Sculptures fill the Whitin Mill as Open Sky hosts 3rd annual Inside & Out Exhibition

Read the original article from Spectrum News 1 by Cam Jandrow

WHITINSVILLE, Mass. – Forty works of art are spread throughout the grounds of the Whitin Mill, each one a unique piece being used in an effort to get the public involved.

“It’s marble, steel, wood, and stone,” said Cristi Collari, director of community outreach for Open Sky Community Services, explaining one of the pieces. “And it has two sides. So, this is the stone before it’s polished. It’s rough. And then this is the stone after it’s polished.”

What You Need To Know

• ValleyCAST is hosting their third annual Inside & Out Exhibition at the Whitin Mill

• Forty Sculptures are on display, and will be until Feb. 23

• The hope is to bring the community together and have a discussion through art

• ValleyCAST is the arts and culture branch of nonprofit Open Sky Community Services.

The Inside & Out Exhibition is run by ValleyCAST, the arts and culture branch of nonprofit Open Sky Community Services. Visitors will have the ability vote for their favorite sculpture, with the winner claiming the “People’s Choice Award.”

Open Sky provides support to people with mental health challenges, developmental disabilities, substance use disorders and other challenges. An exhibit like this is meant to bridge the gap.

“The goal and the mission is to create a space where the public and the community can come in and mingle with the people that we serve that are also part of the community,” Collari said.

This is Collari’s third year putting on the art display. Featured are pieces from members of the New England Sculptors Association.

“It’s stainless steel and stained glass,” she said. “It moves all by itself with just the movement of the air in the room.”

The exhibition will be up through Feb. 23rd, with hopes of drawing a crowd from the surrounding area.

“We’re just like this little intimate gallery in the middle of three major cities: Worcester, Boston and Providence,” Collari said. “We’re right smack dab in the middle. And we can see it growing. Each year, more and more people learn about it and come.”