Harrison Gallery

The Eclipse Mill Artists Annual Exhibition will be held September 6 to September 29 at 243 Union Street in North Adams, Mass. 01247. This serves as a preview for Open Studios on Saturday and Sunday, October 19 and 20. The complex, which houses forty live/ work lofts, is the epicenter of an ever growing community of artists in Northern Berkshire County.

Exhibitions at Mass MoCA in North Adams are usually on view for a long time. The Sol LeWitt installation, for example, is scheduled for 25 years. But internationally acclaimed landscape painter, Stephen Hannock, who has a studio in the Berkshires, has set a new record for the briefest exhibition at the museum. Last night was the opening and closing for works that were completed the night before the event. This was an opportunity to view two major paintings before they leave town.

Two years ago the Williamstown sculptor, Len Poliandro, showed his work for the first time in the annual Berkshire Salon that launches the season for the Eclipse Mill Gallery. On Friday, April 16 he opens a two person show with the painter Dawn Nelson that has been curated by the artist Julie Seitel. He discussed the work and what this exhibition means to him.

When Mass MoCA opened a decade ago artists migrated to North Adams attracted by large, cheap loft spaces. For the second season that growing arts community is trying to revitalize the business district through a city wide project known as DownStreet. Artists hope that their commitment and sweat equity will start to pay off.

A broad range of work by 27 artists is on view in the Eclipse Annual Exhibition. The annual Open Studios event will occur during the run of the show from October 17 through October 19.

The Eclipse Mill in North Adams includes the Eclipse Mill Gallery which has just opened its second show of the season "Off the Wall: Art of the Eclipse in the Third Dimension." There is also the Ralph Brill Gallery which is about to open "Nude & Naked" and River Hill Pottery which is participating in "Off the Wall." Visitors to the gallery also enjoy browsing through books offered by bookseller Grover Askins. There's a lot to take in with one stop on the way to and from Mass MoCA.

Some 47 artists from the Berkshires, New York State, Vermont and Cape Cod are participating in the first annual Berkshire Salon at the Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams.