It was a hot humid night, but we were thankful the rain held off for the evening. There’s alot to see in just three hours. We grabbed a map and off we went…
We started at The Blue Guitar Gallery on Northampton St. Not within walking distance of other ArtWalk venues, but worth the trip. It’s a nice clean gallery space which currently features printer Art Larson ’s exhibit “Geometria.” Art is a master of letterpress printing, and has printed beautiful books for Leonard Baskin, Barry Moser, and other book artists. It’s nice to see Art’s own work on display.
Hopped back in the car over to the Elusie Gallery at the old Town Hall. The gallery is part of the Eastmont Framing Shop. On exhibit are beautiful watercolors by Astrid Sheckels of landscapes and European street scenes. Go see these paintings, she’s a very talented artist.
Next we went over to Cottage Street, where most of the ArtWalk activity happens. First stop was the Awen Tree, a cool new-agey mystical shop. They featured black and white photography by Bruce Barone of cemetery monuments. Gothic-ly dreamily lovely. There was also performance art by the Silver Swimmers, which we missed. People are still talking about their silent performance which moved out onto the street and stopped traffic. Later in the evening we heard they swam on up to Mt. Tom’s Ice Cream Shop for another impromptu performance in the shop and in its large display windows. We hope they come back to the ArtWalk in the future!
Next stop Valley Art Supplies, a great art supply shop, to see a small exhibit of paintings by artist Paul Root. In his statement on the ArtWalk website he writes that he has reached, “a place where I can breathe and rest. This is what my work is really about.” We agree. His paintings are quiet and contemplative and we’d like to see more.
Next a quick pop in to Nashawannuck Gallery to have another look at the restored and decoratively painted furniture by Peggy Grose. We had seen her work at the opening reception at the last ArtWalk.
We walked up to the Historical Society on Holyoke Street. We were excited to hear they were open, because they’re normally open only on Mondays 1-4pm. We had a quick tour of the first floor by two Historical Society members and learned some interesting tidbits of town history (like Nashawannuck Pond is man-made and used to be a farm field). It was too hot to tour the second floor. We hope they will participate in future ArtWalks – it’s a lovely old house overflowing with history and artifacts.
Last stop at the Luthier’s Co-op to catch a few songs from Mark Nomad on acoustic guitar from his recent CD “Acoustic Land – Delta Blues & Spirituals.” A nice way to end the night.
This was the 12th ArtWalk and the best yet. We look forward to the next one on October 13th.
