‘About Face’: Face to face with imagination
The current show, ‘About Face,’ at St. Francis Gallery (1370 Pleasant St., Route 102) in South Lee is about the “subtle language of the face,” what faces communicate, what they reveal. Local artists have created work that “pays homage to and explores the face and its creative expression.”
The opening reception is Saturday, September 20, from 3 to 6 p.m. The exhibit runs until October 18.
Artists in the show include: Grier Horner, Linda Baker-Cimini, Debora Coombs, and others. The work in ‘About Face’ “brings you closer to the ‘great mystery,’ which is often hidden by talk, claims and beliefs.”
A former church, the St. Francis Gallery features a mix of both emerging and established local artists. The gallery supports the Sawa Sawa Foundation, which partners with energetic, creative Kenyans to improve the lives of their fellow countrymen, while establishing a working partnership with like-minded individuals in this community.
A barn-raising brunch
At the Gedney Farm in New Marlborough, there’s good reason to raise your forks and glasses at noon this coming Sunday, September 21: a gorgeous new timber-framed pavilion at the Great Barrington Fairgrounds. The pavilion is much needed to house markets, concerts and community events.
“We’ve done plenty of cleanup on the grounds but the new cowshed building is the first re-imagined structure of the new Fairgrounds,” said Janet Elsbach, who with husband Bart, purchased the Fairgrounds in 2012 to restore it and turn it into a community resource. “It’s the next step in welcoming the community to the resource their energy will help make possible. A welcoming space for markets and other community gatherings will create a lot more opportunity for the public to engage with the site.”
The Sunday brunch is sure to be a winner. There will be lovely food, and more lovely food, said Elsbach, all masterminded by Marcia Kiesel, who ran the Food & Wine Test Kitchen for 20 years; Jamie Paxton, private chef and former chef at Crossroads in Hillsdale; and Cathie Kavanaugh, head chef at Guido’s. These food artists are working with a “dynamo committee” that includes Gedney Farm owner/chef Leslie Miller, pastry chef and cookbook author Peggy Cullen Matlow, and cookbook author Alana Chernila.
“We’ve worked hard to source as many local ingredients as possible,” said Elsbach of the event, “and are delighted to feature Riiska Brook Farm apples, North Plain Farm eggs, Indian Line Farm vegetables and other stupendous local provisions.”
If this isn’t enough, there will be conversations with people who know a lot about food, and can’t stop thinking or talking about it.
You will have a chance to meet Sam Sifton, Senior Editor of the New York Times, former National News Editor of the Times, and Co-creator of their sumptuous new Cooking App. Mr. Sifton is the author of “Thanksgiving: How to Cook it Well.”
Jenny Rosenstrach and Andy Ward will be there, too. They are the husband and wife team behind Bon Appetit magazine’s “The Providers” column, and the popular blog, “Dinner: A Love Story.” Jenny Rosenstrach is the author of “Dinner: A Love Story” and the upcoming “Dinner: The Playbook.”
Cocktails, hors d’ouevres and brunch, $125 per person.
You can even get a whole table for just you and your friends: tables of 8 are available for underwriters at $1,250. Underwriters will help two local farmers attend the event, and will be permanently acknowledged in the new Cowshed building.
“Timber framing and barn-raising both have deep roots in New England history,” added Elsbach, “and they both run on community energy, a group effort to manifest something beautiful, useful and long lasting.”
Elsbach said that GBFG is working out the permitting, design and fundraising, with construction targeted for next summer and fall.
Collective dreaming, an ‘Evening Promenade’
In a mind for something “sacred, profane and subversive”? Then join the irrepressible Pooja Prema, as she leads another of her Rogue Angel Theatre productions, “An Evening Promenade,” on the fields of Gedney Farm, Tuesday September 23 at 6 p.m.
“August’s Promenade at Gedney Farm, was so beautiful, that we just had to do it again,” Pooja writes. “Don’t miss this final chance to be part of one of the most memorable productions of the year!
Featuring the evocative sculptures of Cynthia Atwood, and moving through the mystical landscape at Gedney Farm, The Promenade is an experiment in Collective Dreaming- a celebration of the wanning of the season, and the promise of seeds.”
Rain date is Thursday, September 25. (“we are co-creating with Nature and won’t know till the day of,” Pooja notes.)
Gedney is on the left just past the Old Inn on the Green on Rt. 57 in New Marlborough, Mass. Tickets sliding scale $35-$20
Reservations recommended. For information and reservations, click here.
