The Lisa Sette Gallery presents~ The World Is Too Much For Us~after Wordsworth's 1802 poetic sentiments a group exhibition Oct. 17th - 30th of Dec. 2026 examines parallel changes in our culture now.

 

This  interesting presentation between poetic sentiment and cultural commentary as a parallel to to the past and the changes we are currenting experiencing is worth viewing on line or in person. . 

Marie Navarre opening, 2026 archival digital print, Rives BFK, cut film positives, 24" x 62 3/16"

The World Is Too Much With Us

Group Exhibition

Exhibition Dates: October 17 – December 30, 2026 Opening Reception with artists: Saturday, October 17, 2026 1:00 - 3:00pm The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers… In the early years of the Industrial Revolution, Wordsworth’s 1802 sonnet laments humanity’s sudden turn toward novel technologies and meaningless commerce, a shift of human attention away from the unknowable systems and fierce beauty of the natural world. As a contemporary response, The World Is Too Much With Us at Lisa Sette Gallery features new works by Binh Danh, Ala Ebtekar, Timothy Horn, Alan Bur Johnson, Mayme Kratz, David Kroll, Carrie Marill, Marie Navarre, Beverly Penn, and others; whose works examine the parallel changes taking place in our own era. Lisa Sette Gallery’s timely and stunning collection of contemporary nature-inspired works recalls Wordsworth’s message that it is to our benefit to remain intimately connected to the primordial forces that shaped us, the “Sea that bares her bosom to the moon/The winds that will be howling at all hours.” Centuries removed, the sonnet’s message remains urgent and clarifying, and the artists of The World Is Too Much With Us express it through a variety of conceptual and material modes. Moon, sea, and winds are present in the atmospheric canvases of Ala Ebtekar, composed of cyanotype prints that Ebtekar exposes via the sun or moon, in seasonal or poetic cadences, paired with traditional Persian patterning depicting the sky and clouds. Inspired in part by the works of 11th-century Islamic philosopher Suhrawardi, who examined humanity’s relationship to light, Ebtekar’s works are made possible through the cosmic position of the earth. Humanity’s abiding need for illumination is revealed as a conduit to deep planetary time. Many of the artists of The World is Too Much With Us consider the connection between biological life and human aesthetic intent–the ways we are affected by and look toward natural systems even in the process of constructing our human-ordered objects. Beverly Penn, a creator of startling and voluminous cast bronze arrangements of found botanical specimens, states that she “imagines and depicts aspects of Nature that we actually cannot see, like root systems and fungal networks, as a way of calling attention to the magic and mystery of the unseen and yet most important systems that keep our planet alive.” The exquisite beauty of plant geometries, and their aching fragility under the stressors of human impacts, is also the subject of Timothy Horn’s coral-inspired assemblies of metal and pearl, while ironsmith and sculptor Kim Cridler focuses on the vessel as a timeless form that holds the human need for both functionality and ornamentation. A juxtaposition between the universal truths of nature and the contemporary attention economy is also present in the exhibit’s works: Alan Bur Johnson, whose delicate constructions of framed photographic transparencies both depict and present the images of insect swarms and wings, remarks, “I could stare into my computer screen all day, every day, strategizing my path to success and greater popularity. I might even make more money if I did. But, all that would be reflected in my eyes would be me staring at myself in the screen. In contrast, I view the circular images in my work as the reflections of nature in my eyes.” In diverse mediums, the still-life painter David Kroll, photographer Marie Navarre, and sculptor Mayme Kratz each consider the information that we receive from nature as mediated through limited human concepts of time, sentience, and storytelling. The duality between our perception of the natural world and the timeless workings of natural systems, as in Kratz’s resin-encased found objects; the strangely elastic moments of memory and the passage of time, in Navarre’s contemplative photo collages; and David Kroll’s delicate realism depicting otherworldly narratives in which human aesthetic impulse is mediated through the existence of the wild and mysterious biological designs of nature. Such examples of human nature in dialogue with the sublime and unknowable natural world are given poignant consideration in The World Is Too Much With Us. The exhibit’s work presents abundant evidence that even in times of miraculous technology, humans will always exist in a state of unbreakable connection to the earthly systems that birthed us. The World is Too Much With Us will open to the public with a reception with artists on October 17, and will be on exhibit until December 30, 2026.

Top: Carrie Marill Garden of Depths, 2026 Acrylic and gold leaf on linen 48" x 108", three panels at 48" x 36" each Bottom: Alan Bur Johnson Nucleus, 2026 238 framed images 53.5” x 114.5” x 2”

To request high resolution images, please contact us at (480) 990-7342 or email us at sette@lisasettegallery.com For over 40 years, Lisa Sette has remained committed to discovering and exposing original, intriguing forms of expression. Lisa Sette Gallery exhibits painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, and performance pieces from an impressive roster of emerging and established artists, as well as maintaining a clientele of local and international collectors devoted to its founder’s adventurous curatorial vision.

LISA SETTE GALLERY 210 East Catalina Drive Phoenix, Arizona 85012 480 990 7342 GALLERY HOURS Tuesday - Friday 10am - 4pm Saturday 11am - 4pm (Closed Sundays and Mondays) #lisasettegallery#sunstormfineartmagazine.com#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com #artfunchange#artfunconcept#artfunphoenix#artfunnew,

Smith College of Art Announces Emma Chubb is appointed Director of Curatorial Affairs

 

Smith College Museum of Art Announces Emma Chubb as Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs photo credit: Patrick Montero

NORTHAMPTON, MA — The Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) has appointed Emma Chubb as Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs. Chubb, who is the Charlotte Feng Ford ’83 Curator of Contemporary Art, will continue in this capacity while also leading the museum's curatorial division. Overseeing exhibitions, acquisitions, collections research, and strategic curatorial initiatives will be among Chubb’s responsibilities in her new role.  “Emma brings to this role exceptional scholarly depth, a thoughtful and ambitious curatorial vision, and a genuine talent for fostering collaboration across the museum and the college. As Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, she will be instrumental in shaping the future of SCMA’s curatorial program and furthering the museum’s longstanding commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and meaningful public engagement,” said Jessica Nicoll, Director and Louise Ines Doyle ’34 Chief Curator of the Smith College Museum of Art. Emma Chubb is the inaugural Charlotte Feng Ford ’83 Curator of Contemporary Art at SCMA and a scholar specializing in contemporary art from Morocco. Her initiatives include Amanda Williams: An Imposing Number of Times (2020–22), Younes Rahmoun: Here, Now (2024–25)—the first retrospective dedicated to one of North Africa's most significant contemporary artists—and the establishment of SCMA's Artist-in-Residence Program. She is also the organizing curator for Don't mind if I do (2026) and Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (2026–27). Her academic credentials include a PhD in art history, with a certificate in Middle East and North African Studies from Northwestern University, and a BA in Art History and French from Haverford College. This appointment follows the nearly decade-long tenure of Aprile Gallant, who is stepping down from the Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs position. Gallant will remain at SCMA as the Mary Walcott Keyes 1931 Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, dedicating her efforts to scholarship and major research projects. Gallant’s leadership expanded the museum's curatorial expertise by appointing curators of Asian and Contemporary Art and overseeing a dynamic program of exhibitions, acquisitions, and collection initiatives. Her work has established a strong foundation for the department’s continued growth. With Chubb’s appointment, SCMA continues a series of leadership transitions that have strengthened its senior team, underscoring the museum’s ongoing commitment to organizational excellence in support of its mission as a teaching museum for Smith College.  About the Smith College Museum of Art As a teaching museum at Smith College, SCMA is dedicated to connecting people to art, ideas, and each other by engaging people with firsthand experiences of art, artists and museum practice; collecting, researching, presenting and preserving an expansive collection of art in the service of learning, teaching, and critical dialogue; and by fostering an inclusive and accessible environment that welcomes diverse perspectives and inspires imagination. Except for select holidays, SCMA and the SCMA Shop are open to the public year-round, Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. The museum is located at 20 Elm Street at Bedford Terrace, Northampton, MA. In SCMA’s galleries and classrooms, visitors experience a world-class collection of art spanning ancient times to the present and encompassing the arts of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The Cunningham Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs houses and hosts the study of a comprehensive collection of works on paper.  SCMA’s commitment to broad public access is supported by the Art Bridges Foundation’s “Access for All” grant initiative, alongside a generous gift from Smith College alumnae Jan Fullgraf Golann ’71 and Jane Timken ’64, which has enabled the museum to eliminate all admission fees and expand community programming. An accredited member of the American Alliance of Museums and a founding member of Museums10, a regional cultural collaboration, SCMA is also a member of the College Art Association and the New England Museum Association. #smithcollegemuseum#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com #sunstormfineartmagazine.com#artfunchange#artfunnow#artfunhistory#artfunculture

The African Film Festival NY, SoundTrack to a ~Coup d" Etat~. screen at Snug Harbor, Staten Island NY, Thursday July 16, 7:30

Kick off the summer with AFF at our first outdoor screening of the season! Join us this Thursday at Snug Harbor for a special screening of the award-winning Soundtrack to a Coup d'État at 7:30 PM, preceded by a live jazz performance by Craig Harris. THU, JULY 16 AT 7:30PM 'Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat' by Johan Grimonprez Snug Harbor - South Meadow 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301 United Nations, 1960: The Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach storm the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe, and the U.S. State Department sends jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup. In this gripping essay film, director Johan Grimonprez traces the collision of African politics and American jazz, revealing the forces behind the 1961 assassination of Congo's leader Patrice Lumumba. Through eyewitness accounts, government memos, speeches, and a rich soundtrack of jazz icons, ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat’ examines colonial history in a story whose political resonance remains strikingly relevant today. Watch the trailer here The screening will be preceded by a live jazz performance by Craig Harris! SUN, JULY 19 2026 AT 2PM 'Rediscovering Fanon' by Rico Speight The Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space 2537 Broadway at 95th Street New York, NY 10025 Rediscovering Fanon is an independent feature documentary that explores the life, work, and enduring legacy of Frantz Fanon, the Martinican psychiatrist, philosopher, and revolutionary whose writings transformed global conversations about racism, colonialism, decolonization, and human liberation. Combining interviews, archival materials, music, and contemporary political reflection, the film demonstrates the continuing relevance of Fanon's ideas in the twenty-first century.

Donate Since 1990, African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) has bridged the divide between post-colonial Africa and the American public through the medium of film. AFF's unique place in the international arts community is distinguished not only by leadership in festival management but by a comprehensive approach to the advocacy of African and diaspora film and culture. Launched in 1993, the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) is presented annually by African Film Festival, Inc. and Film at Lincoln Center, in association with Brooklyn Academy of Music. AFF also produces a series of local, national, and international programs throughout the year.   African Film Festival, Inc. 154 West 18th Street, Suite 2A 212-352-1720

#africanflimfestival#fineartmagazineblog#sunstormartfineartmagazine.com#artfunfilm

#artfunsummer#artfunchange#artfunnow#artfuntoday

Haines Gallery ~The Shape of Looking~ Group exhibition, July 10, - September 5,2025

Haines is closed for the Fourth of July weekend on Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4. Join us next week for our new exhibition, and see works by our artists around Fort Mason:

The Shape of Looking Rebekah Goldstein, Ricardo Mazal, and David Simpson Haines Gallery July 10 – September 5, 2026 Opening Reception: Friday, July 10, 5:30-7:30PM

Andy Goldsworthy: Red Flags Presented by FOR-SITE and Fort Mason Art Gateway Pavilion July 1 – 30, 2026 Opening Reception: Friday, July 10, 5:30-7:30PM (Closed on July 4–5, July 11–12)

John Chiara: Bay Panel Presented by SF Camerawork and Haines SF Camerawork June 26 – July 19, 2026 (Closed on July 4, open on July 5)

Sales Inquiries: alexandra@hainesgallery.com

Images: 1) Installation view of Andy Goldsworthy: Red Flags. Photo by Shaun Roberts; 2) Rebekah Goldstein, #hainesartgallery#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com #sunstormfineartmagazine.com#artfuncelebration#artfunall#artfunchange