We All Float On

Leverett artist Susan Valentine acquired a kayak last summer. It was worth it. “Leverett Pond is a tiny walk from my studio,” she explains. “On the pond, I was inspired to slow down. I spent many a day on the water’s surface, tooling around and being nurtured by the views, the creatures, the plant life … These vertical canvases arose from those experiences.” Valentine used her smartphone camera to take reference photos on the water, which inspired the format of these paintings. “I liked the way this vertical view led me from the plant life below my boat all the way to the sky,” she says. “Some of these paintings are collaged interpretations and others are representative of what I really saw.” As the show’s title implies, she hopes these paintings provide a respite, and a return to strength and calm, amid the storm of a rough 2016 and an uncertain future.

Keeping Our Heads Above Water: Through Feb. 25. Free. Hope and Feathers Framing and Printing, 319 Main St., Amherst. (413) 835-0197, hopeandfeathersframing.com.

— Hunter Styles