The Artful Farmer Exhibit

11:01AM / Monday, March 30, 2026Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Berkshire Grown and Mosaic EventSpace present The Artful Farmer, a pop-up exhibition at

Mosaic EventSpace, 49 Main Street, North Adams, on April 3 and 4.

A reception will be held during the First Fridays celebration on April 3 from 5PM - 8PM. Additional gallery hours for the pop-up exhibit will be 11AM-4PM on Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4.

The Artful Farmer explores non-farming aspects of farmers' lives and celebrates their imaginations, interests, passions and creativity. The exhibit features creative expressions that bring respite, joy, humor and beauty to one of the most resourceful and challenging ways of life—that of a farmer, stated a press release.

Farmers will share what they make in spare moments, in winter, or on the fringes of their busy seasons, as well as pursuits they explored before farming and hope to get back to someday. The exhibit will feature a wide-ranging display of work including painting, sculpture, ceramics, woodworking, photography and collected objects, crafts, metal work, textiles, tools and more.

Farmers featured in The Artful Farmer are from farms in the northern Berkshire area including: Big FootFarm, Caretaker Farm, Cricket Creek Farm, East Mountain Farm, Fahey Family Honey Farm, Forgotten Pines Farm, Full Well Farm, Ioka Valley Farm, Larry Valley Farm, Many Forks Farm, Peace Valley Farm, Starry Ridge Farm and Tanner Farm.

Farmers will be present at the reception on April 3, 5PM-8PM at Mosaic, to greet the public and engage in conversation. Light refreshments will be available. Free and open to the public.

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North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."

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