OPEN DOOR GALLERY @ WAM

Located inside the worcester art museum

Designed as a partnership between Worcester Art Museum, Seven Hills Foundation, and Open Door Arts,
ODG@WAM is a working studio and gallery that exhibits and celebrates the work of aspiring, emerging and established artists with disabilities, acting as a catalyst for community convening and conversation with the museum and beyond.

CURRENT EXHIBIT

DaNice D. Marshall: "A Journey of Inclusion and Belonging" 

On view: December 1, 2025–March 4, 2026

Exhibit Opening: 1/19 (MLK Jr. Day), 12:30 - 3:00 PM - The museum is open and free for the holiday!

About the Artist 

DaNice D Marshall is a born writer, who grew up in Boston, MA. In 2016, a serious illness left her with permanent lung damage, hearing loss and unable to walk without a cane.  She started painting abstracts, as she puts it “mostly to watch the paint dry”. DaNice triumphed over these challenges and her artwork evolved to the Narrative Art that you see today. DaNice uses a textured acrylic technique to paint the stories that she can no longer write.

She is a 2025 National Rare Artist Awardee, a 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation CFF Grantee, and received a Mass Visual Art Citation from Governor Healey in February 2025. She is also a 2024 MassMOCA Visual Art Fellow. DaNice lives with her husband Ben, and their dog Tigger in Braintree, MA.

A diverse group of intergenerational people with varying shades of skin tone are seated together on a bus. In the foreground, a Black woman with her long hair in locks and wearing a red coat stands back towards the viewer.
Because of her we can (remembering rosa parks)
A woman with brown skin and long braided hair, worn half up, sits in a side profile. She is looking ahead and smiling. She is wearing a blue dress and has a small child, her daughter, in her lap. Her daughter has brown skin, her hair in pig tails, and is wearing a white shirt with green stars and a red and white striped skirt. The background is a bright yellow, illuminating the figures.
She Named her Daughter Faith
A group of 4 people gathered around an open book with flowers growing out of it. There are three closed books to the left with a bird perched on them. From L to R: A man with light brown skin, a bald head, and a close-shaved beard. He is wearing a suit; A woman with brown skin wearing a colorful, flowered dress and brightly striped head wrap; A woman with brown skin and her hair in locks wearing a grey sweater; and a woman with brown skin and long wavy hair wearing a purple dress.
Free Knowledge Must Bring Own Container
A woman with brown skin wearing a colorful, flowered dress and a brightly striped head wrap holds the hands of a small child with brown skin and wearing a grey onesie with red stars. The child is leaping through the air. The woman is looking down at the child, smiling. The night sky is a deep blue, and a halo and a glowing moon frame the woman’s head.
Dream Catcher

AUDIO TOUR

Below is an audio tour that contains descriptions of the larger series in the exhibitions, reflections from the artists about the art, and image descriptions of all the artworks in order of appearance in the gallery.  

 

 

 

 

 

VIRTUAL TOUR

Now you can enjoy the Open Door Gallery from anywhere! We’re excited to offer virtual gallery tours for all of our exhibitions. Whether you’re unable to visit us in Worcester or prefer to experience the show from home, our virtual gallery provides an accessible way to explore the artwork, exhibitions, and audio tour.

Click Here For a Virtual Tour of This Exhibit

GALLERY COMMITTEE

in 2024, to ensure that multiple voices inform our vision and decision-making, we created a paid Gallery Committee to help design and juror calls for art and advise on best practices to create an accessible, inclusive and representative gallery space.  Along with their guidance, we are also forming deeper relationships with disabled artists throughout the state, disability organizations, and the broader community.

The committee includes Jeff Kasper, Gordon Sasaki, and Dominic Quagliozzi (who all identify as disabled artists), Megan Bent (Open Door Arts Gallery and Communications Manager) and Samantha Cataldo (Curator of Contemporary Art at WAM).

LOCATION AND HOURS

The Open Door Gallery @ WAM is located in the Higgins Education Wing of the Worcester Art Museum, at:
55 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA 01609

Hours:
The gallery is open during regular museum hours,
Wednesday – Sunday: 10 am-4 pm
Third Thursday of every month: 10 am-8 pm

ACCESS

The Open Door Gallery @ WAM is located in the Higgins Education Wing of the Worcester Art Museum. The gallery can be accessed through the Lancaster Street entrance of WAM or through the Tuckerman Street entrance.

The gallery is at the end of the first floor of the Higgins Wing. During warmer months, it can also be accessed directly through the Lancaster courtyard, where there is a ramp and switch-operated double doors.

We are committed to making the gallery experience as accessible as possible by featuring tactile representations of artworks, large print and Braille signage and texts, audio description, and virtual alternatives, as well as providing ASL interpreters and sighted guides for all events. Please contact for access-related questions or requests.

We are proud to participate in the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, Massachusetts Health Connector, and WIC Nutrition Program, by broadening accessibility to cultural programming.

Admissions to our Open Door Galleries and related events is free. EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders will receive free admission to any ticketed events. See the full list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare discounts.