Cristina has been invited to contribute an artwork to this unusual museum exhibition.
February 7 – 28, 2026
Focus on the Past
Visions of Eight Selections from the Attleboro Arts Museum’s Permanent Collection
The 2026 edition is an invitational and a nod to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It marries the talent of contemporary artists with highlights from the museum’s collection. Each participating artist had previously earned a spot in at least one of the museum’s 8 Visions exhibitions since 2006.
Bloodgood, 2025, #1/1
2 signatures, long-stitched, softbound artist’s book, 18 pages Printmaking with Japanese Maple leaves, paste papers, vellum, book cloth, linen thread, paper weaving, hand stitching
9″h x 7.5″w x .75″d
Hinged Box: Recessed window on cover with leaf print
Book cloth, paste paper, found black silk tie
10.25″h x 8.5″w x 1/5″d
Colophon: Inside back cover pocket, single signature, pamphlet stitched, 8 pages
Paste paper, paper, linen thread, laser-printed, Avenir font
4″h x 5.5″w x .25″d
This artist’s book explores the Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’, a variety of red Japanese maple trees.
In Grant Wood’s lithograph, Tree Planting Group, the first Arbor Day (April 10, 1872) is depicted. Rather than planting a seed, Bloodgoods are typically propagated through grafting. The Japanese art of “Tsugiki” (tree grafting) is a horticultural technique that joins tissues from two different plants. The top part is the scion, and the bottom part is the established rootstock, which are grown together as a single plant. The technique also reflects the Japanese art of “Kintsukuroi” that translates as “golden repair”. Traditionally, this technique is applied to broken pottery, but the metaphor can be expanded.
With its intersections of nature and artifice, Bloodgood is both literal and conceptual. It explores themes of heritage, lineage, blended families, bridging the past with the future, along with spiritual and personal growth, transformation, and new life.
Attleboro Arts Museum
86 Park St., Attleboro, MA
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 7, 2026 from 2-4pm
Info HERE
Tree Planting Group by Grant Wood (American 1891-1942)
Lithograph
8.375” x 10.75”
In this print, Wood illuminates Arbor Day, the day set aside in 1872 for the planting of trees and the subject of his 1932 painting.
In the 1870s as pioneers began moving into the Nebraska Territory (largely a treeless prairie), new residents missed the trees they left behind as windbreaks to keep soil in place, for fuel and building materials, and for shade from the sun. Recognizing a serious need, journalist Julius Sterling Morton proposed April 10, 1872 as a day to encourage all Nebraskans to plant trees in their community. It was estimated that more than 1 million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day.