ART
PETER SAUL Forty paintings and works on paper, made between 1959 and 2012, by the funky CalArts-trained artist known for his rambunctious, cartoon-style, politically charged imagery in gaudy colors. Through Nov. 29. Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vt. 802-952-1056, www.hallartfoundation.org (by appointment)
WALKING SCULPTURE 1967-2015 Can walking be art? You bet. And since it’s 3-D and it moves, it’s a kind of kinetic sculpture. This group show traces the recent history of walking as a form of contemporary sculpture, with works by the likes of Francis Alys, William Pope L, and Michelangelo Pistoletto. Through Sept. 13. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln. 781-259-8355, www.decordova.org
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DIRECTORS’ CUT: SELECTIONS FROM THE MAINE ART MUSEUM TRAIL Includes works by Marsden Hartley from Bates College and by Winslow Homer from Bowdoin College, as well as select pieces from Colby College, the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Monhegan Museum of Art and History, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, the University of Maine Art Museum, and the Portland Museum of Art. May 21-Sept. 20. Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine. 207-775-6148, www.portlandmuseum.org
FROM BIRDS TO BEASTS: AUDUBON’S LAST GREAT ADVENTURE Audubon’s rarely exhibited illustrations of mammals, plus his better known images of birds. A collaboration between New Hampshire Audubon and the Currier. May 23-Aug. 30. Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, N.H. 603-669-6144, www.currier.org
ROZ CHAST: CARTOON MEMOIRS The popular cartoonist (for The New Yorker) and author of the best-selling memoir “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant” gets a career overview that is bound to be a little bit manic and extremely funny. June 6-Oct. 26. Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge. 413-298-4100, www.nrm.org
ARLENE SHECHET: ALL AT ONCE The first museum survey of the celebrated sculptor, who works mainly in clay and was recently an artist in residence at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. June 10-Sept. 7. Institute of Contemporary Art. 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.org
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NIGHT VISION: NOCTURNES IN AMERICAN ART, 1860-1960 A major survey of scenes of night by US artists over the course of a century, taking in works by Albert Ryder, Edward Hopper, Ansel Adams, Georgia O’Keeffe, Lee Krasner, and Andrew Wyeth. June 27-Oct. 18. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine. 207-725-3275, www.bowdoin.edu/art-museum
WHISTLER’S MOTHER Whistler’s most famous painting — properly titled “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother” — and owned by the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, features as the centerpiece of a small selection of other Whistler works, many from the collection of the Colby College Museum of Art. July 4-Sept. 27. Clark Art Institute, Williamstown. 413-458-2303, www.clarkart.edu
BRAND-NEW & TERRIFIC: ALEX KATZ IN THE 1950S Sixty-five paintings, cut-outs, and collages made by Katz in the 1950s, a breakthrough period in the influential figurative and Pop artist’s career. July 11-Oct. 18. Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine. 207-859-5600, www.colby.edu/academics_cs/museum
MADE IN THE AMERICAS: THE NEW WORLD DISCOVERS ASIA A show of nearly 100 objects from all across the colonial Americas, demonstrating the influence of Asia on creativity in the Americas from the 17th to the early 19th centuries. Features furniture, silverware, textiles, ceramics, and painting from Mexico City, Lima, Quito (Ecuador), Quebec City (Quebec), Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Aug. 18-Feb. 15. Museum of Fine Arts. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org
Sebastian Smee can be reached at ssmee@globe.com.