Clark Art Hosts Williams College Graduate Program Symposium

This year's presentations, timed in conjunction with Williams College's 2026 Commencement weekend, address a variety of topics in the history of art, including the artistic tradition of ancestral Peruvian textiles, the implications of depicting beheadings in seventeenth-century Seville, the relationship between print and sound technologies in the late nineteenth century, efforts to shape the public perception of color through photography during the Nazi period, and the interplay of painting and phenomenology in the late twentieth century. All presentations are free and open to the public.

Presentations will be approximately twenty minutes each, delivered in thematic panels of two or three speakers that are followed by a moderated discussion. 

Presenters include:

Chioma Agbaraji [Prince George's County, Maryland]

Maximillion A. Alegria [Baker, Florida] 

Hannah Tsung-Ling Chew [Menlo Park, California]

Cristine Elizabeth Escudero [Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey] 

Natalie Ginsberg [Newark, Delaware] 

Alexis Kelly [Irvine, California]

Charlie Qing Xu Kong [Shanghai, China, and Vancouver, Canada]

Elizabeth Levie [San Francisco, California] 

Andrew Lu [Beijing, China]

Cèlia Pardillo-Lopez [West Lafayette, Indiana, and Barcelona, Spain]

Emma Poveda [Los Angeles, California] 

At 4:30 pm on Saturday, June 6, the Clark hosts the graduate program's annual hooding ceremony, honoring the students' accomplishments. 

The symposium and hooding ceremony both take place in the auditorium at the Clark Art Institute's Manton Research Center, 225 South Street, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

For more information, visit gradart.williams.edu.

Williamstown Fire District Dedicates New Station

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
06:37AM / Sunday, May 31, 2026

Chief Jeffrey Dias recognizes firefighter Alexandra Riggs, who will graduate from Williams College next week. See more photos here.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Massachusetts fire marshal came to town Saturday to congratulate the local Fire District and the taxpayers of Williamstown for the "amazing" station they have built on Main Street.

 

"I travel around the state, and I've seen hundreds of firehouses around the state — some great, some not so great," Fire Marshal Jon Davine told a crowd gathered outside the station for its dedication. "And I think we saw what the previous station here was in Williamstown. I'll tell you, especially in Western Massachusetts, we have a really big problem with deteriorating firehouses throughout Western Mass. These buildings are collapsing around our firefighters.

 

"And, as the marshal, it's my job to advocate for the departments for more funding. We've been working with our state reps and local reps and the fire chiefs association, trying to come up with different funding streams, so that we can help these departments build new stations, do better, safer stations, so that they have the equipment and the building they deserve to do their job safely."

 

The chair of the Prudential Committee, which governs the Fire District, and the chief of the department both thanked Williamstown residents for the 2023 special district meeting vote that paved the way for the station that went into operation earlier this year.

 

"It's an honor and a privilege to join you today as we celebrate this grand opening of the new firehouse," Chief Jeffrey Dias said. "This facility is so much more than a building that houses fire trucks. It stands as a symbol of our community's commitment to safety, preparedness and public service. It's a place where our members will maintain our equipment. They will learn about our craft. They'll share meals and, yes, from time to time, they're going to share sorrow.

 

"This isn't a fire station. This is a firehouse. And people have heard me say this a million times already. And it houses the very best second family that one could imagine."

 

Dias was joined at the podium set up in the parking lot for the noon ceremony by Prudential Committee Chair David Moresi, state Rep. John Barrett III and the the Rev. William F. Cyr, who gave an invocation.