Beginning April 1st, the Academy of Music will open its doors to Commonwealth Center for Change’s storefrontART program. "These Rooms", a month long exhibition of mixed media collage by artist Julie Lapping Rivera, kicks off a new collaboration between the Academy of Music and C3 to present the work of local artists in the historic theater's salon and lobby.

Vibrant colors and a flattened picture plane juxtaposed with photographic imagery and a fine attention to light and detail, aid Rivera in the construction of scenes that speak to the complexities of human interaction and our notions of connection and separation. Rivera sets the stage for conversations between figures, architecture and history by weaving together different processes, such as woodcut, linocut, collagraph, painting, and collage. She builds relationships and narrative into her work through the incorporation of familiar images and styles from across art history. She says she is “fascinated by what happens when different artistic traditions meet within an image”. She seeks “to create an emotional world that can be entered and contemplated”.

Rivera’s work will be on view in the Academy’s Salon and Lobby April 1st through 28th, 274 Main St, Northampton Ma. An artist reception will be held Friday April 10th from 5-7pm during Northampton’s Arts Night Out. The exhibition will be open for all who attend shows at the Academy or by appointment. To make an appointment contact Julia at: Julia@commonwealthcenter.org or 413.522.1319. A selection of Rivera's work is on Valley Art Share

This exhibition is made possible by storefrontART a program of Commonwealth Center for Change presented in partnership with the Northampton Center for the Arts.