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Two rows of paintings by Drury High School art students hang on the Grimes Street side of the Cascade building in North Adams.
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More Drury Student Art Added to Cascade Building

By Rebecca DravisiBerkshires Staff
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Art teacher Phoebe Pepper poses with one of her student artists at the Cascade building in North Adams.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The masterpiece painting collaboration between Drury High School and Cascade School Supplies has turned a corner.

Literally.

After five years of large artwork being displayed on the street side of the old Brown Street factory building, two years' worth of slightly smaller but still colorful paintings now hang on the south side of the building along Grimes Street, near Cascade's front entrance.

The second row of another 20 paintings was unveiled with a small ceremony on Thursday, marking the seventh year the students of Drury art teacher Phoebe Pepper have seen their remakes of masterpieces by artists from O'Keeffe to Klimt hanging in another example of public art in the city.

"Our vision was to improve the look of our 100-plus-year-old building and to fit into the emerging culture of our city," Cascade President Pete Cote said. "There are now 110 individual replications of masterpieces on our building. I guess you could call that one very large canvas."

Pepper's students actively seek out the class because they know their art will be hung on the building. They take a small photograph of the art they would like to reproduce, creating grids on the photo and on the board used for a canvas, and then interpret how to transfer the art onto the board.

Pepper said the students "agonize" over their choices and often second-guess themselves, but she said other students are always quick to offer assistance to help them complete their own masterpieces.

"They really successfully represented a true replica of the masterpiece they chose," Pepper said, adding that she remains thrilled with the collaboration between her class and Cascade to give the students a place to display their paintings. "Which is, after all, what an artist wants to do — show their work."

Julia Dixon, chairman of the North Adams Public Arts Commission, said the city is happy to add the students to the list of public art.

"Public art is incredibly important to this city. It provides visual recognition of our collective dedication to the arts as well as the  impact our robust creative economy is having on the community at large," she said. "I can say from experience that students who publicly display their artwork or create site-specific installations are bold, creative and civically engaged by this practice, and the Public Arts Commission is proud to support this project, which so handsomely and impressively showcases the wonderful talent these students possess and are willing to share. 

"The artwork always blows my mind," she said.


Tags: artwork,   Drury High,   North Adams,   public art,   

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Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime. 
 
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather. 
 
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5
 
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
 
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure. 
 
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
 
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
 
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