‘Out of the Mouths of Babes’ at Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
Sheffield — Join the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers Saturday, March 7, at 7 p.m. at Dewey Memorial Hall, for its fourth year of “Out of the Mouths of Babes,” where a variety of writers and performers will illuminate the iconic “village” of people who help raise families – however imperfectly. Whether rural or urban, many mothers live in community but experience relative isolation. The quest of “Out” is to “take the maternal out of the kitchen and into the world” to inspire, maintain, and celebrate the community-supported creative life of women.
Event organizer Suzi Banks Baum has spent the past several years cultivating women’s voices through writing. Her drive came from her own “longing that had been masked by the chaos of motherhood.” Realizing women needed their own incubator to create she formed a series of writing groups called The Powder Keg Sessions. She edited An Anthology of Babes: 36 Women Give Motherhood a Voice and is currently on a book tour, offering space for women around the country to express their voices through writing. This summer, she’ll take it to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where she grew up. Banks Baum is also a collaborator with FeMail, a snail-mail art exchange in its seventh year, and blogs at www.laundrylinedivine.com.
“My desire is to spread the roots of this community past Berkshire County,” said Banks Baum. “Women the world over are stymied by a silent desperation that keeps them quiet. Whatever their life conditions, the common thread is a societal underestimation of the value of motherhood and of women’s lives in general. My quest is for women to access and nurture their inner resolve, to take a stand for their stories that are news to the world. For this, they must hear from other women.”
A variety of writers and performers, including Banks Baum, will present their work: Sarah Hains DiFazio is a second-grade teacher, community leader and blogger at MommaStrong.com. Amy Dryansky’s newest poetry collection, Grass Whistle, received a Massachusetts Book Award; Dryansky blogs about the territory of mother/artist/poet at Pokey Mama. Nichole Dupont writes about “the snarkier side of rural, single motherhood” and has been published in Newsday, Huffington Post and Berkshire Magazine.
Janet Reich Elsbach blogs about living on a small ludicrous farm and feeding a family of five at A Raisin & A Porpoise. Lorrin Krouss used to work in publishing, and says the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers inspired her to write; her first essay was anthologized.
Serene Mastrianni is a registered pharmacist who also created and co-hosts the long-running weekly radio broadcast Radio2Women. Lynnette (Lucy) Najimy and her film company, Beansprout Productions, use the power of story to bridge the gap between people across social divides. Rachel Siegel trained at the Royal Academy of Drama and has performed widely in the United States and UK. Leigh Strimbeck is co-founder of the WAM Theatre and Artist in Residence at Russell Sage College, teaching in the theater and WORLD programs.
There will also be art made by Berkshire women on display, and a short film on the theme of “If she can, I can!” will be shown. Copies of An Anthology of Babes will be available for purchase. Bedtime snacks and socializing will close the evening.
A suggested $10 donation at the door will help fund the production as well as support the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers. Pajamas are perfect attire. To learn more, contact Suzi at (413) 429-1799 or suzi@laundrylinedivine.com.
For more information visit the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers (BFWW).
— H.B.
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GB Town Democratic Committee to meet Saturday, March 7
Great Barrington — The Great Barrington Town Democratic Committee will meet Saturday, March 7 at noon at the Claire Teague Senior Center, 917 Main Street. The Committee will choose representatives for a March 28 conference in Pittsfield in which a member of the state committee for this Senate district will be elected. The Committee will also update its membership roster, review its voter registration and turnout efforts and plan programs for the coming year. The meeting is open to the public. For more information please contact committee chair Michael Wise, at michaelwise@earthlink.net or 413-854-1323.
— D.S.
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Two-day silkscreen printing workshop
Pittsfield — Textile artist extraordinaire Crispina ffrench will teach an environmentally friendly silkscreen-printing workshop on the techniques of creating single and multi-colored prints at Shire City Sanctuary on 40 Melville Street, Saturday March 7 and Sunday March 8.
Single day students will create a one-color image, while students who attend both days will have time to delve into stencil making details and create multi-colored prints. Skills taught in this class are the foundations to all silkscreen-printing processes that can be built upon at any point in the future at Shire City Sanctuary or elsewhere. All inks and emulsions are water based and nontoxic. The paper is 100 percent recycled.
“We are excited to offer this first-time workshop where students will learn the simple magic of silkscreen-printing on paper,” ffrench said. “Shire City Sanctuary is equipped with all necessary tools for those who want to expound on the process after the workshop.”
Crispina ffrench grew up with a family run hand screen-printing business. From a very early age, she and her sisters helped their parents design and print The Dolphin Studio calendar, cards, posters, and more.
Shire City Sanctuary located in the heart of the Pittsfield, and it is the first Makerspace in the Berkshires. Shire City offers screen-printing and commercial sewing equipment, studio, event, meeting, teaching, and presentation space. Workspace, collaboration, tutorials and classes are available to members. Shire City Sanctuary also has a production kitchen available.
$195 for one day of the workshop, or $350 for both days. For more information visit https://shirecitysanctuary.com/ or call 413-236-9600
— D.S.
