Born on Cape Cod and formerly an attorney and chef, the North Adams based Daoist monk, Chen Tong, spent several years training in a monastery in China. On the deck of his North Adams home, even in the dead of winter, he teaches meditation, qigong and taiji. He has been invited to teach during the spring and fall semesters at Williams College. The course he is offering is fully enrolled.

Shakespeare & Company will present March Mash-up: Contemporary Readings and Comedy on Saturday, March 26 and Sunday, March 27.

Productions in the intimacy of Oakland Theater Project’s venue continue to be among the most daring, provocative, and entertaining in the Bay Area.  In taking on William Shakespeare’s political fantasy, “The Tempest,” the company offers a stunning, if somewhat confusing, rendering of this compact study of the illicit taking of power and land. 

In an innovative collaboration among three prominent college art museums, the directors announce the joint acquisition of an extraordinary gift of Tibetan art from the Jack Shear Collection. Ian Berry of the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, T. Barton Thurber of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, and Pamela Franks of the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) extend their gratitude to Jack Shear for his generous gift.

The Rose Art Museum presents an intimate display of three self-portraits by the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), generously loaned from private collections. Framing the paintings are photographs of Kahlo taken by her beloved father, Guillermo Kahlo (1871-1941), and her close friend and lover Nicholas Muray (1892-1965).

“Talk to Your People” is a deserving show.  One improvement would be if Dan Hoyle lost his facial hair for the duration.  It renders a visual sameness to each depiction that can’t be overcome with wardrobe and accessories, and temporary facial hair could be applied as wanted for particular characters. 

The  Carrie Chen Gallery  presents The buildings, piled so casually from March 5 – April 3, 2022. This exhibition unites Anton Ginzburg’s abstract paintings with Christina Kruse’s fantastic imaginary worlds and layered constructions under the poetic title taken from the late poet laureate John Ashbery of Hudson, NY.

The Clark Art Institute debuts Soundings: New Music at the Clark, a concert series presented in collaboration with the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas. On Saturday, March 19 at 3 pm, Soundings: Some Favored Nook, the first concert of the series, takes place in the Clark’s Michael Conforti Pavilion

When Bill Wadsworth sent images and asked what I thought the response was to post Ukrainian Writer and Artist Julia Kissina. Calling attention to this artist in exile could not have been more timely and relevant. It evoked significant reader responses and raised basic questions. This second posting addresses that interest. Many have asked where they may view the work and there was a query from a curator regarding a possible exhibition.

Gordon Getty is his own man, as composer, librettist and supporter of the arts. His new opera, Goodbye Mr. Chilps, premieres on film on March 2nd at the Walter Reade Theatre. Berkshire Fine Arts asked a few questions.

The Ukrainian, Julia Kissina is quite well known and established in Germany and Russia and does work in all kinds of media, including as a performance artist and fiction writer. She writes in Russian and has had a number of books published there and in Germany.

First Down is a terrific new play by Sevan now running at the 59e59 Theatres. Johanna McKeon directs the quartet to give us insight into the pain caused outsiders in the United States by people who were outsiders themselves when they arrived.

After all my complaints, you may wonder why I recommend Music Man on Broadway so highly. Easy. Hugh Jackman and more Hugh Jackman, the glorious score and the sweetly romantic story.  

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), has acquired the painting Tailleur pour dames (1957), a major work by Remedios Varo (1908–1963), a leader of the Surrealist movement in the Americas. In order to purchase Varo’s masterpiece the Museum is deaccessioning three 20th-century paintings: Abiquiu Trees VII (1953) and A Sunflower from Maggie (1937), both by Georgia O’Keeffe, and On a Shaker Theme (1956) by Charles Sheeler.

The Clark Art Institute’s latest exhibition presents four centuries of war imagery from Europe and the United States in As They Saw It: Artists Witnessing War, on view March 5–May 30, 2022. Spanning European and American art from 1520–1920, the exhibition of prints, drawings, and photographs shows how artists have portrayed periods of military conflict.

There is always humor and empathy to ease the pain of life’s ups and downs. The trick is to find it.  Desert Ensemble Theatre (DET) of Palm Springs found it in their delightful production of “Salty”, written by A.J.Clauss that is innovatively staged by Artistic Director Jerome Elliott.

Bruce Graham's new play, The Duration, is about, among other things, how different people deal with grief. The world premiere production is running through March 6 at Palm Beach Dramaworks in South Florida. The Duration is a layered, engrossing piece of live theater.

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, a collaboration between the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene and New York City Opera opened Off Broadway on Holocaust Remembrance Day for a limited run of eight performance from January 27- February 6 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Sung in English, also with subtitles, and running three barely noticeable hours with one intermission, the opera sold out even before it opened.

Opening up next week on March 2nd Kingston Gallery presents Borders/Boundaries a member's group show curated by Erica Licea-Kane and Krystle Brown, and Julie S. Graham: Visual Books curated by Chantal Zakari and Mags Harries. 

The IS183 Art School’s Berkshire Artist Residency program is now accepting applications. Since 2012, IS183 Art School has coordinated Artist Residencies that pair local visual artists with cultural institutions and historic landmarks across the Berkshires. This is the second year artists can apply for a residency at two local institutions - The Red Lion Inn and Chesterwood. 

Four instruments shimmering in the lights of Roulette, the iconic Brooklyn venue, might suggest you are at the brass concert. The saxophone in all its glories, principally soprano, tenor, baritone and bass, Is a member of the wind group. It sounds are full, rich, warm and smooth. Together, the Prism group makes one single sound. It can be raucous for fun. Or very dark when the mood requires.

On Saturday, Nov. 20, at 41 Park St. Adams there will be an  Open Studio / Open House from 2-6pm. It features the artist Alvin Ouellet and Lynda's Antique Clothing Loft.

A vibrant Mamma Mia! is running at The wick Theatre in Boca Raton through Nov. 14. The production features triple threat performers who are convincing in their roles. Mamma Mia is the first production the Wick Theatre has mounted since the company closed its doors due to the pandemic.

Pasta

While Trump's billionaire golf buddies are begging for a bailout the arts in America are left twisting in the wind. Closed for months museums are depleting reserve funds to survive. That has meant furloughs, pay cuts and staff reductions. As a desparate measure, in a lapse from guidelines for deaccessioning, the Brooklyn Museum is selling twelve works to raise $40 million. It recalls when the Berkshire Museum gutted its collection to raise $50 million. This is never a good idea but we discuss crucial differences.