Art in an Overwhelming Age: Childs+Clark Opens Its 2026 Season
"Glass Half Full" invites artists to respond to the current moment through painting, glass, ceramics, and photography.
Opening reception Saturday, May 23, 5–7pm | Great Barrington, MA | Free
Childs+Clark Gallery opens its 2026 season on May 23 with "Glass Half Full: Hope, Happiness & Resilience," a group exhibition that asked artists a pointed question: what is the right approach to making art right now, with everything going on? The show is their attempt to answer.
The gallery put out an open call in April and assembled a roster of eleven artists working across painting, glass, ceramics, photography, and mixed media. The group is made up of mostly locally based artists with work ranging from Nancy Harrod's painted paper collages, which draw on a childhood on a working farm to find nature as a "balm and an escape," to Ingrid Raab's experimental Saggar-fired ceramics, which use organic chemical reactions in the kiln to produce atmospheric, unpredictable surfaces.
Rachel Kaufmann's oil paintings focus on the emotional lives of figures in different environments. Robert DuGrenier, a glass artist and designer working since the 1970s, rounds out the group alongside photographers, painters, and ceramicists including Mary Davidson, Carrie Gustafson, Jesse Tobin McCauley, Heather Neilson, Karen Kahn, Jennifer Ablard, and Brent Ridge.
Childs + Clark Gallery, 684 Main St., Unit 1, Great Barrington, MA. Gallery hours Thursday–Saturday 11am–5pm, Sunday noon–4pm. More at childsandclarkgallery.com.
Written by
After a decade of writing for RI (along with many other publications and organizations) Jamie took over as editor in 2025. He has a masters in journalism from NYU, a wonderful wife, two kids and a Carolina dog named Zelda.
