Dave Read

Clark Art schedules architecture photography lecture

Clark Art has scheduled a lecture for Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 3 pm related to its current exhibition, Steps off the Beaten Path: Nineteenth Century Photographs of Rome and its Environs, which considers how 19th century photography was influenced by the way buildings were portrayed in paintings. Titled “Images of Architecture: Before Photography and After,” the lecture will be given by guest curator Ralph Liebermanan, who is an art historian and a photographer of architecture and sculpture. Admission to the lecture is free. (Directions to The Clark.)

Lieberman spent many years living and working in Venice, first on a Fulbright grant, and then for several years on fellowships from the Kress Foundation, New York University, and the Committee for the Rescue of Italian Art, which was founded after the 1966 floods in Florence and Venice. His Renaissance Architecture in Venice, entirely illustrated with his own photographs, appeared in 1982. He has published on several aspects of Renaissance art in both Venice and Florence, particularly Michelangelo, as well as on the Crystal Palace, Louis Kahn drawings, and the relationship between photography and art history.

Since 1983 he has lived in the Berkshires, dividing his time between teaching and photography. He taught art history and architecture at many places, including Williams College and the Rhode Island School of Design. His art-historical photographs are in study collections at Harvard, the National Gallery in Washington, the Frick Collection, the Clark, and the Getty Museum, as well as the major art-history libraries in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Munich.

Technical innovations, artistic daring, and shifting socio-political circumstances led to a dramatic change in the photography of Rome in the late nineteenth century. Photographers of the Eternal City began to capture everyday scenes alongside ancient ruins, Baroque churches, and backstreets on the verge of being transformed by industrialization. Through the 100 images in Steps off the Beaten Path viewers today can step into a Rome that was about to step out of the pre-industrial age. The exhibition is on view at the Clark through January 3, 2010.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm (open daily in July and August). Admission June 1 through October 31 is $12.50 for adults, free for children 18 and younger, members, and students with valid ID. Admission is free November through May. For more information, call 413-458-2303 or visit clarkart.edu.

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Williamstown, MA Hotels and Inns

Berkshires Farmers Markets scheduled

Farmers’ Markets have been scheduled for the Saturday before Thanksgiving, November 21, 2009 at the Williams College Field House on Latham Street in Williamstown, 10 am – 2 pm, and the old firehouse on Castle Street in Great Barrington, 9 am – 1pm. Berkshires farmers and artisan producers will be selling Thanksgiving meal items such as produce, cheese, eggs, meat, poultry, bread, pies and other baked goods, plus pickles and jams.

Co-sponsored by Berkshire Grown and Williams College, the Holiday Farmers’ Markets are looking for more farmers and food producers who are interested in selling locally grown food and food products with a focus on educating the consumer about local sources. Interested parties for the Williamstown market should contact Alyse Franco at bgnhfm@gmail.com. For the Great Barrington market, contact Rosemary Levine at rosemarylevine@yahoo.com or 413-528-8950. Visit www.berkshiregrown for additional details.

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Yam, poem by Bruce Guernsey

Yam

The potato that ate all its carrots,
can see in the dark like a mole,

its eyes the scars
from centuries of shovels, tines.

May spelled backwards
because it hates the light,

pawing its way, paddling along,
there in the catacombs.

American Life in Poetry: Column 238 BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Though some teacher may have made you think that all poetry is deadly serious, chock full of coded meanings and obscure symbols, poems, like other works of art, can be delightfully playful. Here Bruce Guernsey, who divides his time between Illinois and Maine, plays with a common yam.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2008 by Bruce Guernsey. Reprinted from New England Primer by Bruce Guernsey, Cherry Grove Collections, 2008, by permission of Bruce Guernsey and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Berkshires digital arts showcase in Pittsfield

PITTSFIELD, MA, Oct. 7, 2009 – VALLEYWOOD, producers of events designed to promote all aspects of the digital arts, has invited digital arts companies and service providers, as well as schools and colleges, to exhibit at “FILM TECH: An Evening with Eugene Mamut and the Animagic Museum.” The exhibition and cinematic showcase of the digital arts in the Berkshires is scheduled Nov. 9, 2009, from 5:30 to 8:45 p.m. in the Colonial Theatre lobbies, 111 South St., Pittsfield, MA. (See map)

The combined exhibition of digital arts studios and related professionals, and a program showcasing Berkshires work, is open anyone interested in the digital arts and film industry. It is designed to help those seeking work, contract employment or training in all aspects of the digital arts that support the film industry.

The exhibition hall will be open from 5:30 to 7 p.m., followed by the digital arts showcase featuring Mamut, guest speaker Larry Jackson and Berkshires-based animation, special effects and video game studios. Studios from western Massachusetts will also exhibit, and their clips will be showcased along with their Berkshire neighbors as part of the video that Mamut is creating.

Already signed up to exhibit as of October 1 are Mamut, who showcases all Berkshires studios at the Animagic Museum, and Tom Gasek, a director and animator who has worked on films such as “Wallace and Gromit” and “Chicken Run.” The Synthespian studio will also be represented.

Exhibiting from western Mass. are Pileated Pictures (Shelburne Falls) and Anzovin Studios (Florence). Many more digital arts specialists are expected to exhibit.

Exhibitors may include, though not limited to:

Animation, special effects and video game producers for feature film, TV, commercials, video games for consumers and the classroom
Documentary and feature film makers
Authors whose work has been turned into a digital format
Screenwriters
Hollywood agents and publicists
Sound and light companies
Computer programmers and Web designers
Marketing, public relations and product promotional specialists
Gaffers, grips, etc.
Digital equipment vendors and manufacturers
Wireless service providers
Caterers and other food providers to film/TV sets
Film/TV critics
Film schools and programs
Any other business that serves the digital arts

There is room for 50-plus exhibitors to be placed throughout the two lobbies and wide hallways that sit between them. Exhibitors will be provided table space, a table cloth and electric outlets. Full tables are available at a fee to be paid to VALLEYWOOD producers. Follow the link for information on fees and to submit the mandatory pre-registration online form.

Public relations sponsors may come from the private or public sectors, including Chambers of Commerce, educational institutions, film and arts commissions, health care providers that utilize digital equipment, media outlets, cities and towns, corporations or individual companies, etc. All will be provided a free table in exchange for promotion of the event.

scholarship to benefit Berkshires students

Ten percent of proceeds will go to creating a scholarship to benefit Berkshires students of all ages who are seeking training in the digital arts as they relate to the film industry. Exhibitors and PR patrons will have free access to the digital showcase portion of the event, which will start at 7 p.m. in the theater’s central lobby. Payment for exhibitor space may be made online through PayPal, a check, cash or a money order to be mailed to Amy Zuckerman, 4 Eaton Court, Amherst, Mass. 01002.

ABOUT EUGENE MAMUT:
Eugene Mamut is the owner of the Animagic Museum in Lee with Irina Borisova, and the recipient of the 1986 Academy Award for Science and Engineering. The award was made for his work used on “Predator.” He will highlight the accomplishments of regional digital artists serving the film industry with a half-hour film.

ABOUT LARRY JACKSON:
The featured guest speaker is Larry Jackson, former Senior Vice President of Production for the Samuel Goldwyn Company, Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions at Miramax Films, Vice President In Charge Of Production at Orion Pictures, and Production Manager for (and mentored by) the legendary Orson Welles. Jackson, who lives in Amherst, Mass. and teaches film at New York University and in Ireland, is an independent producer and director. He is currently the developer of the iArtHouse.com downloadable film library.

ABOUT VALLEYWOOD
VALLEYWOOD is an outgrowth of the Hidden Tech network for virtual companies that VALLEYWOOD owner and producer Amy Zuckerman founded in 2002. Since 2004, VALLEYWOOD programming has showcased all sectors of the digital arts that support the film industry, including studios of all kinds, technology companies, writers, publicists, marketing and promotional professionals. VALLEYWOOD is a business line of Zuckerman’s A – Z International Associates (www.a-zinternational.com), a strategic marketing and content packaging business based in Amherst.

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2009 Pittsfield CityJazz Festival opening concert

Pittsfield, MA Oct. 7, 2009 – The 5th Pittsfield CityJazz Festival opened with a performance at the Berkshire Athenaeum by blood drum spirit, led by percussionist royal hartigan, and featuring bassist Wes Brown, saxophonist David Bindman, and pianist Art Hirahara. The group is dedicated to performing original compositions and improvisations connected to world music traditions.

Get the full festival schedule here: BerkshiresJazz.org. This is a video montage from tonight’s performance:

Student play-writing program established in Westfied

The Camp Shepard Playwrights Project, a partnership established by the Chester Theatre Company, Westfield State College and the Westfield YMCA will co-produce an after-school play-writing program modeled on the acclaimed 52nd Street Project in New York.

The program is for students in grades 6-8, who will be teamed with a professional director who will act as mentor through the play writing process. When the one act plays are complete, the director/playwright duo will be joined by a team of actors, designers, stage managers and technicians from Westfield State College to mount full productions of the works, for public performances at Westfield State College’s Ely Studio Theatre on the evenings of October 23rd and 24th.

Chester Theatre Company Artistic Director Byam Stevens, winner of the Massachusetts Alliance of Arts Educators Award, will oversee the program. The after-school classes began on September 14th at the Westfield YMCA when Robin Tilghman a professional actress and educator, greeted her aspiring playwrights. Under her tutelage, the students will learn about characterization, plot, conflict and setting.

According to Stevens, The Camp Shepard Project stands the paradigm of the young playwrights’ experience on its head, “Usually the kids are in a classroom where they are one of many kids matched with a single adult – in this program they are a single kid matched with a team of adults. The results are amazing, in terms of the product the kids produce and in terms of their increased self esteem. ”

At the last class of the course, the young playwrights will be matched with a professional director who will guide them through the weekend play-writing retreat at the YMCA Goyette Camp Shepard Outdoor Center, set for the weekend of October 10-11. Rosann Scalise, Program Operations Director at the Westfield YMCA, will coordinate the classes and retreat.

“This program is fabulous,” said Scalise, “Not only does this have a huge impact on the playwrights’ writing skills, it also has a unique intergenerational aspect — fostering in-depth mentoring relationships and putting the kids side by side with positive role models.”

Once the plays are complete, Stevens will work in collaboration with Jack Shea, Coordinator of the Westfield State College Theatre Arts Program, to cast, rehearse and produce the plays with actors, designers, stage managers and technicians from Westfield State College.

“We are very pleased to be working on this project with Chester Theatre Company and the Westfield YMCA,” said Professor Shea, “In addition to helping these aspiring playwrights, the process will provide an important opportunity for our students to collaborate with a playwright and a professional director on the production of an original piece — a valuable educational experience for everyone involved.”

The Camp Shepard Playwrights Project is funded through the generous support of Shurtleff Children’s Services of Westfield.