Front Page
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Philippe David’s Happy Threads
Textile Designs Inspired by Nature
By: - Sep 02nd, 2020“I showed this fabric at an early stage of its existence to a professional in my industry. When he said, ‘you will never sell a yard of it,’ I knew I had a WINNER!” Textile designer Philippe David is referring to his bestselling creation – ever: “Bal d'Eté" (Summer Prom), a colorful and joyful silk fabric manufactured in India, the land of textile wonders.
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Permafrost Melts at MASS MoCA
Blane De St. Croix: How to Move a Landscape.
By: - Sep 02nd, 2020The art of Blane De St. Croix comes at the viewer via a multivalent attack on the staggering challenges posed by irreparable climate change. The diversity of this artist’s media and its ecological content — driven by a political mandate — evokes the tradition of Social Sculpture by the postwar German artist Joseph Beuys. The MoCA project How to Move a Landscape draws on dramatically different approaches to convey the rapid erosion and melting of permafrost in the Arctic.
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Hidden Figures a 2017 Gem
Streaming This Month on FX
By: - Sep 02nd, 2020Set in 1961 “Hidden Figures”, centers around the true and factual story of three brilliant African-American female mathematicians who worked at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, during America’s odious Jim Crow Law era – from 1887 to 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 finally nullified the repellent second-class distinction Jim Crow law, by recognizing that all citizens of America are to be accorded full and equal protection under the law authorized by the US Constitution.
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The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography
A Netflix Documentary
By: - Aug 30th, 2020Elsa Dorfman was the limner of the Beat Generation. She made deadpan, large-format Polaroid potraits of her celebrity pals as well as ordinary folks. She passed away a few months ago but is superbly recalled in a Netflix documentary by Errol Morris. It's so like Elsa who is regarded as a major artist but described herself repeatedly as a "nice Jewish girl."
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Alex Ross on Wagnerism
Wagnerism: The Superb Story of Culture Over 150 Years
By: - Aug 28th, 2020Alex Ross has written a Wagnerian book about the impact of Richard Wagner on the culture and politics of his times, leading right up to our own. "Wagnerism". the term which serves as the title of the book, was used early on in English by George Eliot, one of the many writers who fell under Wagner's spell. It is used to define Wagner’s methods: his scope which spreads out to the edges of the Universe and beyond, his use of myths, and his tones which are often highly erotic and then some.
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Hancock Shaker Village
A Special Invitation Sunday August 30
By: - Aug 26th, 2020Live from Hancock Shaker Village: Songs of Comfort will be broadcast live on WAMC and streamed online or on the WAMC app. This Sunday August 30 at 7 pm.
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Without Gorky a Netflix Documentary
Film by the Artist's Granddaughter Cosima Spender
By: - Aug 27th, 2020The artist of Armenian heritage, Matin Mugar, reviewed "Without Gorky" in 2012. Cosima Spender filmed the tragic story of her grandfather the surrelist/abstract expressionist artist Arshile Gorky. He came to America as a survivor of the Armenian Genocide in which his mother died from starvation. Growing up in Watertown as a young artist he took the name Gorky and denied his heritage remaining distant with little contact to relatives. His wife Agnes, then in her late 80s, convyed memories of terrible suffering and its impact on their two daughters.; particularly coming to terms with his suicide. Gorky was among the greatest artists of his generation. This superb and compelling documentary is now featured on Netflix.
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Tony Awards to Take Place Virtually
Annual Ceremony Honors Excellence on Broadway
By: - Aug 22nd, 2020The Tony Awards will take place online this year. Earlier this year, presenters postponed the event due to the pandemic. The annual ceremony recognizes excellence in live Broadway theater.
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What Joe Thompson Means to Northern Berkshire County
The Daunting Legacy of MASS MoCA
By: - Aug 22nd, 2020Joe Thompson graduated from Williams College in 1981. As founding director of MASS MoCA he has been here ever since. Stepping down in October he will sever ties next summer. Between now and then he will plan the next move. Other than some loose ends his remarkable work here is complete. Magnificently so.
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Joe Thompson's Letter to Members
Stepping Fown and Mass MoCA Director
By: - Aug 22nd, 2020With the decades long development of the MASS MoCA campus complete but for some loose ends director Joe Thompson is moving on. Since graduating from nearby Williams College, now in his early 60's it's the only job he's ever had. His work and MoCA development over the years has had enormous cultural and economic inpact on Northern Berkshire County.
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Tending to the Garden
Cutting Back Perennials
By: - Aug 16th, 2020I have begun cutting back the perennials in the meditation garden that have passed for the season. Bleeding hearts, ligularia, lilies, with hostas not far behind. It is the way of things, the time of season. The butterfly bushes have presented their seed pods, and I’ve collected them for drying.
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Howell Binkley at 64
Award-winning Lighting Designer Succumbs to Cancer
By: - Aug 17th, 2020Lighting designer Howell Binkley has died of cancer at age 64. His work on the original Broadway productions of Jersey Boys and Hamilton earned him the Tony Award in 2006 and 2016, respectively. Binkley most recently designed the lighting for the world premiere of Fly at Southern California's La Jolla Playhouse.
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Elektra by Strauss Live at Salzburg Festival
Krzysztof Warlikowski's Wrenching Drama
By: - Aug 16th, 2020Krzysztof Warlikowski’s Elektra opens the 2020 Salzburg Festival. An electrifying interpretation of the wild Richard Strauss opera based on the drama by Hans Hofmannsthal announced that Austria is alive and well.
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Eclipse Mill Artists, North Adams, Ma. 2020
Projects during COVID-19: Impromptu and Airborne Transmission
By: - Aug 11th, 2020Artists everywhere are communicating and presenting work virtually that was conceived and created or executed this year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Life and art had mostly moved from our physical to our virtual world. Artists at the Eclipse Mill have done the same. Here we present three projects, two 'real' and one online, just a slice of artistic work that's being created in 40 studios. 'IMPROMPTU' has become a virtual exhibition on August 15 and 'Airborne Transmission' has been installed as described below.
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Kendall Messick’s "Blind Sight"
To See and to be Seen
By: - Aug 13th, 2020In October 2019, I was having dinner with my friend Kendall Messick, an artist who creates installations with still photography, film, video and ever-evolving two-and three-dimensional media. Over dinner he told me he was flying to Bogota, Colombia, the next day for a major installation of his work. The show is an achievement of both patience and memory. It was thirty-four years in the making.
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Irish Repertory Theatre Streams Love, Noel
Steve Ross and KT Sullivan Delight
By: - Aug 12th, 2020Players Club ,where the Irish Repertory production of Love, Noel is set, seems like just the right elegant space. Edwin Booth felt he had to make up for the assassination of Lincoln by his brother. Booth realized that a club where actors could socialize with the elite and elevate their status from rabble-rousers to artists was what New York needed. In 1888, he founded The Players Club at 16 Gramercy Park South together with fifteen other incorporators, including Mark Twain and General William Tecumseh Sherman. Players is the oldest club in New York City that’s still in its original location. Love, Noel graced its halls.
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A Musical Wunderkind Joshua Turchin
Teen Wows Audiences, Critics
By: - Aug 10th, 2020At age 13, Joshua Turchin has accomplished more than many performers do throughout their career. Joshua Turchin is now the youngest cast member, and only child, ever to perform in Forbidden Broadway’s 38-year history. The teen's award-winning musical, The Perfect Fit, is Broadway-bound
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Lawrence Brownlee, Bel Canto
National Sawdust Presents a Master
By: - Aug 08th, 2020Lawrence Brownlee talked about music and our times with composers Helga Davis and Paola Prestini. The event was hosted by National Sawdust, an institution for our times, which is led by the super-energetic Prestini.
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A Tale Of Two Chefs
Pandemic Relief Online
By: - Aug 04th, 2020The pandemic has turned many us into food junkies, where online viewing of food shows is at a all time high. Travel show viewing is a close second. My family follows suit and have found two outstanding communicators to follow. This is my story about them.
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Shaker Museum to Create Facility in Chatham, NY
Selldorf Architects to Design $15 Million Project
By: - Aug 03rd, 2020Housing its comprehensive collection of Shaker material, the new museum facility will embody Shaker values of inclusion, innovation and equality. $15 Million project is expected to break ground in 2021 and be completed in 2023.
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Good Dog Foundation Provides Helping Dogs
Berkshires Benefit from Canines
By: - Aug 03rd, 2020The Good Dog Foundation: Helping Humans Heal For more than 30,000 years dogs have been providing companionship and loyalty to humans. No wonder they are called ‘man’s best friend.’ Residents of the Berkshires benefit from the Good Dog Foundation. It provides Certified Therapy Dog visits to Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington and Crossroads Center for Enrichment in Pittsfield.
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Will Stage-Dooring Disappear
Union Makes COVID Recommendations.
By: - Jul 31st, 2020Theatergoers may no longer be able to seek autographs after shows if union's recommendations are followed. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees has drafted a 27-page document containing COVID-related safety guidelines for theaters. The union represents more than 150,000 members. They are employed in positions such as theatrical technicians and stagehands.
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BSO Cancels Fall Season
Winter 2021 Will Be Announced in December
By: - Jul 30th, 2020For the first time in its 139-year history, the Boston Symphony Orchestra will suspend its fall season of performances at Symphony Hall, September 16-November 28. Plans for winter programming will be announced in September,
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Lawrence Brownlee and Friends
Lyric Opera of Chicago Streams a Virtual Concert
By: - Jul 28th, 2020Lawrence Brownlee is an ambassador of song. He is not only a great bel canto tenor, but also leader in discussions on our racial divide. Identifying as a descendant of Africans and a person of dark skin tone, he has mentored young singers and helped direct the conversation on race in the arts and in the world about us. Yet he does not like the designation of Ella Fitzgerald as part of Black Heritage, her position on a postage stamp. Rather he sees her as a great American singer. Blacks are part of a larger community, not self-segregated.
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Bop Singer Annie Ross
Recorded as Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
By: - Jul 24th, 2020Among the elite and most innovative jazz vocalists of her generation, Annie Ross who died this week at 89, was born in a suitcase and traveled for the rest of her life. She is best know for recordings with the legendary Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.
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