This was a truly amazing Art Walk.   First of all, the map is now 11 x 17, folded in half and listing over 40 events in three hours!  That’s a lot to do in such a short amount of time.  We started the night out at the Eastworks building on Pleasant Street.  First thing inside the main entrance, they’d set up a performance area where a band was playing. Nice!  We think it was the Psychic Tribal Orchestra….that’s who was listed to play first on the flyer, so we might be wrong. We didn’t hang out to watch because the Marketplace area is wide open so we could listen as we strolled along looking at the various vendor’s/artist’s booths set up around the long and expansive hallway.  There’s a great mix of artists and crafters showing at the Marketplace, everything from handsewn bags to custom made quilts, fired clay heads (check out the photo!), small watercolors, photography, and hand sewn animals made out of Mulberry paper. Wow! 

d.Art Gallery was fantastic.  We’d been trying to get over to Eastworks to have a look at the new space but just hadn’t organized ourselves enough to get over there.  We were impressed with the quality and amazing selection of art. The 2d works were presented on the walls in salon style with many different media and styles to enjoy.  There was also a lot of smaller work, and jewelry to choose from, and surprisingly affordable.  We highly recommend a visit to d.Art. You must go!

Due to the cold, and let’s face it, extreme laziness, we jumped in the car and drove back over to Cottage Street in time to see Team Fade perform just outside of Nashawannuk Gallery.   They were limited to a small area, but performed some really great feats for a large crowd.  Sydney the dog barked her head off in excitement, while a bunch of local kids were picked from the crowd to assist.  Check out the photos.

At Mt. Tom’s Homemade Ice Cream and Candy we helped ourselves to some free chocolate while we checked out local artist, Ron Parent’s, paintings.  Further down the street we got to take a look at Elizabeth Jenks’ photographs from the catacombs under Paris.  Wow…talk about freaky.  She and her husband Tim Jenks, both owners of Pick Your Flick Video went to Paris and braved the descent into the underworld to witness the bones of over 7 million people.  Liz’s amazing photos showed the stacks and stacks of bones and skulls…very scary, but great photos.

We spent a great deal of time at the end of the night at Luthier’s Co-op on Cottage Street.  Founder of Lucchesi Vintage Instruments, and friend, Frank E. Lucchesi, 56, passed-away unexpectedly on Saturday, September 29, 2007, at the shop.  Family and friends gathered to remember Frank on the October 13th Art Walk.  We were lucky enough to hear Mark Nomad, Joe Singleton, Shane Loiselle and Tammy, and many others play and sing in tribute to our lost friend. 

We didn’t get to see everything, there was just too much to do.  Be sure to check out Art Walk Easthampton’s Website, oh, and sign up for The Arts Newsletter Experiment while you are there. It’s an essential if you live in Western Mass and love art.