Berkshire Arts Festival draws thousands

By Bill SamplePrint 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 — 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 Café and gallery at the corner of Maple Street and Route 7 in Stockbridge. They branded this year’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 children’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. Odell’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. “You folks might want to step back a bit” 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, “Smoke 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.” 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 “Sex in the City” and others. He has been featured on National Public Radio’s “Prairie Home Companion,” “Sunday Baroque” and “All things Considered.” Describing his music as “somewhere between renaissance and baroque,” 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 “22 years of musical invention.” 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 “single crop, single batch” 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 day’s batch has its own unique flavor and color. “Maple 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,” Steele said, while pouring samples for several eager visitors converging on the exhibit.
Share
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
View Full Story

More Stories

Sports
image description

Lee Executes Game Plan to Perfection in Quarter-Final Win

Sports
Sports
image description

Lenox Volleyball Reaches State's Final Four

Sports
Sports
image description

Mount Greylock Boys Win 3rd Straight Regional Crown

Sports
Sports
image description

Mount Greylock Girls Again Top Monson in Western Mass Final

Sports
Sports
image description

Lenox Sweeps Its Way to Western Mass Crown

Sports
Community News
image description

North Adams License Commission Sees Little Need for License...

Community News
Latest Stories
Previous Next

What's Trending?