Season Openers
by Bess Hochstein
K & I returned home right before Memorial Day weekend to find the Berkshire cultural cavalcade moving full speed ahead. My parents were ensconced at the Thaddeus Clapp House, a gracious Pittsfield B&B just a stone’s throw from the Berkshire Museum, where my father had helped organize an exhibit called “The Art of Wine,” part of the museum’s biannual wine auction fundraiser. Dad gave me a private tour of his show -- which explores the process of designing wine labels and includes original works by artists such as Sol LeWitt, Max Ernst, and Wassily Kandinsky -- and the related show, “The Art of Food,” featuring a table with place-settings inspired by artists such as Magritte, Matisse, and Calder, organized by Sheila Chafetz. Not only is she the president of the Museum’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the auction; she also owns Country Dining Room Antiques and thus had quite a palette to chose from in helping create these imaginative place settings! Also on view is “The Photographers of Berkshire Living,” featuring non-editorial work from my colleagues at the award-winning magazine. The wine auction was a huge success, attracting nearly 300 guests and raising over $50,000 more than the 2005 auction; proceeds benefit the museum’s extensive year-round educational programs.
You need to act soon to catch the photography and wine labels exhibits – they’re closing mid-June. But with Memorial Day just passed, there’s plenty more opening in the Berkshires. Last week we were at Spice for the kick-off celebration of Third Thursdays in Pittsfield. Every third Thursday, downtown Pittsfield stays up late – there will be live music in the streets, outdoor dining, and the stores, galleries, and even the museum will be open after dark. Among the key participants in this event are Leslie Ferrin and Donald Clark, who gave us a sneak preview of their new North Street gallery space. (The Pittsfield Ferrin Gallery opens July 7 (that’s 7/7/07), but a new show just opened at the Lenox location this weekend, during the town’s annual gallery stroll, which was also quite the festive event.) After enjoying Brazilian music, hors d’oeuvres and a chardonnay at Spice, K & I strolled over to Brix, where we know we will always taste some intriguing wines. Patrick and Libby did not disappoint, and I hope I’m not spilling the beans when I report that they are expanding their kitchen and Brix will soon transform from wine bar to full-fledged bistro.
The theatrical season has also opened, and Barrington Stage Company has an early hit on its hands – the run of “A Picasso” has been extended through June 10 due to popular demand. K & I are going to see it this Friday at the Berkshire Athenaeum. (The Main Stage opens on June 13, with “West Side Story.”) Then the next night, June 2, it’s back to Spice for “Showtime,” a fundraiser for the Storefront Artist Project chaired by Norman Mailer, featuring a three-course dinner, cabaret performance, silent auction, and a DJ dance party. The next week we’re off to the Unicorn Stage for Berkshire Theatre Festival’s opener: Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.” And we’re slated to see the opening production at Shakespeare & Company, “Rough Crossing,” by Tom Stoppard. Williamstown Theatre Festival is also opening soon (June 14), with “Herringbone,” an intriguing piece about the exploitation of child stars, starring B.D. Wong, in its new Center Stage.
But there are openings beyond the stages. There’s an engaging new exhibit at Arrowhead, the historic home of Herman Melville, called “Fertile Ground: Berkshire Authors and Writers, 1846-1861,” exploring American literature in the pre-Civil War period, when several major literary works were produced in the Berkshires. A companion lecture series, “Coffee and Conversation,” every Thursday at 2 pm, features local authors addressing “150 Years of Berkshire Writers.” In North Adams, MCLA Gallery 51 is showcasing the work produced by members of the Storefront Artist Project. And it seems the Berkshire Museum can’t get enough of wine; on Sunday, June 3, the museum presents “Wine Words,” a presentation by Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing Mulligan, wine educators and authors of “Wine for Dummies” and many other books about wine. A wine tasting at Brix follows the presentation. And since dinner and a movie is just as good a paring as food and wine, I love the idea of “Brix and Flix;” folks who dine at Brix on Wednesdays get free “tix” to “flix” at the museum’s Little Cinema. And this weekend marks the opening of “Dutch Dialogues,” the Clark’s summer exhibition juxtaposing masterpieces from the museum’s collections with seminal works from the Netherlands, including paintings by Van Gogh, Frans Hals, and contemporary artists. It’s part of our region’s cultural theme for the summer: “NL: A Season of Dutch Arts in the Berkshires,” a collaboration showcasing the arts and culture of the Netherlands that also includes MASS MoCA, Jacob’s Pillow Tanglewood, and The Colonial Theatre. I guess it’s the right time in the Berkshires to “go Dutch!”
About Bess Hochstein
Buzz chronicler Bess J.M. Hochstein came to the Berkshires as a second-homeowner before deciding to move here full time. Previously a communications executive, she's now a freelance writer living in Tyringham with her corgis Duffy and Hobbs and K. She writes for several publications, including Berkshire Living, the Boston Globe, New England Wine Gazette, and Healing Lifestyles & Spas magazine.