MASS MoMA: Artists of the Berkshires and Pioneer Valley features works by Haley Lauw
North Adams— In collaboration with LABspace, TurnPark Art Space presents MASS MoMA: Artists of the Berkshires and Pioneer Valley, featuring the work of 40 artists, along with Crash Bend Slap Kiss, the first solo exhibition from Haley Lauw (they/them) in the Garage Gallery, beginning Saturday, April 1 and continuing weekends through Sunday, April 30. An opening reception in the Garage Gallery will take place April 1 from 3 to 5 p.m. TurnPark Art Space formally opens for its seventh season, Friday, May 12.
Based in Portland, OR, Haley Lauw is a past resident artist at ChaNorth, The Wassaic Project, and The Pajama Factory. Playing in the space between joy and trauma, Crash Bend Slap Kiss includes Lauw’s recent sculptures alongside new works created for the exhibition with objects found around the Berkshires and Hudson Valley during their Hive Project Residency at TurnPark Art Space. Inspired by (dis)connection, attachment theory, and sex, Lauw’s enmeshed objects link metaphorically to the body and act as portraits of relationships, boundaries, power dynamics, and eroticism. Responding to their experiences of navigating relationships as a queer, genderfluid person with Bipolar and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, Haley interrupts and amends familiar objects to create minimalist compositions of attachment, while fumbling toward intimacy.
Opening reception, Saturday, April 1, 3 to 5 p.m. in the Garage Gallery. MASS MoMA: Artists of the Berkshires and Pioneer Valley and Crash Bend Slap Kiss are free and open to the public Saturdays and Sundays between April 1 and Sunday, April 30, and by appointment.
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“An Introduction to Beekeeping” by local Dan Carr
Norfolk, Conn. — Norfolk Library will hold “An Introduction to Beekeeping” lecture on Thursday, April 6 at 6 p.m.
In this Introduction to Beekeeping, Dan Carr takes you from the anatomy and social structure of honey bees to the basics of managing a hive, and teaches you about what it takes to start your very own beehive.
Dan met his wife Marleen while beekeeping, and together they started a sustainable livestock farm and apiary in Falls Village, CT; Beavertides Farm. Besides raising sheep, cattle, goats and millions of honey bees, they organize farm tours and teach classes in beekeeping and other farming and homesteading related topics.
Dan has almost two decades of experience as a beekeeper in both Malawi and the US. He has been teaching beekeeping courses for many years at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, the Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm in NYC and at his family farm, Beavertides Farm.
For inquiries, a peek at life on the farm and more information, please visit www.beavertidesfarm.com. Please register here for this program.
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“Pout Party” read by author Sarah McColl
Lee— Lee Library presents Storytime with author Sarah McColl on Wednesday, April 5 at 10:30 a.m. as she reads her book “Pout Party.”
Pout Party is a story that playfully portrays how difficult it can be to put your best foot forward when you’ve woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Illustrated in beautiful, bright pastels, Pout Party is a sweet, funny story for every kid who has ever felt out of sorts and needs a smile.
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John Hite discusses “Economics of Recycling and Producer Responsibility Policies”
North Adams— John Hite, Senior Associate at Clear Strategy, Inc., will give a talk titled “Economics of Recycling and Producer Responsibility Policies” at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 5 at the MCLA Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation, Room 121.
This event is free and open to the public as part of MCLA’s Green Living Seminar series.
John Hite is a waste policy expert focusing on product stewardship regulatory development. Prior to joining Clear Strategy, Hite worked with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to facilitate the development of priority waste legislation. Earlier in his career, Hite spent three years with the Conservation Law Foundation in New England designing and advocating in support of several waste policies, including EPR for packaging and deposit return systems throughout the region. Hite holds a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment, and a bachelor’s in Geography and Spanish from Clark University.
MCLA’s annual Green Living Seminar Series continues through April 19, presenting a series of lectures on the theme of “Capitalism and the Environment.” Every semester, the Green Living Seminar Series centers around a different topic, timely and relevant to current sustainability issues. Seminars take place on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.
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Mirrored Interiors: Films by Cecilia Aldarondo
Williamstown— “Mirrored Interiors” is an exhibition featuring four films by the award-winning filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo. The exhibition consists of five screenings presented over three weeks, starting with a special one-time-only Williamstown debut of Aldarondo’s newest film “You Were My First Boyfriend” (2023) at Images Cinema on Wednesday, April 5, at 6:30 p.m. followed by a conversation between film curator and writer Sally Berger and the artist. A reception at WCMA will precede the screening at 5 p.m.
In this high school reunion movie turned inside out, Aldarondo embarks on a fantastical quest to reconcile her tortured teen years. She “goes back” in more ways than one, tracking down old foes and friends while also reenacting visceral memories of youthful humiliation and desire. Oscillating between present and past, hallucination and reality, “You Were My First Boyfriend” is a hybrid documentary that explores the power of adolescent fantasy, the subtle violence of cultural assimilation, and the fun house mirror of time’s passage.
“Landfall” (2020) and the film short “Picket Line” (2017) will be shown together on Tuesday, April 11, and Tuesday, April 18; “Memories of a Penitent Heart” (2016) will screen on Friday, April 14, and Friday, April 21. These screenings will be at WCMA starting at 4 p.m. All screenings are free and open to the public.
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“Lives Gone Wildly Off-Script with Laura Didyk at Dewey Hall
Sheffield— Dewey Drop-In “Use Your Words” presents “Lives Gone Wildly Off-Script with Laura Didyk” on Wednesday, April 5 at 6:30 p.m.
Use Your Words brings writers, readers, and listeners together for evenings of sharing and conversation. Each date will be hosted by a different local writer, with readings by colleagues, students, writing groups, published authors, and storytellers. Themes will include Emergence, Grief, Creaturely Stories, Lives Gone Off Script, True Tales, Memoirs, and more. The hosts will open conversations around each evening’s themes, but also talk about writing practices, writing groups, and other skills to empower the art of writing and to encourage reading.
This evening, hosted by Laura Didyk, three nonfiction writers will read from their books in progress—tales of lives thrown wildly off-script or that never had scripts to begin with. Q&A to follow the reading.
This event will take place at Dewey Hall. $10 at the door. Additional donations welcome. Contact: deweymemorialhall@gmail.com, 413 429 1322
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Visiting Artists Series at Williams College welcomes Escher Quartet
Williamstown— The Williams College Department of Music presents the Escher Quartet on April 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall. This event is free and open to the public.
Escher Quartet presents Mendelssohn String Quartet in F Minor, op. 80, and String Quartet (1931) by Ruth Crawford Seeger. After the intermission the quartet performs Beethoven String Quartet in F Major, op. 59, No. 1.
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
