'Swept: This Work I Will Do' Opens At Hancock Shaker Village

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — In "Swept: This Work I Will Do," artist and broom squire Cate Richards presents a series of broom-inspired sculptures alongside Shaker brooms, connecting Shakers to contemporary craft practices and exploring the Shakers' influence on American craft and art today.
 
"In Swept: This Work I Will Do" (the subtitle is from a Shaker hymn), Richards makes sculptural objects using established broom making techniques in a discursive manner to explore issues of craft, social inequity, environment, and other topics. Richards' works are made of materials both expected (broomcorn, twine, and wood) and unconventional (plastic and metal). 
 
According to a press release, these anachronistic sculptures, juxtaposed against original Shaker brooms, offer revealing insight on the history of American broom making, highlight contemporary broom making practices, and explore the broom as a spiritual object.
 
"Swept: This Work I Will Do" opens in the Chace Gallery on June 17 with a reception and talk for Hancock Shaker Village members; the exhibition opens to the public with regular admission on June 18.
 
Cate Richards is a queer artist, jeweler, broomsquire, and educator currently living on occupied Ho-Chunk, Sac & Fox, and Kickapoo lands, now also called Madison, Wis. In the summer of 2021, they were a resident at MASS MoCA, where they researched the history of New England broom production. Richards has been awarded several travel grants for craft research, including funding for fieldwork in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to study the copper mining culture of the area, and to travel to the Foxfire Museum and Appalachian Heritage Center in Georgia to learn broom making. Richards has exhibited at Abel Contemporary in Stoughton, Wis., EatMetal Inc. in Hoboken, NJ, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Wash., Lillstreet Arts Center in Chicago, and the Gallery im Körnerpark, Berlin.
 
 

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Holiday Inn Remains Closed from Broken Elevator

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It has been almost three weeks since broken elevators temporarily closed the Holiday Inn & Suites, and the hotel is still working to meet code compliance. 

The hotel at 1 West Street has been closed since Sept. 25, after its last working elevator of three broke down. The 101 Restaurant & Bar, located within the Holiday Inn, also has temporarily shut its doors while repairs are ongoing. 

The day of the shutdown had emergency personnel carrying people who use mobility devices down stairs. 

“We were called there a couple of Fridays ago. There was no working elevator. There were EMTs and the fire department there, and they were getting over half a dozen people down the stairs that were in wheelchairs and walkers,” Building Commissioner Rian Dowd told iBerkshires on Wednesday. 

“So with the no working elevators, we shut the building down.”

The central downtown, 12-story hotel has nearly 180 guest rooms. Massachusetts requires public multi-level buildings and facilities to have elevator access. 

Dowd said the Holiday Inn is still working with the elevator company and state inspectors to be certified and reopen. They were told to provide the City of Pittsfield with a timeline, work orders, and contracts from repairs so that everyone can be on the same page and the hotel can open as quickly as possible, she said. 

“We have not heard anything from them yet this week,” she reported. 

iBerkshires’ attempts to reach a representative from the Holiday Inn were unsuccessful. 

There were no passengers in the elevator when it stopped working; how it broke was not disclosed. 

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