On the occasion of our 10th Anniversary, Director Joe Thompson was asked to write an op-ed piece for Berkshire Trade and Commerce. Here are his reflections on this milestone.

Check out this great piece on Studio 360 by Mark Phillips on being inspired by Sol LeWitt.

To celebrate our ten years in existence I asked my fellow staff members to write their own top ten lists for MASS MoCA. Contributors include our new interns, our director, and all sorts of staff members in between. Enjoy!

Top 10 favorite places (public and non public) at MASS MoCA

Joe (Director)

1. The Powerplant
2. 4^th floor mezzanine, LeWitt Building (it’s open to the public, but many have yet to find it.)
3. Inside the top of the clock tower (though the pigeon guano is intimidating)
4. Backstage at the Hunter Center
5. Building 5 Mezzanine Gallery, overlooking the big gallery
6. Courtyard C pavilion
7. Richard Criddle’s metal working shop
8. Sam Donato’s paint shop
9. The B&G workshop
10. The Chiller Room

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The two wonderful restaurants on the MASS MoCA campus are offering special menus for dinner before the ball.

Lickety Split‘s menu will include: Garden gazpacho cocktail rimmed with shrimp $8, Quinoa salad with spicy grilled shrimp, glazed grilled salmon, or grilled chicken $12, Chilled soba noodles in a spicy peanut sauce with spicy grilled shrimp, glazed grilled salmon, or grilled chicken $12

Cafe Latino‘s Ten-Year Taqueria celebrates MASS MoCA’s 10-Year Anniversary with a taco buffet  complete with all the fixings plus a limited a la carte menu in the MoCA Courtyard from 5-9 pm. Cost is $18 per person

Before and during the Ball Lickety Split will offer dessert including:

• Assortment of MASS MoCA ice cream truffles $4
• Mocha ice cream rolled in crushed Heath bar crunch
• Chocolate ice cream rolled in toasted coconut
• Black raspberry ice cream rolled in Guittard chocolate sprinkles
• Maple ice cream rolled in crushed walnuts
• Lemon sorbet served with fresh berries
• Lime cheesecake on raspberry coulis
• Mocha mousse with a dollop of whipped cream
• Biscotti

MASS MoCA director Joe Thompson offers these thoughts on his star turn in Guy Ben-Ner’s new film.

I spent most of last week artist Guy Ben-Ner, cinematographer John Russell Foster, sound guru Roger Phenix  our own curator/producer Susan Cross, and problem-solver Eugene Rutligliano, taking a star turn as a perfectly cast museum director/pilot/fool, in Guy’s new video installation which will premier here on May 23^rd.

God, was it excruciating, and a lot of fun.

I am a truly terrible actor which Guy kept saying was “perfect, no, really, Joe, it’s ok, it’s ok.â€�  Though Guy’s dense, sometimes archaic, dialogue was a challenge, it really wasn’t really so difficult as to be a Read the rest of this entry »

See more photos of the Stearns School Sol LeWitt project at the school’s website.