Salem Arts Association upcoming events

Exhibition: Monsters & Myths (Saturday, September 19, 2026)

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Monsters & Myths

“Monsters & Myths” is an open exhibition to members and non-members at our Pickering Wharf gallery to celebrate Salem’s spooky season.

We’ve invited artists to explore the creatures, legends, and stories that haunt our imaginations. From ancient folklore and supernatural beings to modern-day fears and personal phantoms, this show celebrates the power of myth and mystery in all its forms.

This fall exhibition allows artists to delve into the realm of the eerie and the extraordinary, celebrating the rich tapestry of folklore, legends, and the fantastical creatures that haunt our imaginations. As Salem is renowned for its history of witchcraft and supernatural tales, we have encouraged artists to explore their interpretations of monsters and myths, whether they be drawn from personal experiences, cultural stories, or classic literature. "Myths & Monsters" showcases a unique vision of the mysterious and the macabre.

Opening Reception: Friday September 18 , 2026 6:00 – 8:00
Exhibit Dates: Saturday September 19 - Saturday November 7, 2026
Gallery Hours are every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Salem Arts Metaphysical Series: Tarot Intensive For Artists & Creatives (3 Class Meetings) (Wednesday, September 30, 2026)

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Tarot Intensive

For Artists & Creatives

Dates:

September 30, 2026

October 7, 2026

October 14, 2026

6:00 pm EST - 8:00 pm EST

Tuition for All 3 Classes:

$75 for Salem Arts Members

$100 for Non-Members

Learn how to read the Tarot in this Beginning Tarot class where we will explore the history of the Tarot, the basic symbolism and meaning of all 78 cards, and how to use the Tarot for self-reflection and as a divination tool. Each class in this three-week lecture series will include a guided meditation and an opportunity to both give and receive Tarot readings in an inclusive supportive workshop setting. This class also includes an artist talk on how to best use the Tarot as an artist to manifest the creative career you want drawing upon real life experiences of a psychic visual artist in the entertainment industry. All classes are hands-on and interactive so creative networking is integral and highly encouraged!

In addition, all registrants will receive free priority access to the next event in our Metaphysical Series - the Salem Arts Tarot Artist Talk: The Salem Arcanum Tarot by Jim Bostick with Special Guest Madame Thérèse DeVoe, Hps.

Whether you are new to Tarot, could use a review, or simply want to gain a new perspective, this class will help you push the relationship between your creative skills and intuitive gifts while developing a newfound confidence in reading the Tarot for yourself and others.

Please bring to each class your very own deck of the Rider-Waite Tarot and any materials you feel would enhance your learning such as a sketchbook or Tarot journal, water bottle, and pen. Hope you can join us for this rare and enriching opportunity to celebrate the Halloween season at Salem Arts! Seats are limited, so RSVP today!

About Leah Ordonia

Leah Ordonia is a mixed media gallery artist, illustrator, animator, and lecturing artist with a background in television and film production from her hometown of Los Angeles, France, New York, and Boston.

As a CalArts alum with directing experience at Gobelins L’école de l’image in Paris, France, Leah has worked on productions for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, 20th Century Fox, Epitaph Records, Disney Education, PBS Digital Studios, and WGBH among others. Her films have screened in festivals including SIGGRAPH and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Leah has taught animation courses at CalArts, the Sony Pictures Media Arts Program, Massart, and currently teaches The Business of Animation at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

On her spiritual path, Leah is a shamanic ancestral lineage holder, a Reiki Master, a Rune Grandmaster, a Belvaspata Healing Grandmaster, and psychic medium. She is grateful to have had many great teachers from various spiritual traditions including the world renown psychic medium Thomas John, the star of the reality television series “Seatbelt Psychic.” She is skilled with various forms of divination such as the Tarot, oracle cards, pendulums, tea leaf reading, and scrying in nature. As a lover of the outdoors, she is also a volunteer at the Southend Corridor Community Gardens who have just been awarded the 2026 First Place Pollinator Garden in the Boston area.

Leah has served at the Lily Dale Healing Temple in Upstate New York, plant medicine ceremonies, inter-state metaphysical fairs, and healing circles. She is a contributor to the City of Lights Prayer gatherings, the Soul Journey Sundays Collective, and is a member of the Mystic River Grove, the Massachusetts branch of the International Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. Her goal is to co-create a better world through the power of art, universal love, Earth healing, and magic!

As a member of the Salem Arts Association Board of Directors, Leah holds a vision to bridge the gap between the visual arts and the metaphysical arts to take the potential and impact of pure creativity to new heights.

Tarot Artist Talk By Jim Bostick, With Special Guest Madame Thérèse DeVoe, Hps., Hosted By Leah Ordonia (Wednesday, October 21, 2026)

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Salem Arts Metaphysical Series

Tarot Artist Talk:

The Salem Arcanum

Tarot

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

6:00 pm EST - 8:00 pm EST

Free Event for Salem Arts Members & Tarot Class Registrants

Suggested Donation for Non-Members: $20

Join us for an engaging artist talk with Salem photographer James Bostick, creator of the Salem Arcanum Tarot. This special event invites audiences into the magical world of a photographic tarot deck conceived, created, and inspired by Salem, Massachusetts. Through conversation and visual insight, Bostick will discuss the origins of the project, the symbolism behind the images, and the creative process that shaped his distinctive interpretation of tarot’s enduring visual language.

This presentation will include a history or artist and photographer tarot projects followed by a Q&A panel discussion with the artist, special guest Rev. Madame Therese M. DeVoe, Hps., and our host Leah Ordonia.

Salem Arcanum Tarot

The Salem Arcanum Tarot by James Bostick, interprets the visual and symbolic language of the tarot through the lens of a camera. The images and symbols of the Tarot tradition have a rich and ancient history. Bostick has studied and been inspired by these themes and offers this series of photographic interpretations of the complex visual language that is Tarot.

Bostick directed his interest in semiotics, the study of language and symbol systems, towards the pictorial storytelling of the tarot. Bostick’s lived experience with the culture and people of Salem has added to his inspiration as he embarked on his photographic journey to explore this intertwined visual experience.

For those who believe in the mysteries of the tarot they contain personality and attempt divination at the heart of each image. The outcome is a secret language and form of expression uniquely their own.

Creating the Salem Arcanum Tarot

Creating The Salem Arcanum Tarot, Bostick is tied to what is possible in his studio. Every image in the series becomes a portrait that tells the human story within each card. In the fantastic world of tarot, commonly seen as illustrations or paintings, anything is possible. But in the studio Bostick is constrained by the boundaries of the frame and limits of real people as actors. Each work becomes a tiny theater production. The compositions are reduced to the bare necessities and artifacts needed to tell the stories. He does not rely on digital trickery to achieve his vision. “What you see happens before my camera and is captured in its entirety in my studio” according to Bostick. The result is possibly the only representation of the tarot entirely crafted before a camera.

About James Bostick

James Bostick is a Salem Massachusetts artist known for his figurative storytelling style of fine art photography. He works from his Gallows Hill studio, a location rich in historic and cultural heritage that inspire many of his themes drawing from art history, religion, and the occult. His signature studio lighting and human-centered approach result in rich compositions resembling theater productions.

Bostick’s work features local people as “actors” along with props and wardrobe he creates or gathers as needed to create his scenes. His early career as a fashion photographer provided unique experience in studio lighting and working with models. Other inspirations include his dark approach to still life photography and capturing Infrared images of architectural and natural landmarks.

Bostick discovered his love of photography as a teenager, leading to a bachelor’s degree in fine art from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and a master’s degree from Penn State University in semiotics and art history. He is the 2025 recipient of a "Grants for Creative Individuals" Award from the Mass Cultural Council and has exhibited in galleries and museums in North America and Europe including the Peabody Essex Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the State Museum of Pennsylvania. Honors include numerous solo exhibitions, including a May 2026 solo exhibition of the Salem Arcanum Tarot in Porto Portugal, and awards from regional galleries throughout his 40-year creative career as an artist and designer.

Learn more about James Bostick at SalemArcanum.com or JBostick.com

About Rev. Madame Thérèse M. DeVoe, Hps.

Rev. Madame Thérèse M. DeVoe, Hps., is a native-born Salem Witch of French Canadian descent who has practiced witchcraft and the spiritual arts for more than fifty years. A third-degree High Priestess in the Cabot-Kent Hermetic Tradition, she is known for handcrafted, one-of-a-kind artwork created for ceremony, healing, adornment, decoration, and meaningful gifting.

A member of Salem’s elite Black Doves of Isis Coven, Madame Thérèse is recognized as a significant part of the history of modern Salem witchcraft. She was publicly acknowledged as one of Salem’s first modern-day Witches in the April 1979 issue of National Geographic and was later featured in the World of Witches Museum on Pickering Wharf. She is also a member of Mystique Women of Salem and the Black Hat Society, and has studied with many teachers, including Laurie Cabot, the Official Witch of Salem.

Thérèse is a visual artist, fashion designer, musician, sacred dancer, and local fashion icon. As an entrepreneur, she started her own company Breath of the Soul, and hand-made Shakuhachi instruments and pan pipes in various sizes and octaves made of Japanese knot weed from Salem, as well as corn dolls and dreamcatchers made from Salem Willow trees. Thérèse’s entrepreneurship grew as she ran her own store The Oracle Chamber on Derby Street where she sold her hand-made products and held practical magic and belly dance classes and workshops for ten years from 2001 to 2011.

She has designed and modeled clothing for the Salem Arts Festival Fashion Show, Peabody Essex Museum’s Artopia, and exhibitions at Salem Arts Association. James Bostick, former president of Salem Arts, calls her “one of his muses,” and she appears as the High Priestess in his tarot deck, The Salem Arcanum Tarot.

In addition to creating fashion, accessories, fabric art, folk art, and fine jewelry, Thérèse is a vocalist and instrumentalist who has made panpipes from locally harvested reeds. Her musical work includes ambient music, rock and roll as a founding member of the early 1980s band Original Sin, and healing music with the David Sykes Harmonic Choir and others. She has also studied theater and performed sacred dance for more than thirty years. Her media appearances include CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, Lifetime Channel, and the National Enquirer TV. When she marched with her daughter Rose in the 1978 Salem Heritage Parade - the first time the Witches of Salem ever marched in the parade - the event was featured in magazines and media worldwide. She was also featured in the October to November 2011 issue of Boston’s Northshore Magazine for a documentary on the education of young witches in Salem.

Continuing the DeVoe family’s tradition of community involvement, Madame Therese has served her birthplace through business, civic participation, creative work, and the arts. Through her spiritual practice, artistry, performance, and lifelong connection to Salem, she continues to preserve and embody a living piece of Salem, Massachusetts, historical magic. And when you purchase a work by Madame Therese you own a piece of Salem, Massachusetts, historical magic.

If you would like a reading from Madame Therese she currently offers Tarot readings at the Oracle Chamber on 213 Essex Street from 1 pm to 6 pm Fridays and Saturdays. And when you purchase a work by Madame Therese you own a piece of Salem, Massachusetts, historical magic.

About Leah Ordonia

Leah Ordonia is a multi-media gallery artist, illustrator, animator, and artist lecturer with creative roots in the Hollywood entertainment industry, France, and New York. As a healer and psychic medium she has achieved Reiki Mastery, Rune Grand Mastery, Belvaspata Grand Mastery, and has served in healing circles, plant medicine ceremonies, and interstate metaphysical fairs nation wide. As a member of the Salem Arts Association Board of Directors, Leah initiated the Metaphysical Series with the intention of bridging the gap between the visual arts and the metaphysical arts to push the boundaries of pure creativity to new heights. If you would like to learn the Tarot, Leah is offering a Tarot Intensive for Artists & Creatives : an all-encompassing three-week Beginning Tarot course offered at the Salem Gallery on September 30th, October 7th, and October 14th. To learn more about Leah and the course, please visit the event page on the Salem Arts website.

Gallery Reception: Member Holiday Showcase (Friday, November 13, 2026)

Fri, 13 Nov 2026 23:00:00 GMT

Annual Member Holiday Showcase

Our Annual Member Holiday Showcase at the Pickering Wharf gallery wraps up the first year in our new space! This festive exhibition celebrates the creativity and community of our members during the holiday season. We encourage artwork that embodies the essence of the holidays, whether it’s a celebration of winter, personal reflections, or the warmth of togetherness.

From painting and photography to sculpture, crafts, and mixed media, this show shares the latest creations intended to find a new home for the holidays!.

Join us as we fill the gallery with color, warmth, and imagination to celebrate another vibrant year of art in Salem and ring in the holiday season together!

Opening Reception: Friday November 13. 2026, 6:00 – 8:00
Exhibit Dates: Saturday November 14, 2026 – Saturday January 2, 2027
Gallery Hours are every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Exhibition: Member Holiday Showcase (Saturday, November 14, 2026)

Sat, 14 Nov 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Annual Member Holiday Showcase

From painting and photography to sculpture, crafts, and mixed media, this show shares the latest creations intended to find a new home for the holidays!.

Join us as we fill the gallery with color, warmth, and imagination to celebrate another vibrant year of art in Salem and ring in the holiday season together!

Opening Reception: Friday November 13. 2026, 6:00 – 8:00
Exhibit Dates: Saturday November 14, 2026 – Saturday January 2, 2027
Gallery Hours are every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Salem Arts’ Annual Holiday Market (Saturday, November 28, 2026)

Sat, 28 Nov 2026 16:00:00 GMT

Salem Arts’ Annual Holiday Market

Old Town Hall, Derby Square, Salem

Going back to 2012, Salem Arts brings together artists and makers from our membership and the greater North Shore for our Holiday Artists' Market at Salem's historic Old Town Hall. Held on Small Business Saturday, the juried 2-story market features handmade art, character performers, and live music. Organized by our member volunteers, it’s a labor of love and a joy to put together every season for our community.

The 2026 Holiday Market will be held Saturday November 28th, 11-5. Entrance is free for this family- friendly event.

Please consider patronizing our sponsors - they make this possible!

The application period for the 2026 Holiday Market has closed. If you’re interested in vending at the market in the future, please sign up for the Salem Arts’ Newsletter where the 2027 application schedule will be announced.