"It's a Riot!" Opens at the New Marlborough Meeting House

August 28–October 4, opening reception Friday, August 28, 5–7pm | New Marlborough, MA | Free

The New Marlborough Meeting House opens "It's a Riot!" on August 28, a provocative group show built around the tension packed into the word "riot"—humor, the vibrant energy of chaotic celebration, and the explosive power of color. The gallery describes the exhibition as an unapologetic celebration of life's messy, brilliant complexity, playing deliberately with tension and wit to prove that disruption can be as beautiful as it is bold.

The show brings together 22 artists: Carolyn Abrams, Jaye Alison, Eloise Avery, Kaleigh Balken, Diane Barth, Margaret Buchte, Jody King Camarra, Victor Cella, Eugene Cleary, Barbara Crocker, Candace Eaton, Julie Love Edmunds, Jacob Fossum, Susan Flex Gilbert, Pamela Harnois, Natalie Manzino, Jesse Tobin McCauley, Diane Nerwen, Elmer Orobio, Ken Otsuka, Brett Parson, and Robin Tost. Judging by the promotional images alone, the range is wide—abstract expressionist color fields, hyper-detailed comic-style illustration, sculptural bronze faces, and mixed-media collage all appear to be represented, which tracks with a theme broad enough to accommodate a genuine riot of approaches.

The show runs through October 4, with gallery hours Saturdays and Sundays, 11am to 4pm. It's the Meeting House Gallery's closing exhibition for the 2026 season, following a summer of themed group shows in the same basement-turned-gallery space that's hosted local and regional art since the mid-1990s.

New Marlborough Meeting House, 154 Hartsville-New Marlborough Road, New Marlborough, MA. Free. More at nmmeetinghouse.org.