Shaker Museum and Library presents an artist's reception for Gift, a site-responsive work by Léonie

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Old Chatham, NY - The Shaker Museum and Library presents an artist's reception for Gift, a site-responsive work by Léonie Guyer. Gift is informed by the artist's consideration of Shaker gift drawings and architecture and inspired by a natural resonance between these works and her own creative practice. The long-term installation occupies one room of the Brethren's Work Shop (1829), a four story brick building located at the Museum's recently acquired North Family property in Mount Lebanon Shaker Village. Guyer's paintings and installations explore idiosyncratic shapes and the spaces they inhabit. By working directly on the surfaces of the extant plaster walls and one window, Guyer has applied traces of her internalized experience onto the architecture itself. Intimate in scale and discretely sited, the paintings have become a temporary layer in the history and life of the building. Leonie Guyer's painting-centered practice extends from studio-based works to site responsive installations. It investigates the interconnection between idiosyncratic shapes and the spaces they inhabit. The shapes elude naming while they embody fragments of possible meanings. Guyer's interest in Shaker gift drawings was sparked by an encounter with a single work in a San Francisco gallery in the 1990s. Comprised of cryptic script in linear and geometric configurations, it seemed to hover between writing and drawing. The Shaker Museum and Library's decision to work with Guyer continues a long tradition of supporting artists who have drawn inspiration from the Shakers - from their art, artifacts, music, and dance. A limited edition catalog to accompany the exhibition is being published by the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, Oregon. The reception will be held in the Brethren's Work Shop, Mount Lebanon Shaker Village, on Saturday, September 16, from 2:00 until 4:00 pm. Guyer will present an illustrated public lecture about her work on Monday, September 18, at 7:00 pm, in the living room of The Forge at Mount Lebanon Shaker Village. For more information call The Shaker Museum and Library at 518-794-9100 ext. 211 or visit www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org
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Berkshire Democrats Host Candidate Forum Friday

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire County Democratic town committees and political action groups will sponsor a countywide Democratic candidates forum this Friday, April 10. 
 
The forum will be held at 7 p.m. in the Common Room at Zion Lutheran Church located at 74 First St.  
 
The event will feature elected state and federal officials, especially those running for seats in the 2026 election. Challengers for those seats will also address attendees.
 
Working in coalition with the Berkshire Democratic Brigades, Berkshire Indivisible, Greylock Together, Indivisible Berkshires, and the Rural Freedom Network, the Democratic town committees of Adams, Dalton, Great Barrington, Sheffield, and Stockbridge anticipate that this event will educate voters about candidates' positions on political issues.  
 
In addition, the forum will give voters the opportunity to network and to meet candidates and discuss legislation that will improve Berkshire County's economy, promote environmental justice, and reduce economic disparity in the region.
 
Candidates committed to attend include District Attorney Timothy Shugrue, 1st Mass congressional candidate Jeromie Whalen, U.S. Senate candidate Alex Rikleen, and 1st Berkshire representative candidate Andrew Fitch.  
 
Also speaking will be representatives from the campaigns for Edward Markey for U.S. Senate and for Maural Healey and Kim Driscoll for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. 
 
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