5 Must-See Exhibits this November
Berkshire County has an extensive number of museums from a wide range of disciplines. Each of these museums showcase local and visiting artists through their temporary exhibitions that explore a plethora of themes.
'Eloise and More: The Life and Art of Hilary Knight'
Norman Rockwell Museum
The Norman Rockwell Museum opens "Eloise and More: The Life and Art of Hilary Knight" exhibition on Saturday and will be on view through March 12, 2023.
The exhibition explores the lives of both author Kay Thompson and illustrator Hilary Knight and the success of their character Eloise after publication. The first book about the precocious Eloise who lived in the Plaza Hotel -- based on Thompson's childhood -- was originally published for adults in 1955 and republished as children's book 14 years later with not changes. It's popularity resulted in four more books in the series as well as a song, television series and movies.
The show features rarely seen work including a once-stolen Eloise portrait from the Plaza Hotel, previously unpublished drawings from Eloise in Paris, and 1954 drafts of Eloise by Hilary Knight.
It will also include manuscripts, photographs, music, videos, sketches, and original illustrations from many other picture books by the artist.
The opening weekend includes a curator tour and talk, and an opening discussion with Knight, exhibition advisor Don Bacigalupi, and Norman Rockwell Museum Director and CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt. More information here.
EJ Hill's 'Brake Run Helix'
Mass MoCA
Massachusetts Museum of Comteporary Art features American artist EJ Hill's first solo museum show "Brake Run Helix."
This rideable sculpture is Hill's largest exhibit to date filling Mass MoCA's 100-yard-long Building 5 gallery with paintings, stage performances, and freestanding sculptures.
According to the release, Hill considers roller coasters as a public monument to the possibility of attaining joy which he notes is "a critical component of social equity."
"Hill's practice focuses on experiences that intermingle public struggle, endurance, trauma, and joy, whether within athletics, religion, the American education system, or amusement parks," the press release says.
"In the United States, amusement parks were contested sites throughout Jim Crow-era desegregation efforts for equitable access to pleasure, leisure, and recreation."
More information here.
'On The Horizon: Art And Atmosphere In The Nineteenth Century'
The Clark
The Clark Art Institute's new exhibition "On The Horizon — Art And Atmosphere In The Nineteenth Century" opens Saturday, Nov. 19, and runs through Feb. 12, 2023.
The exhibition draws attention to air, an earthly domain often overlooked by artists who choose to utilize "landscape views to convey a socio-political sense of place and seascapes to signal global connections," the website said.
According to the press release the show explores "how 19th-century artists and audiences in Europe and North America confronted the atmosphere as both a representational challenge and realm for visual expression and experience" while building on then-recent scientific and technological advancements.
More information here.
'Swept: This Work I Will Do'
Hancock Shaker Village
Hancock Shaker Village will be concluding its "Swept: This Work I Will Do" exhibition on Sunday, Nov. 27.
In this show, artist and broom squire Cate Richards explores the Shakers’ influence on American craft and art today by utilizing a series of broom-inspired sculptures that sit alongside Shaker brooms.
"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.
More information here.
'Lady Pink'
Mass MoCA
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art concludes the "Lady Pink" exhibition on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
Lady Pink, born Sandra Fabara, references her experiences traveling and painting subway cars with "vivid" and "colorful" renderings of feminine figures, and her tag letters, "PINK."
Lady Pink was one of the only female graffiti writers on the scene in the 1970s and '80s earning her the title "Pink" by her crew. She titled herself Lady Pink because "because we were royalty."
"I was a feminist before I even knew what the word was. … A lot of those female themes are in my work because early on I could see we haven’t reached equality," Mass MoCA quoted her saying.
Around 1982, Lady Pink met Jenny Holzer and the duo collaborated on a series that combinded Holzer’s text and Pink’s imagery.
The exhibition reunites Holzer and Lady Pink featuring some of their collaborative paintings
More information here.
