Mass MOCA

In 1970 the Venezuelan dancer and educator, Tina Ramirez, founded the community based Ballet Hispanico. Under her administration the company commisioned 70 plus works. We saw one of them Palladium at MASS MoCA in October 2006, co sponsored by Jacob's Pillow Dance. This past week the company performed at Pillow in a program created by artistic director Eduardo Vilaro who followed Ramirez in 2009.

The Eclipse Mill Gallery, in North Adams, is featuring a special exhibition of unique drinking vessels "I'll Drink to That." It opens with a reception for the artists on Friday, August 4, from 6 to 8pm. It remains on view, Thursday to Sunday, from 10 am through 5pm, through August 27. Some 25 renowned potters from coast to coast will display their work.

Works by Stephen Hannock are in global museum collections. His Oxbow painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be included in a survey of Hudson River artist Thomas Cole. Hannock's mate Sting will also be involved in the project. When he created paintings for his friend's hometown of Newscastle the studies were shown at the Berkshire Museum. He gave one of the studies to the museum to honor philanthropist Nancy Fitzgerald. The fact of that work and the entire fine arts collection of the museum is unknown. We talked at length with the Berkshire based global artist about the impact of the museum's strategy to sell its fine arts collection with a radical makeover as an interactive educational museum for history and science.

When the Berkshire Museum announced plans to focus on science and history there was initial euphoria. To reach a goal of $60 millon, $20 for renoivation, and $40 million for endowment it will sell 40 works of art including two paintings by Norman Rockwell which the artist gave to the museum and his Berkshire neighbors. In so doing it violates deaccession restrictions for art museums. In a shuffle Van Shields, the director of BM, has stated that he does not run an art musuem and is not bound by ethical guidelines. That may change as coverage evolves from local to national news.

Last night rocker Boz Scaggs launched the 2017 popular artists series at Tanglewood. It was a soggy evening in Lenox with some hearty souls huddled under umbrellas on the lawn. The former lead singer of the Steve Miller Band performed a stunning and soulful set of old and new material including highlights with superhits "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle." Former Steely Dan pianist and vocalist, Michael McDonald, opened with a 90 minute set.

Wilco headlined the fifth Solid Sound festival, a sell out, at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. The band played for two evenings and Jeff tweedy returned on Sunday to play with his son, Spencer, and special friends of the band.

Jane Hudson is known to the Berkshire arts community as the other half of the rock duo, Jeff and Jane, as well as for tending shop at various incarnations of Hudson's Antiques. On Sunday, June 17 from 3:30 to 5:30 PM., an exhibition of her abstract works on paper will open at Hudson Art, 112 Water Street in Williamstown.

This summer the Clark Art Institute features four special exhibitions Picasso Encounters, an exhibition of prints with a few key paintings, as well as Orchestrating Elegance; Alma Tadema and the Marquand Music Room and two focused on prints and paintings by Helen Frankenthaler. The museum launched its expansion with a spate of blockbusters but is now moving into a new era with less hoopla under its reserved and scholarly French-born director Olivier Meslay.

It was a challenge to find a legal parking space anywhere near the museum in North Adams. On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, from dawn to dusk, there were long lines and a constant stream of visitors. There may have been some 6,000 during the day and another 10,000 attended the rock concert by Cake on MASS MoCA's Joe Thompson Field.

As part of the dawn to dusk celebration of the launch of Building Six of MASS MoCA there was a titubating parade of the Sound Suits of the artist Nick Cave. The event was choreographed by Williams College professor Sandra Burton. Cave was present for the occasion.

During a media tour of the final phase of build out for the 17 acre MASS MoCA campus artists, curators and installlers were working around the clock. While some of the works were not ready for prime time we caught an exciting glimpse of what visitors will encounter this summer in North Adams. The development of Building Six adds 130,000 square-feet of usable space. For renovations, programming and endowment the museum has raised $65 million.

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival has added two more opportunities for audiences to experience Trisha Brown Dance Company. Originally a five-performance run, August 16-19 in the Ted Shawn Theatre, the Pillow has added a Thursday matinee to the company’s schedule. Members of Trisha Brown Dance Company will also perform the site-specific work Trisha Brown: In Plain Site at the Clark Art Institute on Sunday, August 13, a co-presentation of Jacob’s Pillow Dance and the Clark.

During the 19th Century and era of modernism Cape Ann was home to leading American artists. That faded in the post war era leaving a mostly tacky, conservative, artist colony. Several years ago Matthew Swift launched Trident Gallery as a matrix for Gloucester's best and brightest contemporary artists. While visiting we attended the closing party and special performances of the provocative exhibition The Political Body.

While spending time near an Ocean in the USA or Europe, as well as Africa, I have always been drawn to the beach after a storm, while rough weather and high waves were still present. So did I venture recently onto a beach in North Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in stormy weather and took these accompanying photographs.

Wilco headlines and supports a biannual music and art festival at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. The festival this year takes place from Friday, June 23rd to Sunday June 25th.

MASS MoCA launches into the summer season on May 28 with the opening of Building 6, the third phase of campus development, which encompasses more than 130,000 square feet of interior renovations to its 19th-century mill buildings.

When the Institute of Contemporary Art opened its waterfront home there were awards for the dramatic design by Diller Scofido and Renfro. Immediately, however, it was obvious that with 65,000 square feet, and just its top floor for exhibitions, there was no plan for expansion and growth. For the next five to ten years the ICA is leasing a 15,000 square foot industrial place in East Boston. Visitors will commute by ferry to the seasonal Watershed which opens in the summer of 2018.

The musical lineup for the 2017 Solid Sound Festival, which takes place June 23-25 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA, has been revealed. Let the games begin.

North Adams has bsen selected as one of five finalists for Main Street Season Two. Please help by casting a vote once a day from now through February 16. The prize for the Small Business Revolution contest is $500,000.

Following the critical acclaim and record-breaking attendance of Festival 2016, Jacob’s Pillow Dance announces its 85th Anniversary Season of exciting programming featuring world premieres, commissions, site-specific work, international artists, live music, and Pillow-exclusive engagements. Running June 21-August 27, Festival 2017 marks a notable moment in the history of the organization, with the first season programmed by Jacob’s Pillow Director Pamela Tatge who joined the organization in April of 2016.

Sliding into the Holiday season followed by the dead of wintwr Mass MoCA is looking on the bright side. The North Adams based mega museum has posted a full schedule of enticing upcoming events. It's time to mark the calendar.

The holiday season comes early this year. From December 1 through 21, MASS MoCA opens its doors and waives admission to all Berkshire County residents. MASS MoCA hopes to welcome as many friends and neighbors as possible with its first-ever Free Berkshire County program.

Dyno rockers Jeff and Jane Hudson will present an (ahem) New Wave Party at the Williams Inn on November 19. The vintage punk rockers are promoting their latest release The Middle which combines new and old material. Until recently they operated an antiques store at Mass MoCA. Jane is a legendary genius while Jeff is generally viewed as a piece of work. Together they make strange and rhapsodic music. Never miss one of their iconic events.

Bling, bling, bling went our heartstrings during a first encounter with Nick Cave's "Until" which will be on view at MASS MoCA for a year. The installation which has a festive, crowd pleasing appeal is a not readily apparent statement about deaths of African-Americans in police custody in places like Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere.

The first day of the Fresh Grass Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts, was very lively with the appearance of several major blue grass bands. Day two is a full day of music, a day that will bring together many of the great performers from the industry.