderlust beyond. Her work has been exhibited in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Michigan, recognized by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, featured in Gillette Stadium and the Massachusetts State House, and has a fast growing body of collectors near and far. To see more of Kristi’s work, please visit:
www.kristicolbert.com

Community Calls – Spring 2026

Comic Relief

We invite artists to submit work for an exhibition celebrating humor in all its forms — witty, sarcastic, absurd, ironic, playful, and delightfully unexpected. Comic Relief explores how art can make us laugh, smirk, question, and see the world from a slightly off-center point of view.

Handle & Hold

National Juried Cup Exhibition and Sale

The Farmington Valley Arts Center invites artists working in clay to submit functional ceramic cups, mugs, and drinking vessels for our first annual juried cup show in the Fisher Gallery.

Community Calls – Summer 2026

The Life of a Garden

We invite artists to submit work for an exhibition celebrating the richness and diversity of garden life—from plants, vegetables, and fruits to birds, insects, and other pollinators. The Life of a Garden explores the beauty, complexity, and quiet interactions within these living ecosystems, offering a closer look at the natural rhythms that sustain them.

Horizons | Transitions

Cathy Doocy

Cathy Doocy creates from visual memory, allowing random images to materialize on paper or canvas. Through a few marks, brushstrokes, or stains of color, she evokes fields, clouds, shifting skies, and fleeting moments in nature. Her work reflects a fascination with the transformative power of simple gestures—a line becoming a tree, a wash of blue turning into sky, or a single brushstroke suggesting wind. Vast landscapes unfold within intimate surfaces, inviting viewers to imagine the imagery extending beyond the edges of the canvas or frame. For Doocy, less can often become more.

Painting and drawing have remained central to her life, even as other pursuits and professions occupied her attention over the years. She has maintained studio spaces in a variety of historic industrial settings, including the Fuller Brush Factory, the Colt Factory, and the Mill in Tariffville. Today, she works from a studio located in the old railroad station in Windsor, Connecticut. Her early training focused on figurative drawing and painting at the University of New Hampshire and Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven. While completing her master’s degree at Wesleyan University, she began exploring night landscapes painted from memory—an approach that became foundational to her practice. Since then, she has exhibited her contemporary landscapes throughout New England.

Travel has also played an important role in Doocy’s artistic life, including a month studying in Normandy, a residency at Weir Farm National Historical Park, and a six-week residency in Bulgaria. Yet the imagery in her work remains deeply rooted in the fields and hills of New England. Raised in South Windsor, she has lived in Windsor for nearly four decades with her husband, Chuck Drake.