Independent Arts News Reporting Reserved Passages: Watercolors by Richard Yarde and Susan Montgomery
Reported Monday, November 17, 2025.
Pictured Above:Trio Candesco. Photo Credit: Rachel Ha-Eun Lee.
NEWSROOM POST: AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS
Reserved Passages: Watercolors by Richard Yarde and Susan Montgomery is on view now through February 26th
Amherst, MA — The Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is pleased to present Reserved Passages: Watercolors by Richard Yarde and Susan Montgomery, an exhibition that considers memory, healing, and the layered narratives that shape personal and collective identity. The exhibition also reflects on the long-standing dialogue between teacher and student, honoring an exchange of knowledge, influence, and care. Reserved Passages is on view through February 26, 2026. The August Savage Gallery is located at 103 New Africa House UMass, Amherst, MA. The full fall schedule can be found at arts.umass.edu/arts
This two-person exhibition brings into conversation the work of the late Richard Yarde (1939–2011)—a pioneering watercolorist whose paintings engage history, jazz, repair, and resilience—with that of Susan Montgomery, his former student, whose contemporary practice investigates women’s histories, botanical knowledge, and the intertwined powers of healing and harm.
“When all is said and done, I see the most important thing I have to offer is my art, which is an act of meditation between myself and the awesome mystery of creation.” — Richard Yarde (1939-2011)
Yarde, who served on the UMass Amherst faculty for over two decades, approached watercolor with improvisational sensitivity and an unwavering commitment to exploring the body’s vulnerability and capacity for restoration. His work navigates memory not as a fixed record, but as an ongoing, restorative practice.
Montgomery’s paintings likewise treat memory as something assembled, revisited, and reimagined. Drawing from archival research, historical costume collections, and botanical herbaria, her work traces how women’s narratives—often fragmented or obscured—persist through materials, plants, and embodied experience.
Pictured Above: Watercolor by artist Susan Montgomery. Photo Credit: SusanMontgomeryart.com.
About the Artists
Richard Yarde (1939–2011) was an influential American painter whose work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and many other institutions. Known for his masterful command of watercolor, Yarde shaped generations of artists through both his painting and his teaching. Learn about Richard Yarde at www.rmichelson.com/artists/richard-yarde/
Susan Montgomery is a painter whose work explores intersections of women’s history, plant knowledge, and the embodied experience of time. She was a graduate student of Richard Yarde and is a Faculty Member in the Department of Art at Smith College. Leran more about Susan Montgomery at www.susanmontgomeryart.com
