The Northampton Arts Council works to support and nurture the arts in the city of Northampton. The Council awards grants twice each year to artists and arts groups from both state and locally-raised funds, and seeks to improve public awareness of the arts. Its' goals include maintaining and preserving the rich and diverse cultural heritage of Northampton, programming such annual events of interest to the community as First Night Northampton and Transperformance.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Artists Reunite at Sixth Annual Northampton Chalk Art Festival

Breaking from its customary juried selection process, “Arts Night Out” has invited eleven veteran artists to create masterpieces in chalk on the sidewalks of downtown during the sixth annual Northampton Chalk Art Festival on Friday, September 11. The competitive event kicks off a festive weekend that includes the Northampton Jazz Festival and the Northampton Arts Council’s RETROFAIRE.

Drawing takes place from 10 am until 4 pm on Friday. The public is encouraged to watch chalk art pieces develop and to view completed work in the evening while enjoying Northampton’s monthly gallery walk 5-8 pm. Cash prizes of $300, $200, and $100 will be awarded by a panel of judges for the top three creations. Presentations are made on the steps of City Hall at 5 pm.

The public is also invited to an informal family free draw 5-7 pm. Participants will be asked to help “decorate” the RETROFAIRE site located in the area between Thornes Marketplace and the city parking garage. Plenty of sidewalk chalk will be on hand for anyone who wants to take part in the activity.

Individual chalk artists for 2015 include former prize winners and seasoned competitors Linda Babcock, Sally Curcio, Stephen St. Francis Decky, Jenn Falcon, Amy Johnquest, Robert Markey, Dean McKeever, Chrissy Neithercott, amd Sloan Tomlinson. They will be joined by two veteran teams: Stephanie Gerolimatos, Mark Bodah and Matt Rodriguez who form Team Bodalimadriquez and “The Living Art Studio” partners Scot Padget and Alisa Inderieden.

Chalk art sites, except for the Smith College Museum of Art on Elm Street, are all located on Main Street: Ode; Memorial Hall; Pinch; the Artisan Gallery; Thornes Marketplace; the Mercantile; Cathy Cross/J. Rich; First Churches; Don Muller Gallery; William Baczek Fine Arts. Along the route, viewers have an opportunity to stop in at venues that participate in Arts Night Out. Maps of the chalk art locations will be available and can be downloaded now at www.nohoarts.org.

The Northampton Chalk Art Festival is sponsored by Chartpak, Inc. and the Northampton Radio Group. It is produced in cooperation with the City of Northampton and the Northampton Center for the Arts.





Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Northampton Jazz Workshop guest clarinetist and saxophonist Greg Abate

Northampton Jazz Workshop features guest clarinetist and saxophonist Greg Abate, Tuesday September 1st, 7:30 to 8:30 PM followed by an open jazz jam until 10:30 PM, The Loft at the Clarion Hotel.

Time and transformation: Mount Holyoke College Art Museum

Sally Mann, Yard Eggs, 1991, silver gelatin print, 20 x 24 in., Purchase with funds from Barbara Johnson Parnass (Class of 1948) and David Nalle in memory of Jane Oliver Nalle (Class of 1948)
© Sally Mann, Courtesy Gagosian Gallery
Editor's note: Electronic images available on request

Works by Arnaldo Pomodoro, Julie Mehretu, Kiki Smith, Sally Mann on view in an exhibition and collection spotlight at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum this fall.

Energies and Elegies
Through December 2

Nothing is constant except change-that's one message central to these 20 contemporary photographs, prints, and sculptures from the Museum's collection. They also evoke the basic physics concept that energy can't be created or destroyed, only transformed from one state to another.

Themes of "absence and abundance, entropy and energy" run like a narrative thread through the objects in the show, according to its curator, Hannah Blunt.

"Many of the works have an elegiac quality to them," she said. "You get a sense of the power of objects that are in transition or that represent death or loss." Kiki Smith's print of a dead falcon and a photograph by Rosamond Purcell of a charred copy of Dante's Inferno both capture that feeling of metamorphosis. A suite of lively prints by Julie Mehretu provides a counterpoint. Her energetic Landscape Allegories capture the mercurial energy of natural forces.

Tying these themes together are images that are both visually precise and open to interpretation. A Jerome Liebling photo shows Emily Dickinson's white dress both solidly present in its glass display case and mysteriously transparent in parts. A Sally Mann photograph of her daughter holding a straw hat full of fresh eggs evokes both the innocence of youth and a ghostly quality reminiscent of nineteenth-century "spirit photographs."

Whether the works depict stillness or dynamic movement, this compact exhibition fairly hums with the energy of life's moments of transformation, when everything old becomes new again.

Related event: Assistant Curator Hannah Blunt will give an Art à La Carte Gallery Talk about the exhibition at 12:20 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5 in the Museum.

Collection Spotlight: Arnaldo Pomodoro's Disco con sfera
September 3-December 20

Visitors to the Museum's lobby will be greeted by a recent gift from 1958 Mount Holyoke alumna Linda Taft Litton, Arnaldo Pomodoro's Disco con sfera (Disk with Sphere).

Known for his imposing bronze sculptures in public sites such as Vatican City in Rome and the United Nations Plaza in New York, Pomodoro lives and works in Milan. His work imparts a sense of time's passage, of decay and regeneration. This 1986 work mixes allusions to ancient civilizations, modern industry, deep space, and the natural and manmade scars on our own planet.

A massive meteorite from Mount Holyoke's Skinner Museum creates a captivating juxtaposition with Pomodoro's work. This object hails from the asteroid belt beyond Mars, though it acquired its sculptural form during its fiery entrance into Earth's atmosphere.


Other events at the Museum:  Assistant Curator of Education, Kendra Weisbin, and Assistant Curator of Visual and Material Culture Aaron Miller will give an Art à La Carte Gallery Talk, "Innovation and Interaction: Ceramics from China and the Islamic World" at 12:20 p.m. on Thurs., Oct. 1 in the Museum.


The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum is free, open to the public, and fully accessible.

Visit mtholyoke.edu/artmuseum for more information.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Loculus Performance Collective

Join Loculus, a newly formed performance collective, for their unveiling celebration on August 29th at 8pm at American Legion in Hadley, MA.

Loculus, as a collective, is committed to creating and performing movement based work that seeks to integrate dance into the local DIY music and arts scenes. With that in mind, the even twill feature four bands: FLQ from Canada, Blobs from Buffalo, and local acts Accident and Left Behinds, alongside a dance performance by Loculus.

In addition to their live performance Loculus will be releasing the first installment of a quarterly journal, written and edited by collective members. Where the Knife Hits The Wall, as the first issue is titled, will be released and available for purchase at this event as well as at the Northampton Print and Book Fair on October 4th at the APE Gallery in Northampton.

Loculus Facebook Event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/828515150569136/





Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Cinema Northampton: Beetlejuice


Beetlejuice (1988)
Wednesday September 2, 2015
7:45 PM
Forbes Library Front Lawn
FREE

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Pioneer Valley Workers Center: Call for Submissions

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Are you a Northampton artist or musician who is currently or formerly employed in the restaurant industry?

The Pioneer Valley Workers Center is seeking music and/or performance pieces by restaurant workers for the second annual gallery show this fall at the Parlor Room in Northampton.  We are open to all kinds of performance--be it music, spoken word or a live installation--for the opening night. We are also looking for artwork in any medium--drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film/video, textiles, etc. 

The only requirement is that artists are current or former restaurant workers of Northampton, MA.  Last year’s opening had over 250 people in attendance and most artists sold some of their work.

The show will take place on October 21st 2015 at the Parlor Room in Northampton, MA

To submit your work, please send an email by October 1st . Send the email with the subject line "Worker Center Art Gallery" to PVWorkersCenter@gmail.com 


Please include:

* a brief bio (2-3 sentences)

* the name of the restaurant(s) where you work(ed)

* an artist statement (however much or little info you would like to share)

* medium(s) of submitted work

* any possible equipment needed for installation


For physical art pieces:

* please include 1-5 pictures of your work.

*We encourage you to submit multiple works. We may not be able to accept all of the submissions we get, and depending on the volume of responses we may only take one to two of each artist's pieces.

*Artists would be responsible for the transportation of their artwork to and from the gallery site.

For more information about the Workers Center, visit: http://www.pvworkerscenter.org/

We're also on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/PVWorkersCenter

Monday, August 17, 2015

Flotsam Weirs 2: Nikki Gardner & Todd Lynch


The Flotsam Weirs 2 installation explores overlaid ecological communities and site/non-site dynamics. It integrates film projection from the original weirs installation next to the Mill River that was inspired by social geography and ecology with materials from the landscape found in Williamsburg woven into a weir (a kind of fence). As a process piece, representative of ecological dynamics, visitors can add their “story” to the piece with extra material used to construct the weirs. With each addition, the piece evolves to reflect the ecology fostered by the site and the community.

On view at Meekins Library in Williamsburg August 28–October 19, 2015
 
Opening event and film happening
August 28 and 29, 5–8 pm 

More info: http://www.ecotropy.net/php/2015/08/15/weirs-2/


Two Roads Brewing Company CONNartist contest

Two Roads Brewing Company CONNartist contest

More info: http://tworoadsbrewing.com/connartists-2015

The winner receives $1000 as well as gets their art on a 300 ft fermenter in the Two Roads tasting room.


Florence School Of The Arts

Their goal is to become a real hub in the community for artists, musicians, and music and art appreciators to come together, learn, talk about art, and have a good time. The meat of the program will be in the form of after school and evening classes, but they're also offering private lessons. And  they will also be throwing a huge community party/ recital/ art show/ live music event at the end of every session, with guest artists and performers, free food, the whole deal. 

Their first session of classes starts this September, and ends at the end of October.

Mission statement: The Florence School Of The Arts is a vibrant community of visual artists and musicians based in the Pioneer Valley, offering classes and private lessons in drawing, painting, photography and music. At FSA, a spirit of exploration guides students of all ages to use creative expression and commitment to craft as a pathway to awareness, inspiration, and self-discovery.

Classes offered this time around are:

Drawing and Observation
Mask Making
Cartooning
Modern Photography
Applied Music Theory
Bluegrass Jam Class
Songwriting & Music Appreciation
Rock Band

Website : http://florenceschoolofthearts.com/


Northampton Jazz Workshop features clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski

Northampton Jazz Workshop features guest clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski, Tuesday August 25th, 7:30 to 8:30 PM followed by an open jazz jam until 10:30 PM, The Loft at the Clarion Hotel.

Ken Peplowski has collaborated with: Mel Torme, Leon Redbone, Charlie Byrd, Peggy Lee, George Shearing,  Madonna, Hank Jones, Dave Frishberg, Rosemary Clooney, Tom Harrell,  James Moody, Cedar Walton, Houston Person, Steve Allen, Bill Charlap, Woody Allen, Marianne Faithfull, Isaac Delgado & Erich Kunzel. (“Although not necessarily in that order,” says Ken).

Ken's bio: Ken Peplowski has recorded approximately 50 CDs as a soloist, and close to 400 as a sideman – some of the artists he’s performed/recorded with include Charlie Byrd, Mel Torme, Rosemary Clooney, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops, Hank Jones, Peggy Lee, Bill Charlap, Woody Allen, Benny Goodman, and Madonna.

Ken Peplowski is a Buffet-Crampon artist, and plays the R-13 clarinet,with a Portnoy mouthpiece and Van Doren German-cut reeds. He also plays a Yamaha tenor sax and a Berg Larsen mouthpiece.

Upcoming Guest Artists:

SIX WEEKS OF SAXOPHONES
8/25 - Ken Peplowski on clarinet and tenor
9/1  -  Greg Abate on sax and flute
9/8  -  Felipe Salles and UMASS sax students (first event of the 2015 Northampton Jazz Festival)
9/15 - Gary Smulyan on bari
9/22 - Peter and Will Anderson on clarinet and sax
9/29 - Erik Lawrence on saxes

The concert set starts at 7:30, followed immediately by the jam session until 10:30. No cover or minimum. The Loft at the Clarion Hotel (413) 586-1211, 1 Atwood Dr (Rt. 5 at Exit 18 off I 91), Northampton, MA.


For photos of past NJW shows and related news, events and buzz, please see (and Like us) on FB at: www.facebook.com/NorthamptonJazzWorkshop

PRINT FAIR NORTH - A PRINT FESTIVAL UNDER A BIG TENT


EVENT: PRINT FAIR NORTH - A PRINT FESTIVAL UNDER A BIG TENT
Original fine art prints, printed wearables, zines, and more for sale by area artists and studios. Printmaking demonstrations throughout the day. Gallery show, raffle, food and drink. “Make Your Own Print” community event. Free admission and parking

DATE: Saturday, September 26, 2015 10 AM to 5PM

For the past 13 years, artist members of Zea Mays Printmaking have opened the Studio, inviting collectors, museum curators, and the public to an event called Print Fair North. Inspired by similar events in New York City and other locations, Zea Mays artists show, explain, and sell their original work to the public in an accessible and inclusive context.

This year, the event on September 26th, from10 AM to 5 PM, is being re-conceptualized as an inclusive community project. The greater Northampton area is home to other print studios and countless artists who make prints and multiples, with as yet no single event that invites them all to come together. By re-envisioning Print Fair North as an inclusive, shared event, new connections will be forged within the arts community, and, the public will have the opportunity to enjoy a broader scope of creativity in the area. Other print shops, artists, studios, and arts organizations will be joining the artists of Zea Mays Printmaking including: Two Rivers Printmaking Studio (White River Junction, VT), Big Wheel Press (Easthampton), Cherry Press (Worcester), and Patrick’s Art House (Florence), Pivot Media (Florence).

Zea Mays Printmaking has pioneered “green printmaking” since 2000 when Liz Chalfin, its founder and director, began offering artists a place where they could avoid working with materials that were unhealthy. Sharing these safer and non-toxic printmaking techniques with other artists is an ongoing goal. Sharing the results of its artists’ creative endeavors and helping the public to understand printmaking processes at an event that will take place both in the Studio and in a festive outdoor tent is an anticipated joy. Demonstrations of different printmaking techniques for all to see and a Community “Make Your Own Print” Event, will be held between 1pm and 3pm.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Northampton Arts Council, Inc.

Community Event sponsored by Speedball 



Thursday, August 13, 2015

Call for submissions: Pioneer Valley Workers Center

Call for submissions: Pioneer Valley Workers Center

Northampton Jazz Workshop: guest vocalist Kim Zombik

Northampton Jazz Workshop features guest vocalist Kim Zombik, Tuesday August 18th, 7:30 to 8:30 PM followed by an open jazz jam until 10:30 PM, The Loft at the Clarion Hotel.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Artists Reunite at Sixth Annual Northampton Chalk Art Festival


Breaking from its customary juried selection process, “Arts Night Out” has invited eleven veteran artists to create masterpieces in chalk on the sidewalks of downtown during  the sixth annual Northampton Chalk Art Festival on Friday, September 11. The competitive event kicks off a festive weekend that includes the Northampton Jazz Festival and the Northampton Arts Council’s RETROFAIRE.

Solidier's Heart: A Play by Tammy Ryan


Women in the military are more likely to be assaulted by a fellow soldier than killed in combat, studies have found.
“Soldier’s Heart”, a stage play by Tammy Ryan to be performed at the Academy of Music in Northampton September 18-20, confronts that issue head on, telling the story of Marine Sergeant Casey Johnson, a single mother, who leaves her young son behind and goes to war in Iraq.
In Iraq, amidst the horrors of combat, she experiences “military sexual trauma” by a fellow Marine.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Transperformance 25: Look at the Movies! Benefit Music Festival

Presented by The Northampton Arts Council


Unfortunately due to a rainy weather forecast our normally scheduled date for Transperformance 25: Look at the Movies! has been rescheduled to our rain date of Wednesday August 26 at Pines Theater-Look Park. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.


WHAT: Transperformance 25: Look at the Movies! Benefit Music Festival
WHEN: Tuesday August 26, 2015 4:00-9:30 PM
TICKETS:
Day of -  At the entrance to Pines Theater starting at 3:00 PM
Cost - Adults 13+ $10; Seniors 65+ $8; Kids 12 & under $5 No refunds/ No exchanges

It’s time to celebrate our community and the arts with Transperformance 25: Look at the Movies! Tuesday, August 26, 2015 at Pines Theater in Look Park Florence, MA. It’s the Transperformance Silver Anniversary and what better way to celebrate than to feature music from the Silver Screen. This year, our Valley’s favorite benefit music festival features local sensations Winterpills, The Unband, Lux Deluxe, Rusty Belle, The Lonesome Brothers, and many more! The bands will perform songs from the soundtracks of The Big Lebowski, This is Spinal Tap, The Sound of Music, Saturday Night Fever, Easy Rider, and Rocky as well as take on the personas from characters in the films. Northampton notables Monte Belmonte, Joshua Braska, Steve Sanderson, Johnny Memphis, Joan Holliday, and Julie Waggoner will host as celebrity personalities.


Food will be available from La Veracruzana and Bart’s Homemade as well as pizza from local restaurants. No pets, no coolers and no beverages please, per request of Look Park. Look Park charges a $5 special events vehicle entry fee for all vehicles without season passes. 

MARVELOUS LINE-UP OF LOCAL TALENT
Tommy starring NORTHAMPTON COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER
Mary Poppins starring GREAT SMOKEY 
Harold and Maude starring TONEY C. 
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid starring GOLDWATER THE SECOND 
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World starring THE SNAZ 
Trainspotting starring WISHBONE ZÖE 
The Sound of Music starring BEIGE 
Easy Rider starring OUTER STYLIE 
The Last Waltz starring LONESOME BROTHERS
Superfly starring SOUL MAGNETS WITH EVELYN HARRIS 
Rocky starring THE SUITCASE JUNKET 
Dazed and Confused starring THE FAWNS 
Against All Odds starring JOHNNY MEMPHIS BAND 
Pulp Fiction starring FANCY TRASH 
Top Gun starring ZIP CODY 
The Point starring THE ALOHA STEAMTRAIN 
Saturday Night Fever starring PAGE SIX
This is Spinal Tap starring THE UNBAND
Rushmore starring KING RADIO 
The Big Lebowski starring LUXDELUXE 
The Graduate starring WINTERPILLS 
Up in Smoke starring THE SUN PARADE 


HOSTS
Sy Becker starring MONTE BELMONTE
Cruella de Vil starring JULIE WAGGONER
Julie Andrews starring JOAN HOLLIDAY
Darth Vader starring JOSH BRASKA
Roy Rogers starring JOHNNY MEMPHIS
Willy Wonka starring STEVE SANDERSON
  
ABOUT TRANSPERFORMANCE:
It was 25 years ago the Northampton Arts Council created the first Transperformance: Woodstock The Performance Peace. Each summer the Northampton Arts Council and the Parent Teacher Organizations of Bridge Street School, Leeds Elementary School, RK Finn Ryan Road Elementary School, Jackson Street School, J.F.K. Middle School and Northampton High School join forces to raise funds for arts enrichment in the schools and the ArtsEZ grant program. Last year Transperformance 24: Off the Map was attended by over 2,000 people and provided $1,500 to each school due in part to the dollars raised by donors like you. The money goes toward great projects in our local schools, like JFK Middle School bringing WOFA Drum and Dance Interactive performance to their students. The Northampton Arts Council raised an additional $15,000 that was recently distributed during the ArtsEZ grant round where local artists, schools, and arts organizations receive funding to produce arts events in Northampton, Leeds, and Florence.


TITLE SPONSORS


ORGANIZATIONAL SPONSORS


MEDIA SPONSORS


TECHNICAL SUPPORT
  • Sound - Dan Richardson
  • Lights - Theatrix
  • Poster/Graphic Design – Alison Wood


Transperformance 2015


Transperformance 25 Sponsors

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

DAHLIA NAYAR: 2125 Stanley Street

September 2015 Lab Artist

DAHLIA NAYAR is an emerging dance maker based in Western Massachusetts, who melds movement and video to create highly visual performance works that delve into questions of cultural identity. Nayar’s works have been recently selected for the Venice Biennale/Danze Venezia, the Performatica Festival in Mexico, Dance Place in Washington, DC, the 2012 Next Stage Dance Residency at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh, and Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Gallery A3 & the Oxbow Gallery: Judith Mann, Recent Watercolors

RECENT WATERCOLORS – Judith Mann

July 30- August 30, 2015

Opening Reception: Friday August 14, 5-8 pm

Front Gallery: ART ACROSS THE RIVER
Joint Collaborations of Two Cooperatives in both Galleries-
Gallery A3 & the Oxbow Gallery


Northampton Jazz Workshop guest alto saxophonist Mark Lewis

Northampton Jazz Workshop features guest alto saxophonist Mark Lewis, Tuesday August 11th, 7:30 to 8:30 PM followed by an open jazz jam until 10:30 PM, The Loft at the Clarion Hotel.

“A Northwest treasure” and “a catalyst who makes things happen on stage” - Jim Wilke, Jazz Northwest  radio host (KPLU) and Jazz After Hours (PRI)

“How refreshing to hear an altoist bearing the influences of such consummate lyricists as Paul Desmond and Lee Konitz. This is music whose ‘coolness’ sears.” - JazzTimes

Upcoming Guest Artists:
8/18 - Kim Zombik on vocals
8/25 - Ken Peplowski on clarinet and tenor

SAXOPHONE MONTH
9/1  - Greg Abate on sax and flute
9/8  - Felipe Salles and UMASS sax students
9/15 - Geoff Vidal on tenor
9/22 - Peter and Will Anderson on clarinet and sax
9/29 - Erik Lawrence on saxes

The concert set starts at 7:30, followed immediately by the jam session until 10:30. No cover or minimum. The Loft at the Clarion Hotel (413) 586-1211, 1 Atwood Dr (Rt. 5 at Exit 18 off I 91), Northampton, MA.

For photos of past NJW shows and related news, events and buzz, please see (and Like us) on FB at: www.facebook.com/NorthamptonJazzWorkshop


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