The Lauren Clark Fine Art 2023 season opens
Great Barrington— On Saturday, May 27th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Lauren Clark Fine Art 2023 Season opens with a gallery reception.
Artists featured at the opening reception include Jan Con, Joe McCarthy, and this year we welcome to the gallery well known local photographer, Jane McWhorter, who has recently moved her photographers eye onto wonderful, graphic printmaking. Returning is Joan Hayes, who’s been with the gallery for several years with her dreamy watercolor landscapes. She will be showing her latest small, rich abstracts on paper. Also returning is Geoffrey Moss, back again with another new series of drawings exploring the seed, the pod, and the plant.
The gallery reception is on Saturday, May 27th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Lauren Fine Art Gallery on Main Street in Great Barrington. Gallery hours are Thursdays through Mondays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, please visit Lauren Fine Art Gallery online.
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Helia Native Nursery presents ‘Birds & the Bees: Native Plant Pollination’
West Stockbridge— On Saturday, May 27th at 9:30 a.m., Helia Native Nursery presents “Birds & the Bees: Native Plant Pollination”.
Who are our native pollinators? What are their life cycles? What plants do they feed on? How do the effects of creating and preserving their habitat ripple out to invertebrate health, soil balance, clean air and water? Most importantly, how can we align and be in right relationship with these powerful life givers and producers? Gain perspective and be inspired by what is possible in this onsite lecture by Helia’s founder and pollinator enthusiast, Bridghe McCracken.
The class is on May 27th at 9:30 a.m. at Helia Native Nursery on East Road in West Stockbridge. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online. There will be a Q&A after the class. More information can be found by visiting Helia Native Nursery online.
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Bascom Lodge presents ‘The Beekeepers’
Adams— On Sunday, May 28th from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Bascom Lodge presents “The Beekeepers”.
“The Beekeepers” will talk about everything you need to know about starting a hive, the life cycle of the honeybee, the bee dance, and most importantly, how not to get stung.
The free talk is Sunday, May 28th from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Bascom Lodge on Summit Road in Adams. This is an outdoor event. In case of rain, the event will take place on the enclosed porch. More information can be found by visiting the Bascom Lodge online.
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‘Drag Us Out For a Beer, Party and Show’ a kick-off party for Berkshire Pride 2023
Pittsfield— On Wednesday, May 24th at 7 p.m., the Haus of Mi2sfits presents:, “Drag Us Out For a Beer, Party and Show” a kick-off party for Berkshire Pride 2023.
The event is hosted by Miz Rebel and Mi2le2nial, with special guest Poppy DaBubbly.
The free party is on Wednesday, May 24th at 7 p.m. at Hot Plate Brewing Co. on School St. in Pittsfield. This party is for ages 21+ with I.D. and while free, donations for the performers will be taken at the door. More information can be found by visiting Hot Plate Brewing Co. online.
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TapRoot Cajun Dance with the Empty Bottle Ramblers
Sheffield— On Thursday, May 25th at 6:30 p.m., Dewey Hall presents the TapRoot Cajun Dance with the Empty Bottle Ramblers. Erica Weiss will teach a Cajun two step and waltz lesson before the music starts.
The Empty Bottle Ramblers play traditional Cajun music from southwest Louisiana, featuring driving accordion two-steps, aching fiddle waltzes, and sassy blues, all sung in Cajun French. These TapRoot Sessions produces quality roots and traditional music and community dances in the Southern Berkshires.
Tim Kness (accordion, vocals, fiddle) has longtime ties to this community as a musician and dancer; he’s also making a name for himself forging Cajun triangles in the old style. Missy Roser (fiddle, vocals) fell in love with this music after a misspent youth in orchestras and string quartets, traveling to study with Cajun standard-bearers on a range of instruments. Erica Weiss (guitar, vocals) has been learning from and playing with mentors from Louisiana for years and is well known as an old-time musician, caller, and dance instructor.
Missy and Erica are also longtime members of legendary Cajun musician Jesse Lége’s band, Bayou Brew, and regularly appear on the stages of Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in Lafayette, LA and festivals all over the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Danny Birnbaum (upright bass) rounds out EBR and travels often to the Cajun parishes for festivals and visits, besides frequently lending his talents to old-time and country bands.
The dance is on Thursday, May 25th at 6:30 p.m., Dewey Hall on Main Street in Sheffield. The doors open at 6:30 p.m, the lesson with Erica Weiss is at 7 p.m., and the band starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 at the door. Refreshments, including pizza by the slice, are available and the venue is wheelchair accessible. For more information, visit Dewey Hall online.
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Bascom Lodge presents a jazz dinner
Adams— On Saturday, May 27th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., the Bascom Lodge presents a Jazz Dinner.
Accompanying the three-course meal is the Michael Benedict Trio voted “Best Jazz Artist of 2023” by WCDB Radio. The trio is described as dark and mellow, shiny and bright, drifting, trembling, and gossamer-like.
The three course meal features an apple-pecan-goat cheese salad, choice of salmon, pork chop, or stuffed red pepper entree, and a dessert of lemon roulade with candied ginger and almonds.
The dinner is on Saturday, May 27th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Bascom Lodge on Summit Road in Adams. Reservations can be made by calling 917-680-0079. More information can be found by visiting the Bascom Lodge online.
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Austen Riggs exhibition to explore migration to the United States & its impact on psychoanalysis & mental health treatment
Stockbridge— The Erikson Institute of the Austen Riggs Center has collaborated with the Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna, to bring “Organized Escape: Psychoanalysts in Exile”, an immersive and historical exhibition to Stockbridge for the summer of 2023.
This exhibition tells the unique history of the collective escape of Jewish Viennese psychoanalysts through selected biographies, numerous images, and original written documents. From the detailed lists and plans laid out by Anna Freud and the leaders of the Viennese Psychoanalytic Society (WPV), to their joyous reunion at the Austen Riggs Center’s “First Stockbridge Congress on Child Analysis” in 1950, we learn that many succeeded in finding professional fulfillment in exile, and some of them went on to have impressive careers.
Director of the Erikson Institute Jane G. Tillman, PhD, states, “American psychoanalysis in the 20th century was considerably enriched and shaped by the émigré psychoanalysts from Central Europe and this exhibit tells the story of the concerted effort by psychoanalytic organizations around the world to aid in the lifesaving escape of Jewish psychoanalysts from Vienna as the Nazis invaded Austria.”
The collaboration between the Austen Riggs Center and Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna, also included four virtual roundtable discussions exploring legacy, loss, genocide, and the impact of emigration on psychoanalysis. Recordings of these roundtables can be found online.
The exhibit is housed in the Corner House Community Exhibition Space on Main Street in Stockbridge. It is on view Thursdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 3th through October 16th. More information can be found online.
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Read-and-sing-through of ‘The Butterfingers Angel, Mary and Joseph, Herod the Nut, and the Slaughter of Twelve Hit Carols in a Pear Tree’
‘The Butterfingers Angel’
Salisbury— On Wednesday, May 31st at 5:30 p.m., the Congregational Church of Salisbury, UCC, presents a read-and-sing-through of “The Butterfingers Angel, Mary and Joseph, Herod the Nut, and the Slaughter of Twelve Hit Carols in a Pear Tree” written by Broadway legend William Gibson.
This rollicking “Christmas Entertainment”, features a beleaguered angel, a mysterious adversary, a fiercely independent Mary, a smitten Joseph — along with louts, animals, kings, and more. Pastor John Nelson and Music Director David Baranowski will direct the production in the late fall. Roles for adults and children are available.
Anyone interested is invited to the read-and-sing-through of the play on Wednesday, May 31st at 5:30 p.m. at the church’s Parish Hall off Library Street in Salisbury. For more information, email Pastor John at butterfingers.angel@gmail.com.
Participation is open to all regardless of race, ancestry, class, gender identity, physical and mental ability or sexual orientation. Congregational Church of Salisbury, UCC commits to work toward ending ignorance, fear, hatred, prejudice, and discrimination against any person.
