THIS MONTH BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Start Your AHA! Adventure At The New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park Visitor Center
The AHA! website will be available for you to look at along with Park staff and volunteers ready to answer any questions you may have. The Visitor Center (33 William St) is
open 10am-8pm on AHA!
AHA! Happens Rain Or Shine
Be sure to check the AHA! event page, Facebook page and Instagram Stories as well as website and social for participating event partners for info about location changes, program rescheduling and cancellations.
Planning To AHA! IRL?
All of the AHA! partners have their own masking requirements. We recommend you carry a mask with you at all times so you don’t miss out on any of the AHA! festivities.
Be sure to stop at one of the many fantastic downtown restaurants after your AHA! stroll!
Schedule
3:00 PM
Valentine & Galentine Shopping!
Come by and find that perfect gift for your Valentine or Galentine! We have jewelry, chocolate, candles and tea among many other special items to choose from. Open at noon.
4:00 PM
Use The Bay’s Beauty to Create Your Own Work of Art!
Bring your creative spirit to the Buzzards Bay Coalition’s Wheeler Learning Center!
We will have plenty of shells and other found items for you to design, paint, color and create your own Buzzards Bay Masterpiece.
Once you’ve completed your work of art, explore the Learning Center’s 3D interactive map of Buzzards Bay.
New Bedford Main Library’s Youth Services AHA!
Join us at the New Bedford Main Library’s Youth Services on AHA Night!
Enter in the Black History Month Drawing Contest, craft with Little People’s College, and more. All families are welcome for this free event and no registration is required. Hope to see you there!
Color Me Yours! Sailor’s Valentines at the New Bedford Whaling Museum
Say “Forever Yours” at the New Bedford Whaling Museum with a color-your-own greeting card based on a Sailor’s Valentine! Featuring small seashells arranged in a symmetrical pattern, Sailor’s Valentines were a popular 19th-century souvenir for sailors to give their sweethearts left on shore. New England artisans have since revived the tradition, including local artist Bill Boffa. Meet Boffa during this month’s AHA! night and view or purchase his incredible contemporary valentines.
4:30 PM
Hands & Hearts
Join Little People’s College to create a loving hand & heart tree. Participants will be provided multicultural paper to trace their “hand tree” and adorn their tree with finger print heart foliage. Event is free and open to the public.
Behind-The-Scenes: The Laundry Room & Summer Kitchen
Behind-The-Scenes: The Laundry Room & Summer Kitchen
Get a glimpse of museum areas and objects not normally on view. The lower level of the Museum used to function as the laundry area and summer kitchen. See the spaces as they are now, as well as historic photos of both areas during the Duff era. Warm up with some tea while visiting. Admission is free as a part of AHA! night.
5:00 PM
Show & Tell
Stop by the Sanctuary for Show & Tell from 5:00 – 7:00pm. Featuring:
Art: The Carpenter’s Son
History: The Footstools
Architecture: The Church that Whaling Built!
What do you have? Two minute show & tales!
Black History, Love, Music &… Art
Let’s celebrate Black History month and the month of Love with live music from special guest musician DJim Job. Music between 6:00pm – 7:00pm
In the gallery view and shop original artwork, prints and note cards, particularly from our Caribbean and New Bedford Under Ground Railroad series.
Love of Art
Head to the Killburn Mill to view Judith Klein’s new exhibition “Love Of Art” featuring new jewelry and ceramics.
http://judithkleinartgallery.com
Posters and Poetry!
Join the Workers’ Art Center and Anomaly for a night of Posters and Poetry! WAC will be presenting the awards from our social justice poster contest at 5:30pm. This will be followed by poetry at 6pm, featuring Anomaly with MC Nick LeBlanc. We welcome all others to come to present your poetry. The night will end with live music from local musicians beginning at 7pm.
Dil ba Dil Rah Dhara (From One Heart to Another): The Afghan Women’s Art Project
Showcasing traditional and modern Afghan handicrafts, this exhibit opens at the New Bedford Free Public Library on Thursday, February 9, thanks to the generosity of MassDevelopment/TDI, and the Barr Foundation – Art is Everywhere Grant. The exhibit will be on display on the library’s 3rd floor, at 613 Pleasant St., New Bedford, MA, from Feb. 9, 2023 through March 23, 2023.
Decorating Hearts
Join us at the Pilgrim United Church Home to paint and decorate wooden hearts with magnets for your loved one!
A Roomful Of Blue Opening Reception
What does blue mean to you? The color? The music? The emotion? Something else? Well, we leave that up to you as the artist to decide, because here at Gallery X we decided to make the theme of our first exhibition of 2023 BLUE!
Join us for the opening reception with a performance by the Professor Harp duo! Show runs through March 5th.
5:30 PM
Let’s Draw a Lighthouse Tonight!
FREE – limited seats, RSVP encouraged!
Bob Bowers, featured artist in “Fishboats: Art of the Industry” will teach you how to draw a lighthouse in just a few easy steps. Supplies provided – just bring your enthusiasm! Appropriate for ages 10+
RSVP by contacting programs@fishingheritagecenter.org or call (508) 993-8894
6:00 PM
The AHA! Seaport Sessions with Djim Job
Please join us for the AHA! Seaport Sessions (formerly the AHA! Mini-Concert). This month’s concert is hosted by Alison Wells Fine Art Studio and Gallery.
This month’s performer is Djim Job. Born in the Island of São Vicente and raised in the U.S., Djim Job grew up in a family of musicians. Considered to be one of the most prominent Cabo Verdean musicians today, he has performed and produced for over 25 years in over 30 countries and across four continents for artists such as Bana, Cesária Évora, Ildo Lobo, and many more.
His performances around the world have earned him the prestigious Outstanding Preservation of Cabo Verdean Culture Award. Djim Job has always explored various musical genres and instruments, but it is the bass that has made him one of the most sought-after award-winning artists.
Djim Job on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6P1lJR5GIlQdE0FA9zBxrY?si=zbAMB71jSvGkWfQvyJjU1A
Alison Wells Fine Art Studio & Gallery is conveniently located at 106 William Street in New Bedford. The gallery showcases the paintings of contemporary fine arts painter and mixed media artist Alison Wells, a Trinidadian artist whose paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe. The gallery offers original artwork, giclee prints and Note cards, and guest artists periodically exhibit at the gallery during the year.
Alison Wells online:
Website: https://www.alisonwells.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisonwellsart
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonwellsart/
Pat Coomey Thornton: Moment to Moment
This exhibition, created specifically for UMass Dartmouth, presents abstract oil paintings and gouaches on paper created between the years 2011 and 2023. The artist invites us to enter the world of rich layers of vibrant colors, changing “moment to moment” from a darker and heavier palette to a brighter and more optimistic one, offering quiet meditation, but also tension, beauty, chaos, exuberance. The titles offer an entrance to the visitor’s musings about the meaning of the work, but also suggest a gravity of the story or feeling behind them, such as oil paintings Unexpected, 2022 or Four Stages Plus One, 2022 that refer to the artist’s recently diagnosed health condition.
DRESS // CODE: Robotic 3DPrinted Fashion Lecture and Exhibition
Join NBRR in welcoming Lilach Porges as our inaugural speaker series of our Artist and Designer in Residence Program!
Her final project in architecture included designing a building facade to be created by 3D printing with a robotic arm. Her thesis project for the program at FIT is a fashion design collection using 3D printing by robotic arms for designing and producing garments. She researches the ability of robotic arms to create more sustainable and different designs from the fashion we know today.
Underground Railroad: New Bedford’s Most Powerful Protest
Online event, Zoom only
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvde6pqjsvHtxBHF8VgKZ7Fkk5YGeGXYSQ
6:30 PM
7:00 PM
Artist Talk – Richard Neal: Comfort & Displacement
7:30 PM
8:00 PM
