current museum exhibitions
LandScape of solitude
August 22 through December 30, 2026
For Landscape of Solitude, artist Jerry Weiss worked with the Curator to select and pair paintings from the Arkell Museum’s collection with his own, including works by American masters George Inness and Winslow Homer. Each artist arrived at a distinct understanding of humanity’s place in nature and the meaning of solitude, ideas that have profoundly influenced Weiss’s work.
For more than forty-five years, Weiss has devoted his practice to the terrain of the Northeast. Painting outdoors, he seeks not only to capture the land’s forms and colors but also to experience the quiet reflection that comes from working in solitude.
Together, these works explore a lifelong connection to place and the restorative power of the landscape.
Jerry Weiss, Rocky Coastline, ca. 2000
Join us October 3rd, 2026 for our Fifth Annual Elizabeth Hearn Gleich Lecture with Artist and Speaker Jerry Weiss!
craft:
revolutionary and now
August 22 - December 30, 2026
Craft: Revolutionary and Now celebrates the 250th by exploring the continuity of material culture across New York State, tracing the enduring legacy of craft from the Revolutionary era to the present day. The exhibition features a collection of craft objects from the Revolutionary period in New York, each paired with the work of a contemporary regional artist practicing in the same material tradition. By placing historic and contemporary works in dialogue, the exhibition investigates the resilience, adaptability, and lasting significance of craft-based materials and the knowledge embedded within them.
The exhibition includes objects on loan from the Fort Plain Museum alongside works drawn from New York State Museum, highlighting the rich history of material culture and its continued relevance through the work of makers and artist today.
Teresa Barkley
Tea Box to Ballot Box, 2019
Cotton, acrylic paint
Machine pieced, hand appliqued, stenciled, hand quilted
Photo credit: Jean Vong
Happy Little Beech-Nuts
March 7, 2026 through December 30, 2026
We are bringing more Beech-Nut to the Arkell Museum!
Explore the museum and see cases featuring Beech-Nut Christmas boxes, counter displays, and bricks from the original building. This year we have transformed the Inspiration Gallery into an exhibition of Beech-Nut advertiser Cushman Parker.
Artist Cushman Parker got his start in advertising for the Beech-Nut company where his illustrations of happy children sold Beech-Nut products for twenty years.
Cushman Parker (1881-1940)
Girl Eating Peanut Butter, ca. 1912
Oil on canvas
Gift of David Kunz, 1982
Made possible by the support of the New York State Council On the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Arkell’s Inspiration:
Art for the People
through December 30, 2026
This gallery features late 19th and early 20th-century American paintings purchased by Bartlett Arkell, our founder and first president of the Beech-Nut Packing Company, specifically to share with his community. Works on display include six of our oil paintings by Winslow Homer (reunited after independent loans to Germany, Maine, and Massachusetts), and significant paintings by many distinguished American artists including William M. Chase, Childe Hassam, George Inness, and Albert Bierstadt.
The inspiration of Bartlett Arkell, this original art gallery opened to the public in 1927, and was once accessed from the original stand-alone Library building through two doors. Today, these doors are windows providing Library patrons a glimpse into the gallery and Museum visitors a glimpse into the original Library (now our Reading Room).
Also not to be missed in this gallery is the full scale copy of The Night Watch by Rembrandt, commissioned by Arkell specifically for this space, and on display today.
Clifford W. Ashley (1881-1947)
U.S.S. Constitution, 1929
Oil on canvas
Gift of Bartlett Arkell, 1930
Made possible by the support of the New York State Council On the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.