GREAT BARRINGTON — One of the latest additions to downtown Great Barrington’s retail landscape, HART is equal parts gallery, shop, and classroom. In addition to displaying her handmade woven pillows, wall hangings, and lampshades, artist-owner Jamie Goldenberg stocks tools, materials, patterns, kits, and books for all kinds of textile crafts. The store, located at 34 Bridge Street, Suite 103, in downtown Great Barrington, has even become a makerspace, as she hosts classes for people to learn new skills, build on existing competencies, and develop community with fellow textile enthusiasts.
Goldenberg is an artist of many mediums. She launched her career path in the arts as a photojournalist and photo editor for Orion Magazine shortly after graduating from Bard College at Simon’s Rock with a degree in photography. Goldenberg admits she’s always had a knack for creating. In her spare time, she dabbled in ceramics at IS183 Art School and then switched to the more apartment-friendly craft of weaving. When taking breaks during her day job, instead of heading to the water cooler or scrolling the web, she started making things to keep her mind and hands active. In 2015, the self-taught textile designer was selected to be an artist-in-residence at the Textile Art Center in Gowanus, Brooklyn, where she now teaches classes. Through rigorous curriculum and mentorship, she refined her technique and soon thereafter began receiving commissions from interior designers for bespoke items and for site-specific projects full-time.
Goldenberg’s own style is influenced by the natural world; she uses natural fibers and plant-based dyes. One of her recent projects, a pine-needle basket made between May 2019–April 2020, wove together various plants according to the time of year, as influenced by the changes in Goldenberg’s own life. Another piece, a wall hanging, used yarn dyed with native and invasive plants to tell a story of resilience — nature’s and her own.
HART offers classes for folks of all skill levels, including basic and advanced sewing, weaving, basketmaking, knitting, and felting. Goldenberg even offers a mending club on the first Thursday of every month from 7-9 p.m. The pandemic challenged her to modify her teaching style; instead of being able to show people how to approach a task, she had to learn how to communicate directions more effectively for a virtual audience. For those who spend their days looking at a screen, the opportunity to join community through a shared craft is a welcome activity. Goldenberg said the store has become a safe space for those drawn to fiber arts following a traumatic experience and that the group setting offers a therapeutic outlet for some.
Goldenberg returned to the Berkshires by way of New York and she’s glad to be back. Her pivot to retail was the unintended consequence of the pandemic and has been more successful than she could have imagined. With two young children at home, her business demanded a creative and functional space outside of the home as well as additional income streams to weather the pandemic. While she continues to adjust to retail life, she’s looking forward to new opportunities presented by the local economy, including the forthcoming digital BerkShares. “The Berkshires are a place with so much pride,” she said. “There’s less competition and more community support, [which] you don’t often see elsewhere. People care about each other and that makes the Berkshires a perfect place to have a business.”
