Friday, February 14, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Bits & Bytes: Berkshire Crafts Fair; Grow Show; ‘Banksy: Completed’ at IS183; ‘Pipeline’ at the Clark; SculptureNow at the Mount

After anonymous British street artist Banksy’s self-styled month-long New York “residency” in October 2013, Carol Diehl spent several months making a serious investigation into his work.

Berkshire Crafts Fair supports student programs

Great Barrington — Now in its 45th year, the Berkshire Crafts Fair will return to Monument Mountain Regional High School Friday, Aug. 10, through Sunday, Aug. 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The fair will showcase the work of 91 artisans carefully selected by jury for the quality and variety of their offerings. Visitors can expect a wide array of products and prices in each category of craft, from contemporary and traditional jewelry to furniture, ceramics, textiles, glassware and more. The exhibition and sale draws master artisans from as far away as California and Florida in addition to many regional artists.

The Berkshire Crafts Fair is a not-for-profit event that generates funds for scholarships and educational endeavors at MMRHS. Since its beginnings in 1974, the fair has been recognized nationally as a major destination for fine arts and crafts. Proceeds from the fair have funded an array of special projects for MMRHS faculty and students. Over the past 44 years, the fair has raised over $1,000,000 and awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and scholarships for students and faculty. Money raised has created learning opportunities such as world travel and service learning, book publishing, musical performances, a new track and tennis courts, a student center, air conditioning in the school auditorium and gymnasium, and a variety of equipment for the school.

New this year, longtime director Kathy Ericson has handed the fair’s directorship over to Samie Mitchell, a 2016 MMRHS graduate who has been volunteering at the fair every year since she was in fifth grade.

Admission to the fair is $8 for adults and free for children ages 12 and under. For more information, contact (413) 528-3346 or info@berkshirecraftsfair.org.

–E.E.

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Berkshire Botanical Garden to host 48th annual Grow Show

An award-winning floral arrangement at a past Grow Show. Photo courtesy Berkshire Botanical Garden

Stockbridge — Berkshire Botanical Garden will host its 48th annual Grow Show, a judged event showcasing floral design and Berkshire backyard gardeners’ summer harvest, Saturday, Aug. 11, from 1 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event shares BBG’s season-long “ART/GARDEN” theme, where the floral design division takes inspiration from notable works of art found at regional museums including the Clark Art Institute, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio and the Berkshire Museum.

Floral designers will be judged on their arrangements inspired by the following: “Fumee d’ambre gris” by John Singer Sargent, courtesy of the Clark; “Repairing Stained Glass,” courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum; fresco by George L.K. Morris, courtesy of the Frelinghuysen  Morris House and Studio; and “The Trio” by Robert Reid, courtesy of the Berkshire Museum. Two works of art currently on exhibition at BBG will also be included: “Pear I” by Ellsworth Kelly, courtesy of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation; and “Cyclone” by Alice Aycock, courtesy of the artist. Judging will be based on the principles and elements of design as well as creativity, distinction, and conformance to and interpretation of the class.

The Grow Show’s horticulture division spotlights regional backyard gardeners when their summer harvests are at their peak. Nearly 80 horticulture classes are open for registration, representing divisions including annuals, perennials, biennials, vegetables, fruits and berries, container-grown plants, and dish gardens. There is no charge to enter the Grow Show. Entries may be brought to the Garden Friday, Aug. 10, from 3 to 5 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 11 from 8 to 9:45 a.m. Online pre-registration will save time on entry day and those who pre-register online will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a BBG giveaway.

The Grow Show is included with BBG admission. For more information, contact Berkshire Botanical Garden at (413) 298-3926 or info@berkshirebotanical.org.

–E.E.

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Carol Diehl

Carol Diehl to present ‘Banksy: Completed’ talk at IS183

Stockbridge — On Wednesday, Aug. 8, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Carol Diehl will present the talk “Banksy: Completed,” the title of her upcoming book, at IS183 Art School of the Berkshires.

After anonymous British street artist Banksy’s self-styled month-long New York “residency” in October 2013, where he produced a work of art in one of the city’s five boroughs each day, Diehl spent several months making a serious investigation into his work. Her inquiry resulted in an essay that she has given as a lecture at California State University, Fullerton as well as the Rochester Institute of Technology, the Berkshire Museum and the University for the Creative Arts. She is also featured in the HBO documentary “Banksy Does New York.” Diehl has served on the faculties of Bennington College and the School of Visual Arts’ graduate fine arts program, and is the recipient of artist fellowships from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has been a senior critic in graduate fine arts at the University of Pennsylvania; and a visiting artist at Yale University, the University of Iowa, Columbia College and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In 2011, Diehl received an art writer’s grant from the Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation for her blog, Art Vent.

“Arguably the world’s most famous living artist and a hero to many young people, Banksy is regarded with suspicion, if not outright derision, by the established American art world,” said Diehl. Following the clues embedded in his work and writings as well as his 2011 Academy Award-nominated film “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” Diehl continued, “I discovered that Banksy’s seemingly flippant interventions are driven by profound philosophical principles—and concluded that Banksy is one of the most important artists of our time who, among other things, challenges the culture to reconsider what art is, as well as its value and purpose.”

The talk is free and open to the public. For more information, contact IS183 at (413) 298-5252.

–E.E.

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WAM Theatre to present ‘Pipeline’ by Dominique Morisseau

Dominique Morisseau

Williamstown — WAM Theatre’s 2018 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series will continue with “Pipeline” by Dominique Morisseau and directed by Dawn M. Simmons Sunday, Aug. 12, at 2 p.m. in the auditorium at the Clark Art Institute. After the reading, the company will lead a post-show conversation about race, parenting and the American education system.

In “Pipeline,” inner-city public high school teacher Nya is both committed to her students and desperate to give her only son opportunities her students will never have.  When a controversial incident in his upstate private school threatens to get her son expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. Morisseau won a 2018 Obie Award for Playwriting for the Lincoln Center Theater production of “Pipeline.”

The auditorium is located in the Clark’s Manton Research Center. The Clark recommends that patrons park in the main lot and walk down the path to the Manton building. Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for educators and $15 for patrons under 30. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact WAM Theatre at (413) 274-8122 or info@wamtheatre.com.

–E.E.

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‘Vetro Muralis’ by William Carlson in featured in the 2018 SculptureNow exhibit at the Mount in Lenox. Photo courtesy SculptureNow

SculptureNow returns to The Mount with a new show

Lenox — SculptureNow and the Mount present the 2018 SculptureNow exhibit at the Mount through Wednesday, Oct. 31. The new, juried exhibition features 30 large-scale, outdoor sculptures placed throughout the grounds of the Mount. The first of three artist-guided tours of the exhibition will take place Sunday, Aug. 12, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

The show includes regionally, nationally and internationally recognized artists William Anastasia, Susan Arthur, Mark Attebery, Dai Ban, Peter Barrett, Dove Bradshaw, James Burnes, William Carlson, Joe Chirchirillo, Peter Dellert, Anne Dobek, Janet Goldner, Harold Grinspoon, Otello Guarducci, Vincent Hawley, Ann Jon, Darryl Lauster, Binney Meigs, James Meyer, Gary Orlinsky, Chris Plaisted, Michelle Post, Laura ReinhardEd Smith, Brendan Stecchini, Michael Thomas, Bill Tobin, Robin Tost, Bob Turan and Mark Warwick.

The exhibition free with admission to the Mount. For more information, contact SculptureNow at (413) 623-2068 or the Mount at (413) 551-5111.

–E.E.

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