PIONEER VALLEY
DESTINATION PIONEER VALLEY
T
he rich farmland of the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts supports a range of agriculture, yet the Valley also provides fertile ground for a knowledge economy flourishing around a network of colleges and universities. Whether in small, rural hill towns that date back over 200 years or in mill towns now reinventing themselves for the 21st century, venues for visual arts in the Pioneer Valley interweave innovation and tradition. To explore the visual arts scene of this region, start south, in the city of Springfield. The Springfield Museums are home to the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum, which celebrates Springfield-native Theodor Seuss Geisel, known—and loved—as Dr. Seuss. Opened in 2017, the museum offers an immersive, hands-on experience that aims to be akin to walking into a Dr. Seuss book. The Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden stands outside, and Park Hill Orchard Mirror Barn, Easthampton, MA. Creative Commons license, CC BY-ND 2.0. four other museums—each with its own character—cluster around an open urban space known as the Quadrangle. The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum houses the eclectic treasures of Festival of the Arts (MIFA) sponsors a lively track. Emphasizing creativity as well as speedy the Springfield philanthropist and his wife. variety of contemporary visual, literary and descent down the race course, the event brings The collection reflects the well-traveled couperforming arts, and supports economic together diverse communities of Holyoke and ple’s wide-ranging taste—Japanese arms and revitalization including the preservation and surrounding towns. armor, plaster casts from classical antiquity reopening of the Victory Theatre. This 1920s Drive north for ten minutes through and one of the largest arrays of Chinese cloiBroadway-style theater in downtown Holyoke Holyoke to South Hadley for the Mount sonné outside of Asia. On view until October had been derelict for decades when MIFA Holyoke College Art Museum. Tradition joins 8 are funky and fun glass sculptures designed acquired it in 2009. Hoping to restore the innovation as the museum’s permanent colby children and fabricated by professionals. landmark to its former glory as a center for lections merge with the college’s academic Kitty-corner across the Quadrangle stands the live performance, MIFA aims to complete mission. The permanent collection, containing Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of renovations for the theater’s centennial in more than 24,000 objects, offers major attracFine Arts, opened in 1933, where the perma2020. Anticipating that grand reopening, tions: exemplary Greek, Roman and Egyptian nent collection focuses on European art and the MIFA’s International Arts Academy brings antiquities; art and artifacts of indigenous nostalgic Americana of Currier & Ives lithomusicians from around the world to Holyoke America; paintings, sculpture, decorative art, graphs. Special exhibits range from Elemental: to work on musical projects and offer educaphotography, prints and ceramics from Europe Contemporary Encaustic (through July 14, 2019) tion programs in local schools. And with its and the U.S.—plus important works by conto an exploration of social history in Thomas Affiliates Program, this fall MIFA partners temporary women artists from around the Hart Benton: A Visiting Masterpiece from the with the Palante Theater Company to present world, such as Zanele Muholi, Kara Walker Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (through December Pregones / The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater and Ouyang Xingkai. Along with its 140-year 30, 2018). The Springfield Museums also in Dancing in My Cockroach Killers (October history of collecting, the college also has a tradiincludes the venerable Springfield Science 12–14). The annual Great Holyoke Brick Race tion of teaching with artworks and objects, and Museum and the Lyman and Merrie Wood also indicates MIFA’s range and reach. Held in the last ten years, has embraced its mission Museum of Springfield History. early in June, the Brick Race involves designwith innovative verve. Major Themes: Celebrating Based in Holyoke, 15 minutes north of ing and building cars made of bricks and Ten Years of Teaching with Art (through June 21, Springfield, the Massachusetts International mounted on wheels to roll down an inclined 2020) provides a peek into the pedagogy in a
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PIONEER VALLEY gallery-based “classroom.” The five themes include The Optics of Art, The Non-Human, The Precarious Body, The Afterlives of Objects, and Conflict & Commemoration. “The NonHuman section, for example, will bring together a Turkmen camel decoration, a Picasso etching of the Minotaur, a 19th-century parlor dome with taxidermied birds, a Surrealist painting by Hedda Sterne, and an ancient Peruvian vessel in the shape of a cat, among other materials,” said associate curator Hannah Blunt. Another special exhibition, Promise of the Infinite: Joan Jonas and the Mirror (through June 16, 2019), explores the varied use of mirrors in the work of Mount Holyoke alumna Joan Jonas. Related to the exhibit on campus, she will give a lecture on October 18. From South Hadley, head west across the Connecticut River to Easthampton, with a
backroads travel time of 20 minutes. Here, the city organization Easthampton City Arts (ECA) aims to create engaging and accessible arts programming for the public and, at the same time, increase opportunities for artists. With the monthly Art Walk (inviting viewers to wander among the various arts venues around town, on the second Saturday of every month, from 5–8 p.m.) and annual events, ECA helps foment an art scene that activates the downtown area. Adding to the many places to display art, ECA also operates gallery spaces of its own, in different locations within walking distance around the city. The Mill Arts Project (MAP) Space, on the first floor of the Eastworks Building, will show Self-portrait As Medicine, works in various media curated by Tracey Eller, in October. In September, the ECA Gallery, in Old Town Hall, will display student
photography that resulted from the ECA’s firstever Youth Arts Initiative, originally shared at the annual Cultural Chaos Street Fair in June. Also housed in Easthampton’s historic Old Town Hall, Big Red Frame is owned and managed by Swiss-born Jean-Pierre Pasche. Established in 2001, Big Red Frame defines its style of custom framing as Presentation (premier design skills) plus Preservation (expertise in protecting artwork) plus Pride (a mix of confidence in and love for their work). The shop takes its name from an actual Big Red Frame—a 14 x 9 foot, brilliantly scarlet installation on the slopes of Park Hill Orchard, home of the biennial Art in the Orchard that Pasche co-founded in 2011 with orchard owners Alane Hartley and Russell Braen. Big Red Frame is also home of the Elusie Gallery, exhibiting what Pasche describes as “local and not-so-local art-
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PIONEER VALLEY ists, established and emerging artists, and the unexpected.” The Grand Bazaar: When East meets Easthampton (September 9–October 7), curated by Elisa Mishory, includes museum-quality Tibetan thankas painted by Tibetan monks and painters living in Kathmandu and Newari tribal thankas with Hindu themes, along with a range of other work from Southeast Asian artists and artisans. October 14 to November 4 brings Creatures of Discomfort by Erica Pinto. Coming from a background in special FX makeup skills [creating such dire illusions as cuts, bruises and combat trauma] and taxidermy, Pinto creates sculptural interpretations making the natural seem unnatural and surreal—perfectly timed for a tinge of Halloween. Easthampton is a mecca for artists and artisans, with many studios and galleries filling several converted factory and mill buildings. One Cottage Street, for example, houses Cottage Street Studios, a collective of dozens of artists and artisans. While the building’s history goes back to Easthampton’s industrial days, its artistic incarnation dates from 1986, when the resident artists first organized what became an annual Open Studio and Holiday Sale on the first weekend in December. (They have since added Open Studios in May, as well.) As one of the artists now working at Cottage Street Studios, Karen Iglehart looks both outward and inward for inspiration in her paintings. She uses the landscape as inspiration, but not as a specific place reference. Her lingering memories of the weather, temperature, atmosphere and colors of the various environments in which she has lived all influence her.
Yet Iglehart also turns inward. “Part of my impulse to paint comes from my connection to Buddhism and a desire to create and share a space that is not filled with commentary, storyline, or thoughts to fill one’s mind. Actually, I am trying to do the opposite, to create space that allows the mind to stop, or at least pause.” Continue 15 minutes north to Northampton, for the Paradise City Arts Festival, at the Three County Fairgrounds (October 6–8). This celebration of fine and functional art began 23 years ago, in a leap of faith by founding directors Linda and Geoffrey Post and within a cavernous horse barn. Now, Paradise City Northampton fills three light and airy new buildings connected by an outdoor sculpture promenade, and showcases work by 250 artists and makers from all over the country. While the emphasis is on contemporary art, the work
is often rooted in traditions of craft. The Posts bring their own artistic background to planning the combination of arts and crafts, noting that people enjoy the mix. “We tend to think in terms of ‘neighborhoods,’—which pieces will work well together,” said Linda Post. Each season also brings a special, themed exhibit—this fall it’s Pattern Play: Rhythm and Decoration in Art and Design—which gives artists additional visibility and pushes them to work outside their comfort zone. From the Three County Fairgrounds, a fourminute drive brings you to the Oxbow Gallery, in Northampton center. Elizabeth Lehman and Will Sillin serve as co-presidents of the 44-member, artist-run collective, yet both agree that everyone pulls their weight. “Jobs range from gallery sitting, scheduling shows, dealing with lighting, cleaning the bathroom. We
Karen Iglehart
Oil Paintings • karen-iglehart.com 1Cottage St, #313, Easthampton, MA July 17, 2018–June 16, 2019
Promise of the Infinite Joan Jonas and the Mirror
South Hadley, MA · artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu
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PIONEER VALLEY all pitch in,” said Sillin. Both he and Lehman joined the gallery to show their work locally and connect with other artists. “I’m really thrilled to show my work in Northampton,” said Sillin. “But one of the best things for me is to join this network.” This spirit of sharing among members also makes the gallery inviting for visitors. “An artist welcomes you as you come in the door,” said Sillin. “I think we have a special atmosphere.” Oxbow also embraces generational links within its community of artists. “My first oil painting teacher was Bonnie Miller, at Mount Holyoke College. She was a teacher, a mentor and a friend— and fellow Oxbow member,” Lehman said. Jessica Tam exhibits Creatures from the Cigar Closet (September 6–30), featuring prints and paintings inspired by her collaboration with
the Connecticut River Valley Poets Theater, and Peter Schlessinger displays Uneasy Sleep (September 6–30), continuing his photographic exploration connecting his inner life with external events and found objects. From October 4 to 28, Caroline Jennings’s intimate, figurative narratives rendered in oils are paired with Marjorie Portnow’s studio and plein air landscape oil paintings, while Linda Batchelor’s printed and collaged works on paper are paired with Catherine Swift’s artwork. From Northampton, head north for 35 minutes to another collective gallery, the Sawmill River Arts Gallery, in Montague. When the antique business that occupied a small building in the picturesque Montague Mill Complex moved out in 2010, Louise Minks invited other artists to share the rent and collaborate, and the
collective was born. Now, 15 member artists run the gallery and show their work, and also display works by several artists on consignment. Making visitors feel fully welcome is one of the gallery’s explicit goals. Gallery member Patricia Czepial Hayes notes that visitors are usually intrigued to learn that Sawmill River Arts is an artist-run collective. “Questions about inspiration and methods follow easily in such a relaxed setting. With such a direct line of communication with the artist…it’s like having a mini-reception every time you staff the gallery,” said Czepial Hayes. While aiming to make everyone feel comfortable, gallery members push themselves outside their own comfort zones in their Fall Group Show. Pushing the Boundaries (September 15–December 2) encourages the artists to experiment and push further in their own medium: oil, acrylic, photography, collage, watercolor, hooked rugs, wearable fiber (knits and weaving), ceramics, jewelry and gourds. This small artists’ cooperative gallery nestles in a rustic setting by a waterfall, toward the northern end of the Pioneer Valley. It may seem like a far cry from the five museums proudly ringing the Quadrangle in downtown Springfield, close to the MassachusettsConnecticut border in the south. Yet these museums and galleries, and the many others in between, all thread together to form the lively cultural corridor of the Pioneer Valley. —Laura Holland
The Amazing World of
Dr. Seuss Museum
Come play with us! Visit the first and only museum dedicated to New England’s own Dr. Seuss. ART • HISTORY • SCIENCE • SEUSS IN SPRINGFIELD
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