Continuing forward in the spirit of collaborative outreach, arts indie again partners with Grier Horner to bring you a look at this past Friday’s “First Fridays Artswalk” in Pittsfield, MA. Here’s Horner’s look at some of the exhibits:
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“The popular ‘First Fridays Artswalk’ celebrated its first anniversary Friday night with a ton of art to look at and a lot of people strolling from venue to venue to look at the work. Babbie, my wife, and I spent three hours going from store, to studio, to eatery and we didn’t see half of what was on display.
‘First Fridays’ was started a year ago by Mary McGinnis, owner of Mary’s Carrot Cake and the mayor’s new executive assistant, and Leo Mazzeo, who has since initiated an arts blog and business called ‘arts indie.’ They had help from the city’s Cultural Director, Megan Whilden. McGinnis is now the Chair of the organization. In terms of crowds, ‘First Fridays’ is no ’3rd.Thursday’, now there’s a mouthful, but it wasn’t expected to be. With the closing of the classy Ferrin Gallery, ‘First Fridays’ is carrying much of the weight of keeping downtown going as a visual arts destination. And it is doing a good job at it.
One of the focuses of Friday’s event was the 16 self-portraits by some of the swarm of artists whose studios are on the second floor of 311 North Street, which they’ve dubbed NU Arts. And this group of pictures shows all but one of the portraits; the one I forgot to take a photo of.
At the top is Scott Taylor with his flip-lidded self-portrait. One of the best selling artists in Pittsfield, last year he sold more than 40 paintings, you can believe the motto on his t-shirt. Below is a powerful self-portrait by Claudia Shuster.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Above Joanie Ciolfi clasps her head with her eyes and mouth contributing to her look of, of what, despair? Below Lisa Merullo with a white cross painted on her face used pieces of scrap to give a good portrait extra character.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“This is Marge Bride‘s skillful take on American Gothic, the iconic painting by Grant Wood. She did it back in her oil painting days. Watercolors are now her choice in paints. Her husband Ed holds the pitch fork. Below Kathy Gideon poses with the smallest of the 16 self portraits in the show, a loving rendition of herself as a child.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Ellen Joffe-Halpern has painted herself in a few bold strokes at the edge of a stormy sea. (I hope that’s right, Ellen.) Below is Susan Himmel‘s work, in which she quotes Georgia O’Keeffe: ’I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way, things I had no words for.’”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Sam Ponder, known for his uncanny ability to turn gourds into whales, hung two of them by a window as his self-portrait. Below, Sally Tiska Rice‘s portrait transmits both her looks and intensity.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Sophia Lee stands by her self-portrait. She’s found pictoral strength where you wouldn’t expect it looking down a line of toddlers swings. The polished fittings reflect the photographer. While below, Deborah Rufo Burato, lets horses in a peaceful meadow reflect something about her.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“There is drama in Deborah Carter‘s depiction of herself, above, drama and artistry. Diane Firtell‘s work is below.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Dan Brody represents himself with this scarecrow, wearing his paint-stained hoodie and gloves left over from another project. Then there is Dee Randolph‘s self-portrait, the top of which you can see indistinctly in the stairwell behind the scarecrow. I simply forgot to take a picture of it. So I’m substituting her fascinating ‘A Seat at the Table’, done in watercolor and colored pencil. It resulted from a friend’s inquiry about who she could dine with if she could invite anyone, living or dead. See how many of the dozen guests you can name. The artist did say that Geronimo ‘sent his regrets.’ “
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Part Two
“OK, so much for the portraits. Now I’ll show you the work of another 14 artists showing on ‘First Friday’. Even though I’m presenting a lot of artists, the ones I’m showing probably don’t represent even half who were exhibiting their work Friday. Who got into this post was sort of the luck of the draw and is no reflection on the quality of the work of those who didn’t.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Brent Whitney, above, is with his piece ‘Handicap II’ at the Y Bar at 391 North Street. Although it looks like the door of a real refrigerator, it is not. He made it in his Lanesborough shop-studio out of high density urethane; shaping, sanding, and painting to give it an industrial polish. He sees it as a ‘dry, ambiguous, sexual thing.’ I’ll let you figure out the sexual component. His hot dog dispensing machine, below, was almost ready to work when he decided he didn’t want it to. He wants these pieces to imply function without providing it.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Showing with Brent at the Y Bar is Ariel Lavery, two of whose works are shown below. They are made from found material. The one in front is called ‘As We Continue to Move Forward’ and the one behind it is ‘Linear Progression’. Brent and Ariel became friends at UMass Amherst where she completed her studies for an MFA and he for a BFA this year. Their work expresses an ‘absurdest critique of a consumptive post-industrial society,’ Brent said.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Over at Berkshire Community College‘s downtown gallery on Columbus Avenue, Walt Pasko has a one-man show of landscapes. Two of them are shown here. For the past 40 years, he has painted directly from nature, working outdoors summer and winter, becoming one of the best known Berkshire painters in the process.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Above is Joanie Ciolfi‘s commanding painting of a water tower. Rust unites it with Susan Geller‘s photo of a rusting bridge, one of the pieces in her show ‘Retrospective’ at the Kinderhook Real Estate office, 137 North Street. I love the way the bridge repeats itself in the water, it’s straight lines made jagged by the ripples in the water.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Above and below are photographs by Allan Seppa mounted on canvas. They can be seen at the new Maria’s European Delights, a deli at 146-A North Street. One is Indian Beach on the rocky Oregon coast. it reminds me of a Winslow Homer painting. The other is Olaf’s Castle in Finland.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“The abstract above is one of many intricate pieces Morris Bennett is showing upstairs in the Shops at Crawford Square, 137 North. His work is in light-filled rooms of Decades of Health Holistic Wellness. Before Crawford Square was restored, Morris said his studio was in the rooms were they are now being shown, space he rented for just $35 a month. I forgot to ask where his studio is now.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“One North Street shop, Bagels Too, has been featuring art shows since long before the birth of ‘First Fridays’. They were initiated by Judith Lerner, who continues to be the curator of this long-running look at art. The current show includes photos of horses by Pittsfield attorney Mitch Greenwald.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“These black and white photos at Bagels Too are among a classy group being shown by Doane Perry. This family of three looks like it is going through a bad moment. The man seems angry, the woman upset or resigned. In contrast is the tranquil scene below with a mother and daughter in a bucholic setting. Perry took the photos in Greece.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“These paintings by Katherine Gundelfinger are in the windows of a vacant shop in the Onota Building on North Street. I found the one above compelling in its look and story. I’m trying to figure out whether the barefooted figure in the black coat is just resting in the snow or is in the throws of hyperthermia. I get a kick out of the nude’s expression and the humorous thick black stripe of self-censorship. Katherine Gundelfinger has tried without success to convince officials to allow women to swim topless at, I think, Burbank Park. She has argued that is absurd to let men go bare-chested, but stop women from doing the same. Unlike anyone else in this post, I’m giving this artist three pictures because the third is of a good friend of ours, Jeff Kemp, a Pittsfield police officer.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Back to Bagels Too. Above are sunflowers by Karen Carmean, who is married to Doane Perry. And below are the whimsical pieces by Judy Artioli that can be hung on the wall or used as carpets. They would do a lot to cheer up a room.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“Bill Wright has some strong shots in his ‘Morning Light’ show at the Marketplace Cafe’ next to the Beacon. The pictures are of kids just after they wake up. Despite all the reflections in this one, including my hands as I hold the camera, I wanted to show it to you because it is a lovely shot. I was unable to take shots of most of the photography I saw Friday because of glare on the protective glass. Below is one by H. David Stein at Unusual Wedding Rings and More where special glass limited the reflections. This was from his series ‘Deconstructed Flowers’. The curvature in the matting is caused by the fact I had to get close to the photograph to take the picture.”
Photograph (c)Grier Horner.
“So here’s to ‘First Fridays Artswalk’. May this be the first of many anniversaries. It is a valuable addition to the ongoing rebirth of downtown Pittsfield.”
Below are some additional random photographs by arts indie Facilitator Leo Mazzeo:
