What:             aHa! Art Walk

Where:            Village of Housatonic, Great Barrington, MA

When: Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21, 11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

The village of Housatonic, the mill-strewn part of Great Barrington has long been the home and work place of a wide range of artists. The aHa! (Association of Housatonic Artists) Art Walk this year tells the tale: artists remain an important part of the life and economy of Housatonic.

Seven galleries, a number of open studios, and Berkshire Pulse are inviting all to drop on by Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21, from 11:00-6:00. This year’s aHa! Art Walk also includes a group show of a dozen local artists, presented at Berkshire Pulse, at 410 Park Street. Many of the participating artists are showing in Housatonic for the first time, having come to the village relatively recently. Other artists showing in the Group Show are long-time resident artists now showing again, as aHa! kicks up its game, showing that the art scene in Housatonic is not only still around, but more active then ever.

“Housatonic has had the reputation as an arts-centered place for a long time,” says David R. Guenette, this year’s aHa! Art Walk organizer, and a first-time Group Show participant.  “The level of energy in Housatonic is exploding, with a lot of talk of art-oriented development, the new Economic Development Area designation and expedited permitting process, and potential for re-establishing passenger rail service. With all the under-used mill structures, former elementary school, and some available commercial buildings, there’s plenty of space ready to be put back to work. Art is a main driver of business development in the Berkshires, and Housatonic is well-positioned—both geographically and creatively—to grow more business.”

Housatonic, nestled within Route 7 (Stockbridge Road), Route 183 (Front and Park Streets), and Route 41 (North Plain Street), has been too often passed by in the last few years, as tourists travel between the restaurants and cultural activities found in great abundance in Great Barrington, Stockbridge, and Lenox, even while Housatonic has long been the home of galleries and artists’ studios. “The aHa! Art Walk has been produced for dozens of years to celebrate the galleries and artists of Housatonic,” says Guenette, “and this year’s Art Walk is just the start of a multi-year effort we’re making to make sure that everyone knows about us.”

New with this year’s aHa! Art Walk is a group show highlighting Housatonic artists whose studios are too far flung to be part of a convenient open studios route, and these and other artists will exhibit at Berkshire Pulse during the Art Walk.

Other shows are being presented at the Housatonic galleries, including an ad hoc gallery space at the corner of Main Street and Front Street, include watercolors of the Berkshires, by Bob Taylor; sculpture, by Peter Barrett; and furniture, by Chris Hogan. Also being shown in this space is work by Dan Mead and Sally Eagle, widely published travel and nature photographers, whose stunning work has gained wide recognition, including, most recently, as a finalist in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 category, from the Natural History Museum, London, England. Local artists featured in the aHa! Group Show at Berkshire Pulse include Sandra Muss, Sherry Steiner, Dan Karp, Gabrielle Senza, Jeff Kramer, David R. Guenette, and others.

Special and ongoing shows from Housatonic galleries and studios, including Lauren Clark Fine Arts; Deb Koffman Artspace; Kate Knapp’s Front St Gallery and Studio; Lorimer Burns Ceramics/ Borealis Studio; and Mimi Hassett’s Porch 204, are also featured destinations.

Additional announcements for opening receptions, talks, Art Walk Map, artist information, and show updates can be found at http://housatonicartists.org/.

We’re setting up the show on Wednesday, May 25, and there will be an opening reception on Saturday, May 28, from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

I’ll have  several of my bigger pieces–including Memory Bank and Winter Comes a Drawer–in each of the two front window bays, along with some smaller wall-hanging pieces, the Seven Deadly Sins series, and Timed Life, a portion of which is used as the image in the various ads and email pieces promoting this show (see below).

My show, called “Concrete Poems,” will run until June 27th. For directions, simply look up “Seeds Great Barrington” on Google.  The telephone number of Seeds is 413-528-8112.

Assemblage is now a prevalent art form, but still not well known.

This show-either juried or invitational-would offer New England’s assemblagists the chance not only to present  their own art but also to support the art form in which they work by helping build greater public appreciation and awareness. The show would bring leading assemblage art historians and critics to the public in the form of lectures on the history of assemblage in America and the defining differences between assemblage and other art media in their reflection of the culture and societal changes that have taken and continue to take place at a bewildering pace.

Where does assemblage come from, and who were the seminal forces in the development of this art medium of the 20th century? What is the state of assemblage in New England today? What does assemblage art have to say to us about our self-reflecting consumerist culture? These are the types of questions this show will seek to answer.

A dark-glazed, rough textured terracotta arch affixed to the walnut and oak base via walnut and oak wood block rests; illumination is through a ceramic incandescent socket; no lenses; in-line switch.

Size: 22 in. (w) by 20 in. (h) by 9 in. (d).
Price: $625

Incorporates a large half-round, dark-glazed terracotta arch that features wood bark texture. Other materials include translucent Plexiglas, with art paper and small clear Lucite hemispheres applied to one side; maple, tiger maple, walnut, walnut bark, paduk, bubinga, cherry, and plywood, pine, and masonite for the base box. The lighting fixture is three 18-watt dimmable florescent bulbs in ceramic incandescent sockets, with and in-line dimmer switch.

Size: 27 in. (w) by 9 in. (w) by 22 in. (h).
Price: $950

Made for a desk or table surface, with direct incandescent lighting onto the surface from round cutouts underneath the lamp. Wood includes bubinga, paduk, and mahogany, with a base box made up of plywood and pine; construction is square butt joinery, using glue and hidden screws; legs are “found” Queen Ann-style, with multi-wood free-form shapes and glass rod as spacer support toward the feet. Electrical fixture is a double ceiling fixture socket that holds two 60-watt bulbs; the other lighting features include etched glass lens filling both arch faces; in-line dimmer switch.

Size: 24 in. (w) by 32 in. (h) by 7 in. (d).
Price: $825

Brown and cream ceramic arch, with waving lines along its top length for texture; it is fixed to the half-round top with # 104 square hooks. Wood is curly maple with walnut. The lighting fixture is one 60-watt incandescent with ceramic socket, backed by an aluminum reflector, with in-line hi-low switch.

Size: 13 in. (d) by 10 in. (w) by 14 in. (h).
Price: $425

A deep brown glaze in its terracotta arch, with pulled edges long the top edges of the arch, and with matching ceramic screw hole covers, and walnut wood base. Lighting fixture is incandescent, with in-line dimmer switch, with low arch face with a Plexiglas lenses; open in top face of arch.

Size: 16 in. (l) by 6 in. (w) by 8 in. (h).
Price: $575

A blue-green satin glaze with dark highlights in its terracotta arch, with lumpy texture, and with matching ceramic screw hole covers, and distressed blue-dyed maple wood base. Lighting fixtures are incandescent, with in-line switch with low arch face with a Plexiglas lenses; open in top face of arch.

Size: 15 in. (l) by 7 in. (w) by 8 in. (h).
Price: $525

Green and brown terracotta arch, with crumpled-paper texture. Wood used includes ash, multi-wood pieces, and cherry. Illumination is from an incandescent fixture, with aluminum reflector; toggle-switched.

Size: 13 in. (h) by 12 in. (w) by 10 in. (d).
Price: $395