ArtBerkshires is collaborative series of events and exhibits connecting contemporary art and design in the Berkshires. Spearheaded by gallerists, Leslie Ferrin of Ferrin Gallery and Sienna Patti of Sienna Gallery, ArtBerkshires was kicked off this last weekend with a pilot program, 20/21 Modern Style and Studio Craft that focused on modernism in art and design in the Berkshires from the mid-20th century to the present.
The project’s launch weekend included tours, talks and receptions in Lenox, Stockbridge, and Pittsfield. Among the talks were conversations with curators Jane Adlin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Sarah Archer, director of Greenwhich House Pottery, NYC and guest curator of 20/21 Modern Style and Studio Craft at The Barn Gallery at Stonover Farm; Mark McDonald, a leading expert in modernism and dealer of mid-century objects based in Hudson, NY; author and artist Mark Shapiro of Worthington, MA; and ceramicist Ani Kasten, Takoma Park, MD.
“With ArtBerkshires, we are pleased to present a combination of venues and programs that focus attention on contemporary visual arts in the Berkshires,” says Leslie Ferrin, founder and co-owner of Ferrin Gallery. “We have fantastic museums, public collections, and a lively community of working artists in this area. We chose 20/21 Modern Style and Studio Craft as our first joint project to bring awareness to the continuity of modernist design from the 1950s to the present, and to demonstrate how it is reflected in artwork being produced and collected today. The artwork by the artists presented as part of this project is connected in some way to the fifties; sometimes that line is direct, as in period objects by artists whose lives spanned that time period, Tom Patti, Karen Karnes and Wendell Castle. In other cases, contemporary artists such as Mark Shapiro and Ani Kasten are working in modern style by drawing inspiration from that time period. It’s our expectation that this project will make it easier to understand the connections and explore the role of the Berkshires in the modernist movement and how that connects to the artists working within the realm of studio craft.”
Berkshire Museum played a pivotal role in American modernism, explains Stuart Chase, the Museum’s executive director, “Berkshire Museum was founded in 1903 by Zenas Crane, who, throughout our first decade, donated many rare artifacts and artworks that formed the basis of our permanent collections of natural history and fine art,” says Chase. “Another key era was the 1930s, when the Museum became the first public institution to purchase work by Alexander Calder in 1933, and the first to commission public work by Calder in 1936. In 1937, artist and collector Albert Eugene Gallatin donated five important abstract works to the Museum, before donating 15 more in 1943. These holdings made the Museum a major player in American Modernism.” On August 7, the Museum’s Director of Interpretation, Maria Mingalone personally lead a tour of the Museum’s storage vaults, focusing on the A.E. Gallatin holdings and other modernist works from the collection not currently on view in the galleries. The Berkshire Museum’s Calder collections are currently on view to the general public.
The Frelinghuysen Morris House, another participant in the 20/21 Modern Style + Studio Craft launch, is a masterpiece of modernist architecture. The house and studio of abstract artists George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen, the house is filled with art and objects by these artists and their peers from that era. Mark McDonald led a private tour of and conversation about the house and its furnishings with Kinney Frelinghuysen, director of the house and programs, a painter and the nephew of Suzy Frelinghuysen, on Sunday, August 8. McDonald, a noted expert and dealer of objects from this period also lent period jewelry and furniture to exhibits at Sienna Gallery and The Barn Gallery at Stonover Farm, where a domestic vignette of vintage objects from the 1950s and ’60s arrayed with contemporary art, has been staged in a repurposed barn. This bohemian scene evokes the Berkshires’ long legacy as a haven for artists and arts enthusiasts.
For more information, visit www.artberkshires.com. For phone inquiries contact Leslie Ferrin 413.442.1622 or Sienna Patti 413.637.8386.
Click here to see Rural Intelligence’s coverage of the August 5 kickoff event.
