Williams College Graduate Student to Present Judith M. Lenett Lecture at Clark Art Institute

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.— Williams College graduate student Riley Yuen (M.A. Class of 2025) will present the 2024–25 Judith M. Lenett Lecture at the Clark Art Institute on Monday, May 19, at 5 p.m.

Yuen, the Judith M. Lenett Memorial Fellow, will discuss her research on the artistic practice of Nam June Paik, focusing on a 1986 untitled multimedia piece recently acquired by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum.

The artwork consists of two rectangular painted canvases joined at an angle, featuring three functional audio-visual units with rear-mounted monitors and two antennas on the top edges. Yuen’s research included examining comparable audio-visual units from the 1970s to the 1990s, conducting surface cleaning, performing material imaging analysis, and consulting with relevant parties. Her lecture will cover the object's condition and history, as well as ethical considerations in time-based media conservation, addressing its treatment and future display.

The Judith M. Lenett Memorial Fellowship is awarded annually to second-year students interested in conservation issues within American art. Lenett Fellows collaborate with conservators from the Williamstown + Atlanta Art Conservation Center (W+AACC) on a project involving the research and conservation of an American art object.

The lecture will take place in the Hunter Studio of the Lunder Center at Stone Hill and is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the presentation.

Williams College Lone Suitor for Development of Water Street Lot

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
11:15AM / Thursday, April 16, 2026

Williams College hopes to replace the current Facilities Services building on Latham Street and use that space for a new  athletics complex. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — If the town accepts an offer from Williams College, a 1.27-acre lot that long has been eyed as a possible venue for housing and economic development instead will find a use similar to its history.

 

The college was the lone respondent to the town's request for proposals to purchase and develop 59 Water St., a dirt lot known around town as the "old town garage site." This was first reported Wednesday by Greylock News. 

 

If successful, the college plans to use the former town garage property for the school's Facilities Services building. Or it could be turned back into a parking lot.

 

Williams' offer includes a $500,000 upfront payment and a 10-year agreement to make $50,000 annual donations to the Mount Greylock Regional School District according to the proposal unsealed on Wednesday afternoon.

 

If it closes the deal, the college said it will explore development of a three- to four-story Facilities Services building with "a structured parking facility providing approximately 170 spaces."

 

"[I]f site constraints impact our ability to develop both structured parking and the Facilities Services building, our backup proposal is to develop the parking structure with approximately 170 spaces, also with capacity to support institutional and public needs," the college's proposal reads.

 

The college's current Facilities property at 60 Latham St. has an assessed value — for the .42-acre lot only — of $113,000 and an annual property tax bill of $1,606, according to the town's website.