Dance party kicks off IS183 Body Project

12:00AM / Monday, June 16, 2003

Project leader Cynthia Atwood

IS183, Art School of the Berkshires, and the Railroad Street Youth Project are co-sponsoring the second annual Body Project group show at IS183. The Body Project: Image and Adornment, will open at the IS183 gallery with a free public reception on Saturday, June 21, from 7 pm to 9 pm. The reception will be followed by a dance party to benefit the Body Project, beginning at 9 pm.

Both events will be held at IS183's historic schoolhouse home, located at 13 Willard Hill Road, off Route 183 via Trask Lane in the Interlaken village of Stockbridge. Tickets to the dance party, featuring the hip hop-afro-reggae band Tribe of Djembe, DJing by Vaal London-Kane, go-go dancers, bodypainting, and other surprises, are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

Art by Carolyn Dunn

Advance tickets may be purchased in person or via phone at IS183 (413-298-5252 x100), Railroad Street Youth Project (413-528-7425) at 70 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, or at JWS Art Supplies (413-644-9838) at 38 Railroad Street, also in Great Barrington. Volunteer opportunities are also available in exchange for free tickets. Please call Roshni Rama at IS183 for more information.

The exhibit, which will be on display at IS183 through August 8th, showcases self-portraits created by two intergenerational groups of Body Project participants, women ranging in age from 18 to 50, who explored issues of female self-image through artmaking over three months of group work. Led by artist Cynthia Atwood and psychotherapist Lyn Yonack, the groups met once a week to explore issues of self-image and female stereotypes in contemporary society.

In Body Project I, each participant created a life-sized work using a variety of materials including found materials, paint, fabric, and found images and text. Body Project II, a continuation of last year's group, is based on the work of the artist Cindy Sherman, who uses photography to investigate female identity.

Phyllis Belkin

According to Atwood, "One of the objectives of the Project was for women from a range of ages to make art and have discussion about the body/their bodies, their pleasures and anxieties. Another objective was to create community."

Karin Watkins, IS183's Executive Director, commented, "IS183 is pleased to continue this collaboration with Railroad Street Youth Project, and looks forward to seeing the Project continue to grow and expand. The Body Project demonstrates the power of the art making process to build bridges throughout our community, while also producing some deeply personal work."

She continued, "The opportunity to bring different generations together to make art is a key component of IS183's mission, and our partnership with Railroad Street has brought an exciting new energy into the school."

Women of all ages who are interested in participating in upcoming sessions of the Body Project should contact Sarah Palumbo, Program Coordinator at IS183, at 413-298-5252 x104 or via email at sarah@is183.org .

Art by Daley Ruthven

Railroad Street Youth Project is a not-for-profit organization in Great Barrington that works to empower young people through youth-generated activities that create self-worth, responsibility, and inter-generational communication.

IS183, Art School of the Berkshires, is a community-based, not-for-profit art school offering classes, workshops, artist talks, gallery exhibitions and other arts programming year round in the studios of its historic landmark home in the Interlaken village of Stockbridge, MA, located at 13 Willard Hill Road, off Route 183 via Trask Lane. Office and gallery hours at the school are 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, and visitors are welcomed. For more information about the Body Project and opening reception and dance party, please visit www.rsyp.org .