MCLA To Give Seminars On Creative Uses of Space
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Berkshire Cultural Resource Center announces that its Tricks of the Trade seminar series that will focus on reuse of spaces for creative purposes.Participants will discover opportunities and ideas to utilize existing spaces creatively by turning them into arts venues, galleries, studios or arts organizations. The Tricks of the Trade workshops are free and open to the public but registration is required.
In North Adams on Dec. 6 at MCLA Gallery 51, participants will learn a variety of ways that private spaces – such as city halls, public walkways, hospitals and empty storefronts – may be utilized. Many of these spaces have the potential to be turned into a creative business, art studio, art gallery or performance venue.
Panelists include the curators of two of North Adams' private spaces for public art: Diane Sullivan, who curates ART @CITY HALL, and Sharon Carson, who curates the public art program at North Adams Regional Hospital. Also on hand will be representatives from Art about Town and DownStreet Art.
On Dec. 7, at Ferrin Gallery in Pittsfield, the series will highlight opportunities to be found by reusing sacred space, such as vacated churches or synagogues. For this session panelists will include private and non-profit organizations that have transformed former sanctuaries into new developments.
They include David Carver from Scarafoni Associates, Hezzie Johanson from the Contemporary Artist Center in Troy, N.Y., representatives from Minerva Arts Center, and Jessica Conzo from Alchemy Initiative in Pittsfield.
Conzo and the other co-founders of Alchemy Initiative re-purposed an empty church and created a location for sustainable artist studios, urban gardening, events and art and crafts workshops. The result was a place where community members can collaborate and engage with each other.
On Dec. 8, at IS 183 in Stockbridge, the series will focus on an artist lecture and discussion with Michael Oatman, a visual artist who specializes in extensive collage and installation art of a scientific precision and genre. His work is on exhibit at Massachusetts Museum on Contemporary Art.
Oatman will speak about his repurposed air-stream trailer installation "All Utopias Fell," a fictional take of a solar-obsessed scientist who crash-lands back to earth.
Bringing their own experiences and knowledge, these selected panelists will talk about their creative organizations and businesses and the process of reusing spaces for the arts and what worked and what didn't to help others formulate their own ideas.
To see a full schedule of the monthly Tricks of the Trade workshops or to download a free brochure, go to www.mcla.edu/BCRC. For more information, (413) 664-8718. To register, contact Valeria Federici, BCRC program coordinator, (413) 663-5253 or valeria.federici@mcla.edu.
Tricks of the Trade is presented by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Berkshire Cultural Resource Center and co-presented by Ferrin Gallery and IS183 Art School. This program is made possible with support by Appelbaum-Kahn Foundation, Excelsior and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
All seminars begin at 6:30 p.m.
