The Clark Art Institute offers special Mother’s Day activities
Williamstown— On Sunday, May 12th, The Clark Art Institute offers special Mother’s Day activities.
From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., decorate a special token of appreciation for the mothers and maternal figures in your life at a card-making station. After card-making, enjoy a walk around the Clark’s campus with the people you love, or experience a free chamber music gala presented by the Williams College Music Department beginning at 3 p.m.
The Clark Art Institute is located on South Street in Williamstown. These activities are offered free with gallery admission. More information can be found online.
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Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion & Museum to host a Mother’s Day Tea
Lenox— On Sunday, May 12th from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion & Museum will host a Mother’s Day Tea.
Treat Mom or that special woman in your life to a sumptuous Victorian tea in a beautiful Gilded Age mansion at Ventfort Hall. Tea will be served in the elegant dining room and will include an assortment of savories and pastries accompanied by a traditional black tea and our special Harney & Sons Cherry Blossom Green Tea.
Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion & Museum is located on Walker Street in Lenox. Tickets are $50 per person. The proceeds from this event will help fund the restoration of the mansion. Reservations are required. Reservations and more information can be found online or by calling 413-637-3206.
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Mother’s Day High Tea at Dottie’s/Dorothy’s
Pittsfield— On Sunday May 12th at 3 p.m., Dottie’s Coffee Lounge and Dorothy’s Estaminet are presenting a Mother’s Day High Tea.
The high tea will include traditional tea sandwiches, bite sized desserts, tea service, and something bubbly.
Dottie’s Coffee Lounge and Dorothy’s Estaminet are located at 438 and 444 North Street in Pittsfield. Tickets are $35 per person. Reservations are required. More information can be found online or by calling 413-443-1792.
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Guided Forest Bathing with Mother Earth at Olana
Hudson, N.Y.— On Saturday, May 11th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., get outside and show yourself and Mother Earth some love through a special guided walk inspired by “AfterGlow: Frederic Church and the Landscape of Memory.”
Based on the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing”), this program will offer optional invitations to connect with nature and yourself. Fru Molnar, trained and certified forest bathing guide, will lead the way through Olana’s landscape, helping you connect with nature through a slow-paced, easeful sensory exploration.
Fru Molnar is the founder of Forest Baths, a lifelong student of the trees, and a Certified Forest Therapy Guide with the ANFT (Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides). She guides immersive nature therapy experiences throughout forests and parks of the lower Hudson Valley in partnership with all the “more-than-human” beings on this land, in service to nature and for the wellbeing of all.
The event is on Saturday, May 11th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Olana State Historic Site at 5720 State Route 9G in Hudson, N.Y. Tickets are $15, $10 for members, and $5 for residents or Columbia and Greene counties. More information can be found online.
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Berkshire Running Foundation 48th Mother’s Day 5K and Community One Mile Walk/Run
Pittsfield— On Sunday, May 12th at 8 a.m., the Berkshire Running Foundation will host the 48th Mother’s Day Women’s 5K and Community One Mile Walk/Run. Started in 1977, the Mother’s Day 5K is the longest held, all female running event in the country.
The One Mile Walk/Run begins at 8 a.m. followed by the women-only 5K at 8:30 a.m. Prizes will be awarded to the top overall finishers.
The run is located at the Paterson Field House at Berkshire Community College on West Street in Pittsfield. Registration fees are $15 for the one mile walk/run and $30 for the 5K. All proceeds will benefit the Elizabeth Freeman Center to offer hope, help and healing to all experiencing or affected by domestic and sexual violence in Berkshire County.
More information can be found online or by calling 413-344-4472.
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RA to open ‘RIGHT ANGLE,’ the work of Adriane Colburn and Graham Collins
Great Barrington— On Saturday, May 11th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., RA celebrates the opening of “RIGHT ANGLE,” the work of Adriane Colburn and Graham Collins.
Both artists utilize a species of personal craft to create non-exacting visual forms that reimagine traditions of minimalism and conceptualism. Colburn will exhibit bent wood sculptures that take their cue from mapping environmental and oceanic trade routes, while Collins will exhibit a new series of minimalist paintings upon intricate glazed ceramic substrates.
Adriane Colburn’s steam-bent ash sculptures are a vehicle to investigate the invisible lines that shape our lives; from the objects we hold in our hands, the industries that form Economy, and the emissions that comprise the atmosphere. Her work traces and maps the gradients of natural data points such as air currents and sea temperatures, shipping routes that circumnavigate the globe. Ash is a chosen material not only because it is prized for flexibility, but because it sheds light on material decimated by the Emerald Ash Borer, an insect that came to the US from Asia aboard wood pallets in shipping containers.
Graham Collins uses material approaches and substrates (ceramic, cut and quilted paintings, above ground pools) to broadly reflect on the traps, tributaries, and conventions of painting as a primary vehicle for western philosophy. Ever-challenging the ease of viewing an artwork, Collins’ utilizes obfuscation and the viewer’s body movement as a tool to experience his work. This movement of the viewer supports Collins’ conjecture that the object itself is secondary to the primary function of viewing the work in space. Thus, his paintings share the temporal space usually reserved to dance.
Colburn and Collins’ redefine the concept of right angles by presenting artworks that defy conformity, inviting viewers to reconsider their perceptions of space, geometry, and dimensionality.
The opening reception is on Saturday, May 11th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at RA Gallery at 80 Railroad Street in Great Barrington. More information can be found online.
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Gallerie 271 to open ‘Stone Spoke Worm Talk,’ the work of Andy Bullard
Monterey— On Saturday, May 11th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Gallerie 271 celebrates the opening of “Stone Spoke Worm Talk,” the work of Andy Bullard.
“Stone Spoke Worm Talk” speaks to the idea of paintings as a metaphor for fossils where the passage of time, life, and information are compressed into one image and frozen while still suggesting a vivid past.
Bullard, a Monterey resident, has an MFA from Indiana University and has exhibited his work throughout the midwest and Los Angeles.
The opening reception is on Saturday, May 11th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Gallerie 271 at 271 Main Road in Monterey. More information can be found online.
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Accessible birding at Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley
Lenox— On Saturday, May 11th from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Berkshire Wildlife Sanctuaries hosts an accessible birding event on Pleasant Valley’s “All Person’s Trail.”
This introductory bird watching program takes place along the newly expanded “All Person’s Trail” at Pleasant Valley. Binoculars will be provided as well as bird watching and mindfulness tips as you explore a gentle, accessible trail that extends from the sanctuary entrance through meadows and woods to the shores of Pike’s Pond. This event is perfect for beginners and birders of all abilities.
You’re invited to stay for the entire two hours or as long as you like. The program will include standing and walking up to one mile. An all-terrain rollator and Grit Freedom chair are available to borrow. Bench seating is also located periodically along the trail.
Berkshire Wildlife Sanctuaries is located at 472 West Mountain Road in Lenox. Registration and more information can be found online.
