Nature Printed, Stitched, and Pieced Reception

This Friday, February 13, 5:00–8:00 pm, there's a reception for Nature Printed, Stitched, and Pieced at the Northampton Center for the Arts Barn Door Gallery, located at 33 Hawley Street in Northampton. The show presents recent work by Amanda Maciuba, Sharon McCartney, and Bonnie Sennott, three western Massachusetts fiber artists. From 7:00 to 7:30 pm, gallery associate Joie Gonzalez will lead an informal talk with the artists. 

In addition to the reception and artist talk, there will be lots happening throughout the building: live music, additional art exhibits in the center's Mezzanine and Split Level Galleries, a meetup of the Noho Art Club, and more. Elsewhere in Northampton, the Smith College Art Museum will be open until 8:00 pm that evening, A.P.E. Gallery on Main Street has a collaborative light installation, and the small works show at Hope & Feathers will be open 5:00–8:30 pm. All February Arts Night Out Events

The weather for Friday is looking absolutely perfect (well, for February): sunny and clear and no precipitation. If you can't make the reception, I hope you can see the exhibit another time. Gallery hours are Wednesday–Saturday, noon–7:00 pm. The show continues through Thursday, February 26.

Bonnie Sennott, Urge and Urge and Urge, 2025, pearl cotton on linen, 10 inches x 10 inches

Urge and urge and urge,
Always the procreant urge of the world.

Out of the dimness opposite equals advance . . . . Always substance and increase,
Always a knit of identity . . . . always distinction . . . . always a breed of life.

—from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"

Installation in progress

Nature Printed, Stitched, and Pieced: Amanda Maciuba, Sharon McCartney, and Bonnie Sennott

Eight of my recent abstract embroideries will be featured in a show at the Northampton Center for the Arts Barn Door Gallery during February, 2026.

Nature Printed, Stitched, and Pieced presents fiber art by Bonnie Sennott, Sharon McCartney, and Amanda Maciuba, three western Massachusetts artists who employ hand and machine embroidery, sewing, surface design, and printmaking techniques to create original textile art rooted in the natural world.

There’s a reception on Friday 2/13, 5-8 pm, during Northampton’s monthly Arts Night Out. The Center for the Arts is at 33 Hawley Street in Northampton; gallery hours are Wednesday-Saturday 12-7 pm. The exhibit opens February 6 and closes February 26.

If you’re nearby, I hope you can make it!

Bonnie Sennott, Mysterious Unfolding, 2025, pearl cotton on linen, 8 inches x 8 inches

Bonnie Sennott: Abstract Embroidery at Kingston Gallery

Noise Antidote, an exhibit of my recent abstract embroidery work, will be on view April 2–27 at Kingston Gallery, located at 450 Harrison in Boston's South End gallery district. The opening reception, part of the monthly South End First Fridays, is on Friday, April 4, 5–8 pm. 

Bonnie Sennott, In the Pink, 2025, pearl cotton on linen, 10x10 in.

You'll find my work in the Center Gallery space; Linda Leslie Brown will be showing mixed media sculptures in the Main Gallery and Vaughn Sills will be showing photographs in the Project Space.

The three of us will give an artist talk on Saturday, April 19, 2–3 pm. The exhibit will continue through Sunday, April 27.

Bonnie Sennott, The Yellow One, 2025, pearl cotton on linen, 10x10 in.

Two July Exhibits

My piece titled Breathing Space is part of Too Hot! at Kingston Gallery, at 450 Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South End. Curated by Jessica Roscio, museum director and curator at the Danforth Art Museum in Framingham, Massachusetts, Too Hot! features work by 31 artists that relates to “the turbulence and anxiety of our times.” I chose to submit a calm and meditative piece that could give viewers a quiet respite, a moment of peace.

The opening reception is Friday, July 5, 5–8 pm. There will also be a curator discussion on July 25 and a second reception on August 2. More info at Kingston Gallery.

Bonnie Sennott, Red Rover, Red Rover, 2024, pearl cotton on linen, 6 inches x 6 inches

At the other end of Massachusetts, you can see my new piece Red Rover, Red Rover in Field Trip, a group show at Elusie Gallery at 43 Main Street (Old Town Hall) in Easthampton. For this show celebrating the feelings/moments/places of childhood, I created a playful piece inspired by memories of the freedom and joy of summer and games played outdoors with kids in the neighborhood. Red Rover, Red Rover is a scraps embroidery—I stitched it using threads from my scraps jar (short lengths left over from other embroideries).

Field Trip opens with a reception on Saturday, July 6, 4–7 pm, during Easthampton’s monthly Art Walk. More info about the Art Walk can be found at Easthampton City Arts. The show continues through July 27.

I hope you can make it to one or both shows!

Save the Date: Too Hot!

Too Hot!, a juried show at Kingston Gallery in Boston, will include one of my recent abstract embroideries. Curated by Jessica Roscio, museum director and curator at the Danforth Art Museum in Framingham, Massachusetts, Too Hot! runs from July 3 through August 11. The opening reception will be Friday, July 5, 5–8 pm.

Here’s the show postcard. I’ll share more details soon!

2024 Small Works Exhibit at Sawmill River Arts

This piece, titled Effervescence, is in the Small Works exhibit February 4–26 at Sawmill River Arts in Montague, Massachusetts. There’s an opening reception Sunday, February 4, 1–4 pm. Stop by if you’re in the area! I plan to be there, probably towards the beginning of the afternoon. The gallery is located next to the Montague Bookmill, at 440 Greenfield Road.

For this daily embroidery piece that I made last year, I aimed to create a joyful, playful image by using a “chance and choice” approach. I began by selecting six colors of pearl cotton. I chose one color at random each day to stitch with. That was the “chance” element of the piece.

The “choice” elements were what stitch to use each day and how dense. The constant: the shapes were circles only.

I entered Effervescence into this show because I thought we can all use a bit of joy in dreary February. The show continues through February 26 at Sawmill River Arts, 440 Greenfield Road, Montague, Massachusetts. Gallery hours are Thursday–Monday, 11 am to 5 pm.

Show Announcement: "Revelry" at Northampton Center for the Arts

Bonnie Sennott, A Leaf-Sized Space, 2017, pearl cotton and linen, 10 inches by 10 inches

“Revelry” at the Northampton Center for the Arts opens Friday, April 14, with a reception from 5 to 8 pm during the monthly Arts Night Out. My embroidery shown here, A Leaf-Sized Space, is among the artworks by more than 35 local artists in the show. The exhibit is a fundraiser, with half of all sales going to support the center, located at 33 Hawley in Northampton, Massachusetts.

A Leaf-Sized Space is part of a series of negative space embroideries called “Presence/Absence.” For the project, I used found objects—in this case, an oak leaf picked up during a walk—as a starting point for freeform embroidery exploring the beauty of ordinary, lost, or overlooked objects. I surrounded the leaf with a rich mix of embroidery stitches and spots of fall color as a way of celebrating its brief but beautiful appearance in this world. The stitches hold the leaf aloft and give it—or rather, its absence—a second life.

Sawmill River Arts Gallery Small Works Exhibit

Two of my “stones and water” abstract watercolors will be included in the upcoming Small Works Exhibit and Sale at Sawmill River Arts Gallery in Montague, Massachusetts. An opening reception will be held Sunday, February 5, 1-4 pm.

Bonnie Sennott, Stones and Water #23, watercolor on paper, 2022

The two watercolors in this show are part of a 100-day project I began in 2022. For my project, I created small abstract watercolors on the theme of “stones and water,” inspired by my frequent walks along trails at Amethyst Brook and Mill River in Amherst. As with my embroidery work, the “stones and water” watercolors were improvisational, developed in layers day by day.

Sawmill River Arts, at 440 Greenfield Road in Montague, MA, is part of the Montague Bookmill complex, a former mill overlooking the Sawmill River housing the gallery, a used bookstore, cafe, record store, and restaurant. The show continues through February 27; gallery hours are Thursday-Monday, 11 am-5 pm.

Bonnie Sennott, Stones and Water #10, watercolor on paper, 2022

Easthampton City Arts Gallery Show Continues through September 30

This Saturday, September 17, I’ll be at Easthampton City Arts Gallery from 10 am to noon, working on a new piece. I’ll be happy to answer questions about my process and work, so please stop by to chat! I’ll also be bringing a “community hoop,” prethreaded needles, and an embroidery stitch handout, so you can try your hand at stitching if you’d like.

My solo show of abstract embroidery and watercolors continues through September 30 at Easthampton City Arts Gallery, 43 Main Street, Easthampton, Massachusetts. Gallery hours are Wednesdays and Fridays, noon–2 pm, and Saturday, September 17, 10 am–noon. More information

Shown here is Daily Embroidery (56 Days), a negative space embroidery that I completed in August.

Exhibition Announcement: Bonnie Sennott at Easthampton City Arts Gallery

Show announcement: In September, I'll exhibit my abstract embroidery and watercolors at the Easthampton City Arts Gallery, located at 43 Main Street in Easthampton. The opening reception, on Friday, September 2, 5-8 pm, coincides with Easthampton's monthly Art Walk. The show continues through September 30.

ECA Gallery has limited weekday hours (see below), but I will be gallery sitting on Saturday, September 17, 10 am–noon. I'll be working on a new piece while I'm there on the 17th and will be glad to answer questions about my process.

More details below. I hope you can make it!

Bonnie

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Bonnie Sennott: Abstract Embroidery and Watercolors

An exhibition of recent abstract embroidery work and watercolors by Amherst artist Bonnie Sennott will be held September 2–30 at Easthampton City Arts Gallery, 43 Main Street, Easthampton, Massachusetts, with an opening reception on Friday, September 2, 5–8 pm. Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays, noon–2 pm, and Saturday, September 17, 10 am–noon.

Among the works shown will be A Year in Thread and Daily Thread, Sennott's two yearlong stitch journals, for which she embroidered every day using colors observed in nature. This show will be the first time these two projects have been exhibited together. Also on view: recent negative space embroideries exploring absence, loss, and the passing of time and recent abstract watercolors on the theme of "stones and water." 

Sennott has shown her work locally in solo and group exhibitions at Northampton’s Center for the Arts, the Hosmer Gallery at Northampton's Forbes Library (2019, 2022), the Burnett Gallery/Jones Library in Amherst, Gallery A3, and #LOCAL Gallery. Her work has also been exhibited in shows at the Wistariahurst Museum, the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, and the Fitchburg Art Museum. A former member of Kingston Gallery in Boston, she holds an MFA from the University of Chicago.