Williams Grads Present Art History at the Leading Edge

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. On Friday, May 31, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art will host public presentations at the Clark Art Institute's Manton Research Center by the Program's graduating Masters students. 

The presentations, timed in conjunction with Williams' 2024 Commencement weekend, will address a variety of topics in the history of art, including the gendering of seventeenth-century sculpture, late eighteenth-century abolitionism in painting, nineteenth-century electrotypes and imperial power, early cinema and death, cultural anthropology and cybernetics at the Museum of Modern Art in the 1940s, Andy Warhol’s computer art during the early years of the AIDS crisis, and contemporary photography and race. All presentations are free and open to the public. 

Presentations will be approximately twenty minutes each, in groups of three or four, with discussion following each group of presentations. Presenters include:

Duomi Chen [Shenzhen, China]

Jessica Chen [Sunnyvale, CA]

Ella Comberg [Philadelphia, PA]

Eva Dailey [Pownal, VT]

Jordan David [Twinsburg, OH]

Eliza Dermott [Middletown, DE]

Joanna García Cherán (Purépecha) [San Diego, CA]

Evan Garza [Houston, TX]

Nicholas Liou [Sunnyvale, CA]

Ricardo Mercado [Dallas, TX]

María Minuesa Sicilia [Madrid, Spain]

Alexandra Nicome [Minneapolis, MN]

Destini Ross [Indianapolis, IN]

Nathan Swift Sorscher [Birmingham, AL]

At 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, the public is also invited to attend the Program's annual hooding ceremony, honoring the students' accomplishments. 

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

The Graduate Program in the History of Art, operated jointly by Williams and the Clark, is one of the most respected programs in its field. Alumni have gone on to become influential scholars and leaders of renowned museums and arts institutions, among other organizations. Visit http://gradart.williams.edu/ for more information.

Williamstown Fire District Won't Seek Retirement Exemption for Chief

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:16PM / Thursday, June 27, 2024

Prudential Committee members Lindsay Neathawk, left, David Moresi, Alex Steel and Joe Beverly meet at the Water Street fire station on Wednesday.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee on Wednesday voted 3-1 to not seek an exemption that would allow the fire chief to continue in his role past his 65th birthday.

 

Fire Chief Craig Pedercini had asked the panel, which governs the district, to seek the exemption to prevent him from having to retire in March of next year.

 

The five-member committee referred the question to a newly created Personnel Committee, which on Wednesday recommended that the district not seek the exemption to the state-mandated retirement age and instead begin the process of finding the department's next chief.

 

"After much discussion, we decided not to entertain an extension for the chief," said Prudential Committee member Joe Beverly, who served on the Personnel Committee. "That is our recommendation to give to the committee to make a vote on this evening.

 

"The recommendation had nothing to do with the current chief's job performance. It's a law. The process is a very complicated process to move [the exemption] forward. And the time frame we're under right now, we may not be able to do it prior to the chief's 65th birthday.

 

"We appreciate the 20-plus years the chief has given to the district."

 

Pedercini on Thursday morning said he knew the Personnel Committee was having the conversation but did not have a sense which way the full Prudential Committee would vote before Wednesday's meeting.