NARH Community Art Project exhibits new local works
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - New works by local artists are on display at North Adams Regional Hospital as part of the hospital’s Community Art Project. The public is invited to an artists’ reception on Tuesday, December 1, from 5 to 7 p.m. at NARH in the Surgical Services Waiting Area on the first floor, just off the main lobby. Refreshments will be provided.“This is the second show I’ve curated for the Community Art Program at North Adams Regional Hospital, and again, participating artists have submitted a wonderful variety of work,” said curator Sharon Carson of North Adams. “Twenty-two area artists and a dozen students from BArT Charter Public School in Adams are showing oil paintings, watercolors, photographs, monotypes, pastels, papercut collage, fabric art, and a variety of mixed media works.” Artwork is displayed on four floors of NARH. Display spaces including hallways and waiting rooms, and the reception area of the new Wound Healing Center of the Berkshires, are filled with 241 works of art.
Area artists loan their artwork to the twice-annual hospital exhibits. Many of the artists request to be in every show and they continue to support the hospital’s Community Art Program by bringing in new work every six months. Six new artists are in the current show.
This exhibit, for the first time, features works by high school students from The Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School (BArT) in Adams. Each year, BArT’s artist-in-residence program connects area artists with BArT’s students. A collection of work by the students who worked with a fine arts digital photographer is displayed on the Ground level in the hallway by the Wound Healing Center.
All of the artwork displayed in the hospital is for sale and each purchase benefits the Community Art Program. The artists donate ten percent of the sale price to the art program. Visitors will be pleased to see how much of the artwork in this show is reasonably priced. Sixty-five percent of prices are under $500 and 107 pieces are priced under $200. Every piece displayed is an original work of art by a local artist.
The Community Art Project at NARH was launched in the summer of 1999 and has been a consistent success every year since. Visitors are always welcome to visit the hospital to see the art exhibit. Pick up a copy of the “Self Guided Tour of the Art Exhibit” at the Information Desk in the main lobby.
Artists in the exhibit, which will be on view until April, 2010, include 22 artists plus students from BArT Charter Public School. They include (from North Adams) Sharon Carson, Bill Guild, Dawn Guild, Anna Kronick, Kelly Lee, Danny O, Debi Pendell, Wilma Rifkin, Norm Thomas, and Colleen Williams. From Williamstown: Chip Joffe-Halpern and Ellen Joffe-Halpern. From other communities: BArT students, Adams; Judy Cantwell, Canton, CT; Michael J. Castronova, Pittsfield; Alice Gage, Otis; Linda Haas, Adams; Mary Lesser, New Haven, CT; Deirdre McKenna, Pittsfield; Judith Oleskiewicz, Pittsfield; Anne Pasko, Lanesboro; Daniel St. John, Peabody, MA; and Cheryl Wildermuth, Clarksburg.
