In the next week, we can make paper out of old jeans … or see a potter lift the top off a raku kiln while the bowls inside are glowing like molten glass.
Artsweek Berkshires is coming back to celebrate. And after a summer of wandering through museums and studios and fields, I’m thinking about what I would offer you. Where would I go to sit quietly with art that moves me on a summer afternoon?
In the morning, I would head up to Field Farm, to see Rose B. Simpson’s sculpture. I’ve wanted all summer to see her women at sunrise. They look east, and I’ve come in the early light when they held a glow, and the redwing blackbirds were calling in the meadow, and a heron was fishing on the pond.
Then I might wander into an open studio or a workshop, so I can feel the clay in my hands, or the paper pulp, or the ink and the silkscreen.
And in the afternoon, I’d head south. I want to see Nayana LaFond’s paintings at the Lichtenstien, and I want to go back to the Norman Rockwell Museum — their broad summer show is still with me, bright with music and people holding each other.
This weekend …
Artsweek Berkshires is coming back through Sept. 25 with open studios, art shows and events across the county. Novelist Lara Tupper will hold a virtual writing group on September 21, and the Plant Connector in North Adams will offer workshops throughout the week.
Acclaimed artist Loveis Wise will hold a virtual workshop with the Norman Rockwell Museum, Jeanne Marklin will show her fiber art in Williamstown, and the Old Stone Mill and Cheshire Glassworks will hold open studios, amont many others … Plein air painters gather oudoors, and WAM Theatre holds community conversations …
Bright pink flowers open in a room full of curious visitors at the Plant Connector in North Adams.
Berkshire novelist Lara Tupper talks with writers in a workshop. Press photo courtesy of the artist
Indigenous historian Heather Breugl, former education director at the Forge Project and cultural affairs director for the Mohican Nation
A young woman speaks up at the audience talkback with Fractured Dreams at The Mount. Press photo courtesy of WAM Theatre
Mastheads writers in residence work in contemporary and mobile cabins or outdoor studios.
Two women gently care for each other in Loveis Wise' illustration, part of Imprinted at the Norman Rockwell Museum.
Jeanne Marklin's fiber art shows abstracted patterns in deep purple marbled colors. Press photo courtesy of the artist
A woman holds a child and waters a green waterfall of plants in Loveis Wise' illustration, part of Imprinted at the Norman Rockwell Museum.
A vase swirles deep blue and meadow green at Cheshire Glassworks.
A plein air painter from the Guild of Berkshire Artists captures an outdoor scene. Press photo courtesy of GBA
Events coming up …
Find more art and performance, outdoors and food in the BTW events calendar.
