NORWAY – “The April Fools” is the title of a monthlong art exhibit that opens April 1 at The Commons Art Collective of Norway on Main Street.

A public reception for member artists Mary Brooking, Alan Day and Gemma Morrill-Dreherthe will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 1. The three have collaborated on the exhibit of paintings, photographs and prints which reflect the mystery, the unknown, and the familiar which inhabit the world of shifting seasons.

The show attempts to articulate the power that lies within relationships with land, with sense of place, with home, with creatures, with beloveds.

Brooking works in two-dimensional and three-dimensional media, including primarily acrylic painting, drawing, paper collage, clay and found object sculpture. All of the works she is exhibiting are expressionist landscape paintings.

Day has created images in the context of photography for more than 40 years, with a special bias toward old cameras, slide (transparency) film, and natural lighting. “I’m inspired by pictures that, through composition, can present a bit of a riddle to the viewer, so that there’s a sense of mystery, a questioning of what one is actually witnessing when standing before the photograph,” he said.

Morrill-Dreher teaches in the Mexico and Rumford elementary schools and believes that art promotes healing and facilitates growth and development. Of the exhibit, she said, “In this series of prints I’ve used the hawk form as metaphor. One summer day a hawk appeared in the yard and everything became still and quiet, causing me to stop whatever I was doing and take notice. It was then that I became acutely aware of how much the valley in which I live is inside me. This is the journey these prints have taken and what I have tried to portray.”

The show runs through April 30 at The Commons Art Gallery, 447 Main St., next to Fare Share Market. Hours are 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Access to the gallery is available through Fare Share Market during regular business hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For information phone 743-0165.