Sixth Annual Berkshire Salon
Eclipse Mill Gallery May 10 to June 2
By: Charles Giuliano - May 09, 2013
The Berkshire Salon was founded six years ago on the premise of the famous Parisian Salon des Refusés of 1863. It is an unjuried, eclectic exhibition open to all artists of the region willing to submit one work for the modest handling fee of $15.
Considering the welcoming and all inclusive nature of the project the exhibitions, including a wide rage of established and non professional artists, have been remarkably consistent in their quality.
Speaking for the many who work on all aspects of the project this may indeed be the best ever salon.
It is certainly worth coming and seeing what is being created in the Berkshires. As always there is a lively mix of familiar and unknown artists with many pleasant surprises.
A number of the exhibitors have shown in all of the Salons while some are first timers.
The Salon opens with a reception from 6 to 8 PM on Friday, May 10. The Eclipse Mill Gallery is open on weekends, Saturdays and Sundays, from noon to five PM through June 2.
The challenge of the Salon is to make visual sense of a range of work, media, and styles. There is an element of legerdemain in making the installation seem neat, logical and fair to all of the individual artists.
Primarily this entails a kind of Noah’s Arc sorting out genres and species. The gallery space logically falls into a series of bays between the exposed vertical posts. This creates a number of categorical subdivisions grouping, for example, photography, abstraction, or representational works. There are also several pedestals displaying jewelry or miniature works on small easels.
The fun of a Salon is ultimately that visitors to the exhibition comprise its jury. Therein lays beauty in the eyes of beholders.
Looking around the densely installed gallery with works by some 47 artists one participant commented “There are a lot of stories on display.”