SHELBURNE FALLS — A steady flow of art is arriving to the Shelburne-Buckland Community Center at 53 Main St. this week for the Colrain Historical Society’s fifth annual Colrain on Canvas.

The show, to be held Saturday, Sept. 21, and Sunday, Sept. 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will showcase more than 50 paintings from 40 artists. The art depicts scenes in Colrain as well as neighboring hilltowns.

Organizer Deborah Wheeler said community members keep reaching out year after year offering art for the show, with the vast majority of work being loaned from private collections. Each piece is new to Colrain on Canvas.

“It’s just amazing,” Wheeler said in an interview. “Art just keeps showing up.”

The show is intentionally non-curated, allowing guests to see a variety of artists’ perspectives on the region.

“The artists are contemporary or deceased, famous and not so famous, as well as self-taught,” Wheeler wrote in an event announcement. “The mixed-media skill of the artist and their perspective is part of the magic experienced when walking through the rows of art. Many of the paintings show a period of time long gone and people find themselves reminiscing.”

This year’s show will include historical paintings dating back to the early 1800s. Regionally famous painters whose artwork will be on display include George Gardner Symons, Steve Maniatty, Robert Strong Woodward, William Lester Stevens and Hale Johnson. Paintings show scenes of downtown Shelburne Falls in the 1930s, rural roads in Colrain, trees being tapped to harvest maple syrup and more.

Plus, Wheeler said there will be pieces on display from contemporary artists such as Nina Anderson Coler and Jim Murphy of Ashfield, and historical maps of the region.

For the first time, the show will also include embroidery. Wheeler said two embroidered samplers by young Colrain girls, dated 1818 and 1830, will be on display.

“They would make these samplers to demonstrate they could sew, and it would often feature the alphabet, birds and different stitching techniques,” Wheeler explained.

Three pieces can be bid on as part of a silent auction. Prints of some of the paintings and maps will also be available for guests to purchase.

Tickets to Colrain on Canvas cost $10. Proceeds support renovations to the Colrain Historical Society’s museum at 8 Main Road.

Wheeler said the Historical Society has been working for years to bring its 1840s building, which was bequeathed to the town by G. William Pitt, into compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. For example, the society aims to create accessible restrooms.

The society is also working to improve insulation and climate control in the building to better protect its historical documents and artifacts.

“We’re trying our hardest to get [the museum] open,” Wheeler said. “All the money we raise is put to good use.”

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.