North Adams Prepping for 6th Annual Open Studios
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Open Studios, now in its sixth year, highlights artists working in and around the city who open the doors of their studios and galleries to visitors from near and far. The studios are open from 10 to 6 both days.
"People like to meet the artists," said Phillip Sellers, the 2009 chairman of NAOS and owner of River Hill Pottery, adding those who see artists in their natural habitat come away with a new awareness of art and creativity.
Since NAOS' inception in 2004, when six artists opened their studios in the Eclipse Mill Artists Lofts to the public, it has grown bigger and better every year. In September, the Massachusetts Cultural Council honored NAOS with a gold star award for excellence in community arts and culture.
One hundred artists are expected to participate this year. The number of visitors to the annual event has also increased, climbing from about 100 in 2004 to about 2,000 in the last two years.
This year, the artwork exhibited includes paintings, sculpture, photography, pottery, mixed media and digital art. The sites are in the Beaver Mill, Eclipse Mill, the Elf Parlor, North Adams Regional Hospital, Western Gateway Heritage State Park, and the NoAMA building (short for North Adams, Mass.) better known as the Hoosac Mill, and along Main, Eagle and Holden streets and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Maps listing artists and sites will be available, and the historic North Adams Trolley will transport visitors to and from sites.
At 73 Main St., the work of Jarvis Rockwell is not hanging on a wall but rising from the floor: the 9-foot, four-sided step pyramid lined with toy figures, and a 3-foot platform covered with toy figures, all known as "Maya III: Heirarchy."
"Three MCLA students helped with the installation," Rockwell said in a telephone interview in September. The installation has been in place since the 2008 DownStreet Art but is constantly changing as Rockwell continues to play with his art.
As Open Studios chairman, Sellers started working on the 2009 event in January.
"We have a good relationship with the city, the business community, the schools and Mass MoCA," said Sellers. "My job is to make sure we are on the right page."
Another responsibility Sellers took on as chairman was arranging for pre-event advertising. "We want it to be a weekend event with people staying in our hotels and eating in our restaurants," he said.
This year on Saturday, a special sight is in store for tourists and other visitors who stay in North Adams after studio and gallery hopping, and enjoying a leisurely dinner. The "Hoosac River Lights II" light show will begin at 8 p.m. at the Hoosic River on Holden Street. The two-hour show, organized by Ralph Brill of the Brill Gallery, is a retrospective of the Hoosic River and North Adams' role as a hot-air balloon capital in the early l900s. "Hoosac River Lights II," the successor to the popular lighting event in 2008, was cut short in August because of rain and an attempt to relaunch it a couple weeks later fell through. Hopefully, the rain will hold off for Open Studios.
Store owners appreciate that Open Studios draws tourists to North Adams.
"It's phenomenal how it has grown and brings in business," said Colleen Taylor, who together with her brother Sean owns Taylor's restaurant and the Freight Yard Pub.
As a mother, Taylor has discovered that Open Studios is a good way to introduce a child to art — what it is, what artists do. "The studios are welcoming to children as well as adults, " she said.
Over the weekend, Sellers will demonstrate how he weaves strips of clay in making pottery baskets. He and his wife, Gail, create 50 styles of uniquely designed clay baskets ranging in size from 2 inches by 4 inches to 12 inches by 12 inches.
David Lane, 37, has a studio in the Eclipse Mill, where he sculpts, makes masks and puppets, and paints figures, still life and landscapes.
A participant for two years, Lane likes opening his studio. "Last year, a couple of hundred people came inside," he said. "I turn the studio to be more like a gallery [for the event]. People won't be bumping into paint or anything."
Some visitors worked in the Eclipse Mill when it was a factory, last used by the former Sprague Electric Co., and are curious about what is happening there now.
"It's neat to talk to them about what they used to do in the mill," said Lane. "People interested in art, specifically a few collectors, have come to see what kind of paintings I'm doing."
People from all over the world have come into Sellers' studio. One couple from Italy was staying in Boston and hired a car to drive to Mass MoCA. "This is a good area, with colleges and museums," Sellers said, speaking from his studio.
One of the reasons Mayor John Barrett III believed in Mass MoCA was that it would lead to other wonderful events and venues in North Adams, he said in an interview.
A few years after Mass MoCA opened, Barrett was invited to speak in many communities throughout the country. One city that impressed him was Pawtucket, R.I., where they had a successful open studios event that took place over two weekends.
"I was struck by the excitement that it generated in that community, which, while much larger than North Adams, was similar in many ways," Barrett recalled. "I envisioned an open studios for North Adams someday, but I didn't expect it to reach this level so quickly. It is a testament to a great group of artists who collaborate with both the business community and the Mayor's Office of Tourism and Cultural Development in making this a most exciting weekend. I believe the best part of the Open Studios weekend is that the whole community is involved."
