It took its sweet time getting here. But at last summer has arrived. The only question that remains is, which summertime happenings are worthy of your time? To maximize your enjoyment of the sun-kissed days and balmy nights (who wants to waste time deciding what to do when you could already be doing?), we’ve highlighted some of the Valley’s best summertime offerings for you. Enjoy—and remember the sunscreen.
Sans Brush
The preferred medium of certain cavemen and kindergarteners, watercolor painting requires little equipment. All you need is water, pigment and a painting surface—a brush is optional. Yet it’s an exacting style—and an important one. Watercolor as a medium has been widely employed since antiquity; it has endured the vicissitudes of history, so a vast body of varied work exists.
The Water’s Edge: Innovation and Exploration in Watercolor features 14 watercolor works culled from the Mead Art Museum’s collection. The exhibit is curated by students of Elizabeth Barker’s “Making an Exhibition” inter-term seminar.
Through July 27, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, (413) 542-2335, www.amherst.edu/~mead/.
-L.K.
Mixed Messages
Local artist William Sieruta composes eclectic collages in witty response to pop culture. Sieruta’s irreverent and sometimes erratic mixed-media collages playfully eviscerate the familiarity of recognizable images, from Elvis crying ketchup tears to robots made of old paper money. In one piece, titled “Spaces in Between,” cars are jammed together, each labeled with a different radio station and genre of music. But the spaces between the cars—which Sieruta points out by repeatedly scrawling “The spaces in between” —represent what unites us: “thoughts, tastes and values.”
June 28-July 26, Elusie Gallery, Eastmont Custom Framing, 43 Main St., Easthampton, (413) 529-9265, www.eastmontgallery.net/elusie_gallery.
-S.G.
Where Is He!?
If you’re feeling a little too happy, well-intentioned or complacent in your belief system, you should probably just stay away from Waiting for Godot, staged this summer by the Berkshire Theatre Festival. The much-analyzed two-act play, penned in 1948-49 by Samuel Beckett, is rife with ambiguities and existential angst, and pokes with relentless critical inquiry into every exposable weakness or flaw in human character. Questions of hope, faith and even reason are picked apart in a dialogue that expresses both the limits of consciousness and the pointlessness of being, and the focus of the characters’ desires and expectations (Godot), perhaps like the truth we all seek in some way, never arrives.
July 29-Aug. 23; curtain times vary. Berkshire Theater Festival, Unicorn Theatre, Main Street, Stockbridge, (413) 298-5576, www.berkshiretheatre.org.
-T.S.
Amherst Americana
Amherst resident and Hampshire College professor Jerome Liebling has, in his 50-plus-year career, produced photography that has reached legendary status, and is housed in the permanent collections of some of the country’s most renowned museums. His subject matter can accurately be summed up in one word: America. In his color photographs, Liebling manipulates light in ways that make the subjects look perfect and pristine, recalling the paintings of Edward Hopper. In his black-and-whites, however, the lack of color reveals an intense focus on composition. A collection of Liebling’s work can be seen in Jerome Liebling: Seeing Real Things, on display this summer in Northampton.
June 13-Aug. 24, Smith College Art Museum, Route 9, Northampton, (413) 585-2760, www.smith.edu/artmuseum.
—S.G.
Lithograph Revival
The title of Williams College Museum of Art’s upcoming show of 24 lithographs by artist Benson Spruance, The Long Night and the New Day: Lithographs by Benton Spruance, refers to two stories. “The Long Night” is the name of one Spruance’s most famous lithographs—a protest of 1950s McCarthyism in America. “The New Day” is an allusion to Spruance’s advances with color lithography, which inspired a comeback for the medium.
Known for his use of biblical stories and classical myths, Spruance developed innovative techniques, including subtractive lithography, which allows an artist to use a single stone for several colors.
July 12-Oct. 5, Williams College Museum of Art, 15 Lawrence Hill Drive, Williamstown, (413) 555-5555, www.wcma.org.
—K.T.
Coney Classics
Intrigued by the idea of a modern iteration of classic Greek sculpture, Lewis Bryden (whose work is pictured) set out for Coney Island to find gods in bathing suits, and the ideal of the youthful form. There he was able to exploit the boardwalk’s “democratic hedonism,” the slow decay of the once Disney-like state of things, and the combination of commerce, entertainment and nature. Bryden found no poverty of budding Aphrodites and Adonises, and was fascinated at how their private crises and joys were acted out publicly. He captures preening girls clad in barely-there bikinis and boys with puffed-out bare chests, and portrays their willingness to flirt and touch each other, testing their sexuality out in the open.
Through July 31, R. Michelson Gallery, 132 Main St., Northampton, (413) 586-3964, www.rmichelson.com.
—S.G.
Art Beat
When he’s not providing a beat for the Stone Coyotes, drummer Doug Tibbles is making art. Lots of it. Tibbles creates busy collages, often featuring large swaths of text and images; vibrant prints of landscapes and people; and photographs, many of mannequins (with limbs intact and apart). A member artist of Green Trees Gallery, Tibbles’ work is on display indefinitely.
Green Trees Gallery, Suite 1, 105 Main St., Northfield, (413) 498-0283, www.greentreesgallery.com.
—K.T.
The Golden Age
At the close of the 19th century, with the help of technological advances that allowed art to be reproduced inexpensively, journals became a wildly popular medium for disseminating art, news and general information. Thus the period is generally referred to as “The Golden Age of Illustration.” Through the fall, the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art displays Flights Into Fantasty: The Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection of Children’s Illustration—some 90 fantastical drawings and paintings by children’s book artists who worked during that period, including Beatrix Potter, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen (whose work is pictured), Ernest Shepard and others.
July 1-Oct. 26, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 West Bay Rd., Amherst, (413) 658-1100.
—K.T.
Before Airbrush
Well before there was Penthouse photography, that gauzed-over, soft-focus imaging that somehow makes everything look smoother and more artful, painters like James McNeil Whistler and George Inness were perfecting the technique of pleasantly blurring reality with barely-noticeable brushstrokes. In Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute showcases over 40 paintings by American artists, most of whose work dates to around the turn of the 20th century. William Merritt Chase, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, John Henry Twachtman (whose “Windmills” is pictured) and Eduard Steichen all have their work represented in the exhibition as well.
June 22-Oct. 19, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 225 South St., Williamstown, (413) 458-2303, www.clarkart.edu.
—T.S.
Nuttin’ Honey
A large-scale, multimedia performance, Milk-N-Honey, created by LightBox, a New York-based theater company, explores the pleasures and politics of eating. Members of LightBox scoured the community, interviewing migrant workers, flavor chemists, waiters, dumpster divers, politicians, hunters, farmers and more for fodder for the play’s dialogue. The result is an avant-garde production, flush with video imagery and live-feed video cameras, featuring five actors who play multiple roles, as well as a sixth cast member, The Eater, who remains seated throughout the play, methodically eating a meal.
Milk-N-Honey, directed by Ellen Beckerman, includes original songs by Bray Poor and Sean Hagerty and a pageant relating the history of corn. This eclectic comment on comestibles is presented as part of the Ko Festival.
July 18: 8 p.m.; July 19-20: 2 p.m., 8 p.m. $15/students and seniors, $18/food-related professionals, $20/general, Holden Theatre, Amherst College, Amherst, (413) 542-3750, www.kofest.com.
—K.T.
Tranquil Spaces
Williamstown Landscapes brings together a collection of works by local artists, featuring sublime and pastoral scenes from the town originally known as West Hoosac (until 1765 when Ephraim Williams, who was killed in the French and Indian War, left more than his memory to the town). Williamstown rests in a cradle of pastoral scenery, just at the confluence of the Green and Hoosac Rivers, east of the Taconic range with Mount Greylock to the south. Inspired by these vistas, artists Jane Bloodgood Abrams, Rebecca Cuming, David Lussier, John MacDonald (whose painting “Berkshire Stream, Spring” is pictured) and Jim Shantz capture natural beauty with affection and admiration.
Through June 30th, The Harrison Gallery, 39 Spring St., Williamstown, (413) 548-1700, www.theharrisongallery.com.
—S.G.
Hava Nagila
If you’ve been yearning to learn the sher, the bulgar or the hora, now’s your chance. The National Yiddish Book Center is presenting a traditional Jewish dance party. Featuring lively music by Michael Alpert (pictured) and friends, the dance party is one-stop shopping for learning or practicing traditional Jewish footwork.
July 13, 7:30 p.m., $5, Munson Library, Southeast Street, Amherst, (413) 256-4900, www.yiddishbookcenter.org.
—K.T.
Mosquitoes
On loan from Agawam resident Frank Andruss, Sr., the objects included in The Mosquito Fleet: World War II PT Boats include posters, boat models, training manuals, ammunition, helmets, flags, pins, photos, maps and hundreds of other artifacts, including the uniform worn by Gerard Zinser. The late Zinser was the remaining survivor of the original crew of PT-109, commanded by John F. Kennedy. Both Kennedy and Zinser survived the 1943 collision of PT-109 and Japanese destroyer Amagiri in the Blackett Strait. Other notable memorabilia include objects belonging to Lt. John Bulkeley, who rescued General MacArthur in the Philippines, and a model of the boat Bulkeley commanded, PT-124.
Through June 29, Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, 21 Edwards St., Springfield, (413) 263-6800, www.springfieldmuseums.org.
—K.T.
Casanova, Baby
Freely translated from farcical French playwright George Faydeau’s Tailleur Pour Dames (literally “tailor for women”), The Ladies’ Man takes place in Paris in the era known as La Belle Epoque. Focused on one silver-tongued Frenchman’s savoir-faire and his stepmother’s accusatory nagging, The Ladies’ Man, like most farces, promises to be full of puns and innuendos, and perhaps void of poetic justice. Feydeau’s zany influence can be seen in the slapstick performances of The Marx Brothers, and his plays are considered precursors to surrealist and Dadaist theater and the 20th century’s Theater of the Absurd. Presented by Shakespeare and Co.
Through Aug. 31, Founders’ Theatre, Lenox, $36-60, (413) 637-1199, www.shakespeare.org.
—S.G.
Living Large
Small poems become very large when stanzas are projected onto the wall of MASS MoCA’s Building 5. The cavern-like gallery is filled with bean bag chairs scattered about so viewers can take in the blown-up words and images. Along with projected poetry, artist Jenny Holzer displays several declassified government documents, including strategic maps for the invasion of Iraq, and interrogation techniques used by the military.
Through fall 2008, MASS MoCA, 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, (413) 662-2111, www.massmoca.org.
—L.K.
Androcles in Wonderland
West Springfield’s Majestic Theater raises the bar for children’s theater this summer. Forging beyond the typical fairy tales, the programmers have selected three ambitious productions, including the comedic Aesop’s fable Androcles and the Lion, Alice in Wonderland and a custom-tailored version of the popular musical Godspell that they call Godspell, Jr.. The shows are performed as many as three times in a day, so there are plenty of opportunities to fit in a trip to the show between summer school, camp or other activities.
Androcles and The Lion: July 7-9, 20-23, $7; Alice in Wonderland: July 14-16, 27-30, $7; Godspell, Jr.: Aug. 4-6, 8-13, $9. Majestic Theater, 131 Elm St., West Springfield, (413) 747-7797, www.majestictheater.com/childrens_theater.html.
—T.S.
Kuchipudi Dance
Born in India, dancer Shantala Shivalingappa was raised in Paris. Inspired at an early age by her mother, dancer Savitry Nair, Shivalingappa has dedicated herself to Kuchipudi, a classical Indian dance from Andhra Pradesh, a state of South India, that is usually danced to Carnatic music. Shivalingappa presents Gamaka, a performance featuring storytelling, dance and intriguing music this August in Becket.
Aug. 7-10, Thu.-Fri. 8:15, Sat. 2:15, 8:15 p.m., Doris Duke Studio Theatre, Jacob’s Pillow, 358 George Carter Rd., (413) 243-9919, www.jacobspillow.org.
—K.T.
Sexy Men
From puffy breeches and white wigs to velvet waistcoats and silver neck stocks, parts of men’s costumes in the 18th century in New England were as ostentatious as a peacock’s feathers. Many of these colonial costumes, including Jacob Brown’s “Freedom Suit” from the Concord Museum, are on display in Clothes Make the Man: The Colonial Gentleman in New England at Historic Deerfield.
Through Aug. 17, Historic Deerfield, Flynt Center of Early American Life, 37 D Old Main St., Deerfield, (413) 775-7214, www.historic-deerfield.org.
—K.T.
Bones of Antiquity
The dire wolf, an extinct carnivorous mammal, was closely related to the gray wolf, but had slightly larger teeth, which many paleontologists believed the wolf used to crush the bones of its prey. A fossil skeleton of this intimidating member of the canidae family is on display in Amherst, along with skeletons of a mammoth, a mastodon, a saber-toothed cat (whose retractable claw bones are pictured) and a cave bear.
The Amherst College Museum of Natural History is a treasure trove of ancient artifacts, including skulls of a T-Rex and a Triceratops, as well as local animal and plant fossils. All exhibits are permanent.
Amherst College Museum of Natural History, College Street, Amherst, (413) 542-2000.
—K.T.
