Destination Berkshires, MA

BERKSHIRES & BEYOND

DESTINATION BERKSHIRES, BERKSHIRES, MA MA & & BEYOND BEYOND

Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895), The Sisters, 1869, oil on canvas, 20 ½ x 32". National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Gift of Mrs. Charles S. Carstairs, 1952.9.2. Courtesy American Federation of Arts. At Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

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he Berkshires, the region of western Massachusetts stretching over 946 square miles from Williamstown in the far northwest corner of the state, down to Sheffield, near the Connecticut border, has inspired artists, writers and musicians for more than a century. Art, music and culture play well out here among rolling hills and green meadows, a landscape that inspired painters such as Thomas Cole and George Inness and noted 19th-century authors including Herman Melville, Edith Wharton and Nathaniel Hawthorne and continues to inspire today.

More than two million tourists a year visit the Berkshires’ artistic, literary and cultural sites.

There’s so much to see and do in this bucolic part of the state, in fact, that it’s difficult to decide what to do first.

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For a broad view of artistic activities in the Berkshires, visit the Guild of Berkshire Artists’ website (rwsag.org), formerly the RichmondWest Stockbridge Artists’ Guild, for a list of member exhibitions at sites around the region.

The Guild has more than 100 members who host open artist studio tours on selected dates during the summer, from south county Berkshire to Pittsfield. Guild members host near-daily plein air painting sessions, on days when the weather is nice, through October. “We go everywhere,” says Rose Tannenbaum, artist and Guild board member. “You can find us at The Mount, the Berkshire Botanical Gardens, the Rockwell Museum and Hancock Shaker Village. It’s colorful and fun and people love to watch us paint.”

The guild also hosts summer member shows at the Lenox Library gallery in July and in the 1854

Town Hall in West Stockbridge in August.

A lovely starting point for your cultural driving tour is the northwest corner of the Berkshires in North Adams, a former industrial and manufacturing center that’s home to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA).

MASS MoCA, housed in a former industrial space, is the largest contemporary art museum in the U.S., focusing on immersive installations such as Sol LeWitt’s psychedelic wall paintings. Inside the massive museum complex are several fine art galleries, including your first stop, CYNTHIAREEVES. Representing artists from around the world, the gallery highlights sculpture, site-based work, paintings and works on paper. From May 19–June 23, the gallery features monoprints of geometrical shapes by sculptor Willard Boepple and from June 30–August 4, oil paintings and

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BERKSHIRES & BEYOND screen prints by South African figurative artist Lionel Smit. Later in the summer, visiting artists will create on-site in the gallery, inviting conversation with visitors.

Also on the MASS MoCA campus is Ferrin Contemporary, featuring evocative contemporary work by international artists working in clay and ceramics. This summer, the gallery hosts a series of exhibitions under the name Directions.

“The purpose is to highlight transitional moments in our artists’ creative processes,” says Alexandra Jelleberg, associate director. Sergei Isupov’s sculpture is featured in the first show, through July 22 (his 11-foot-tall ceramic figure, pointing to other works in Directions, inspired the show’s name). The second Directions exhibit features an installation by Indiana artist Evan

Hauser, whose ceramic works explore preservation of the American landscape and the interaction between people and the land.

A short walk away, yet also at MASS MoCA, is The Artist Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization that produces highly visual, scholarly art publications. “Our focus is on scholarship and picture books,” says executive director Leslie Pell van Breen. “We partner with artists, museums, artists’ estates and foundations to create our publications.” The Foundation also has a gallery which hosts several exhibits a year by artists featured in their books. Through June 2, the gallery features the photorealistic paintings of Tom Blackwell. Later in the summer, hyperrealist sculptures by Carole A. Feuerman, focus of a book called Swimmers, will be displayed.

After taking in North Adams’ cultural offerings, drive west along Route 2, also known as the Mohawk Trail. One of America’s earliest scenic roads, it follows an ancient Native American footpath connecting the Hudson and Connecticut River valleys. It’s only six miles to picturesque Williamstown, home to Williams College and a lively visual arts and cultural scene, including the Williams College Museum of Art and numerous galleries. A stone’s throw from the museum is the Greylock Gallery, specializing in traditional and contemporary art by emerging and established artists. “Williamstown is a wonderful part of New England,” says Rachele Dario, the gallery’s director. “People here really appreciate the arts.” Greylock Gallery represents 16 artists, primarily painters based in New England, but with

contemporary ceramic sculpture

CRISTINA CÓRDOVA

July 29–Sept 16, 2018 1315 MASS MoCA Way North Adams, MA

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Dedicated to art that expands the boundaries we create so as to see more of what is possible...

ST. FRANCIS GALLLERY An ever changing impressive collection of well established local artists and exciting new talent Friday–Monday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

1370 Pleasant St., Lee, MA

EXPLORE CHESTERWOOD MAY 26 – OCTOBER 8, 2018 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition Featuring the work of George Rickey June 30 – October 8 Sponsored by the Nancy Woodson Spire Foundation

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Home, Studio and Gardens of Lincoln Memorial sculptor, Daniel Chester French Open daily, 10am – 5pm Self-guiding and tours available 413-298-3579 chesterwood.org

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BERKSHIRES & BEYOND international exposure. During May and June, the gallery showcases landscapes by painters Tracy Helgeson, Stanley Taft, John MacDonald, Curt Hanson and Teri Malo, as well as sculpture

by Susan Read Cronin and Leslie Peck.

A short drive from downtown Williamstown is one of New England’s finest art museums, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

Known simply as “The Clark” by locals, the museum, sitting on 140 acres, is both a public art museum and a center for art and academic research. Its permanent collection of European and American art is world-renowned, including works by French impressionists as well as American artists such as Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent and George Inness. Opening June 9 is Women Artists in Paris: 1850-1900, showcas-

ing artists such as Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt and Rosa Bonheur, who worked in Paris during the latter half of the 19th century. Also beginning June 9 is The Art of Iron, drawn from the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles in Rouen, France, one of the world’s finest museums devoted to wrought iron. On June 29, the museum presents a video installation by Los Angeles–based media artist Jennifer Steinkamp, who digitally animates natural and abstract forms. “The Clark campus’ rural environment is a good opportunity to feature work like Steinkamp’s that benefits from sitespecific architecture,” says Sally Morse Majewski, the Clark’s public relations director.

Williamstown is at the far western end of the Mohawk Trail. You’ll reach your next cultural destination, Pittsfield (the largest city in

Anything But Simple: Shaker Gift Drawings and the Women Who Made Them On view May 12-Sept 3

Berkshire County) by driving south on Route 7, winding through the Berkshire Hills and past Mount Greylock State Park, home to the state’s highest peak.

Your first stop is the Berkshire Museum, an art, history and natural science museum in downtown Pittsfield. Opening June 2 is Art of the Hills: A Juried Exhibition of Berkshire-based Artists, featuring work by emerging and established Berkshire artists in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, mixed media, printmaking, photography and sculpture. Artists living within a 60-mile radius of the museum were invited to submit their recent work. Check out the opening reception on Saturday, June 2.

A short walk from the Berkshire Museum is the Berkshire Music School, where live perfor-

MODERNISM. INSIDE AND OUT.

Silo Songs A permanent sound installation by Brad Wells

OpenS June 9

Henry Klimowicz, Abelardo Morell, and Marko Remec Contemporary artists explore Shaker landscapes

HancockShakerVillage.org Pittsfield, MA • 413.443.0188

Take a short trip over to the Hudson Valley to visit the studio of

FAY WOOD S C U L P T O R / P A I N T E R

CELEBRATE OUR 5TH SEASON IN THE NEW STUDIO WITH US Tour the Studio Hear About Wood’s Unique Work Learn About Future Exhibitions

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OPENING JUNE 21

Featuring Cubist masterworks, including pieces

by Picasso, Braque, Gris & Leger

FRELINGHUYSEN MORRIS HOUSE & STUDIO

92 Hawthorne St | Lenox | 413 637 0166 | Thursday–Sunday | Tours | frelinghuysen.org

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BERKSHIRES & BEYOND mance is an integral part of the school’s curriculum. A nonprofit organization, the music school has offered music lessons for children and adults for more than 70 years. “The school has lots of free, open student recitals in May and June,” says Tracy Wilson, director of the school. On May 15, the school features a public performance by teen voice students; another live public performance caps off an adult cabaret workshop on May 17. June is recital month with adult and youth musical recitals. On Saturday, June 16, retired Massachusetts judge and piano student Francis Spina performs a solo piano recital.

It’s back into the car for a short drive west on Route 20 to Hancock Shaker Village, a historic community celebrating the Shakers. For the first time in 20 years, the museum is exhibiting its

rare collection of gift drawings in Anything but Simple: Shaker Gift Drawings and the Women Who Made Them. Opening May 12, the exhibit highlights these unique drawings of the spirit world and women’s roles during the time of their creation. “Shaker gift drawings are very rare,” says Hancock Shaker Village communications manager Maribeth Cellana. “They’re not displayed for long because they’re very fragile.” On June 10, the village opens a new site-specific sound art installation called Silo Songs, created by Grammy Award-winning composer Brad Wells. This immersive musical experience is based on Shaker music and history and will be installed in one of the museum’s two restored historic silos.

After taking in the sights at Hancock Shaker Village, follow Route 20 east, back through

Pittsfield, then head south for a short drive to the town of Lenox. Recently named the best small town in the Northeast by USA Today, Lenox is home to Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a performance site for classical and contemporary music. In the heart of downtown Lenox is Sohn Fine Art, founded by local photographer Cassandra Sohn. The gallery specializes in contemporary photography and art by international and local artists. Through June 10 is Domestication, a group exhibition of photography featuring works by George Cavalletto, Susan Copich, Hildy Pincus Kronen, Anne Mourier, Roberta Trenton and Bill Wright. Beginning June 15, the gallery hosts a camera-less photography show. “All the art-

Guild of Berkshire Artists

w Member shows: Lenox in July West Stockbridge in August w Art Studio Tours, July-October Jul 14 • Aug 11 • Sep 15 • Oct 6

w Plein Air, May-October

Come see us in the Berkshires, MA

berkshireartists.org

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BERKSHIRES & BEYOND ists create their works without a camera, using light-sensitive papers combined with light exposure through colors or shapes,” Sohn says.

Participating artists include Gary Fabian Miller, an expert in the medium, and Berkshire-based artist Chuck Kelton.

To experience more contemporary art, drive five minutes from the Sohn Fine Art down Hawthorne Avenue to the Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio, the one-time home and studio of American abstract artists and collectors George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen. Located on 40 acres abutting Tanglewood, the stucco and glass home houses abstract masterpieces

by Braque, Léger, Gris and Picasso as well as Morris and Frelinghuysen. This summer, for the first time, works in the collection, including

pre-World War I paintings by Picasso and Gris, will be displayed so that visitors can read the labels on the back of the paintings. “It’s a lesson in art authentication,” says Linda Frelinghuysen, communications director. “Reading the labels on the backs of the paintings really helps you understand their stories and origins.” On June 16, the historic house museum celebrates 20 years of being open to the public with a piano concert

by Paul Celebi.

Grand Gilded Age mansions dot the landscape around Lenox, former summer homes for wealthy families from New York and New England. A fine example is The Mount, ten minutes from the Frelinghuysen Morris Home & Studio and the home of Pulitzer Prizewinning author Edith Wharton, known for her

incisive commentaries on early 20th century wealth and society. This summer The Mount partners with SculptureNow to show largescale contemporary sculpture throughout the grounds. Inside the house, in addition to guided tours and exhibits about Wharton’s life, is a photography exhibit called Life in the Dale, featuring early 20th century photos by Augustus Martin, who documented working class life in nearby Lenoxdale. “It’s interesting to see the juxtaposition of Edith Wharton’s life with the immigrants living/working here and building the houses,” says Rebecka B. McDougall, The Mount’s communications director.

Continue on Route 7 south towards your next art stop, Stockbridge. Take a brief detour west on Route 183 to the IS183 Art School of the

Nature, Art, and Glass | A Delicate Balance

photography: acmecreative.com

June 1-26

Raven Skyriver, Entangle, 2017, 32 x 12 x 18"

Featuring works by Kelly O’Dell, Raven Skyriver and Paul Stankard.

Artists Reception - Friday, June 22 from 6:15- 7:30.

Schantz Galleries contemporary glass

schantzgalleries•com

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413•298•3044

3 Elm Street, Stockbridge, MA

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BERKSHIRES & BEYOND Berkshires. In addition to classes for adults in everything from creating floor cloths to batik, and more than 40 summer art camps, the school hosts its annual fundraising gala on May 19.

Based on the theme “Camp Kitchykinky,” it’s a fun, slightly wacky evening that includes lifesize art installations at Camp Eisner in Great Barrington. “It’s a mash-up of John Waters’ films and summer camp, with s’mores, color wars and a touch of Wes Anderson,” says Carrie Wright, the school’s marketing coordinator. “People start designing their costumes well in advance of the event.”

Head south on Route 183, two miles to Stockbridge, a one-time summer resort for wealthy Boston and New York families brimming with music festivals, theater and dance as

well as major art museums, galleries and historic homes and gardens. The town is home to the Norman Rockwell Museum, featuring the world’s largest collection of Norman Rockwell original paintings, as well as his studio, sitting on 36 acres overlooking the Housatonic River.

Through June 9, the museum features work by pulp illustrator Gloria Stoll Karn, one of the few female illustrators of the 1930s-40s. The summer’s major exhibition, Keepers of the Flame: Parrish, Wyeth, Rockwell and the Narrative Tradition, opens June 9. The show connects the golden age of illustration with early European paintings, exploring the connections between American illustrators and artists Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth and Norman Rockwell and tracing their student-to-teacher lineage back to their artistic

WOMEN ARTISTS IN PARIS, 1850–1900

forbearers in the Italian Renaissance. “The show literally places these artists back-to-back with their forefathers,” says Jeremy Clowe, manager of media services at the Rockwell Museum. “It’s a really unique show.”

Drive back to the center of Stockbridge to Chesterwood, summer estate of American sculptor Daniel Chester French. The Colonial Revival residence and studio house nearly 500 pieces of sculpture, including molds, life casts and studies created by the noted public sculptor. French is best known for creating Lexington, MA’s Minute Man monument and the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial.

A contemporary sculpture show throughout the estate grounds this summer features kinetic sculpture by the late George Rickey, an artist whose work was originally displayed at Chesterwood in the 1970s.

Less than a mile walk from Chesterwood is the Schantz Galleries, representing a dazzling array of internationally-renowned glass artists, including Dale Chihuly and Lino Tagliapietra.

From June 1–26, the gallery features the naturalistic works of Paul Stankard, Kelly O’Dell and Raven Skyriver. “These three artists are deeply in tune with their environment and appreciate how glass can be a compelling medium for interpreting flora and fauna,” says gallery owner Jim Schantz. Stankard, who is in his early 80s, makes detailed floral paperweights and will demonstrate his flameworking technique in a workshop June 22–23. O’Dell and Skyriver both worked with American glass artist William Morris. O’Dell’s ammonites, coral and fossil-like

PARRISH, WYETH, ROCKWELL

Williamstown, Massachusetts clarkart.edu Women Artists in Paris, 1850–1900 is organized by the American Federation of Arts. Guest curator Laurence Madeline, Chief Curator for French National Heritage, was aided by Suzanne Ramljak, AFA Curator, and Jeremiah William McCarthy, AFA Associate Curator. Presentation of the exhibition at the Clark is coordinated by Esther Bell, Robert and Martha Berman Lipp Senior Curator at the Clark. The exhibition is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Additional funding is provided by the JFM Foundation, Elizabeth K. Belfer, the Florence Gould Foundation, Monique Schoen Warshaw, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Clare McKeon, Steph and Jody La Nasa, Victoria Ershova Triplett, the American-Scandinavian Foundation, and the Finlandia Foundation. Support for the accompanying publication provided by Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

Presentation of Women Artists in Paris at the Clark is made possible by the generous contribution of Denise Littlefield Sobel, with additional support from the Dr. Lee MacCormick Edwards Charitable Foundation.

Maxfield Parrish. The Lantern Bearers, 1908. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR. Photography by Dwight Primiano.

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Anna Ancher (Danish, 1855–1935), The Harvesters (detail), 1905. Oil on canvas, 17 1/8 x 22 1/8 in. Art Museums of Skagen, Denmark, SKM1465.

Courtesy American Federation of Arts

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Stockbridge, MA

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BERKSHIRES & BEYOND

Fay Wood, Reunion, 2018, found objects: metal, rag paper, paint, beeswax sculpture, 36 x 44 x 42". Courtesy of the artist.

panels are both sculptural and naturalistic. Raven Skyriver’s glass sculptures interpret Pacific Northwest marine life in a diverse array of forms, colors and textures.

Drive east on Route 7 to South Lee and the charming St. Francis Gallery. Housed in a former church, the gallery features the work of local artists as well as a carefully curated selection of work by young Kenyan artists. A portion of proceeds from sales of the artworks supports gallery owners Philip Pryjma and Karen Smith’s nonprofit foundation funding water and health agriculture projects in rural villages in western Kenya. During their travels, they work with Kenyan children to create art which they bring back to display in the gallery. Through June 2, the gallery features emerging Berkshirebased artists in High Voltage. The first summer exhibition in June features abstract portraiture

by Jean Claude Goldberg, a French artist and former illustrator who escaped the Holocaust (“He appears to be a young artist because of his energy,” says Pryjma) and line drawings by Dana Piazza.

Continue south on Route 7 to Great Barrington, home to Monument Mountain, where Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville once hiked, and a lively downtown filled with shops and restaurants. A little further

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south is L’Atelier Berkshires, a contemporary art gallery. Through June 6, the gallery presents Viva La Femme!, an exhibition of contemporary work by 21 rising female artists including painters Leah Lopez, Tanya Harsch and Aleksandra Katargina. A highlight of the show is artist Gail Rothschild’s life-sized woman made of earth that hangs from the ceiling. “It’s a big show featuring lots of different mediums and styles,” says Natalie Tyler, gallery director. “We represent breakout artists from around the world who are

EdithWharton.org SculptureNow.org

trying to get recognition.” Starting June 7, the gallery features paintings of classic cars by Shan Fannin and landscapes by Ella Delyanis.

If you’re interested in venturing a little farther afield, take Route 7 back to the Massachusetts Turnpike and head west to New York State.

Take the exit for 87 South (the New York State Thruway), paralleling the Hudson River, and meander over to the historic town of Saugerties, sandwiched between the base of the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River. Saugerties is an eclectic community rich in art and history.

Although she now lives and works in the Hudson River Valley, sculptor Fay Wood is originally from the Berkshires. Her gallery and studio, Fay Wood Gallery, is open weekends throughout the summer and fall. Using metal, vintage wood, fabric and found objects, Wood creates abstract sculptures and collages. She works with form and space, often adding humor to her pieces. “I’m a serious sculptor,” she says.

“But my work has been described as having a whimsical quality, which is an excellent way to describe it.”

The highways and byways of the Berkshires and Hudson River Valley offer a wealth of artistic and cultural discoveries. From cubist art to glass, ceramic sculpture to found objects, and grand historic homes to major art museums, there’s possibly more fine art and culture in this part of the region than anywhere else in New England. It’s no wonder the area remains as vibrant and relevant as it was centuries ago.

—Debbie Kane

SculptureNow

at The Mount 2018

An Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition June 1 – October 31 Lenox, MA

Fusiform Gyrus by Vincent Hawley Photo by Vincent Hawley

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