Clark Art to Host "Read the Story and Picture" Lecture Sept. 20

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute’s Research and Academic Program will present a lecture by Clark Fellow Olivier Bonfait entitled, "Read the Story and the Picture" at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 in the Clark’s auditorium in the Manton Research Center building.

In this lecture, Bonfait will discuss the interplay between the pictorial intelligence of the human history based on a left-right dynamic and the lateralization of vision which is also part of  daily experience.

Olivier Bonfait is a professor at the Université de Bourgogne and the École du Louvre and is also a member of the Institut Universitaire de France. He earned his Ph.D. from the Sorbonne with a dissertation on art and society of Baroque Bologna.

Bonfait has published, in particular on Nicolas Poussin and "Caravaggesque" painting. When he was director of the art history department at the Villa Médici—Académie de France (Rome), Bonfait curated several exhibitions spanning seventeenth- to nineteenth-century European art.

At the Clark, Bonfait is researching the history of large-format painting and considering its important role in the formation of modern nation states.

The event is free and no registration is required. Prior to the lecture, attendees are invited to join a reception in the Manton Research Center Reading Room starting at 5 p.m. 

A recorded video of this lecture releases on the Clark’s YouTube channel on September 27. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.


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Mount Greylock Super Taking Principal Job in Great Barrington

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — After years of leading school districts, Jason "Jake" McCandless is taking a step back to focus on a single school.
 
Mount Greylock Regional's superintendent will take over as principal at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School in Great Barrington on July 1, according to a report in the Berkshire Edge.
 
McCandless tendered his resignation last month from Mount Greylock after four years at the helm and just one year into his current contract. He had previously been superintendent of the Pittsfield Public Schools and in Lee. 
 
The Berkshire Edge reports the Berkshire Hills Regional School District announced the hiring via press release on Friday morning. 
 
Du Bois Principal Miles Wheat has taken a job in the Chatham, N.Y., school district less than a year after being appointed. Du Bois Middle School has an enrollment of about 350. 
 
McCandless was lauded by the outgoing class of 2024 at Mount Greylock's graduation ceremonies on Saturday. 
 
On Thursday, McCandless again declined the opportunity to explain why he suddenly resigned mid-contract from the Lanesbourgh-Williamstown school district.

Instead, he reiterated previous statements about how grateful he was for the opportunity to work in the Mount Greylock school system.

"Right now, I believe someone else is better suited, skilled and equipped to do that work here," McCandless wrote on the last day of school for students in the Mount Greylock district.

He did not answer a follow-up email asking why someone else is "better suited."

In his initial Thursday email, McCandless said he was comfortable with the idea that people in Lanesborough and Williamstown will fabricate their own reasons for his abrupt departure absent an explanation from him.

"Folks will create the narrative that works for them, with or without my version being on the record," McCandless wrote.

He also concluded his Thursday, June 13, email with the following statement.

"I am not sure what or where is next – but I leave the MGRSD Community nothing but gratitude," McCandless wrote.

By Friday morning, the Berkshire Hills Regional School District was announcing McCandless' hiring.
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