Gallery 51 Coming Alive - Literally! - With Art
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| Metal sculpture by Eric Legacy |
A "100 Hours Show" has scheduled 18 artists from New York City, Boston, and the Berkshires who agreed to spend a portion each day of a five-day span at the 51 Main St. gallery creating art for a total of 100 hours. Artists who work with mediums including architectural industrial design, graphic design, painting, photography, sculpture, audio art, paper collage and more have signed on to the show, said co-organizer and artist Danny O.
Welcome Reception
The event concludes on Jan. 30. Artists will spend their time working inside MCLA Gallery 51 or independently touring the Berkshires, and will be welcomed to the city and the gallery during a Jan. 25 reception at the gallery. The reception is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and conclude at 7 p.m.. Artists will set up work areas between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. that evening.
An exhibit of works created during the "100 hours" is scheduled to begin at the gallery on Jan. 30.
<L2>Artists expected to participate include Bina Altera, a collage and photography artist from New York City, Carla Michel, a fabric collage artist, New Hampshire artist Eric Legacy, whose medium is direct metal sculpting, and Jeff Smith, whose work includes sculpture, video, writing, and theatrics.
Art "Rolling Out"
Area artist Sam Adams said that he has agreed to be part of the show and is enthusiastic about the event. Adams is a 2002 graduate of the Columbus College of Art and design who completed a printmaking internship at Crown Point Press in San Francisco. Adams worked at several small printmaking firms before coming to the city for a three-month artist residency at the Contemporary Artists Center on Beaver Street.
After about a month in the area, Adams said he decided to stay in the region and accepted a job as a restaurant employee. His primary focus is his art, he said.
"[The 100 Hour Show] is going to be great," Adams said. "A space that is used to show work will be used as a studio."
Artists will likely become very wrapped up in their art and may even feel a competitive drive, Adams said.
Legacy said that he's not heard of a "marathon" such as the upcoming event.
"I've heard of single artists trying to go on as long as they can as a stamina thing but I haven't heard of something like this," he said. "This will be like a huge arts factory, with art rolling out the other end of the 100 hours like you've never seen."
The art produced may well be within the financial range of area residents, "which would be good," Legacy said.
Perk Up A Mid-Winter Downtown
O attended a "Collage Party" at the ZieherSmith Gallery at the New York City Chelsea art district earlier this year and shared the experience with MCLA Gallery 51 Director Jonathan Secor. O and Secor believed that something similar could work well in the city and at the gallery space. Secor and O timed the event deliberately as a mechanism for drawing some attention and excitement to the city during a typical mid-winter lull within the downtown.
Artists will have a wonderful opportunity to interact with each other, generate public interest in their work, become acquainted with the Berkshires, and visit area attractions, O said.
The Berkshires: "A Place Like No Other"
"The idea is that the artists not only work while they are here but play and explore as well," he said.
The event is an "experiment in energy as well as art," said O. And there will be significant benefits to the artists, particularly those who are based in urban areas and should receive "a dose of nature" while in North Adams, O said.
The area has as much to offer the artists as the artists have to offer the region, O said.
"With three museums, incredible restaurants, multiple skiing and hiking trails, the beautiful scenic Mount Greylock, the Deerfield, Hoosac and Green Rivers close by, I am certain that some of the folks will want to take some time to absorb what makes the Berkshires a place like no other," said O.
During the coming days, iberkshires will introduce many of the participating artists to area residents through interviews to be posted at www.iberkshires.com .
