We’ve got Edward Burtynsky giving a talk on Thursday 6/26 at 7 but you should come to North Adams early to go to the opening of the Downstreet Art project.

There’s a ton going on on Thursday and its just the start of a great summer of art in North Adams. Here are some details:

There are SEVEN new galleries and nearly TWENTY art destinations including some with strong ties to MASS MoCA like: Primary Secondary Volumes 1 & 2 at 28 Holden Street which features the work of 20 of the drafts-people working on the Sol LeWitt project and Maya III by Jarvis Rockwell at 73 Main Street. You may remember Maya II which was here with Game Show in 2001. Its a nine-foot-tall pyramid covered with action figures plus a site specific wall drawing by Jarvis.

We’re just scratching the surface. There’s a great deal to see and its open all summer and into the fall.

On Thursday you can also celebrate with some of the participating businesses. Shima,Crafty Creations, Second Chance will all have extended hours. Shear Madness will have free eyebrow waxing; Papyri Books will host a sidewalk chalk project; Moulton’s General Store and I Got Goodies will have free chocolate and fudge samples; Cup & Saucer and The Hub will be offering DownStreet Art menu specials and Cafe Latino will host the official after-party.

Hope to see you there!

Like every other office on earth, occasionally MASS MoCA goes through some big changes and staff turnover. We are currently in one of those phases, crying in our coffee as our friends and long time colleagues leave us and celebrating as new faces show up and bring renewed life to the office.

First off I would like to give a virtual cheers to all of our staff who are moving on to bigger and better things. We have truly enjoyed having every one of them at MASS MoCA and wish only good things for them in the future.

Among the newest faces on campus are our summer interns whom have been arriving over the past few days. To our interns and our new staff, your time and work here is greatly appreciated and we look forward to having all of you become part of the MASS MoCA family.

Below are a few photos of the new interns exploring the galleries. If you see them around welcome them to the neighborhood!

Cheers,

Brittany

Over the past few months a team of us have been developing the new children’s scavenger hunt that will take place in the galleries the fourth Saturday of June, July and August this summer. The hunt will focus on the two newest exhibitions in the galleries Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape and Being Here is Better Than Wishing We’d Stayed by Miss Rockaway Armada. Not only have we been having great discussions about how to pull themes from both exhibitions, including recycling and conservation, into the hunt but we have also been making prototypes for art projects. Today we had our first prototype meeting and I thought you might be interested in seeing what we have been working up.

Upside down plants prototype 1.

Upside down plants prototype 2 + 3.

And our Education Coordinator Alison showing off her plant prototype and a camouflage crown she created.

Cheers,

Brittany

Many, many artists who either perform or exhibit at MASS MoCA do great work here and go on to be widely recognized for their artistic endeavors. We wrote a while back about David Lang, one of the co-founders of Bang on a Can, who won a Pulitzer prize for music in the spring. On the awards front we’re currently pulling for Stew’s Passing Strange to win some Tonys — the show has seven nominations. Stew performed an Alt Cabaret here in August 2004.

Also in the news is Wendy Sutter, former cellist for the Bang on a Can All Stars and North Adams summer resident for almost all of the seven July Bang on a Can Music Festivals at MASS MoCA. In a review of Philip Glass’s recording Songs and Poems, critic Allan Kozinn writes, “Ms. Sutter’s rich-hued, supple playing conveys that passion and drama vividly, and she is equally compelling in a varied selection of movements from Mr. Glass’s Naqoyqatsi film score.” Another Bang on a Canner, David Cossin provides percussion for the recording.

If you love Denise Markonish’s new exhibition Badlands, you’ll find plenty more of her curatorial talents to love around the region this summer. Here’s the roster of exhibitions she’s curated this summer:

• Cultivate (a companion exhibition to Badlands) at Berkshire Botanical Garden opens June 8
• In the Zone II through August 3 at Brattleboro Museum in Brattleboro, Vermont
• The Medium is the Message at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz which opens June 7
• AND the Fence Show at the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy opens June 14

Those of us for whom a super-productive weekend  means getting rid of 2007 New Yorkers and replacing the paper towels in the kitchen are awed by Denise’s productivity and salute her success.

Congratulations to Ginger Strand whose new book, Inventing Niagara, was picked as one of summer’s best non-fiction books by Fresh Air. We’re basking in the reflected glory as Ginger’s other summer writing includes one of the essays in our Badlands catalog. Its a great read and the cover design is really cool too.