“Pittsfield Paintbox Artist Exhibition”

Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. and Framework will feature a brand-new “Pittsfield Paintbox Artist Exhibition” featuring 4 local artists at Framework by Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. (437 North Street).

Featured artists are Susan Gail Catelotti, Melissa Matsuki Lillie, Anastasia Drayton, and Eternity Joy Alice Williams.

The exhibition will be on view Monday through Thursday, 10 am to 2 pm, September 5 through September 25, by visiting the Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. offices at 431 North Street.

The Pittsfield Paintbox Program is a program of the City of Pittsfield’s Office of Cultural Development. The Paintbox Program celebrates local artists, enlivens the streetscape, and discourages vandalism of utility boxes throughout the downtown. Four Paintbox designs will be installed in Pittsfield this summer by the artists in this exhibition at Framework by Downtown Pittsfield, Inc.

Susan Gail Catelotti is an artist, illustrator, and graphic designer based in Peru, Massachusetts. She holds a degree in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and has illustrated more than 15 children’s books for a range of authors. Her work also includes public art and mural projects all rooted in her love for storytelling through image.

Deeply inspired by the forests, wildlife, and quiet magic of the Berkshires, Susan often begins her creative process by exploring the natural world around her. Her paintings and illustrations are filled with creatures—both real and imagined—that add a sense of whimsy, weirdness, and delight to every scene. Whether she’s illustrating a picture book or painting a woodland tableau, her work invites viewers to pause, look closer, and rediscover a sense of wonder.

Melissa Matsuki Lillie is painter whose artwork references natural forms using a personal visual language of vibrant colors and complex layers to reflect on the macroscopic and microscopic world. Her paintings evoke a sense of space that has been flattened and layered, revealing strands and structures of line and color interacting fluidly with hidden landscapes. In addition to painting, she frequently works sculpturally, creating forms that celebrate both line and color.

Born in Maryland, Melissa attended the Maryland Institute College of Art where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She currently lives and works in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

For over two decades, Anastasia Drayton has had the privilege of working as a horticulturist in the Berkshire landscape. This time spent observing plants and ecosystems has deepened her understanding of the natural world and its connection to human-made spaces. Her work—both in horticulture and art—is rooted in yielding to nature, allowing it to shape and inspire her designs.

Watercolor plays a central role in Anastasia’s process, applied in a way that allows it to move freely across the surface – guided more by gravity and chance than by control. Anastasia works in other mediums as well, but always with a sense that she is only gently guiding the creative process. She often incorporates natural elements like branches and lichens whose forms mirror organic patterns, allowing nature to shape the composition. In this way, the human hand becomes secondary; instead, she trusts the materials and environment to create their own beauty. By letting nature guide each piece, it reminds the viewer that we don’t always need to cling so tightly—things have a way of unfolding as they’re meant to, naturally and inevitably. Anastasia finds so much resilience, hope, and peace in the natural world, and through her art, she aims to honor that connection and invite others to see the world with the same reverence.

Eternity Joy Alice Williams is currently pursuing her associate’s degree in Fine Arts at Berkshire Community College. When creating works of art, she usually likes using Prismacolor colored pencils and oil pastels, along with other materials. She’s always had a love for drawing, but recently she has had more of a focus on different vegetables and fruits. With them, she wants to display the importance of fresh produce in communities.

The gallery at Framework by Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. is funded in part by a grant from the Pittsfield Cultural Council; a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.