Jakob Fioole: The Sally Bishop Prize
June 1, 2024–September 1, 2024
Lower Frances L. Hiatt Gallery (115)
My paintings don’t tell a definitive story; they are attempts to visualize an experience.
—Jakob Fioole
Jakob Fioole blends figuration and abstraction to create immersive scenes. The artist paints ambiguous narratives that depict a world that is at once familiar and foreign. Identifiable objects and obscured human forms are set in unexpected scenarios that seem to depict a world that, while imaginary, is not wholly unlike our own—perhaps a vision of an alternative reality or an interpretation of current or historic events. Of his work, the artist has said, “While processing everything I encounter in this world and society, I study the things that move me most, looking to find alternative perspectives and combine them in a different context to create a new meaningful moment set in an immersive environment that the observer is a visitor of.”
Fioole is the winner of the Sally Bishop Prize, the top honor at the 2023 ArtsWorcester Biennial. In addition to a cash prize, the winner of this award receives a solo exhibition at the Worcester Art Museum. Since 2017, this partnership between the Worcester Art Museum and ArtsWorcester has provided the winning artist with an important museum credential, while placing their work in conversation with world-renowned artists in the Museum’s collection. Fioole was born in the Netherlands and currently lives and works in Berlin, MA.
This exhibition is organized in partnership with ArtsWorcester. It is funded in part by the Hoche-Scofield Foundation.
John Vo
Central Massachusetts Artist Initiative
May 8, 2024–November 3, 2024
Sidney and Rosalie Rose Gallery (321)
John Vo (Vietnamese-American, b. 1987) is interested in the stories and origins inherent in textiles. In their current work, part of the series This Souvenir Do’nt Forget, they use Vietnamese silk, chiffon, and Cone denim. Each has a connection to their family history and migration story, from Vietnam (silk)—which was once colonized by France (chiffon)—to the United States (denim). Vo sews these fabrics together to create the canvas upon which they paint imagery that explores memory, ownership, and inheritance.
Vo is an artist, teacher, and organizer based in Worcester. They co-founded the Nine Dot Gallery (2015-2019), a contemporary art gallery and community space in the Main South neighborhood. Among other achievements, Vo is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, which allowed them to learn silk painting and woodblock printing in Vietnam. Vo is an alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross.
The Central Massachusetts Artist Initiative is supported by the Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund and John M. Nelson Fund.
Arms and Armor Galleries in the Making
Ongoing
As the Museum prepares to open its new Arms and Armor Galleries in late 2025, you are invited to preview the project and share your experience. Try on a gauntlet, heft a sword, and view dozens of objects in “open storage” on Level 1. On Level 2, compare helmets and suits of armor from across history and around the globe, and feel the weight of a 4,000-year-old ancient Egyptian axe. And on Level 3, visit the Jeppson Idea Lab for a look at arms and armor conservation in action, where you will learn how these objects are handled and prepared for exhibition.
There is more coming soon in late 2025. Learn about the upcoming Arms and Armor Galleries.