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In 1986 I organized an exhibition of four African American artists who lived and worked in Provincetown. That fall Kind of Blue traveled to the gallery of Northeastern University. In Boston there was a panel discussion chaired by Edmund Barry Gaither, then the director of the National Center for African American Artists and an adjunct curator for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In addition to myself, there were two other panelists. Patricia Hills was then a professor of art history at Boston University. She has long championed issues of social justice and wrote a monograph and curated an exhibition of the work of Jacob Lawrence. Dana Chandler is an artist and activist.

Jay Critchley: Democracy of the Land, Inc., FLAGrancy confronts our torrid and complicated history of what it means to be an American and how control of and access to the Land defines our personal and cultural identities. The project moves beyond “farm to table” to “Land to Land” - challenging the corporate supply chain to return to the Land, uncontaminated, from what’s taken. The artist’s project critiques poet Robert Frost’s unabashedly Colonialist poem The Gift Outright: “The land was ours before we were the land’s.”

I never thought I would have qualms about McDonald’s singing, but her classically trained voice doesn’t really work  in this production. It appears she hasn’t decided whether her Mama Rose is a belter or a more classical soprano. Technically, many of the songs find her trying to combine operatic voice with belting, or as a voice teacher would say, the transition from her chest voice to her head voice isn’t as smooth or as appropriate as it should be.

The 2025 Broadway at LPAC season kicks off with a stirring production of "9 to 5." The professional production runs through Feb. 2. The stage musical "9 to 5" is an adaptation of the 1980 film.

Ohan Breiding is a Swiss-American artist, raised in a Swiss village and living between Brooklyn, N.Y., and Williamstown, MA. They work with photography, photographic and filmic archives, and video in a collaborative practice that reinterprets historical events, putting the past into a meaningful transformative relation with the present. They employ a trans-feminist lens to the discussion of ecological care to amplify the systemic failures and violence of the Anthropocene. 

Co-organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson is the largest-ever exhibition of the artist’s work. Featuring approximately 110 works in a wide range of media—drawings, prints, paintings, sculptures, and illustrated books—the retrospective explores how Wilson’s work speaks to shared experiences, while also displaying his personal search for identity as an artist, Black man, parent, and American.

The Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts is made possible through the generosity of artist and author Carolyn Mary Kleefeld. This transformational gift will support the construction of the Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts on the corner of Porter and Church Streets

Film at Lincoln Center is presenting  “Frederick Wiseman: An American Institution,” a retrospective featuring an extensive selection of films spanning decades of the filmmaker’s prolific career, all newly restored in 4K. Eleven of Wiseman’s films have been selected for the New York Film Festival since 1967. This series celebrates the long-standing relationship between FLC and this documentary filmmaker. The series will be presented from January 31 through March 5, 2025.

Curated by independent art historian Glenn Adamson, Ground/work 2025 features a dynamic range of outdoor presentations by international artists, Akiyama, Laura Ellen Bacon, Aboubakar Fofana, Hugh Hayden, Milena Naef, and Javier Senosiain that respond to the Clark’s unique setting while expressing ideas core to each artist’s individual practice.

The concert version of the light opera by Jacques Offenbach of the Komische Oper, Berlin left wishes open for a full fledged opera performance. The stage setting, at their temporary house located at the Schiller Theater in the Bismarckstrasse in Berlin, seemed at bit crowded. Nevertheless.....

North Adams based artist Kelsey Shultis has been selected to exhibit in London’s Cynthia Corbett Gallery.

At the most fundamental level, everything in the universe is made up of energy vibrating at different frequencies. From the smallest subatomic particles to the largest celestial bodies, everything is in a constant state of motion, creating a unique vibrational signature. This includes our physical bodies, thoughts, emotions, and even the seemingly empty space around us.

Igor Levit, a deeply thoughtful musician, gave voice to Bach, Brahms and Beethoven at Carnegie Hall.  Each of these composers was represented by a seemingly uncharacteristic work that revealed unfamiliar approaches.

In Marjorie Kaye’s recent body of work, she has been isolating shapes to examine and delve further into their nature.  She is finding limitless potential in particular intuitive algorithms, with an infinite number of patterns that can be determined from the visual arrangement of mathematical suggestions.

“Summer 2025 promises to be a dynamic season with an exciting line-up of exhibitions that will bring our galleries and our grounds to life,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. “Outdoors, we are looking forward to bringing the second presentation of our Ground/work exhibition to our campus and to introducing our visitors to six remarkable contemporary artists. Indoors, we are offering a rich program that will offer a wide array of exhibitions featuring many artists whose works will be shown here for the first time.”

The 10X10 New Play Festival has become a cornerstone of Pittsfield’s Winter cultural scene, attracting both seasoned theatre lovers and first-time attendees. Tickets are expected to sell quickly, so early booking is encouraged.

Percival  Everett’s James won the National Book Award in 2024.  It is a wonderful read, often humorous in its darkest corners. A deep examination of the origins of fury, in its last chapters we come to understand the results of escalating anger.

One of the elements of understanding the artist Katherine Porter was tracking her many moves and motivations. It’s the kind of personal detail that is left out of the writing of critics and most art historians.

Benny Andrews was one of ten children of Georgia sharecroppers. After serving in the Air Force he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on the GI Bill. He showed regularly in Provincetown where we met. He formed a group to protest the racist Harlem on My Mind at the Met. The group helped initiate but subsequently boycotted an exhibition of black artists at the Whitney Museum. Collage was an element in his figurative expressionist works.

The Prototype Festival produced by Beth Morrison starts the avant-garde music world off from January 9 to 19. One work has been around the city in various forms for a while.  Black Lodge dives into William Burroughs’ life.  Queer, the film starring Daniel Craig, has brought Burroughs mainstream attention.  The film with music by David T. Little, wrestles with movies as canned opera.

Since 1986, this group has revived the music of the most successful girl group of all time. Memorable songs written by the great team of Holland, Dozier, and Holland and sung by this charming group take us back to 1964 and the years following.

It turned out to be an interesting opening on December 21, 2024 at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, Germany. The new play Vatermal, (permanent skin discoloration attributed to his father) transformed from the first novel by Necati Öziris into a play by Hakan Savas Mican, is a sad saga of a young man not getting a chance to live a life of his own.

Long Wharf’s production of She Loves Me (running through Monday, December 30) gets a lot right; unfortunately, its missteps are a significant detraction from the overall success of the show.

In 2023, the last year of her life, and 100th anniversary of surrealism, Katherine Porter sent me a small automatic drawing and a letter. It got lost in the studio's detritus. Recently recovered it offers poignant glimpses into the endgame of her life and work.

Distinguished playwright Marcus Gardley creates an homage to the Black community in Oakland that he grew up in, and particularly to strong women and their contributions. Adeline and Laney are transplants from the South, and their beauty salon is an institution for decades before the women face economic and personal challenges.