Eclipse Mill Gallery

The artist run Eclipse Mill Gallery at 248 Union Street in North Adams announces its program for the 2013 season. It starts on April 20 with the annual High School Invitational in cooperation with Mass MoCA. The always lively Berkshire Salon follows from May 10 through June 2. A diverse schedule is planned including photography by the late Leonard Freed, Pin Hole Photography, and large format photographs by Chad Kleitsch. Joan Carney will be featured during Open Studios in October. The season ends with holiday themed small works November 15 to December 22.

For the past several years the North Adams Regional Hospital has hosted semi annual installations of the curated Community Art Program. Following a call for artists a selection of some 200 plus works are displayed in the corridors and waiting rooms. While there is an emphasis on landscapes, still life and abstractions this time the graven image has been added to the mix. While eclectic, the Hospital shows are always upbeat, fun, and even surprising. Surely these colorful images help to ease the aches and pains of visitors.

There were volunteers assisting in another Art About Town project to paint colorful, geometric patterns on the streets of North Adams. It was a community celebration of the pop up galleries of the annual summer long DownStreet. There was a lot to see and do for children and art lovers of all ages.

In a storefront on Summer Street in Adams, Ma., formerly a clothing store, five years ago the multi media artists Matt Belanger and Marianne Petit opened the alternative Greylock Arts. This summer they are celebrating with an anniversary exhibition including many of the artists from New York and the Berkshires that have been included in their edgy program. Their alternative, artist run space, is, hands down, the best in the Berkshires.

A version of the traveling exhibition The Italians by the late photographer, Leonard Freed, will be presented in August at the Eclipse Mill Gallery by the gallerist/ entrepreneur Ralph Brill. We met with Brill to discuss Freed and other wide ranging thoughts and projects. There was a focus on North Adams as the former home of Arnold Printworks and Sprague Electric prior to becoming home to Mass MoCA.

The Berkshire communities of artists and non artists alike were invited to participate on May 6th in North Adams, Mass. National and international artists were also invited to email a jpeg and dedicate a portrait to the project. Eventually, all portraits will be seen on the ' Friend Me Projects' website, along with future Global Portrait Parties and other media events. The North Adams portrait paint party became the first outside of Canada and here, the BFA Gallery is showing many fine results.

The lively and much anticipated Fifth Annual Berkshire Salon 2012 is dedicated in memory of the recently deceased Eclipse Mill resident Norman Thomas. A grid of his Cubist/ Pop paintings is featured in the installation of works by some forty regional artists. The Salon is open on weekends in North Adams from May 18 through June 10.

The Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams announces a call for artists to participate in its non juried Fifth Annual Berkshire Salon. The Salon opens May 18, 6 to 8 PM, and runs through June 10.

The Eclipse Mill Gallery will host Face the World -Global Portrait Party on Sunday, May 6 from 2 to 5 PM. Materials and paints will be provided for up to 40 participants. Even if you do not plan to paint a portrait all are invited to attend a community and family oriented event and party. Artists will be on hand to provide basic help and instruction.

For the second year in a row, MASS MoCA is collaborating with high school art teachers and artists in the northern Berkshires to invite local students to submit artwork for a temporary Student Art Exhibition at MASS MoCA. Cash prizes will be awarded to the best works submitted. The reception is Friday, April 13, at 6 PM, with free admission. The show will be seen Saturday, April 14, and Sunday, April 15. A reception at the Eclipse Mill Gallery will take place on Friday, April 27 where it will be on view for three weekends.

Facebook Fans and Non Facebook Friends alike, you are invited to participate in the Eclipse Mill portrait party. Please sign up, bring a photo of a friend; we supply everything else and assistance during the painting process. Prior experience is not required, but we count on participants and visitors with lots of good will to make this event a celebration of global friendships.

Since their move to North Adams from New Mexico the work of Wayne Hopkins and Cathy Wysocki has been included in several group shows. The exhibition Strange Soup at Gallery 51 presents their emotionally charged, visceral work in depth. During the opening we spoke with Wysocki about the origin and meaning of her Lumplanders.

The unemployment rate in North Adams is over ten percent (with the U.S. avg. at 8.6%). Recent job growth is increasingly negative, with core stores such as Staples [albeit not locally-run] recently closing its North Adams store with its 20+ employees in December. Occupy Northern Berkshires meeting at the North Adams' Eclipse Gallery, 243 Union Street, at 7PM on Saturday, 10 December.

The popular Eclipse Gallery Annual, featuring work by residents of the Eclipse Mill in North Adams, Mass. has been refreshed and extended until Saturday, December 3. Because of prior commitment of some artists the overview has been refreshed with new works inviting a second look at this lively annual exhibition.

The work of the realist painter Pennie Brantley is readily familiar from participation in Boston and Berkshire based exhibitions. She is currently the focus of a one woman exhibition at the venerable National Association of Women Artists. This stunning show remains on view through October 27.

Lewis Hine used his camera to expose the issue of child labor in America. In 1911 he created nine images of children about to start their 12 hour shift at the Eclipse Mill in North Adams, Mass. Through October 8 the Eclipse Mill Gallery is showing the special exhibition The Mill Children. The project was organized by gallerist Ralph Brill with Realist Painter William Oberst, Abstract Painter Dawn Nelson, Historian Joe Manning, Composer/Musician Matt Hopkins, Filmmaker Steven Borns and Educator Anne French. Wespoke with Joe Manning about his ongoing Lewis Hine Project.

Each year Eclipse Mill gallerist Ralph Brill initiates a North Adams based, national and international project. There will be a summer long exhibition focused on Herman Melville, featuring the painter, Arthur Yanoff, and photographer, Kay Canavino, at Melville's home, Arrowhead and at the Eclipse Mill (June 24 to July 24). That will be followed by another exhibition, Mill Children, which notes the 100th anniversary of when Lewis Hine photographed Child Labor in North Adams. The Melville project opens with a reception at Arrowhead on Friday, June 17, starting at 6 PM with a house tour at 6:30 PM.

Artists and arts administrators from all over New England gathered at Mass MoCA for Creative Community Exchange. During breakfast the attendees were greeted by the organizers, Rebecca Blunk, director of New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), and Helena Fruscio, the director of Berkshire Creative.

The first annual Berkshire student art exhibition was held last night at Mass MoCA. It was a fun event with awards and cash prizes followed by snacks and live music. The exhibition moved to the Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams from March 12 to 27. There will be a panel discussion and reception at the Eclipse Mill Gallery on March 19.

Can one be a servant of two masters? What happens when art critics Greg Cook of the Boston Phoenix and Charles Giuliano of Berkshire Fine Arts wear more than one hat as artists and curators. This installment of their extended dialogue focuses on Giuliano's epxeriences working with artists as director of exhibitions for New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University.

Alexis Ann Rosacso was born in North Adams and grew up in Williamstown. After a BFA from Tufts University and the Museum School she is back in the Berkshires shooting a film she wrote and stars in. With director/ producer, Christopher D. Grace, co star, Kaio Wilker, and musician CJ Fields they met with artists of the Eclipse Mill to discuss the project.

It has become a lively North Adams tradition that the season of the Eclipse Mill Gallery, at 243 Union Street along Route 2, ends with a special holiday store. There are extended hours that are convenient for shopping with a more personal touch. The Eclipse also offers other shopping options with River Hill Pottery, Brill Gallery, and G.S. Askins used books.

Here's Part Two of entries from my daily diary, while traveling in North America. We started out in Massachusetts in May this year, drove through six States West and South to reach lower Texas, where we spent five nights. Texas is big and beautiful ! Then on to New Mexico, North to Arizona and Utah, East to Colorado ! From there through six more States, before reaching Massachusetts and Home again. Coverage begins in New Mexico.

For a number of years the North Adams based artist, Rick Harlow, has spent extended periods of time living and working with the indigenous peoples of Colombia. He has created a film which documents The Elders Project which entailed visiting more than fifty sacred sites in January, 2010. The film The Black Line Journey will be screened at the Eclipse Mill Gallery on Saturday, October 2, at 7 PM, followed by a discussion with the artist. The film will premiere during a documentary festival in Bogata, Colombia later in the month.

The exhibition Illustrious at the Eclipse Mill Gallery through October 3 features the work of 14 artists: Barbara Armata, Susan Baker, Varujan Boghosian, Shepherd Fairey, Robert Henriquez, Astrid Hiemer, Bruce Koscielniak, Howard Cruse, Erika Marquardt, Melanie Mowinski, Marianne R. Petit, Robert Rendo, Thor Wickstrom. Ten of these artists live and work in Adams and North Adams. The project focuses on aspects of narrative in illustration, cartoons, children books, artist's books,and posters.