Saturday, June 8, 2013

JUNE FIRST FRIDAY ARTWALK

I had a really busy and wet day yesterday, standing in the moderate downpour first thing in the morning waiting for the doors to open in Lanesboro chatting it up with the Veterans as we waited, enjoying the conversation and listening to the views on today's world and all the controversy with the phone taps and DNA swabbing and how are freedoms are being taken away as we sit back and let it happen ~ very eye opening!

I dried out and warmed up when I returned, did some things around the house, baked a chicken to restock the soup from the other day ~ and because I was starving as well!  I could hardly contain myself, smelling the delicious bird baking in the oven!

Friday is pharmacy day as well, so after the chicken was cooked and my tummy satisfied with a couple of quick sandwiches I tried to find a lull in the weather ~ which was not cooperative at all to make my way upstreet to get my errands done as quickly as possible as there is no putting off til tomorrow what must get done today!

Needless to say, I was wet through and through, with a slight chill when I returned home, peeled off the wet clothes and made the fatal error of getting into comfy p.j.'s even though it was early afternoon.  I set to work on restocking the soup when my son talked me into some "family time".

We checked out a couple of episodes of Bill Maher's  new show "Vice" ~ which he is not on, but he did produce.  What a shocker the first and second episodes were!  If you have not watched it, you should!  How very scary and dangerous these interviews were to get!  Hats off to the great effort and quality of the first two episodes!

My  middle son phoned and joined us for a visit, along with one of my oldest friends, and I received a phone call with an invitation to the movies later in the evening.  I still had to finish the soup ~ having omitted the potatoes for the pasta the first night, and wanting to do potatoes this time ~ and make it to ArtWalk for the opening of a couple of shows before it ended at 8:00 p.m. (an hour longer ~ as I thought it ended at 7:00!)

With the rain still falling, and no relief in sight, and unexpected company to boot (which I always welcome), I was not stressed!  The company left, the potatoes got sidetracked, and I decided I could wait til after the Art Shows before myself and Thomas would eat dinner, I prepared to leave ~ telling Tom he could eat without me if he wanted, knowing he would wait for me.

With an hour left before the end, I raced out my door and tried to manage not to get totally soaked as I headed to the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts where there was a wonderful show curated by Diane Firtell which had some amazing pieces of art by many different artists.  Kudos to Diane for her amazing curation!

Pressed for time and having at least 4 other places to go, I bounded across the street to the Dunham Mall to check out some amazing and colorful works by another artist Kerry Stone, whose exhibit "Searching for Harmony" left me in totally harmony despite the rain!

I headed over to Crawford Square and did a quick walk through, noting the wonderful watercolors by Nancy Freedman "Becket, Berkshires and Beyond", amazing to say the least!  Tough to say if Mr. Webber's paintings or Ms. Freedman's art was liked more ~ it was close!

I was worried that I would run out of time before I got see all that I wanted to see, but I headed to Steven Valenti's Clothing for Men and checked out a series of photographs from Cuba by Elaine Radiss which were quite colorful and lovely as well.

I resisted the urge to stop in a couple of more places along the way, really anticipating Scott Taylor's new series at the NU Arts Studio's and Gallery.  Scott being one of my favorite artists with his amazingly colorful and bold paintings.  He had changed it up with his "Crossroads" Show and I must say that I was not disappointed in either the style or the descriptions which were so in depth and personal giving a deeper look into the man behind the art ~ way to go Scott!  (Even though I started at the end and finished at the beginning it was really deep!

I headed down the back stairs and entered the amazing world of  "Summer Birches" by Tracy Levesque.  I must say her paintings were very much in a style which I love, the texture, color and subject matter all definitely on time!

My last, but not least, stop as it neared the witching hour of Eight O'Clock was Michael Rousseau's "Salon Style" at the Y Bar.  I had not realized that the show was on until midnight with music following the show until after I returned home, and was half tempted to go back just to look at these amazing paintings.

I am the hugest fan of Renaissance Art, Michelangelo being my first favorite Renaissance artist, until I took Art History in the 1980's and realized, it is not just the artist, it was the whole period of art which I enjoyed, from the architecture, the paintings and the sculptures.

Walking into that show looking upon these "Masterpieces", because I truly do believe we are seeing a great artist here in the form of Michael Rousseau, I was blown away and could have gazed upon these painting for hours ~ days even!  A wonderful mixture of classic style with modern subject matter blended in I do believe this young man has a lot to look forward to in his coming days with work like that!  I look forward to seeing more of this charming, charismatic and talented young man!

I left in a hurry, and like I said, am now kicking myself that I did not stay longer, running into Dion Robbin Zust and his Mom ,Jeanne ~ of the famous Robbin~Zust Marionettes and we had a hug and a smile and brief  conversation regarding who they definitely should check out while there was still time remaining.  Always a pleasure to see the Robbin~Zust clan however briefly!

I caught the last four pieces of Ian Grey's photos of his Florida Mountain Hummingbirds as he was packing up his show and tried and failed to get into the gallery at the bus station, meeting the attendant at the door as they were locking up.

I arrived home, still  not in the mood to peel potatoes and had some chicken veggie soup with pasta, thought about all of the amazing art I was so privileged to see that evening and could not have stayed awake during a movie, let alone writing a blog, so I headed to bed.

I have been invited to a writer's workshop this afternoon at the Berkshire Athenaeum and really do need to visit my friends for the Downtown Pittsfield Farmer's Market which my friends at Alchemy Initiative are running along with Downtown Pittsfield and show some support (which has been difficult considering all the rain that seems to plague us these days!)

The clock is ticking and I will be running late before I know it despite my efforts to be on time!  Hope you enjoyed my review and if you get the opportunity to see any of these artists shows I promise you ~ you will not be disappointed!

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