Mass MOCA

A three-day conference promising inspiring ideas and stimulating dialogue led by a remarkable network of business owners, economists, social innovators, technology visionaries, cultural enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and thought leadersâ€"bound by a devotion to region worth preserving and an interest in shaping its cultural and economic future.

During the recent, season ending, Tanglewood Jazz Festival we spoke with Mark Volpe, the managing director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has had his hands full, yet again, with another medical absence by maestro, James Levine. Despite the concerns of some classical critics regarding the continuity and consistency of the orchestra, for the most part, the season has been successful. Even magical. But regarding non-classical programming, of which there is very little in the program, he was quoted making harsh remarks in the Berkshire Eagle. We asked him about that and were surprised but guardedly pleased by his response.

Ralph Brill a gallerist in the Eclipse Mill in North Adams reminds us that Mermaid Beatrice is swimming her way up the Hudson River. She splashes into North Adams after dark on Saturday night as the highlight of the Third Annual Hoosac River Lights event.

When not collecting social security, or hanging out at the senior center shooting pool Crosby, Stills and Nash are out on tour. They brought their dino rock to Tanglwood last night to a sedate, not sedated, audience. Nice way to end a summer in the Shed.

Next summer there are plans for Sidewalk Sam and an army of volunteers to create the world's largest sidewalk painting in the parking lot of Mass MoCA. To give the folks in North Adams a hint of the immensity of that project, and to assist with fund raising, during the Down Town celebration Sam and his wife Tina were on hand to help create an enormous Matisse on Holden Street. Everyone involved had a blast.

Picasso Looks at Degas is among the best exhibitions currently on view in American museums. It remains at the Clark Art Institute until September 12. This is its only American venue before it travels to Barcelona.

The enormously ambitious, weekend long, Solid Sound Festival, curated by Wilco at Mass MoCA was a complete success. What now follows is a critical analysis vital to the momentum for future arts and events development in North Adams. We put out a call for responses and ideas. These ranged from Mayor Dick Alcobright, Mass MoCA PR person, Katherine Myers, to arts leaders, politicians and artists. We invite your responses as well.

The total attendance for the weekend long Wilco Solid Sound Festival was about 10,000. But with weekend passes it is not clear just how many tickets were sold. Probably about half that figure. On an artistic level it was a great success. There was a nice mellow energy. With more advance planning and involvement from North Adams administration, merchants, vendors, artists and citizens it will surely be back bigger and better next year.

Up to 5,000 attended the Wilco Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA on Saturday. The day ended with a two hour plus Wilco performance on Joe's Field. The three day event winds down this afternoon with an acoustic set by Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy.

Two and half years of planning went into the three day Solid Sound Festival that brought the rock band Wilco to Mass MoCA. If all goes well the museum director Joe Thompson hopes for their return. The experimental Festival will be a template for future events on a large scale. It got off to a great start on a glorious summer night in the Berkshires.

There was a mob scene at Mass MoCA as fans awaited the arrival of Leonard Nimoy. The former Mr. Spock from Star Trek was having his first museum level exhibition. Many who volunteered to be photographed as their Secret Selves were on hand for the celebrity event. It was also the weekend of the annual Bang on the Can so MoCA was going gang busters.

Since its 1995 Parisian premiere Art by Yasmina Reza has been translated into 30 languages and performed all around he world. On Broadway Reza has won Tonys for Art as well as God of Carnage. Art was presented as a staged reading at the Clark in collaboration with Williamstown Theatre Festival several months ago. It is presented at Barrington Stage Company this summer. There will be a free staged reading at Mass MoCA on August 4. We wonder why this play is so universally admired?

The Williams College Museum of Art is collaborating with North Adams and DownStreet. There is a community derived project with the artist, Pepon Osorio. He has created an installation of found objects rotating on a carousel. It will be displayed this summer in an abandoned car dealership. In the fall it will be packed up and reinstalled at WCMA. We discussed the project with WCMA director, Lisa Corrin.

Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation announced today that the grant application deadline for the Artists Resource Trust (A.R.T) is August 1. A.R.T. provides grants to mid-career New England artists in financial need. Non-profit organizations wishing to show, commission or purchase work by mature artists living in New England may also apply.

The Berkshire season was launched in a sensational manner with three sold out Tanglewood performances by James Taylor and fellow singer/ songwriter, the legendary Carole King. They shared music, memories and intimate moments during concerts that averaged two and a half hours. Fans who bought lawn tickets last winter were rewarded by a gorgeous summer evening under the stars.

An often perplexed, if forgiving, crowd seemed relieved when he and his accompanist, Walter Parks (whom Havens never mentioned, whose presence he never acknowledged) negotiated their way back to coherence in the language of music. Richie Havens’ artistry has mellowed but not lost much of its power and none, really, of its sweetness. His rhythms drive like a locomotive through the mists and downpours of yesteryear, spanning a generation and, as it were, a continent, undergirded all the while with a steady and persistent optimism that charms even as it meanders, disengaged, from song to song.

This summer through fall foliage the arts are flourishing in North Adams. Now in its eleventh year Mass MoCA is lending a helping hand to a vital, imaginative and ever more vital arts community. New Mayor Dick Alcombright is working shoulder to shoulder with Joe Thompson of Mass MoCA, MCLA, local galleries, artists and community leaders. Now in its third year there are 35 stops on the Down Street arts map. There's a free trolley to get you around town. Events include a huge Wilco Festival at Mass MoCA, the Eagle Street Beach Party, and River Lights III. A world record sidewalk drawing is in the planning stages. Lots of family fun from now till whenever.

Roomful of Teeth is an ambitious work-in-progress with the stated intent of bringing the full range of human vocal potential to bear upon the aesthetic experience. Friday’s performance at Mass MoCA showcased works by Caleb Burhans, Caroline Shaw, Eric Dudley, William Brittelle, Judd Greenstein, Rinde Eckert and Avery Griffin. The play of a cappella sound waves against bone, tooth, beam and brick in a high-ceilinged, sold-out room pulsed with energies that seemed unearthly but were firmly rooted in the human.

In April James Levine, the artistic director of Boston Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera, underwent back surgery. While he planned a season for Tangelwood he has now withdrawn from the program. It is hoped that he will recover in time for the fall seasons of the BSO and Met. This is a repeat of his absence from Tanglewood following surgery after the opening concerts in 2008. Given chronic health issues there is speculation about his long term role in Boston and New York. Renowned conductors will fill the vacant slots in Lenox this season.

With seven additional visual art destinations over last year’s offerings and 11 new galleries, this year’s DownStreet Art initiative â€" organized by the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center (BCRC) at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) â€" not only will increase in scope and size; its installations will highlight communities from around the world.

The conceptual/ minimalist artist, critic, philosopher and theorist, Donald Judd (1928-1994) had radical ideas founding a contemporary art museum on a 340 acre former military base in Marfa, Texas. Today Marfa's Chinati and Donald Judd Foundations are major destinations for cultural tourism. As with Dia Beacon, in New York, and Mass MoCA in North Adams there has been a dramatic impact on the local economy and lifetstyle. Whether this is good or bad is a matter of who you talk to. In Marfa we got an earfull.

A diverse array of musical guests have been added to the line up of Wilco's first SOLID SOUND FESTIVAL, a three-day festival of music, art, comedy, film and interactivity which takes place at MASS MoCA on August 13 - 15. Joining the Chicago band are Sub Pop's Avi Buffalo and Vetiver; guitarist Sir Richard Bishop; Bennington, VT trio Mountain Man; Portland, ME indie-rockers Brenda; North Adams, MA duo The Books; and Chicago's jazz combo the Deep Blue Organ Trio.

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.

Petah Coyne's baroque works, delicately combining tinted, waxed flowers and taxidermy, will rise up from the floor, and hanging sculptures will descend from the ceiling, taking full advantage of the multiple vantage points of MASS MoCA's vast gallery spaces. The exhibition titled Everything That Rises Must Converge (after a short story by Flannery O'Connor) will open at Mass MoCA on Saturday, May 29, with an opening reception from 5-7 PM.

The launch of the Fourth of July arts season in the Berkshires will be like an explosion in a fireworks factory. There has never been a greater offering of superb and diverse performances. While three days of James Taylor and Carole King at Tanglewood sold out ages ago there are many other top options. Mass MoCA is going head to head with Tanglewood on Friday night. It has Richie Havens vs. The Pops. Barrington Stage and Williamstown Theatre Festival will duke it out with dueling Sondheim musicals. There is a ton of stuff at Shakespeare & Company including the opening of John Douglas Thompson in Richard III. Jacobs Pillow and Berkshire Theatre Festival are in the mix. We offer a complete rundown.