MCLA Gallery 51 Presents 'At Water's Edge: Thresholds of Memory'

07:20AM / Friday, July 10, 2026Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Gallery 51 at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will present "At Water's Edge: Thresholds of Memory," paintings by Andrae Green.

The exhibition opens July 11 and runs through September 11, 2026, with a reception Friday, Aug. 7 from 5-7 p.m.

According to a press release:

The exhibition title captures both the physical environment and the psychological depth of Andrae Green's recent narrative paintings. To stand at water's edge is to inhabit a classic liminal space—a boundary where land, air, and sea meet and dissolve into one another. For Green, this threshold is not merely a geographic marker, but a profound site of memory and transformation. Fragmented scenes, layered imagery, and shifting perspectives create a feeling of dislocation. Figures often appear suspended, or at a threshold, mirroring their unstable environments. The paintings evoke fluid, non-linear histories that transcend a single moment, collapsing past and present into a singular, psychological space.

Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, Andrae Green discovered art through Marvel and DC comic books—the only art resources available where he grew up. In a community grappling with economic hardship, social upheaval, and violence, he found refuge in art, school, and church. These formative experiences continue to shape Green's aesthetic, balancing existential inquiry with resilience.

Green's distinctions include serving as the 2019 Experience Jamaique in Geneva Artist-in-Residence, representing Jamaica at the Beijing Biennale on five occasions, and acting as the U.S. representative at the Salon de Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. His paintings have been showcased internationally at the National Gallery of Jamaica, Maddox Gallery in Los Angeles, and the Southampton Arts Center in New York. His first museum solo exhibition, "Palindrome: Back to Hope," took place at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts. In 2025, Green was awarded second place in the Danforth Museum annual juried exhibition and received a non-studio residency at the Boston Art Center, which culminated in his solo exhibition "Paradise Mash-up" at the Mills Gallery, curated by Natalie DeJesus and Tiara Brown. Recent exhibitions include "Peripheral Visions" with partner Priya N. Green at OOO Easthampton Project Space, "Bridges of Belonging—Where Paths Converge" at Seven Bridges Foundation, and "Women Rising" at KNOWHEREART in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.

"At Water's Edge: Thresholds of Memory" will be on view from July 11-September 11, 2026, at Gallery 51, located at 51 Main St. in North Adams, Massachusetts. An artist's reception will be held Friday, Aug. 7, from 5-7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Gallery hours and additional programming information are available at Upcoming Exhibitions.

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North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."

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