Berkshire Arts Festival draws thousands

By Bill Sample12:00AM / Thursday, July 08, 2004Print Story | Email Story

Three-time U.S. Pottery Olympics Champion Bruce Odell of Lafayette, LA., flash-glazes a ceramic bowl in a demonstration of his version of the Japanese art of Raku during the Berkshires Arts Festival over the weekend. (Photo By Bill Sample)

GREAT BARRINGTON â€” Butternut Ski Area filled with several thousand visitors over the weekend during the third annual Berkshires Arts Festival, which showcased the work of more than 185 regional and national artists. The artistry ranged from culinary to the more enduring and unique. Sculpture, glass, ceramic, jewelry, furniture, textile, fiber, paper, wood, paint and visual artisans plied their trades with live demonstrations, accompanied by the sounds of live musicians provided by the festival organizers. Huge white tents and many smaller ones covered all the level spaces, and some exhibitors were forced to expand the encampment partway up the slopes, in search of room to stake their claim in the action. A continuous stream of visitors filed past or stopped at each booth, depending on their interests. The festival enjoyed comfortable weather all three days of the event. Hosts of the Berkshires Arts Festival were Richard and Joanna Rothbard of Slate Hill, N.Y., owners of the American Craftsman CafÃ© and gallery at the corner of Maple Street and Route 7 in Stockbridge. They branded this yearâ€™s festival a resounding success and said they were looking forward to doing it again next year. Headlining the entertainment at the festival were musical acts Wintergreen (bluegrass), Sambaland (Brazillian rythm drummers) and adult and childrenâ€™s fiddling groups from Berkshire Music School. One of the liveliest demonstrations came from ceramic artist Bruce Odell, three-time U.S Pottery Olympics Champion and the1992 World Champion. Odellâ€™s claim to fame is his mastery of an Amercan modification of the ancient Japanese pottery-making art called Raku. As invented by the Japanese, Raku is essentially a fast firing technique through which, in about 30 minutes, the tea ceremony piece is fired to 2,000 degrees and then cooled in the open air. About 1940, Americans began to subject the red-hot piece to combustible materials, creating a smoky rainbow of colors. In 1996, Odell developed a way to control and enhance the colors of Raku. The results, as seen in his display, are exceptionally beautiful pottery. â€œYou folks might want to step back a bitâ€ Odell cautioned in his easygoing southern drawl to a gaggle of onlookers. They wasted no time stepping back about 3 feet because Odell was holding in his heavily gloved hands a glowing, 2,000-degree peice of pottery he had just snatched out of a large kiln. The crowd reacted with awe as he wrapped the red-hot clay pot in newspaper, which burst into flame instantly. Holding a fireball 3 feet in diameter, Odell deftly rubbed the surface of the pot this way and that with the flaming paper until a rainbow of intense metallic colors appeared on the surface. When the paper had burned out, Odell doused the pot quickly in a barrel of cold water, then pulled it out smiling as the onlookers got a good look at the steaming finished piece. While preparing for the next piece, Odell patiently explained to enthralled visitors, who refused to leave, â€œSmoke from the burning paper steals oxygen from the molten copper glaze, and it creates a range of colors from gold, red and purple, to blue and green. Plunging it into the barrel of water freezes the reaction and the colors become permanent.â€ An inventor of a different sort was at the festival in the person of Peter Blanchett, creator of the Arch Guitar. That 10-stringed instrument has an extra wide neck attached to a smallish, hollow body, shaped vaguely in the classical guitar style. Blanchett, of Shelburne Falls, invented both the instrument and the playing style that has launched his unique and successful musical career. He has developed and played soundtracks of the Arch Guitar for recent feature films and television shows, including several episodes of â€œSex in the Cityâ€ and others. He has been featured on National Public Radioâ€™s â€œPrairie Home Companion,â€ â€œSunday Baroqueâ€ and â€œAll things Considered.â€ Describing his music as â€œsomewhere between renaissance and baroque,â€ Blanchette explained that his invention gets a much wider range of tones than a common acoustic guitar. The music made by the Arch Guitar resonates melodically and is comparable to other stringed instruments, but only loosely. Blanchette attributed his success to â€œ22 years of musical invention.â€ A conventional exhibit that drew a lot of interest was at the booth of Berkshire Sweet Gold Maple Farm, run by husband-and-wife team Brooks McCutchen and Janis Steele of Charlemont. They poured samples of their high quality â€œsingle crop, single batchâ€ maple syrups to willing customers all day. \In contrast to most commercially available maple syrup, Berkshire Sweet Gold is not a blended mix from different production runs from different days or even different producers. McCutchen and Steele process and grade their product from a single batch of sap from a single spring day. Each dayâ€™s batch has its own unique flavor and color. â€œMaple syrup is likely the only food in your kitchen that is harvested from the woods in a 400-year-old tradition first learned from Native Americans,â€ Steele said, while pouring samples for several eager visitors converging on the exhibit.

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Former Adams Police Chief Facing Fraud Charges

Staff Reports06:25PM / Wednesday, April 08, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The former chief of police in Adams was indicted Tuesday on fraud charges by a Berkshire County grand jury. He is accused of taking nearly $20,000 in overtime funds he didn't earn.

Kevin Scott Kelley, aka K. Scott Kelley, 46, was relieved of duty in September and placed on a paid leave of absence until December. Adams town officials declined to say if he was fired or resigned at that time.

He is accused of submitting fraudulent reimbursement claims under a municipal traffic enforcement grant administered by the Office of Grants and Research in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, according to the Berkshire District Attorney's Office.

The alleged conduct began in or about January 2024 and continued through at least January 2025 and was reported by officers under Kelley's command.

The members of the Adams Police Department identified discrepancies in the reimbursement submissions and gathered evidence indicative of fraudulent activity. They subsequently requested assistance from the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit and the DA's Office.

Based on the materials initially collected by Adams Police, State Police conducted a formal investigation, which concluded that the defendant submitted and received $19,123.15 in overtime compensation for dates on which he either absent from work or performed duties not consistent with the requirements of the grant program.

Kelley was sworn in on January 2021 to replace the retired Chief Richard Tarsa. He came with more than 25 years experience in law enforcement, most recently as police chief for Spartanburg (S.C.) Community College.

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