Williams College Museum of Art

The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) presents Asco: Elite of the Obscure, A Retrospective, 1972–1987, the first retrospective to present the wide-ranging workof the Chicano performance and conceptual art group Asco (1972–1987), co-organized with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and on view February 4 through July 29, 2012.

On an unseasonably mild February afternoon, during the off season, we sat with Mass MoCA director, Joe Thompson, for an in depth overview of his 25 years of developing the largest contemporary art museum in North America. In this first installment we discussed the beginnings and mandates for the 17 acre campus and its 650,000 square feet of "developable" space. We spoke on the record for an hour and a half then another hour after that. It is most unusual to spend that much time with a busy museum director.

Williams College today announced the appointment of Christina Olsen as the Class of 1956 Director of the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). Olsen is currently the director of education and public programs at the Portland Art Museum and previously worked at the Getty Foundation and Getty Museum.

Prelude to a Nightmare: Art Politics, and Hitler’s Early Years in Vienna 1906- 1913 was an ambitious exhibition researched by former Williams College Museum of Art curator Deborah Rothschild

As home to Mass MoCA, MCLA and a growing arts community North Adams is one of the most unique cities in the Commonwealth. There wasn't the same intensity and media coverage of the race this time between incumbent Dick Alcombright who handily defeated opponent Ron Boucher. The 2009 contest against old time pol, John Barrett, III was a bloodbath. To make things interesting Barrett has won a seat on the City Council. Whether he is there to help the city or hurt Alcombright remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

While the primary galleries of the Clark Art Museum will close in November for the final phase of a $145 expansion and renovation it will maintain programming on a limited basis. How that reflects on the norm of 200,000 annual visitors remains to be seen. Reducing the Clark in the mix will have a major impact on cultural tourism in the Northern Berkshires for the next few years. The construction, however, will create 500 temporary jobs with a $9 million economic impact.

Since December of 2010 we have been asking Joe Thompson about a long term installation of works by the major German contemporary artist Anselm Kiefer. He squirmed and refused to answer the question. As we have previously reported the museum is now in the process of creating another long term installation similar to the enormously successful building devoted to the late Sol LeWitt. It greatly strengthens North Adams as a global art world destination.

The fine arts collectors Jay and Jane Braus divide their time between summers in the Berkshires and winters in Florida. When they sold their home in Larchmont a collection of major abstraction expressionist works was liquidated. But those bare walls in a Florida condo started them going again. Through October a selection of works from their collection is on view at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield.

There was risk taking and expensive infrastructure development, last year, when Joe Thompson, director of Mass MoCA, launched Wilco's Solid Sound Festival. Much of the start up costs will be absorbed with a commitment for the the rock band to return over the next few years. We spoke with Thompson about the impact of the event on the museum and Northern Berkshire County.

This weekend the Wilco Solid Sound Festival will bring upwards of 6,000 rock fans to Mass MoCA. In addition to music this young audience will enjoy a massive exposure to contemporary art. It is just the kind of demographic that promises synergy and future audiences for other North Adams/ Williamstown arts organizations including the Clark Art Institute, Williams College Museum of Art and Williamstown Theatre Festival. It takes strategy, marketing and PR to promote visiting Northern Berkshire County as more than just a day trip.

In 1999 the African artist, El Anatsui, found a bag of foil wrappers from the tops of liquor bottles. They came from a factory near his studio. In the studio he experimented and first showed the works he produced with the recycled material in 2002. Since then he has become an international art star and now employs up to thirty assistants. Three large works are on view at the Clark Art Institute through October. Having written about the work over the past few years it was insightful to meet with the artist and discuss his unique practice.

Williams has announced the appointment of Katy Kline, former director of Bowdoin College Museum of Art (1998-2008), as interim director of the Williams College Museum of Art. She will serve from early August until the permanent director is in place.

During the tenure of Carl Belz as director of the Rose Art Museum I frequently reviewed the exhibitions and interviewed him for Art New England and other publications. During an extended dialogue Belz spoke in depth about presiding over one of the great collections of modern and contemporary art in the New England area.

With affordable rent in a rural setting Leslie Ferrin has sustained a successful gallery through a difficult economy. But she is now faced with the decision to sell the space in Pittsfield. She plans to focus more on the major art fairs and working with artists whose careers have really taken off with global opportunities. That is measured against a retail business that is only viable during the busy Berkshire summer season.

The summer season at Mass MoCA launches with a concert by Rosanne cash on May 28. Not long after, June 24 to 26, North Adams will be transformed into a tent city ersatz Woodstock for the Wilco Solid Sound Festival. There's also lots to see and enjoy in the galleries of North America's largest contemporary art museum.

The Berlin based artist, Katharina Grosse, has created an enormous, psychedelic, arctic landscape, One Floor Up More Highly. It will remain on view in the vast Building Five of Mass MoCA in North Adams, Mass. through October. While spectacular to look at we wonder what it's all about.

Today Lisa Corrin called to let me know that as of June 30 she will be leaving as director of the Williams College Museum of Art. She is currently rehanging the permanent collection of the museum. It will reopen during the spring with eight major exhibitions and related programming. She will join the Willams fine arts faculty. Also she will be a fellow at the neighboring Clark Art Institute next year and serve as a visiting scholar in the Museum Studies program at New York University.

The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) announces the themes of each of the eight exhibitions that are opening this spring as part of the museum’s massive reinstallation project entitled Reflections on a Museum. This project is an opportunity to re-discover WCMA and what makes it unique: its commitment to raising questions about the function and meaning of art across time and cultures and the role of museums in shaping understandings of art.

Twenty one years ago Tom Krens pitched the idea of transforming the abandoned 17 acre Sprague Electric campus into Mass MoCA. That development cast a long shadow on the political careers of State Representative, Dan Bosley, and North Adams Mayor, John Barrett. Last night, at MoCA, Bosley celebrated a birthday and retirement after 24 years. Barrett, now out of office after 26 years, dropped by. As did a who's who of politicians including former Governor Jane Swift. On Monday Mass MoCA has "a major funding announcement ."

For most of us right now its jingle bells. With the announcement of the 2011 Tanglewood schedule this week, however, Berkshire arts organizations are hard at work planning a fast launch to the season on the Fourth of July. But, like Abbott and Costello, come summer, let's hope they aren't wondering about "who's on first." There is desperate need for branding, pooled resources, and a marketing strategy for the Berkshires.

There is a domino impact for the arts in the Berkshires with the merger, over the next year, of the Colonial Theatre and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. A more dynamic Colonial increases the critical mass and leadership of Pittsfield as the matrix and hub of the arts and cultural economy. It is equidistant from the boundaries of the region that represent more than an hour to drive from one end to the other. Strengthening the thriving arts community in Pittsfield changes the paradigm for the region. It increases the potential for synergy or competition.

The combination of the 10th anniversary of the magazine Gastronomica founded by Williams Professor, Darra Goldstein, and an exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art by Pepon Osorio inspired a day long symposium exploring all aspects of food and definitions of taste. This was the notion of you are what you eat explored to the max.

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.

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.

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.