We have a new feature available to you thanks to the wonders of Google and Yahoo. If you have a personal e-mail or calendar account with either of these search engines you can now add MASS MoCA events to your own calendar. The steps are simple, log on to your account then search for MASS MoCA in the public calendars window. Subscribe to the MASS MoCA Google Calendar and it will automatically add all of our events to your calendar. In Yahoo visit the MASS MoCA Calendar and choose which events you would like to add. Each event has as ‘add this to my calendar button.’Â Quick, simple, easy and it’s definitely worth your time to set up.
Also be on the lookout for our Winter/Spring Calendar to be delivered in mid-November.
For those of you looking forward to seeing Yo La Tengo at MASS MoCA in November make sure to buy your tickets in advance! This is a very popular show and will sell out. Don’t be disappointed, buy your tickets NOW.
The past two weeks several of my fellow officemates and I attended the Art:21 preview series at The Clark. After discussing the episodes among ourselves and hearing what the panel, as well as the rest of the audience had to say, it became obvious that the format of the shows was a major complaint. Each episode took on a theme and then presented four or five artists who loosely used that theme in their art making process. The artist was presented as a ‘talking head’ as one panelist referred to the set up. Obviously there was someone asking the artist questions on particular subjects, but that person was omitted in the final cut and therefore the audience had no clue what encouraged the artist to speak on different subjects.
I bring this up because I think I might have a better format for Art:21 to consider. In fact, my officemates and I have been playing around with the idea of making our own show.
Here is the idea: We pair artists that are here at the museum and allow them to ask each other questions. How awesome would it be to see Spencer Finch and Fransje Killars ask each other questions? Or perhaps Theo Jansen from The Believers and Erik van Leishout? The logistics of these pairings are still in question, but I wanted to ask you, our faithful blog readers, if we here at MASS MoCA made a short video show once a month or so what other sort of features would you want to see? Send me your ideas!
Cheers,
Brittany
PS. Have you bought your tickets for The Teenage Prayers yet?
Laura Christensen who was most recently part of Boxed Sets in Kidspace and served as our education coordinator until July of this year is part of Contemporary Berkshires, an exhibition at Kolok Gallery opening October 13th 3-5pm. Also in the show is Laurie McLeod who had Waterhaven #1 at MASS MoCA in summer 2004. Kolok Gallery is presenting this exhibition featuring nine contemporary artists based in the Berkshires in conjunction with the second annual North Adams Open Studios weekend. Exhibition runs through December 22, 2007.
North Adams Open Studios, the highly successful citywide art show that debuted last October, returns this year for the weekend of October 13th and 14th. In addition to the exhibition at Kolok Gallery, more than 85 local artists will be exhibiting their Read the rest of this entry »
We’re open on Monday, October 8 (Columbus Day) and offering tours at noon and 3 PM. Our intern Emily Colman just got trained, her first public tour is Monday at 3 PM. We’re delighted to welcome another new guide the wonderful Karen Matthews. Stop by for her first tour on Saturday at noon.
Also on Monday, if you like big trucks, come see Anselm Kiefer’s Etroits sont les Vaisseaux get craned into the gallery. This 82′ long (divided into sections) concrete wave will be installed on the second floor as part of Anselm Kiefer: Sculpture and Paintings from the Hall Collection opening October 19. Join us for the opening (free if you’re a member — if you’re not already a member, join today and we’ll send you an invite!)
It takes a lot of brawn and brain to be an intern, especially one at MASS MoCA. I am fairly convinced that our interns are superheroes (and I’m not just saying that because I used to be one.) MASS MoCA interns not only help us put up successful exhibitions, and put on amazing shows, but also help us keep the museum functioning on a day-to-day basis. Did you get a postcard in the mail from MASS MoCA about an upcoming show? An intern might have designed the postcard, an intern might have stuck your address label that postcard, an intern might go to the airport and pick up the performing artist you are invited to see, an intern might help set up the seats you are sitting in to enjoy that performance, an intern might sell you your ticket to the show or the galleries, and an intern might have done research on the artist whose work you can view in the galleries.
One of the things I love about our interns is that no matter what crazy task we ask them to help us with they are still full of energy and life and overall just glad to be here. For example look at the photos posted here of Emily (the marketing intern who will be posting her own additions to the blog occasionally) and Aimee (one of the performing arts interns.) I walked into the museum this morning to find them dancing energetically in the courtyard. Perhaps they were feeling inspired by the David Neumann work-in-progress they saw this past weekend or maybe they are preparing their moves to show off to the Armitage Gone! Dance company when they arrive later this week, but either way they looked like they were having a ball. And later when I asked them to repeat their show for the camera they not only performed again but, incredibly, with even more energy. Which is just more proof that our interns rock!
We are currently searching for interns to help us out during the 2008 winter/spring season. If you would like to join our team for a season please visit the page linked above and apply now. The application deadline is November 1, 2007.
From October 1 to November 6, Williamstown Savings Bank customers are invited to vote for the community organization you would like them to sponsor during the coming year. You can vote online now for MASS MoCA . Or, vote using the ballot you receive in your monthly bank statement or stop by their office to fill one out.
We’re part of an exciting tour put together by our friends at the Center for Ecological Technology called the Green Buildings Open House. From 10 AM - 1 PM on Saturday, October 6 you can learn about the 228 photovoltaic panels on the roof of Building 5 at MASS MoCA which produced an average of 1500 kilowatt hours per week in the summer. We’ll also unveil the first part of a new work that we commissioned from artist and all around exceptional guy Michael Oatman in conjunction with the solar project. There’s a puzzle for you to solve — come learn more about it.
And don’t stop your tour with MASS MoCA, the Green Buildings Open House includes private homes and public buildings around the county including Topia Inn just down the road at 10 Pleasant St. in Adams which features the ultimate in purity and ecological friendliness — luxury pampering and near zero carbon impact.
Kidspace Opens It’s Rude to Stare by Local Artist Richard Criddle
(North Adams, MA) Opening in Kidspace at MASS MoCA on October 4, 2007, It’s Rude to Stare will feature sculpture and drawings by English-born, Vermont-based artist Richard Criddle. In a personal ‘archaeological dig’ into his childhood fears and stories, Criddle interprets his memories on a larger-than-life scale. He presents his autobiography in the form of oversized sculptures made from wood, bronze, fabricated steel, and found objects including wooden blinds, furniture components, a furnace shovel, and heavy-duty industrial hardware. Read the rest of this entry »
Actually the audio isn’t new, but the fact that its available as a podcast is. Quite a few years ago, our very talented friend Larry Smallwood created this tour of MASS MoCA’s architecture and long term installations. You can hear architects Simeon Bruner and Henry Moss of Bruner/Cott & Associates talk about the elements they considered as they approached the renovation of these 100+ year old mill buildings and about the history of mills in New England. You can also learn about the history of this site and about Natalie Jeremijenko’s Tree Logic and Christina Kubisch’s Clocktower Project. And, you can learn about how MASS MoCA has helped to create change in North Adams.
