Charles Parkhurst and the Monuments Men

I was looking through a year-old copy of Art in America, and noticed a tiny little obituary for Charles Parkhurst hidden in the back of the magazine. I was sad that a man so important to 20th century art history didn’t merit a larger mention.

Parkhurst was an art historian who held many distinguished positions throughout his long lifetime: including numerous curatorships, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, assistant director of the National Gallery, taught at Princeton, Oberlin, Williams, and Smith. Perhaps his most important contribution to the art world was as one of the “Monument Men” during World War Two; a group that helped save great works of art, and architecture, from destruction from bombing and Nazi looting. From the Monuments Men Foundation website:

The “Monuments Men” were a group of approximately 345 men and women from thirteen nations who comprised the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section during World War II. Many were museum directors, curators, art historians, and educators. Together they worked to protect monuments and other cultural treasures from the destruction of World War II. In the last year of the war, they tracked, located, and ultimately returned more than 5 million artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Their role in preserving cultural treasures was without precedent.

Their efforts were indeed monumental: one feat involved secretly moving the entire contents of the Louvre, and hiding them in a salt mine, protecting the artworks from Nazi looting during the occupation of France. For his part, the French government awarded Parkhurst the Legion of Honor, Chevalier, an honor rarely bestowed on a non-French citizen.

The work of the Monuments Men was recently part of the excellent documentary, The Rape of Europa. The documentary includes interviews with Parkhurst.

A better obituary for Parkhurst in the New York Times described his undiminished curiousity and fascination with art history:

A few years ago, while looking at Giotto’s frescoes in the Arena Chapel in Padua, Mr. Parkhurst became intrigued by the possible influence of the theater on Giotto’s art. … the idea gripped him, and he pursued it doggedly. Well into his 90s, he was still chasing after art.

Parkhurst died at his home in Amherst, MA, June 25, 2008.

Loss of the Arts in Public Schools

Fine arts programs being cut at schools across Western Mass: As school committees across Western Massachusetts face severe budget cuts, fine arts programs are being cut one-by-one.

It is tragic that the arts are usually the first things to be cut from public school curriculum, especially in an area like the Pioneer Valley, where so much of our local economy is dependent on the arts.

Coincidentally, news of these cuts arrive with the news that Northampton, once again, has been voted one of the “Top 25 Arts Destinations” in the country by American Style magazine.

June 13-14, a weekend full of art events – and the bears are here…

Friday night in Northampton is Arts Night Out, and Smith College’s “Second Friday” – admission to the museum is free. At 5.30, artist Lesley Dill gives a free talk about her latest work, currently on exhibit.

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.

Art Weekend!

Lots of big art events this weekend…

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 in Baltimore

In Baltimore on Sunday, and made my regular pilgrimage to Hampden. One of my fave places in the city is Atomic Books in Hampden, the coolest indie bookstore you’ll ever visit, full of crafty things, zines, comic books, fringe novels, Japanese toys… aaahhhh it’s heaven. I popped in yesterday and stumbled into the FOUND “Denim and Diamonds Tour” which had just started.

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.

Falsettos at PACE

PACE (Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton) is a gem in downtown Easthampton. They have regular open-mike comedy and jam nights, jazz twice a month, music performances, a small cafe, as well as some superb shows. Their current space is small, so larger theater productions take place at the Academy of Music in Northampton.

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.

Valley Art Share

Valley Art Share is a new online arts community for the Pioneer Valley. It’s a joint project of Commonwealth Center for Change (C3) and the Northampton Center for the Arts, and is maintained by the tireless Julia Handschuh. Huge props to them all for creating this and helping to make our fabulous arts community more visible.

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!

(re)mixed media: Roger Sayre and David Poppie

Ran upstairs to the 4th floor gallery at Open Square to see this small show before it comes down this evening. Very cool pieces by David Poppie and Roger Sayre.

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

“Out of Print” at Zea Mays

Popped in to the opening reception of “Out of Print” Saturday evening, at Zea Mays in Florence (in the Arts & Industry Building). The show features the work of local artists Doris Madsen and Lillianna Pereira. Really lovely work. Both re-use, re-purpose and collage paper and printed items in their work for this show.

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.

Valley Artists Show in Brooklyn

“Pioneer Women” is a group show at the Tabla Rasa Gallery in Brooklyn showing work by women artists from the Pioneer Valley. From the press release:

More than 20 women who have settled upon the fertile ground of the Pioneer Valley (Connecticut River Valley) have created new artworks that will premiere in New York City at Tabla Rasa Gallery from April 18 – May 30. Many of these female artists are transplants from many parts the country, such as curator Brooklyn native Terry Rooney (whose mother was born on the same street as the gallery), who will bring her Statue of Liberty series to New York for the first time.

It’s curated by Terry Rooney, and features the work of:

• Anne Burton
• Liz Chalfin
• Cynthia Consentino
• Karen Dolmanisth
• Roz Driscoll
• Rachel Folsom
• Rita Edelman
• Oriole Farb Feshbach
• Alex Hegeler
• Mary Ann Kelly
• Deborah Kruger
• Lauren Mills
• Susan Montgomery
• Holly Murray
• Nancy Miller
• Elizabeth Pols
• Mo Ringey
• Terry Rooney
• Diane Savino
• Deidre Scherer
• Nanny Vonnegut
• Ruth West
• Erika Zekos
• Belinda Lyons-Zucker

Don’t miss this awesome amount of talent in one gallery. The show runs April 18 to May 30. Opening reception is this weekend, Saturday April 18, 3-6pm.