FARNSWORTH
Andrew Wyeth, “Her Room,” 1963, tempera on panel, 24¾ x 48 inches. Museum purchase, 1964.1313. © 2025 Wyeth Foundation for American Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland will open “By Design: The Worlds of Betsy James Wyeth” with a public reception on May 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. The exhibition runs May 2 through Oct. 16 in the Hadlock and Wyeth Study Center Galleries, with additional programming in the Wyeth Center from June 13 through Dec. 31.

The show offers the first in-depth exploration of Betsy James Wyeth (1921–2020) as a visionary yet largely overlooked creator of immersive environments — one whose practice spanned the restoration and adaptive reuse of historic buildings, the design of new structures and a distinctive collecting practice that shaped extraordinary interiors and landscapes. At the Farnsworth, the exhibition centers on her built environments in Maine, tracing her family ties to the Midcoast and focusing on three sites — Broad Cove Farm, the Olson House and Southern Island — through which her singular aesthetic and imaginative approach to place come into focus. Paintings by Andrew Wyeth, rare archival materials and original objects collected by Betsy will bring these worlds to life.

“By Design” is co-organized by the Farnsworth, the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, in association with the Wyeth Foundation for American Art. The exhibition runs simultaneously at all three museums and is accompanied by a catalogue published by Rizzoli Electa.

RSVPs for the May 1 opening reception are requested by April 28. The Farnsworth Art Museum is at 16 Museum St., Rockland. Call 207-596-6457 or visit farnsworthmuseum.org for more information.