Berkshire Botanical Garden to feature Madeline Schwartzman’s “Face Nature”
STOCKBRIDGE — Berkshire artist Madeline Schwartzman brings an ecological approach to art and design in “Face Nature,” on exhibit at Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Leonhardt Galleries January 15–February 25.
“Face Nature” is a unique experimental art practice featuring installations on the human body that form uncanny hybrids of people and plants. Schwartzman’s anthropocentric practice aims to create a crack in human awareness and serve as an antidote to passivity and inaction surrounding the future of nature. The exhibition includes both human-scaled photographic portraits and moving images that convey how skin and nature collide and integrate.
Schwartzman is an artist, writer, and architect whose work explores human narratives and the human sensorium through social art, book writing, curating, and experimental video making. Her book “See Yourself Sensing: Redefining Human Perception” (Black Dog 2011) is a collection of futuristic proposals for the body and the senses. “See Yourself X: Human Futures Expanded” (Black Dog, 2018) presents an array of conceptual and constructed ideas for how we might physically extend the head, mind, and brain into space.
Schwartzman exhibits work and gives Face Nature workshops around the world. She is a long-term faculty member at Barnard College and Parsons: The New School for Design.
An opening reception is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 15, from 3-5 p.m. Gallery hours are Tuesdays–Sundays, from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Masks are required in the galleries.
—A.K.
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Pittsfield Green Drinks to present wildlife tracking expert Richard Greene
PITTSFIELD — Richard Greene will speak at Pittsfield Green Drinks’ January meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 6 p.m., via Zoom. He will talk about his experience with wildlife tracking and the many places this passion has taken him.
Greene is an overgrown Boy Scout who has always been a nature hobbyist. He has studied track and sign, as well as wildlife biology, with Keeping Track, Cybertracker, and Mass Audubon’s Field Naturalist Program. These interests have taken him throughout New England, Canada, and South Africa. Although Richard spends most of his time nowadays at his home in southern Berkshire County, he has also presented many talks on the use of trail cameras in wildlife study.
As part of the discussion, Greene will present a slide show and narrative from his collection of wintertime track and sign photos, and give tips and techniques on how to notice and identify wildlife tracks and signs.
Pittsfield Green Drinks is an informal gathering on the third Tuesday of the month. These nights are free and open to everyone with any environmental interest. The drinks aren’t green but the conversations are. Registration is required to join this event. Register here.
—A.K.
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Bard’s US-China Music Institute to present “The Sound of Spring”
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON — The US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music will present “The Sound of Spring: A Chinese New Year Concert,” conducted by Director of the US-China Music Institute Jindong Cai with The Orchestra Now (TŌN).
This special annual event, marking one of the most important holidays in the Chinese lunar calendar, showcases some of the best Chinese American artists in America today, Chinese music, and traditional instruments. Performances will take place on Friday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. in The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College and on Sunday, Jan. 30 at 3 p.m. in the Rose Theater of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City. To purchase tickets for the January 28 Fisher Center concert, click here, call 845-758-7900, or email boxoffice@bard.edu. For tickets to the January 29 Lincoln Center concert, call 212-721-6500.
This year’s concert will celebrate the Chinese Year of the Tiger. The Institute aims to create the most authentic Chinese New Year musical event to reflect both traditional and contemporary music of China, in hopes it will inspire the audience to overcome obstacles and meet the future with hope.
The first half of the program features “Ode to Pear Blossoms” from The Royal Consort of Tang, a newly created Peking opera, which combines modern sounds with traditional form, as well as two pieces honoring the great Yellow River, which has been referred to as the cradle of Chinese civilization and has a strong place in the cultural imagination. The second half of the concert showcases the traditional Chinese pipa, the suona, and vocal music in celebration of the Chinese New Year and its spirit of family, togetherness, and looking ahead with optimism.
The concert features vocalists Song Feihong (Peking Opera), Esther Maureen Kelly (soprano), and José Rubio (baritone); Yazhi Guo (suona and guanzi); Ju Xiaofu (piano); and Zhou Yi (pipa).
—A.K.
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Planning Commission announces 2022 Berkshire Benchmarks Survey
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) today announced the 2022 Berkshire Benchmarks Survey. BRPC, working with the Berkshire Leadership Impact Council and numerous organizations around the county, developed the survey to better understand the issues affecting county residents.
Postcards are being mailed to all county residents with the survey link. Survey participants may also take the survey online in English or in Spanish.
The survey asks a range of questions, such as “How much are you able to save for retirement?”, “How welcome do you feel in outdoor spaces, like parks, conservation areas, and reserves?” and “How well do you feel your local town or city government represents your beliefs and values?”
The goals of Berkshire Benchmarks are to work with the community to understand priorities, help inform the region on how we are doing, and assess whether we are seeing improvement. Berkshire Benchmarks achieves these goals by improving the region’s access to data and quality analysis. We can all make better informed decisions and more accurately track performance over time through better data.
The survey results and recently revised “Regional Indicators” will provide vital information on how the region is performing in a diverse set of sectors. These sectors include economy, education, environment, government, health, housing, social environment, and transportation.
The survey results will be shared in April at a bi-annual convening which will also include the unveiling of a new Berkshire Benchmarks website and the release of a State of the County report.
—A.K.
