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By CAROLYN BROWN

Earlier this year, three Massachusetts artists were chosen to create six wheatpaste murals total to decorate the town of Montague, a public art project funded by a $15,000 grant. The most local of the three – graphic designer and illustrator Sophie Foulkes – recently installed her murals at Montague Town Hall and 20 Masonic St. in Montague.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Kaia Couture had not even considered entering the 44th annual Congressional Art Competition until Belchertown art teacher Elizabeth Teixeira suggested her realistic painting of marbles had enough intricate detail in its reflections, light and shadow to contend with the thousands of submissions from the First Congressional District.

By RICHARD MCCARTHY

It’s interesting how certain actions are made rarer, even extinct, by advancing technology, one-by-one, in an ever-longer line.

By CHRIS LARABEE

As the national art and celebrity worlds coalesced at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Met Gala in early May, the exhibition coinciding with the event at the nation’s most-visited museum also featured several local ties.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Celebrated lesbian singer-songwriter Linda Shear will play a benefit show for Straw Dog Writers Guild on Saturday, May 31, at 4 p.m. at Northampton Center for the Arts.

By CHRISTINE HATCH

If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, it most certainly can. 

By EMILEE KLEIN

“Reset!”

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Frank Martin has finalized his roster, and the fourth-year UMass men’s basketball coach went out with a bang for his final commit.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

In one sculpture made from fired terracotta, with a natural patina, life holds and cradles life. In another sculpture, life holds and grasps death.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Lucky drivers on the Mass Pike may look out their windshield to see an industrial-sized recycling container with brightly-colored murals of people gardening in upcycled tire planters, critters playing on the Jabish Brook or even the beloved buildings of Belchertown rather than the typical blue, green and brown neutrals.

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — When UMass Permaculture organizes its weekly student farmers markets in spring and fall, vendors interested in selling their wares must act fast to scoop up the limited number of spots.

By CAROLYN BROWN

It’s not uncommon for a small nonprofit not to have a physical space. It is, however, ironic when that nonprofit itself is called Human Scale Art Space.

By CAROLYN BROWN

The total impact that humans have had on the environment may be hard to measure, but a new exhibition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s University Museum of Contemporary Art, running through Friday, May 9, aims to show some of that impact and create conversations about how artists respond to it with their work.

By TED WATT

It was January, with two feet of cold crisp powder on the ground. The day was bright and sunny. The 5th and 6th grades at our small rural, hill-town school had been studying life sciences. Educators and students were focusing on animals and the many varied ways they are adapted, both physically and behaviorally, to living in their environment. We decided to take advantage of the perfect winter day and headed out to see what we could learn about how animals live in winter from the signs and tracks they left behind.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Well, it didn’t take long for Division 1 men’s basketball players to take advantage of the transfer portal opening on Monday. As of Friday morning, there are already more than 1,000 total D1 men’s players in the portal. Some of them are still playing in the NCAA Tournament right now. Three of them have departed from UMass.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Author Margaret Atwood supposedly once said, “If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” With a new book, “Fierce Encouragement: 201 Writing Prompts for Staying Grounded in Fragile Times,” author and writing coach Jena Schwartz wants to inspire writers to build their own creative practices, no matter if the result isn’t entirely perfect.

Last month, Gov. Maura Healey wrote an executive order to create an official poet laureate of Massachusetts — and now, applications are open.

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — Peanut butter jars, takeout containers and soft plastic wrap often end up in the recycling bin, contaminating viable plastic, cardboard and paper for recycling and resulting in more garbage in landfills.

By CHRIS LARABEE

BOSTON — As farmers prepare to head out to the fields for the season, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle sent a letter to the new U.S. agriculture secretary expressing concerns over uncertain federal funding and other actions taken by the federal government.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Ten local high school students will take the stage at the Academy of Music on Saturday, April 5, at 7 p.m. to compete in the third annual Academy Regional Youth Poetry Slam. The event, a competition for young spoken word poets, is the only one of its kind in the Pioneer Valley.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — When the final buzzer sounded to signal the end of the UMass men’s basketball team’s regular season, which ended in a 74-51 loss to Loyola Chicago on Saturday afternoon at Mullins Center, the arena’s staff immediately began tearing up the floorboards of Jack Leaman Court to get ready for the Minutemen’s hockey game at 7:30 p.m.