Trade Show artist to speak at MASS MoCA

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North Adams - Pyramid schemes are among the most emotionally and financially damaging cons in the country, yet they’re also the most comical. Artist Conrad Bakker’s pyramid marketing scheme pitches a functionless product with the straight face of scam marketeering. The Untitled Product Distribution Network is the latest in Bakker’s series of Untitled Projects, whose past forms included sculptures for sale on streetside folding tables and paintings for auction through ebay. The sale of these commodities comes bundled with implicit (and sometimes hilariously blatant) critiques of the business paradigms they are modeled after. Bakker, one of the artists featured in MASS MoCA’s current exhibition Trade Show, will discuss his work and answer questions at MASS MoCA on Saturday, April 30, at 1 P.M. in MASS MoCA’s Club B-10. Conrad Bakker lives and works in Urbana, Illinois, teaching at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the School of Art and Design. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally in places like the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Fargfabriken Center for Contemporary Art and Architecture (Stockholm, Sweden), Southern Exposure (San Francisco, California), The Soap Factory (Minneapolis, Minnesota), and Art in General (New York City). In 2000 he received a Creative Capital Foundation project grant, which enabled the production of the Untitled Mail Order Catalog, a fully functional mail order catalog selling carved and painted replicas of typical mail order items (binoculars, nose-hair trimmers, etc.) Bakker’s ongoing Untitled Projects engage a variety of social and consumer contexts. With his formal play and imperfect carving and painting techniques, he intends to evoke humor and a sense of contextual awareness. Ultimately Bakker views his work as an attempt to identify the complexity of what it means to exist in a society based on consumption and the artifice of popular culture. Organized by Rebecca Uchill, an intern from the Williams College-Clark Art Institute Graduate Program in the History of Art, Trade Show is part of the continuing series of MASS MoCA exhibitions presented in collaboration with the Clark Art Institute in support of MASS MoCA and the Williams/Clark Graduate program in the History of Art. Admission to In Conversation with Conrad Bakker is free with museum admission but reservations are required and can be made by calling the MASS MoCA Box Office at 413.662.2111 from 11 A.M. until 5 P.M. (closed Tuesdays). Members are admitted free to the gallery and the talk.
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Companion Corner: Glo at the Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There's a sweet and playful dog at the Berkshire Humane Society waiting for her new family.

iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.

"Glo is about a one-year-old, sweet female pitty mix who has nothing but love to give," said kennel supervisor Stacey Broderick.

Glo has been at the shelter for about three weeks after unfortunately being kicked out of her previous home.

"She came here because her previous home, she was being crated an awful lot, and unfortunately, was creating a little bit of a raucous when she was left by herself," said Broderick. "So she was just being a little barky, a little loud. Neighbors obviously shared walls in an apartment setting we're complaining to the landlord, and the landlord said, unfortunately, that she had to go."

But since coming to the shelter she has been learning a lot.

"She's been nothing but a sweet little girl ever since she is working on crate training, she has been very good for us. We're practicing it with her. She is also working on her house training. In addition to it, it seems that we had a little bit of a reverse situation going on, where she likes to go potties inside, but we are working very hard, and she is learning so quickly," she said. "So even after just a couple weeks with us, she's been really getting the point to go outside and do all of her potties out there."

She would do best in the home as the only dog and possibly without cats. She would also do best with older children who can understand her needs as she needs less activity than other dogs.

"The perfect home would, because of the necessity for her to have a lower activity level, probably without other dogs, just because she can get a little bit rambunctious when she gets excited around them," Broderick said. "So she could certainly have doggie play dates, but her perfect home would be no dogs. Unfortunately, we do have a bit of a prey drive with kitty cats, so probably leaning away from the cats, unless they're incredibly dog savvy ...

"Probably looking toward a home without super young kids, just so they're not jumping, you know, or leaning, or anything along those lines, and understanding that sometimes she's going to just need a break."

Because of a medical condition she wouldn't be able to go on long hikes or do anything extraneous but she is still very active and playful.

"She is absolutely lovely. She's sweet, she's young, she's playful. She wants to be with her people all the time. She loves toys. She does like going out for walks. We do have a couple of medical things that we can certainly give more information to adopters, too," she said. "We have some hip dysplasia that we're looking at, so probably moderate activity level would be best for her.

"She shouldn't necessarily be going on super long hikes, even though she would love to, but she is young and full of life and full of energy, and wants nothing more than to be with her people."

Since Glo has hip dysplasia she will need to maintain a healthy weight to not add stress to her joints and can also benefit from hydrotherapy.

"It's something that somebody will have to have a good relationship with a veterinarian physical therapists, and then if they were interested in doing a hydrotherapy type situation, it can only help her," Broderick said. "We want to keep those muscles built up in the hind end so that her hips are not taking the brunt of the bone on bone action while she is kind of living out her very best life."

Glo hasn't shown any symptoms or difficulties since being at the shelter, but it is a condition that her owners need to understand and it increases her chances of arthritis as she gets older.

Broderick said Fritters Critters in Lee specializes in pet hydrotherapy.

"They basically work on an underwater treadmill. So that's walking under the water so that she has a little bit of resistance and the water is warm, so that it's optimum for therapeutic benefits," she said. "They do have a pool there, too, where she would be able to do some swimming, and it really gives her the ability to exercise and really extend those joints and build up those muscles without the added pressure of gravity and impact as she's walking or playing or running.

"So the hydrotherapy is a great option for dogs, even if you just want to do it for fun. She could really benefit healthwise, from it, too."

She will also have to stay on her joint mobility food to help her.

But Glo is a very happy and playful dog and loves everyone she sees and is hoping to find someone who will love her just as much to take her home.

"I can't say enough good about her. I know that the hip dysplasia sounds like a scary piece of it, as well as the house training," Broderick said. "But honestly, there was not a friendlier, sweeter, more outgoing, social, wants to be best friends with you, kind of dog. She was in the front lobby this past Saturday, and she met like 10 people at the same time, and just made rounds and loved every single person as they came in."

You can visit Glo at the Berkshire Humane Society and read more about her on the website.

The Berkshire Humane Society is open Tuesday through Sunday. The adoption center is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

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