Michael Lavin Flower and Bonnie Flower join forces with IS 183

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Michael Lavin Flower and Bonny Flower of Berkshire Mountain Photography Workshops are joining IS183, formerly the Interlaken School of Art, to offer photography classes this summer. Michael Flower has been a student of photography since 1976, and a professional photographer since 1981. He has exhibits of landscapes up now at Naoussa Gallery in Tyringham and at Berkshire Coffee Roasters in Great Barrington. He and his wife have been working together for the last eight years. She was a Montessori teacher before joining his studio to do sales. They married, and now have four children. Flower said he had been teaching since his first job out of college, and he taught at Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfeild six years ago. He and Bonny created Berkshire Mountain Photography Workshops three years ago. They began offering classes at Simon’s Rock College of Bard, and moved into their own studio. “We created it to make us happy,” he said. They moved into the Barbieri Building in Housatonic last October, and began offering classes two weeks later, as soon as they had a darkroom set up. The building used to be gallery and studio space, Michael said, until it was damaged by fire about two years ago. The Flowers leased 4,400 feet of empty space. The landlord said he would prefer not to subdivide it, Michael said. Michael and Bonny talked to other colleagues about sharing the space, and finally took the plunge on their own. It is one thing to own a business, he said, and another thing to completely support a school of photography. But it has worked. It has not been easy, but it has worked. The Flowers said they do not make much money, just an incredible amount of energy “The wonderful thing about commercial photography, is that photography is always a strict communication of arts, whether it’s with a widget salesman or an architect,” Flower said. In many ways, commercial art presents the same challenge as fine art. But he missed teaching, when he left it for commercial photography. Teaching workshops encourages him to make his own photographs, he said. “The nature of the artist is to be inquisitive and to answer questions.” In commercial art, someone else supplies the question, and the photographer gives the answer. When he creates his own pictures, he poses the questions to himself. Photography becomes “a conversation with a topic that yields a result.” Teaching forces him to ask questions, and the inspiration he gives to students returns to him. Workshops allow him to deal with visual concepts as a teacher and as a student. He and his wife both feel they are giving something back, he said; it’s very rewarding. IS183, formerly the Interlaken School of Art, in Stockbridge has never had a real photography facility. They wanted to expand, and BMPW wanted exposure, so the not-for-profit and the for-profit organization have joined forces. “It’s a curious thing. Enriching,” Michael said; “Our missions are very similar.” People who come to the Berkshires to see art should be able to participate in it. The Flowers will offer some core photography courses at IS183, and some fit for people to indulge in over a weekend visit. They will offer classes through the next year, with people they have worked with before. Michael specifically mentioned the Young Photographers’ workshop, for ages 13 to 17. “Photography is the most mimetic art form there is,” he said. A photographer can copy, transmit, obscure an image. “When teenagers discover the teacher is not saying ‘this is how this works’ but ‘show me what you’re interested in’, they turn on,” he said. The class will go hiking, walk down the Main Street, and set up lighting in the studio for unusual portraits. “It’s a ‘be yourself’ class,” he said. Polaroid emulsion and print transfer, likewise, is cathartic and hands-on, he said. BMPW will also offer a “four-by-five inch” professional class, and a 19th century contact printing class— Michael said this style is esoteric, because not many people have the camera for it now. They will also offer beginning and intermediate classes, and courses on location lighting and hand coloring. IS183 has great board of directors, he and Bonny said. They have level heads and vision. It is a rare opportunity to merge with people who speak the same language, and the Flowers are excited to be working with them. Michael and Bonny said they will continue to pursue other ambitions as well. For the last three years, BMPW has been giving advanced and remedial photography classes within local school systems, and private tutorials and study tours abroad. Their most successful tour took fourteen Simon’s Rock College students and four faculty members to spend three weeks in Cuba. Michael led the trip with Hugo Perez, the only other Cuban-American he has met in Berkshire County. Michael worked on a photography project, studying social reform through the change in Cuban architecture since the 1940’s, and Hugo put together a video. They hired a colleague, Daniel Karp, to assist in the photography instruction for half the trip. He will be working with BMPW and IS183 this summer. Michael’s favorite ambition, he said, is a classroom that is not restricted to the classroom. Not everyone can travel— people have physical and financial limitations— but if a class takes a photographic tour of Belize, anyone can look at the pictures. He would like to bounce them back here for critique, he said. The most enriching part of his college career was Junior and Senior Crit: once a week, for six hours, about twenty students and five faculty members gathered to review each others’ work. He would like to recreate that environment— perhaps have five classes, with five teachers, in five different places, all critiquing each others’ work. It would be easy with the internet, he said. Students from Monument Mountain High School, Mt. Everett, Mt. Greylock could all submit work to a website and get comments from BMPW. “That’s what’s great about study tours: everyone has a different take, whether it’s politics, socio-economic reform . . .” The camera records what they are sensitive to. Bonny said they feel that while they have very talented people teaching art in the Berkshire schools, it seems the arts budget is always the first to be cut. She and Michael hope to supplement arts education here. She would love to teach classes for children with special needs; she is gearing up for it and looking for funding. There are also organizations that teach people techniques for photographing kids with special needs. These kids can be uncomfortable in front of a camera, she said; a rapid series of camera flashes can even set off seizures. Photography can be simple, or very complicated, she said. Looking at someone’s photographs can give insight into their concerns, and lead into conversation. It is therapeutic. She and Michael agreed the most amazing thing they have seen in any photography class is that finding success in one class will allow a student to open up and succeed elsewhere. The Flowers give classes of up to eighteen people. They limit the size, so they can have an enlarger for each student. Michael explained the range of equipment in the darkroom. There are condenser enlargers there, and cold light head enlargers. Cold light gives a more even illumination and slower printing time, and allows greater manipulation of fine print. It is less likely to detect imperfections in the negative. It saves time in the end, he said. But its greatest virtue, is that it yields a much wider tonal range from any negative. Both kinds of enlargers are for black and white prints. They are designed for the largest possible size of print: one can print up to eight-by-ten negatives, another prints four-by-five, and still another does 35-millimeter film for artwork. The Flowers’ darkroom doubles as a processing and printing lab, Michael said. Students work with eight-by-ten film sheets in total darkness, or with canisters, in low light. They have ample space to walk and breathe, he said. The way the Flowers introduce people to the darkroom requires respect, he said. The students are not divided into individual stalls. The space is communal, and they need to follow a few simple guidelines.
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McCann Recognizes Superintendent Award Recipient

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Landon LeClair and Superintendent James Brosnan with Landon's parents Eric and Susan LeClair, who is a teacher at McCann. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Superintendent's Award has been presented to Landon LeClair, a senior in McCann Technical School's advanced manufacturing course. 
 
The presentation was made last Thursday by Superintendent Jame Brosnan after Principal Justin Kratz read from teachers' letters extolling LeClair's school work, leadership and dedication. 
 
"He's become somewhat legendary at the Fall State Leadership Conference for trying to be a leader at his dinner table, getting an entire plate of cookies for him and all his friends," read Kratz to chuckles from the School Committee. "Landon was always a dedicated student and a quiet leader who cared about mastering the content."
 
LeClair was also recognized for his participation on the school's golf team and for mentoring younger teammates. 
 
"Landon jumped in tutoring the student so thoroughly that the freshman was able to demonstrate proficiency on an assessment despite the missed class time for golf matches," read Kratz.
 
The principal noted that the school also received feedback from LeClair's co-op employer, who rated him with all fours.
 
"This week, we sent Landon to our other machine shop to help load and run parts in the CNC mill," his employer wrote to the school. LeClair was so competent the supervisor advised the central shop might not get him back. 
 
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