NORTHFIELD — Lloyd Parrill of Northfield meandered through panel walls adorned with paintings Friday night, stooping to admire a child’s blue velvet suit from the 1930s poised on a pedestal in the corner.
A friend of Deerfield Valley Art Association President Beverly Phelps, Parrill attended the opening night of DVAA’s offshoot, the Museum of New England Art, held in the roughly 3,000-square-foot space next to Cameron’s Winery that is leased by the DVAA.
“It’s just a wonderful thing for Northfield and the community and the art industry,” Parrill said of the museum’s opening. “It’s a big plus.”
Until Phelps can find a permanent space for the museum, the DVAA Center for the Arts and MoNEA will share the Northfield gallery moving forward, alternating every six weeks with museum shows and DVAA shows. She said the museum’s first show, “Gems from Private Collections,” will continue through Aug. 6.
More than 60 works, all of which are on loan, Phelps said, were displayed, with mediums including paintings, etchings, clothing, pottery, sculpture and cross stitching.
“There’s so many different variations of artists in the collection, a bunch of different styles,” said David Conway of Greenfield. Conway, who draws with charcoal, particularly enjoyed the show’s etchings.
New Northfield residents Kackie and Dick St. Clair, having recently moved from Philadelphia, were reminded of Pennsylvania impressionism.
“They have everything from bright sun to it’s October and it might snow next week,” Dick St. Clair, an oil painter himself, said of the landscape paintings. “They cover all the seasons in a variety of ways, so it’s kind of neat.”
As attendees gathered around the refreshment table, Phelps took the occasion to thank DVAA Secretary Martha Stiles for her help in gathering art for the show, with the museum — and it’s “fabulous” opening night — being a dream come true for Phelps.
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