Artists unite for climate action in upstate New York
Hudson Valley, N.Y. — Basilica Hudson and Pathway to Paris are collaborating to present BASILICA GREEN Benefit Concert on Saturday September 10 at 7 p.m. This evening of collective performance and conversation will feature Melissa Auf der Maur, CAConrad, Devesh and Veena Chandra, Rebecca Foon, Jim Krewson, Rudy Shepherd, Jesse Paris Smith, TROUBLE, Patrick Watson and will benefit BASILICA GREEN’s efforts to increase climate action through innovative programming. To buy tickets to the event, visit basilicahudson.org/events/basilica-green-benefit-concert/.
Pathway to Paris, a nonprofit co-founded by Rebecca Foon and Jesse Paris Smith, actualizes the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement through large-scale musical showcases that connect musicians and artists with scientists and leading thinkers, often with a call-to-action for attendees. Inspired by this way of connecting an audience to art and climate action, Basilica Hudson planned this collaborative event.
Melissa Auf der Maur (Basilica Hudson Co-Founder and Director), Rebecca Foon (Pathway to Paris Co-Founder & Basilica Hudson Board of Directors Member) and Jesse Paris Smith (Co-Founder of Pathway to Paris) will co-host the evening, bringing together artist advocates for the planet and people. The evening will feature a wide-ranging collective of musical performances across disciplines and genres, ranging from singer-songwriters and poetry to experimental improvisation, plus guest speakers and on-site letter-writing for climate policy.
The evening will benefit BASILICA GREEN’s environmentally-focused arts programming, such as film screenings, community focus groups, artist talks and art installations. BASILICA GREEN’s environmental focus is anchored by the Net Zero Campus Renovation Project, which is transforming the institution’s reclaimed industrial building and campus into a leading carbon-neutral destination for year-round activities.
“There is no global problem more urgent than the climate crisis, and no power greater than the universal language of radical creativity to awaken our spirits to take action,” explains Auf der Maur. “This event is aimed towards celebrating beauty and possibility. This event is the action in and of itself, a coming together of creative humans to inspire and be part of the healing solutions already within reach.”
PERFORMANCE
Pathway to Paris co-founders Rebecca Foon and Jesse Paris Smith will perform together. Foon is an acclaimed Montreal-based cellist and former member of Silver Mount Zion Constellation Records recording artist. Jesse Paris Smith is a Grammy-nominated artist, producer, and composer and will join Foon on piano along with Melissa Auf der Maur for spoken word poetry.
Montreal singer-songwriter Patrick Watson brings soaring vocals and piano to the musical landscape of the evening. The acclaimed cult favorite emerged from the pandemic as a viral sensation after Tik Tok discovered his 2010 song “Je te Laisserai des Mots”.
Acclaimed writer CAConrad, who has been working with the ancient technologies of poetry and ritual since 1975, will perform their spoken word piece Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return.
Devesh Chandra and his mother Veena Chandra, an alumni of Basilica Hudson’s beloved 24-HOUR DRONE music festival, will perform Northern Indian Classical Music.
Rudy Shepherd will present his performance/visual art piece, Healing Music for a Troubled World. In it, Shepherd, as The Healer, interacts with multiple sculptures – Black Rock Negative Energy Absorbers – to an improvised score played by an experimental music collective. Shepherd’s performance signifies a spiritual healing, where destructive forces like racism, exclusion, and environmental collapse are transmuted through a cathartic collective experience.
ART
In Basilica Gallery, visual artist Jim Krewson will also present an exhibit of work titled “Dark Star Motherf****r”. With the use of black light and fluorescent airbrush paint, Krewson invites the viewer to escape reality and hopes to help subvert the bland moralizing of much of contemporary art.
Attendees are invited to explore the outdoor installations currently on view at Basilica Hudson’s campus by Trouble, Sean Deseriee and Alison McNulty.
Trouble’s Vanitas is a series of site-specific pools of resin body parts fragments, the “weeds” that grow through them, and the insects they attract. The exhibit is a meditation upon the fleeting nature of life.
BEAM ENSEMBLE is a public art project by Sean Desiree. The architecture of the piece resembles that of an orchestra with four distinct sections, each representing a different instrument originating from the African diaspora.
Alison McNulty’s Hudson Valley Ghost Column 8 is made of historic Hudson Valley-made bricks found on Basilica’s campus and unprocessed Cormo sheep wool. McNulty’s work questions systems of value creation and meaning-making in a contemporary world using salvaged materials and precarious forms.
CONVERSATION AND ACTION
The event will feature speakers and direct actions that attendees can take on site. Inspired by the successful fossil fuel divestment letter writing actions Pathway to Paris and Bill McKibben led during their events in 2017 at Carnegie Hall and again at 2021’s COP26, co-presenters will invite the audience to write letters during the event to make climate impact.
Basilica Hudson’s 2022 season sponsor SunCommon will also present an electric vehicle show on campus to showcase examples of climate solutions that are available to us now.
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London National Theatre at The Mahaiwe
Great Barrington— The Mahaiwe will screen two London National Theatre performances this fall.
Straight Line Crazy will be screened on Saturday, September 10 at 7 p.m. Ralph Fiennes (Antony & Cleopatra) leads the cast in David Hare’s (Skylight) blazing account of Robert Moses, the most powerful man in New York, a master manipulator whose legacy changed the city forever.
For forty uninterrupted years, Moses exploited those in office through a mix of charm and intimidation. Motivated at first by a determination to improve the lives of New York City’s workers, he created parks, bridges and 627 miles of expressway to connect the people to the great outdoors. Faced with resistance by protest groups campaigning for a very different idea of what the city should become, will the weakness of democracy be exposed in the face of his charismatic conviction? Broadcast from the Bridge Theatre in London, Nicholas Hytner directs this exhilarating new play.
On Friday, October 7 at 7 p.m., The Mahaiwe will screen Jack Absolute Flies Again from London’s National Theatre in HD. After an aerial dog fight, Pilot Officer Jack Absolute flies home to win the heart of his old flame, Lydia Languish. Back on British soil, Jack’s advances soon turn to anarchy when the young heiress demands to be loved on her own, very particular, terms. Emily Burns directs this spectacularly entertaining new version of Sheridan’s The Rivals. Featuring a cast including Caroline Quentin, Laurie Davidson, Natalie Simpson and Kelvin Fletcher. Called “a knock-out new comedy by the writer of ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’” by Variety, its ending shows “true heart.”
Tickets for both productions are $17, or $10 for ages 21 and under. Tickets can be purchased at mahaiwe.org or by calling 413-528-0100 during Box Office hours, Wednesday through Saturday, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
See mahaiwe.org/update for current safety protocols.
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BAAMS announces registration for after-school music classes
North Adams— The Berkshires Academy for Advanced Musical Studies (BAAMS) is pleased to announce registration for its fall and spring after-school music classes for music students ages 10-18 at Building 6, in the Western Gateway Urban Heritage Park, North Adams.
Students of all playing levels and musical backgrounds are welcome to register and study with BAAMS’ Faculty who are current or former faculty at Berklee College of Music, Hartt School of Music, SUNY-Purchase Conservatory of Jazz. BAAMS newest faculty member is Ron Blake of the Juilliard School, a long-time member of the “Saturday Night Live” Band.
BAAMS Faculty members have collectively won numerous Grammy Awards as well as toured and recorded with music legends including: Paul McCartney, Miles Davis, Prince, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, The Royal Philharmonic, Pink, the Allman Brothers Band, Stevie Wonder, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Aerosmith, Joss Stone, and James Brown.
Lessons are now available for trumpet/brass, saxophone, woodwinds, piano, bass, drums/percussion, guitar, improvisation, and music composition. BAAMS also has extensive archival recordings of private lessons.
Each of BAAMS’ students learn how to honor their experiences and transform them into sound and original music. They learn how to use music as a direct outlet for their experiences.
Students are taught how to become a complete musician. All of our students receive (in addition to their primary instruments’ lessons) instruction in piano, drums/percussion, improvisation and music composition.
BAAMS offers different ensembles for students to play together, record. BAAMS plans to feature various student groups throughout the greater Berkshire County community.
To Register for BAAMS’ after-school music program, visit https://www.berkshiresacademyams.org/fall-class-registration
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Lenox Fall Art Walk
Lenox— On Saturday September 10 and Sunday September 11, the town of Lenox will host the 2022 Fall Art Walk event. The event is a collaboration with the Lenox Chamber of Commerce, the Lenox Cultural District and Gordon Fine Arts. The event will run Saturday 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
This is the 5th Lenox Art Walk to be held. The Art Walk is a curated show of artists and artisans who showcase their work throughout downtown Lenox. The artists’ tents will be set up along the Main Street sidewalk and into Lilac Park. A wide range of artists representing various mediums are invited to display their artwork and artisan products during the two day event. Art includes paintings, drawings, photographs, ceramics, fiber arts, jewelry and clothing.
The event, which began in Fall of 2020 in an effort to introduce high end artists to the residents and visitors of Lenox has grown to upwards of 70 Artists. New to the 2022 Fall Art Walk, the Lenox Chamber has partnered with Berkshire Busk to provide entertainment. There will be performers on both days from 11-3 at the Church Street Dining Terrace and 80 Church St, and from 3-5 at The Whitlock and the corner of Church and Housatonic Streets.
Also as part of the Lenox Art Walk festival, there will be food vendors and entertainment in Lilac Park with tables and chairs to enjoy the outdoor space and have lunch. This section will include artisanal products such as olive oils, Charcuterie, French pastries and other food vendors still TBD.
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Book launch event for “Big: A Photographic Album of the World’s Largest Animals”
Lee— Saint Francis Gallery will host a book launch event for “Big: A Photographic Album of the World’s Largest Animals” by photographers Amos Nachoum and Marko Dimitrijević. The event will be held on Saturday, September 10 from 3-6 p.m.
Nachoum, an award-winning photographer, will join the event for a discussion highlighting his photographic journey to the edge of wilderness.
This book illuminates the wonder of nature, and allows readers to see what cannot be adequately communicated through words. Through photographs, the book connects readers to wilderness, and the awe, surprise, and respect that accompanies that connection. This book is not a requiem, but a total embrace of what is now.
Amos Nachoum’s photographs have appeared in National Geographic, Time, Life, The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and The Explorers Club Journal.
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Clark Art Institute presents talk chronicling the making of “The Little Rodin Gallery”
Williamstown— On Saturday September 10 at 11 a.m., the Clark Art Institute will host a talk by Metropolitan Museum of Art Assistant Curator Elyse Nelson chronicling the making of the “Little Rodin Gallery” (1912) at the museum. Presented in conjunction with the Clark’s special exhibition Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern, Nelson’s talk takes place in the Clark’s auditorium.
The Metropolitan Museum, the first U.S. museum to acquire a work by Auguste Rodin, created its “Little Rodin Gallery” in 1912. The gallery featured over thirty of Rodin’s sculptures and seven of his drawings. The first major presentation of the artist’s sculptures within an American museum, this special gallery signaled Rodin’s newfound distinction in the United States. Nelson’s talk features rarely seen images and new research illuminating how key collectors, donors, curators, and Auguste Rodin himself collaborated to build a collection that would compose the “Little Rodin Gallery,” the Metropolitan’s first-ever gallery dedicated to the work of a living artist.
Elyse Nelson is assistant curator in the department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan, where she is responsible for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European sculpture. Previously, she held fellowships at the Metropolitan and at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and taught art history at Berklee College of Music. Prior to her curatorial appointment in 2019, Nelson assisted in the organization of Rodin at The Met (2017) and Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (2018). She is the co-organizing curator of Fictions of Emancipation: Carpeaux Recast (2022–2023) and co-editor of the accompanying publication. She studied art history at Yale University, where she received a bachelor of arts degree; she received a master’s degree with distinction from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Nelson is completing her Ph.D. thesis on Canova’s British patronage at the Institute of Fine Arts (New York University).
On view in the Clark Center through September 18, 2022, Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern explores how American museums and collectors embraced Rodin’s sculptures and drawings, and traces the arc of the artist’s reputation and legacy since the first U.S. museum acquisition was made in 1893 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With more than seventy works from more than thirty collections, this is the largest Rodin exhibition presented in more than forty years.
Free; no registration is required. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.