The Steam Roller Printmaking Workshop (Now.For.Art in conjunction with Zea Mays Printmaking and C3) starts at 10am outside between the parking garage and Thornes Market. Fifteen artists will be making mega-prints, up to 4×8′ using a steam roller as printing press. Even if you’re not into at and printmaking, this should be a great process to watch. The prints will be on view 7-9pm at a reception in the old Dynamite space in Thornes.

Sharing the Dynamite space is the & In One Another show, which is on view noon-9pm. Reception 7-9pm (joint reception with the steamroller prints). This show is the result of a two-month long collaborative sketchbook project: each participant did a daily sketch based on daily assignments. The assignments were purposely vague (one-word or short phrases, e.g. “Eclipse”, “Recurring Nightmare”) which allowed for broad interpretation by the participants. Twenty-five sketchbooks were returned and all will be on view. The show will continue until the 19th (3-7pm daily), then moves to 103 State Street until the 26th (3-7pm daily). Closing reception on the 26th.

On January 31st 2010, William Baczek Fine Arts will be hosting a silent auction of 50-75 pieces of artwork donated to benefit the victims of the Northampton fires. This will be a one day event, held from 1-4pm with 100% of the money made during the show going directly to the people affected by the fires.

This is a professional gallery show, and as such all works should be suitable for display (wired, framed, etc). Artists wishing to donate work should contact Rick Beaupre at rick3po@aim.com. Please attach images of work to be submitted for consideration.

Deadline for delivery of works is Jan 22, 2010.

Amherst Art Walk, Thursday 5-8
Northampton Arts Night Out, Friday 4-9
Easthampton Art Walk, Saturday 5-8
Flywheel Flea Market, Sunday 10-3

Treat yourself to seeing a heap o’ local art for free, and pop in on some opening receptions. Check out The Valley Arts Newsletter and Valley Art Share for info on opening receptions and other arts events.

Easthampton has a day full of events on Saturday. The Bear Fest kicks off this weekend with the unveiling of the artist-decorated bears at 2pm on Cottage St. That day also features three art openings (Juli Kirk, Barbara Johnson, and Brigita Fuhrmann), a small art/craft fair by the Etsy Western MA Street Team, and Bear Festivities continue behind Easthampton Savings Bank, on Main Street, after the unveiling. Art Walk from 5-8pm caps off the evening. And as an added bonus, the opening of the new bar and restaurant everyone in town has been waiting for, Venus and The Cellar Bar on Main Street. If you can’t make any of the events, definitely pop into town at some point after the unveiling – more than 30 bears will be placed at various locations downtown until October.

Also on Saturday, in Amherst is Eric Carle’s 80th birthday bash, featuring an exhibit by the Western MA Illustrators’ Guild.

Get all the details on these events (and more!) at The Valley Arts Newsletter.

Pulp Science Fiction: Spring Open Studios and Installation Event at Paper City Studios: Friday 6-9pm at Paper City Studios in Holyoke.

Arts Night Out in Northampton: Friday 5-8pm downtown Northampton.

Flywheel Record Fair: Saturday 10am-3:30pm. Fundraiser 10am-3pm at their new space in Easthampton’s Old Town Hall.

Art Walk Easthampton: Saturday 5-8pm.

FOUND Magazine is a collection of found paper items: notes, shopping lists, photos, love letters, etc. This stuff is found on the street and sent in to the magazine from all over the country. The magazine’s founder, Davy Rothbart, is on tour reading a selection of these items and telling stories and reading from his new book, Requiem for a Paper Bag. Davy’s brother Peter also plays some great acoustic guitar and sings songs inspired by some of the found items. This was a great event – very funny.

Valley folks: this show is coming to The Rendezvous in Turners Falls on May 11th. Definitely go and check it out!

Art note: Hampden is a hip, funky part of Baltimore full of indie shops and cafes. It’s probably best known as the area John Waters is from and where he shot many of his films. It’s also home to the Hon Cafe (just look for the giant pink flamingo) and the Hon Fest, which happens in June.

May 1-10, PACE will bring the Tony Award-winning musical, Falsettos to the Academy of Music in Northampton, directed by PACE co-founder, David Fried-Oppenheim. PACE’s website describes the play:

Tony-Award winning William Finn/James Lapine musical about Marvin and his unconventional family and friends who plan his son’s Bar Mitzvah as Marvin’s lover, Whizzer, faces the challenges of HIV.

Falsettos originally opened off-broadway in 1992.

PACE recently purchased the old Dye Works mill on Cottage Street in Easthampton, with a view to making over the place into a regional performing arts center with a 350-seat theater, performing arts space, and retail space. I sincerely wish them the best success with this project, as it will not only be great for PACE to have a permanent home, it will also be wonderful for downtown Easthampton.

Art trivia: the late, great Keith Haring designed the poster art for Falsettos.

This is an exciting project. Such a wonderful idea to help connect our large fragmented arts community. If you’re familiar with facebook, this has some similarities, for example you can friend other artists and arts organizations. It’s a great way to network with artists and organizations. Some great collaborations could come about via this site, as artists and organizations connect and share ideas and resources.

As part of this online community you can upload images of your work, connect with other local artists, share skills and ideas, post to the calendar, even create a blog. I’d encourage anyone involved or interested in the arts in the Valley to sign up as a member. It’s free to join. Go join now!

A note on the wall read, “Re-mixed Media” is a travelling show that originated at the University of Wisconsin: Oshkosh and was curated by Prof. Andrew Redington.

I couldn’t find any more information about the show, so wasn’t sure if they collaborated on the pieces or worked separately. I’m assuming that Sayre did the photograms and Poppie did the other pieces.

Poppie’s work typically involves re-use and re-purposing everyday items for his art pieces. He has produced some stunning work, with matchbooks, 6-pack holders, pencils, even onion skins. His pieces in this show use old cassette and DAT tapes, including the cases and tape. A stunning piece in the center of the exhibit consisted of three voluminous columns of old tape suspended from the ceiling and cascading to the floor.

This is the first time I’ve seen Sayre’s work. Loved his large colorful photograms of cassettes tapes and vinyl records.

I really loved this show – hopefully you got to see it too. Some photos are posted on my flickr account.

Gives me some ideas of what to do with the 500+ cassette tapes sitting in my attic…

Update 24 April: Roger Sayre left a comment on this post letting me know that he and David did indeed collaborate on the pieces in the show.

Image: analogue II, 2008 by David Poppie and Roger Sayre

Lilly’s work is collage on old book covers and pages, which are then printed on old book pages. There is such a charming vintage feel to the resulting prints on the old pages.

Doris’ prints combine old library catalog cards, colored paper pieces, thread, and other bits & pieces, into delightful abstract compositions. The results are pretty and colorful with a light-hearted, cheerful springtime feeling about them.

The show runs until May 9th.

Note: Zea Mays is a great place, run by artist Liz Chalfin. Central to its mission is finding safer and non-toxic alternatives in printmaking (if you’ve ever done any printmaking you know that some of the traditional printing inks and solvents can be highly-toxic). They offer workshops, exhibits, and coolest of all (in my opinion), artist memberships which give one access to the studio and its equipment. A fascinating place, and it’s wonderful to have a collaborative art space like this in the valley.