Art brings students better understanding

By Linda CarmanPrint Story | Email Story
Mount Greylock Regional High School senior Gideon Bradburd practices woodcarving at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center. (Submitted Photo)
WILLIAMSTOWN - For Vanessa Bergmann, a senior at Mount Greylock Regional High School, it was a struggle to reconcile her memories of her soft-spoken grandfather with what she knew of his history – that he had landed in a concentration camp at age 16 in his native Poland after coming to the aid of his 12-year-old brother who had injured a Nazi officer in a fight. Since earlier this spring, Bergmann has been exploring the intersection of her family history with the Holocaust, as her senior project, under the guidance of Barbara Robertson, Williams College Museum of Art director. Bergmann, who is expressing what she has learned in layered, symbolic paintings and collages, said she has attained greater understanding of her family’s intersection with an historical nightmare. She is one of 23 seniors – just under a quarter of the class – to embark on a senior project. Projects have ranged from explorations of the extent to which religion is a catalyst of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the impact of political satire and the philosophy underlying mathematics to composing music, translating Greek, learning to play the banjo and learning to play jazz. Gideon Bradburd, whose academic credentials will take him to Yale University in the fall, opted to learn woodcarving under the tutelage of Hugh Glover of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, an entirely new avenue for creativity. The school plans to expand the program — in which seniors choose a project and find a community member to mentor them – to the entire class next year, according to Mike Caraco, the Mount Greylock mathematics teacher who coordinated the program with history teacher Tom Ostheimer. Bergmann’s grandfather, Roman Kaczmarczyk, died in 2002. His granddaughter remembers an affectionate man given to extemporizing songs. After coming to America in 1952, he worked in construction. But the singing grandfather, the smiling grandfather, who so fondly sat his granddaughter on his knee, could also have spells of anger, of shouting unanswerable questions — questions about why events in his past had to happen, Bergmann said. Kaczmarczyk had been a prisoner in a concentration camp from age 16 until he was 23, years in which he shoveled bodies of slain victims into graves. He survived only because he could read blueprints, and, in a bitterly ironic twist of fate, his survival hinged on that help he could provide to the Nazis in building more barracks for their camp. “He wasn’t even Jewish,” Bergmann said. Nor was his wife-to-be, whom he met after the war and who had been sent to a work camp for her father’s refusal to let her be taken by the Nazis because of her blond hair and blue eyes that conformed to their image of an Aryan “master race.” Bergmann’s grandparents lived in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, a section with a strong Polish population. “They moved up here [to North Berkshire] to take care of us,” Bergmann said. “I grew up hearing them speak Polish.” “I don’t think I really understood ’til this year that my grandfather was part of this terrible episode of history,” she said. She added that “Going through this process and channeling emotion into artwork” has been a valuable way to explore the extent that history and private lives intersect. In her proposal, Bergmann wrote that her project would help her better understand the relationship between art and the Holocaust and would give her better understanding of her family’s connection to that horrific chapter of history. Her aim, she wrote, is to form a personal and historical relationship between her artwork and the Holocaust through research, outside advisors, and family history. “I think about everything I’m doing now that he never had the chance to do, and that because he survived, I do have the chance,” she said. Under Robertson’s guidance, Bergmann viewed prints in the college art museum’s collection that are not on view, items such as Carol Rosen’s Holocaust Series, “As If They Had Never Been,” and “A Children’s Tale.” “It was such a valuable experience,” Robertson said. “It’s as much of a thrill for me. The first thing we did was see what have we got in our collection.” “His brother might have been killed maybe even before reaching the concentration camp,” said Bergmann. “I don’t think my grandfather would have survived without hope.” “What’s been really fun for me is how motivated Vanessa is,” said Robertson. “She knows what she wants.” The project, Bergmann said, “definitely makes you think it all out.” Bradburd, whose project centered on woodcarving, said he had always been interested in the subject but his time had mostly been taken up with schoolwork. “I seldom had time to do more than just tinker around,” he said. “The senior project offered me the opportunity to learn, under a master, how to woodcarve, and it is fantastic. With Hugh's help and vision, I made an ‘Umbilic Torus,’ which is like a Mobius strip with a triangular cross section … From planning to completion, I spent well over 10 hours on the Torus, and the pride I take in the finished product is beyond words. He added, “I've written many papers, but there's an elegance and simplicity to the Torus that no stack of words can match. The senior project and Hugh's guidance facilitated my escape from the academic arena and my discovery of a new side of my brain. I strongly recommend incoming seniors to pick a senior project outside their previous experience, and I hope they enjoy their projects as much as I enjoyed mine.” Glover said, “Gideon already had an interest and sense of inquiry in woodcarving and inlay. I spent about five weeks with him, three hours a week, showing him that world, and how it is achieved. We met at the WACC lab on Sunday mornings. He acquired his own small set of carving chisels that will be good for life. I believe I gave him a kick start to what we hope will be a continuing interest or hobby. Ostheimer said part of the program’s value is the interchange between students and the community. "The senior project creates a window to our school. The program allows the public to see firsthand all the great talent and interests of our students.” Many community members will act as judges for student oral presentations scheduled for Wednesday, May 19, providing yet another opportunity to experience what Mount Greylock students have achieved throughout this program. A revelation for Caraco has been the range of approaches students take in exploring their topics. “For Gideon, it’s the materials he can select, learning how shellac is made and how to maintain tools, and taking the artistic approach,” Caraco said. For him and Ostheimer, the experience has been rewarding, he said. “It’s a chance for teachers to get a flavor of how wonderful the students are, to assess and celebrate our students. What a wonderful feeling for us to have as we’re about to pass them their diplomas.”
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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