POWER OF THE PEOPLE: ART AND DEMOCRACY Just in time for everyone's favorite quadrennial national heart attack, this exhibition serves as prelude to a harrowing election, with 180 works of art from Ancient Greece forward on the suddenly slippery subject of democracy, and how it was made, maintained -- and frighteningly, how and whether you can keep it. Oct. 26-Feb. 16. Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 465 Huntington Ave. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org
JEFFREY GIBSON: POWER FULL BECAUSE WE'RE DIFFERENT Gibson, who is Choctaw-Cherokee, was the first Native American artist to be named the United States' official representative at the Venice Biennale of Art this year. From that really big show, Gibson goes even bigger this fall at Mass MoCA's Buiding Five, a football field-size gallery that he'll fill with seven brand-new oversize garment works -- Gibson works frequently with textiles -- that evoke performances integral to an array of Native American faiths. Opening Nov. 3. Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams. 413-662-2111, massmoca.org
DEEP WATERS: FOUR ARTISTS AND THE SEA Contemporary artists John Akomfrah and Ayana V. Jackson bridge a couple of centuries and cultures in this presentation pairing them with renowned historical painters J.M.W. Turner and John Singleton Copley centered on their shared fascinations with the sea from very different points of view. Nov. 9, 2024-Nov. 9, 2025 Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 465 Huntington Ave. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org
MAINE
LEE KRASNER: GEOMETRIES OF EXPRESSION Krasner remains unfairly best known as the long-suffering wife of Jackson Pollock, a role that largely overtook her stature as an accomplished abstract painter in her own right. This show helps re-situate her in the vanguard of American art in the 1930s and '40s, and the political activism that spurred her work onward. Through Nov. 17. Ogunquit Museum of American Art, 543 Shore Road, Ogunquit. 207-646-4909, www.ogunquitmuseum.org
AS WE ARE With 14 young artists either from Maine or Maine-adjacent -- whether by education, community, or inspiration -- this exhibition serves as a showcase for the state's vibrant creative culture, both at home and dispersed throughout the country and world. Spanning painting, drawing, photography, ceramics, and sculpture, a diverse array of work helps demonstrate the breadth of the state's contemporary cultural life. Through April 27. Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square, Portland. 207-775-6148, portlandmuseum.org
NEW HAMPSHIRE
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT AND OUATTARA WATTS: A DISTANT CONVERSATION Basquiat, as most know, was a giant of American art in the 1980s, his superstardom cut short at just 27, when he died of a heroin overdose in 1988. Watts, a New York-based painter, met Basquiat just seven months before he died, but their friendship was quick and deep and forged through their shared passion for painting. In this exhibition, Watts reflects on the creative bond that has transcended death. Oct, 25-Feb. 23. Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester. 603-669-6144, currier.org
RHODE ISLAND
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: EDO'S NAKASENDŌ For the Hokusai fans -- and they are legion -- this exhibition showcases a 19th-century map of a significant national byway by the iconic Japanese artist, highlighted with 15 of his woodblock prints of gloriously scenic stops along the way. Nov. 16-April 27. RISD Museum, 20 N. Main St., Providence. 401-454-6500, risdmuseum.org
VERMONT
HANDSTITCHED WORLDS: THE CARTOGRAPHY OF QUILTS Quilts have always played a far more than decorative role in American culture, as signifiers of social standing, for one thing, or as a narrative medium in their own right. But none surpasses their significance as wayfinding tools for enslaved people fleeing north on the Underground Railroad, where quilts would lead the way from peril. This show riffs on quilts as landscapes, actual, spiritual, and emotional, drawing greater meaning from their patchwork. Through Dec. 6. The Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont, 61 Colchester Ave., Burlington. 802-656-0750, www.uvm.edu/fleming