Check out Lisa Foderaro’s piece in today’s NYT Escapes section about MASS MoCA and North Adams and our friends at Porches and Norman Rockwell Museum.  We are proud to be a “place of serious whimsy, where unusual artistic ideas are allowed to flourish.”

 Eclipse Mill artist Ralph Brill along with nine RPI undergraduate and graduate students have created a light display titled River Revival that will embellish the Hoosac River chute between the Holden and Marshall Street bridges with 200 feet of fiber optic cables and a color-changing LED luminary. This Saturday, April 26 from dusk to 11 PM.

Downstream, across from the Porches Inn, more artists will install light displays to highlight the river.

Stop by Cafe Latino in the MASS MoCA complex for dinner (seating until 9 PM) or a drink (bar open until 11 PM) before or after taking in the light show.

MASS MoCA, MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center, and Pittsfield’s Office of Cultural Development – partnering under the umbrella of Berkshire Creative – are launching Assets for Artists, a pilot initiative aimed at helping artists throughout Berkshire County who wish to become home owners and/or receive small business training and assistance.

Pre-application forms for the “Assets for Artists� program are due Friday, April 25, 2008, and can be downloaded at www.mcla.edu/bcrc (where you can also find more information about the program). The brief pre-application form must be accompanied by a resume or bio detailing your artistic and other career experience and accomplishments.

Artists in all disciplines living in Berkshire County are welcome to apply. For more information on eligibility for the Assets for Artists program and the services to be offered, contact Blair Benjamin at MASS MoCA (413-664-4481 x8104 or blair@massmoca.org).

Thanks for the nice note on the blog. This image by Gregory Crewdson is one of the many shot at MASS MoCA over the years.

Our friends just up the block at MCLA’s Gallery 51 in collaboration with Northern Berkshire Creative Arts are hosting a talk by Director Joe Thompson about the LeWitt’s artistic practice and place in art history; the LeWitt Project which will expand our gallery space by about 30% and be a (practically) permanent installation (well, 25 years); and its impact on North Adams and the Berkshires. The talk is free and open to the public.
Thursday, April 3
6 - 8 PM
MCLA Gallery 51
51 Main St. North Adams, MA

We’re delighted to welcome Jeff and Jane Hudson to the MASS MoCA campus. They’ve opened a satellite location of their 47 Main Street shop, North Adams Antiques right across from Cafe Latino. Stop by and see what they’ve got too offer besides this cool logo. If you don’t know Jeff and Jane already we can almost guarantee you’ll be their best friend by the time you leave!

Lots of people you’ve met at MASS MoCA in the press. Tell everyone you knew them when….

Deb Solomon’s interview with Stew (who played in an Alt Cab here on August 14, 2004)

Fritz Haeg profiled in Sunday Styles (who was part of The Believers exhibition in 2007)

Cai Guo Qiang in NY Times and New Yorker (Cai’s Inopportune was originally commissioned by MASS MoCA for Building 5 in 2004.)

Read what our Free Day visitors thought about the museum.

There are quite a few MASS MoCA reviews and some interesting discussions about the musuem going on on at Yelp.

Check it out and add your own review.

Terry Clark, an avid illustrated journaler and local writer in California who was born and raised in North Adams has created the North Adams Traveling Journal. The journal will reside at Papyri but can be taken home (”borrowed”) by anyone who wishes to write, paint, draw, collage or otherwise fill the journal. The caveat is that it must be their thoughts and feelings about North Adams. Terry would like to hear from residents - via the journal entries -about what they like, treasure, feel is special about this town - what makes N.A. home for them? It could be a place, a season, a view, a building, a person, a spiritual spot, a memory spot - anything. It could be a hope for some change or a fervent wish that North Adams never changes.

The journal itself is handmade and contains both watercolor and sketch/pastel paper — a beautiful work of art on its own. Terry started the first few pages in the journal to get people going and reminds us that expression is more important than experienced artistic talent or literary skills. The book is available to anyone who wants to participate and is to be borrowed on trust. They are optimistic that everyone will treat it as a special recording of people’s thoughts and feelings and return it to Papyri for the next entry. Journalers can sign their pages or be anonymous.