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Peter Cote, president of Cascade School Supplies, thanks the students, art department, his staff and Waterman Excavating for making the project successful.
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Art teacher Phoebe Pepper, left, poses with Cote, Cascade Vice President Todd Shafer, art teacher Cheryl Wildermuth and a $1,000 donation.
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Mayor Richard Alcombright glances at the students' work.
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Drury Students Add Art To Cascade School Supplies Front

By John DurkaniBerkshires Staff
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Drury High School students added 20 more paintings to the Cascade School Supplies front wall.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A second row of paintings created by Drury High School students were added to Cascade School Supplies' building this week.

"We are very, very proud to be hosting this mural in progress," said Peter Cote, president of Cascade, at a celebration on Wednesday. "Our vision was to improve the look of our 100-plus-year-old building and to fit into the emerging culture of our city, while incorporating the incredible talents of the students in the Drury art department."
 
The first row was installed last spring on the Brown Street side of the building.
 
Fourteen students from Cheryl Wildermuth's studio art class and seven students from Phoebe Pepper's advanced art class created the paintings that were recreation of masterpieces including "Sunflowers" by Van Gogh, "Blue Morning Glories" by Georgia O’Keefe and "Jacqueline with Flowers" by Picasso..
 
"Nobody wanted them to leave the building but they were already spoken for," Pepper joked.
 
But now outside of Drury High School the art is now exposed to the entire community — as well as the expected visitors who will park on and around Brown Street for this weekend's Solid Sound Festival.
 
This is the second year of the project. Pepper said the project began after Cote and vice president Todd Shafer approached Drury about adding art to the west side of the building. After bouncing some ideas around, the mural project was chosen.
 
Cascade also presented a $1,000 check to the art department and will donate art supplies of the department's desire.
 
Mayor Richard Alcombright thanked Cascade for the donation and its work in the community — including outside the art spectrum — and the students.
 
"At the end of the day this doesn't happen without the artists," Alcombright said.
 
Pepper said next year's plan is to finish the third of four rows with 24 more paintings. Cote said he hopes to include the Route 2 side of the building to add more visibility from the busy street and thinks the mural will one day be added to the walking tour route.
 
The art was installed by the Cascade staff with a lift borrowed from Waterman Excavating.

Tags: art installation,   donations,   Drury High,   

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Clarksburg Sees Race for Select Board Seat

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town will see a three-way race for a seat on the Select Board in May. 
 
Colton Andrews, Seth Alexander and Bryana Malloy returned papers by Wednesday's deadline to run for the three-year term vacated by Jeffrey Levanos. 
 
Andrews ran unsuccessfully for School Committee and is former chairman of the North Adams Housing Authority, on which he was a union representative. He is also president of the Pioneer Valley Building Trades Council.
 
Malloy and Alexander are both newcomers to campaigning. Malloy is manager of industrial relations for the Berkshire Workforce Board and Alexander is a resident of Gates Avenue. 
 
Alexander also returned papers for several other offices, including School Committee, moderator, library trustee and the five-year seat on the Planning Board. He took out papers for War Memorial trustee and tree warden but did not return them and withdrew a run for Board of Health. 
 
He will face off in the three-year School Committee seat against incumbent Cynthia Brule, who is running for her third term, and fellow newcomer Bonnie Cunningham for library trustee. 
 
Incumbent Ronald Boucher took out papers for a one-year term as moderator but did not return them. He was appointed by affirmation in 2021 when no won ran and accepted the post again last year as a write-in.
 
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