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What if Picasso, Braque and Gris were so radical, they weren't simply satisfied with deconstructing illusion, with teaching the art world to see reality in a new, abstract way? What if they embraced the illusion in its most highly realistic form — Trompe l'Oeil?
Looking back at theater in the Berkshires in 2022, Jeffrey Borak highlights some of his favorite moments and looks forward to what next year will bring. But he also asks: "If theater artists build it, will audiences come?"
Jennifer Huberdeau shares her favorite art shows of 2022. "With all the art available, how does one pare down the list to 'the best of the best?' This year, my metric was based on the very reason I love art so much ... the power that art can have over us."
"It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play" returns to Hartford Stage for a second year and the production has lost none of its antic playfulness and invention. If anything, the show feels tighter, crisper, as the actors, scripts in hand, move with breathless energy from one standing microphone to the next.
Jennifer Huberdeau writes: "In late October 2022, I stand in the Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis Studio, on the forth floor of MoMA, in awe and contemplation as I stare at the remains of the Doris Duke Theatre. Here, a wall and a reconfigured theatrical grid are part of the aptly titled exhibition, “Studio/Theater.” My nose burns when I get too near, a faint smell of smoke still lingers on the wall’s wooden boards."
This production is at its most sublime when it is dancing. Happily for us, “Hairspray” spends a good deal of time dancing. Stunning.
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January may seem bleak, but winter in the Berkshires is anything but dull. Check out these musical events coming to area stages in the next few weeks.
Murray Hidary's immersive sound installation 'Distanced Together' is on view at Mass MoCA now through Feb. 4. "You can really interact with it however you need to. It really is a space for reflection, for catharsis, for healing and really reflecting on the experience we’ve all had over the last couple of years with the music as the soundtrack tracing the arc of the pandemic.”
Practitioners of the New Perennial Movement do not, typically, insist on the use of locally native plants in their landscapes. Indeed, especially in Great Britain, this school has popularized the concept of “novel ecosystems.”
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10 musical events in the Berkshires that will help get you out of your midwinter funk
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European garden masters of the New Perennial Movement follow a more naturalistic approach to gardening
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Mac-Haydn Theatre's 2023 season includes hit musicals, return of post-show cabaret
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Karen Allen made a short film in The Berkshires. It's now available to stream
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Murray Hidary's immersive sound installation 'Distanced Together' at Mass MoCA is a reflection on time and pandemic-imposed isolation
'Secret Hour,' the 2021 Next Act! New Play Summit, is having its world premiere at theREP’s Capital Repertory Theatre Jan. 27 through Feb. 19. Opening night is Jan. 31.
"Promenades on Paper: 18th-Century French Drawings from the Bibliothèque nationale de France," on view at The Clark Art Institute through March 12, features a selection of 84 works — studies, architectural plans, albums, sketchbooks, prints, and optical devices — aimed at expanding the viewer's understanding of drawing as a tool of documentation and creation
Since opening in 1999, Mass MoCA's Free Day has become a much-anticipated date on the calendar, with locals and visitors flocking to the 19th-century mill complex from points near and far, ready to explore and enjoy all the eclectic museum and performing arts venue has to offer. This year, Free Day takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 28.
Shake off the sadness and lethargy caused by winter's shorter days, colder weather, barren landscapes and lack of sunlight with a trip to an art gallery.
Karlene Jean Kantner is wood-firing handbuilt ceramics in a pit she and her partner, Chris Powell, have dug themselves, on their own land. She will show her earthenware vessels at Berkshire Botanical Garden in the Leonhardt Galleries, from Jan. 20 to Feb. 26.
Barrington Stage Company founding director Julianne Boyd hasn't quite left the fold just yet. She's on the summer schedule to direct a new production of "Faith Healer" by the Irish playwright Brian Friel.
My game plan is to make this recipe a little bit healthier by substituting whole wheat spaghetti or spaghetti squash for the regular spaghetti and getting 93-percent lean ground beef, low-fat cheddar cheese and reduced-sodium taco seasoning.
Citrus fruits can add subtle or powerful flavor to countless savory and sweet dishes. You can include citrus in beverages, vinaigrettes, dips, marinades, meats, salads, seafood, pastas, vegetables, and desserts and baked goods of all kinds.
Taking inspiration from her childhood, columnist Elizabeth Baer recently pulled together a grilled cheese and soup bar featuring a "fowl play soup" that you can customize to your liking.
While cooking up one of my go-to pastas, Melissa Clark reached right past her trusty bottle of extra-virgin and grabbed some butter from the fridge instead. She heated it in a skillet until it melted and browned, filling the kitchen with a sweet, nutty scent.
Food columnist Maggy Button writes, "Before Christmas, I was getting into using my air fryer as a way to eat healthier and with way less fat. Here are a few things I've tried ... sweet potato chips, tilapia, stuffed pork chops and eggplant bites."
I believe that it was more a hunger for comfort, for connection, and for tending to something nourishing and real which fueled the pandemic’s sourdough baking craze. It makes perfect sense, and it is achievable under any circumstances, not only extreme conditions of stress and isolation. I’d love for you to discover in 2023 your inner bread baker.
Celebrate Edith Wharton's birthday on Jan. 24 by joining The Mount's Book Club, or by picking up one of her 40 novels.
“This is an absolute, can’t-put-it-down thriller." Actor Reese Witherspoon, founder and curator of Reese's Book Club, has named Ana Reyes' "The House in the Pines," a new thriller set in Pittsfield, as her first book club selection of the year.
Have you ever made a collage? You probably have, but don't see it as an artistic practice. Don't worry, Melanie Mowinski will help you in her new book "Collage Your Life."
We've pulled together a sampling of some of the latest releases from the desks of Berkshire authors — these are not all of the titles released this year, just a smattering — with suggestions of who these books might be the best gift for.
MCLA assistant professor Hannah Noel's new book, "Deflective Whiteness: Co-opting Black and Latinx Identity Politics," delves into the myth of white victimhood and how white supremacists use it to justify racist actions.
Photographer David Ricci explores “the edge of chaos” — what happens when you crowd enough material into a space just near the line where it becomes completely incomprehensible — in his first photobook, "EDGE."
