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DownStreet Art Opens Tonight

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Nova Rockwell
NORTH ADAMS — Gloomy skies shouldn't stop area residents from finding something to brighten their day as DownStreet Art kicks off at 6 p.m. on Main Street.

The collabaration between artists and art groups, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, the city, Scarafoni Realty, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and Massachusetts College of Liberal Art includes the opening of four new temporary galleries in the downtown.


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Some 18 art venues and museums, including new exhibits at MCLA Gallery 51 and IO Gallery, are participating in tonight's art extravaganza. A number of local stores and restaurants are also taking advantage of the kick off with extended hours or specials. Cafe Latino at Mass MoCA, for example, is serving dinner until 10 p.m. followed by a deejay.

Artists and volunteers up and down Main Street were putting the final touches on gallery displays. And it's all inside — and out of any rain — members of the North Adams Artists Cooperative Gallery at 107 Main St. noted as they polished windows and cleaned up.

At 73 Main St., the last action figures were being added to Jarvis Rockwell's "Maya III," a massive stepped pyramid inspired by the ancient Hindu temples of India.

The artist's wife, Nova Rockwell, was one of those adding figures to the thousands already adorning the installation.

This third configuration of "Maya" is a little looser than earlier versions, said Rockwell, because workers seemed to be giving the figures more space. There's no particular order to the groupings, she said. "It's really a matter of their tastes."
     
Also opening is an exhibit at 28 Holden St. by artists working on the Sol LeWitt permanent exhibit at Mass MoCA and the interactive "Lumens" project at Gallery 51's annex at 61 Main St. ("Lumens" is offering a preview tonight; the exhibit doesn't formally open until July when the Adams portion opens.)



Jarvis Rockwell and wife Nova Rockwell position figures on 'Maya III' at 73 Main St. on Thursday afternoon. The exhibit opens tonight at 6.
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Guest Column: Governor Healey Stands With Workers — And We Stand With Governor Healey

By Colton AndrewsGuest Column
Massachusetts is a union state, built by workers, protected by workers, and powered by workers. And right now, only one candidate for governor has proven she's willing to fight for us every single day: Maura Healey.
 
Governor Healey doesn't just show up for photo ops. She shows up when it matters. She shows up when jobs are on the line. She shows up when workers need a champion who won't flinch, won't fold, and won't sell them out.
 
Her expansion of Project Labor Agreements didn't just "support" workers; it will spur the creation of more than 15,600 new jobs across the Bay State. That's real paychecks, real benefits, real careers. And she knows what every contractor in this state knows: union labor delivers superior work, on time, under budget, every time.
 
Healey is also building the next generation of skilled workers. She invested $70 million to expand career and technical education and opened 2,500 new training seats at schools across Massachusetts. That's not a promise, that's action. That's a governor who understands that strong apprenticeship programs are the backbone of a strong economy.
 
She's also put more than 200 union members on boards and commissions across Massachusetts. She wants workers in the room. She wants workers shaping policy. She wants workers' voices heard, not ignored, not sidelined, not treated as an afterthought.
 
And here in Western Mass, Governor Healey has done something no governor has done in decades: she shows up. She listens. She invests. She treats Western Massachusetts like the beating heart of the commonwealth, not a forgotten corner.
 
Her opponent, Mike Minogue, is a Trump mega?donor who backs Trump's agenda, an agenda that has made life more expensive and more difficult for working families. Minogue would bring those same policies to Massachusetts, and we know exactly who benefits from that playbook: corporate executives, not workers.
 
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