We’re on a ferris wheel in 1986, and it’s dusk, and two women are sitting close together. They’re holding hands and talking over the bolts rattling in the wind … and they’re in a long and deep relationship.
Read article
Izhar Patkin honors poet Agha Shahid Ali in light (throwback)
On a spring night, Izhar Patkin’s ‘Veil Suite’ fills the long gallery with rooms of translucent paintings, illuminating Agha Shahid Ali’s poetry.
Read article
Revel in a spring hike up Ragged Mountain
On a late March Saturday I climbed Ragged mountain with a co-worker, a friend of his and an ecstatic dog who came back with mud up to his belly.
Read article
Lily Cox-Richard melds land and community
Ceramic fire pots slope against the brick, imprinted with patterns of leaves. Last summer in the Berkshires, people gathered around them on warm nights …
Read article
Mass MoCA shows look toward a new future
Last summer in Southern California, a group of friends made bowls in their back yard, and two days later they hardened them in a wood fire while the clay took on a patina from the smoke …
Read article
What would ee cummings hear out here today?
People are sharing stories in a way I haven’t felt in the Northern Berkshires in a long time — not since Inkberry held writing workshops and readings in a storefront in North Adams …
Read article
Fire and candlelight with red beans and chiles
Wide clay bowls are piled in the corner of the room against the brick wall. I’ve come looking for them in Mass MoCA’s new spring shows — drawn by a local story I heard months ago about their making …
Read article
Quilting thrives with a contemporary energy
From college dorms to quilt shops, an old New England artform is alive in the Berkshires, in patterns and textures from leaves and landscapes to contemporary abstract color.
Read article
Expeditions for a sunny afternoon
The eggs come from a farm stand smaller than a chicken coop, and I almost missed it. The sign caught me as I was bowling south down Route 7 — shagbark hickory syrup …
Read article
Chestnuts are roasting — over the river and through the woods
I’ve never cracked a hard-boiled egg on my dashboard before … The whole day has been like this, zany and surprising. We’re picnicking in my car in unexpected sun, eating with our fingers, in the middle of an expedition.
Read article