The Artists at Indian Orchard Mills (IOM) will be exhibiting artworks at the William Pinney Gallery in Kent Memorial Library during the month of October. Viewers are encouraged to consider the enduring power of place as a catalyst for creativity and connection.
Millworks II: Inspirations presents the artists of IOM who work within the historic 19th-century textile mill in Springfield, Massachusetts. The exhibition explores the intersection of place, history, and artistic practice and explores how a site once defined by industry still inspires creative production today.
Featuring painting, fiber art, and mixed media, the works reveal the individuality of each artist’s vision and a shared dialogue that emerges from a collective practice. Techniques include abstraction, expressionism, realism and the physically tactile. Themes range from landscape, still life, portraiture and social/cultural concepts.
By situating these contemporary works in the context of a former industrial site, Mill Works II emphasizes the continuity of making: from textiles to ideas, from machinery to artists. The exhibition demonstrates themes of resilience, reinvention, and community engagement, illustrating how art can transform and sustain spaces and the people who inhabit them.
By bringing this exhibition to the Kent Memorial Library, the Artists of IOM hope to highlight a connection between these two communities united by shared histories of industry and transformation. Viewers are invited to experience the mill not only as a historic structure, but as a living source of inspiration where production continues.
The Artists at IOM are from Springfield, Massachusetts and the surrounding towns as well as from Northern Connecticut. Many have achieved recognition and awards and are active in multiple organizations within New England.
This event was made possible by the Artists of Indian Orchard Mills and the Kent Memorial Library staff.
Member Artists participating include: Yeukai Chiroodza-Imeh, Nancy Evans, Tara Hengeveld, Minoo Khanbabai, Sue James, Patricia Jenks, Joan Nelson, Ellen Pollock and Jeff Wrench.
Millworks II opens on Thursday, October 2. Members will host a Reception on Thursday evening, October 8 from 6-8 p.m., open to the public, to meet the artists. The show closes on Friday, October 29.