Berkshire Museum Announces Two Exhibitions For Spring

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Museum announced two new exhibitions to be displayed beginning Saturday, Feb. 3.  
 
Planning for the Future – 1979-2024, the third and final installment of the museum's 3-part exhibition series highlighting the history of the museum in celebration of the institution's 120th  anniversary in 2023. The final installation of three exhibitions celebrating the 120th Anniversary of Berkshire Museum, this exhibition will detail the last 45 years of the Museum. Themes include a spotlight on how the 1903 museum has remained relevant from the 1980s to today, the departure of General Electric and the subsequent impact on the economy of Pittsfield and its citizens, the sale of artworks to preserve and maintain the museum, and the museum's plans for the future. The works on view will be highlights from the collection – historic objects, paintings, and contemporary art. 
 
Painted Pages: Illuminated Manuscripts, 13th – 18th Centuries, which includes more than thirty-five works—some with elaborate gold leaf decoration and intricate ornament— from medieval Bibles, Prayer Books, Psalters, Books of Hours, Choir Books, Missals, Breviaries, and Lectionaries drawn from the collection of the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania, who organized the exhibition. Also featured in the exhibit are examples of the materials— parchment, vellum, gold leaf, and minerals which were ground into pigments and used by artists before the age of printed books to create these extraordinary pages. Painted Pages: Illuminated Manuscripts, 13th – 18th Centuries, is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.  
 
"Combining art, science, and history, Painted Pages is an enlightening exhibition that includes several colorful examples of hand-drawn and embellished religious texts from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East." said, Jesse Kowalksi, Berkshire Museum's Chief Curator. 
 
An exhibition opening event for museum members will be held on Friday, February 2, from 5:30 PM to 7 PM. Museum members will have the opportunity to get the first look at both of the new exhibitions and hear remarks by Scott Schweigert, Curator of Art & Civilization at the Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA, at 6 PM. Light refreshments will be served. 
 

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BRPC Committee Mulls Input on State Housing Plan

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's Regional Issues Committee brainstormed representation for the county in upcoming housing listening sessions.

"The administration is coming up with what they like to tout is their first housing plan that's been done for Massachusetts, and this is one of a number of various initiatives that they've done over the last several months," Executive Director Thomas Matuszko said.

"But it seems like they are intent upon doing something and taking comments from the different regions across the state and then turning that into policy so here is our chance to really speak up on that."

The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and members of the Housing Advisory Council will host multiple listening sessions around the Commonwealth to hear input on the Healey-Driscoll administration's five-year strategic statewide housing plan.

One will be held at Berkshire Community College on May 15 at 2 p.m.

One of Matuszko's biggest concerns is the overall age of the housing stock in Berkshire County.

"And that the various rehab programs that are out there are inadequate and they are too cumbersome to manipulate through," he explained.

"And so I think that there needs to be a greater emphasis not on new housing development only but housing retention and how we can do that in a meaningful way. It's going to be pretty important."

Non-commission member Andrew Groff, Williamstown's community developer director, added that the bureaucracies need to coordinate themselves and "stop creating well-intended policies like the new energy code that actually work against all of this other stuff."

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