Great as a Dance Performance, Confusing as a Play by Ryan LaPointe

On Tuesday, March 17, we saw A Rite, performed at the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance, located on Williams College campus in Williamstown, Massachusetts.  A Rite is the product of seamless collaboration between Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company.  It is an exploration of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which was incredibly controversial in its time, causing a riot in the audience on opening night.

Because A Rite was performed by a combination of a theatre company and a dance company, I was initially unsure where it would fall on the spectrum between a theatre performance and a dance performance.  I discovered that it leaned heavily towards a dance performance.  While there were several monologues and a couple of dialogues throughout the piece, the main focus was on the dance numbers.

I was impressed and entertained by the many dance numbers, but the story being conveyed by the dances was completely lost on me.  At one point in the performance, I recognized that the red-haired girl was being sacrificed, but I was only able to gather this because I had prior knowledge that someone was supposed to be sacrificed.  That was the only point during the performance when I had any idea what was going on in the story being told.

There were some numbers in the performance when music was produced solely with vocal noises made by the dancers.  To be clear, they were not singing; the variety of noises they made would not sound melodious per se.  However, combining these noises and adding a rhythm resulted in very interesting and good music.

During the few dialogues that the show contained, the cast sat on chairs downstage in a row facing the audience.  In these dialogues, they would often break the fourth wall—and sometimes mock the audience—with phrases like, “It's hard to listen.  Listening is hard,” “You don't care about the audience,” and, “Well, this is my job, and I need a paycheck.”  I found these dialogues to be the most humorous part of the performance.

All considered, I would recommend this performance of A Rite, albeit I was completely unable to follow the plot of the show.  I highly enjoyed the excellent dances, and I was amused by the often comedic monologues and dialogues throughout the show.  The content of the performance is more than capable of standing on its own, without an understanding of plot or deeper meaning.

Be Inspired, and Beware of Bears by Lisa Li

 

           When I first got to Williamstown, the only thing I could see on the horizon were mountains covered with snow, rising against the sky. Breathing in the misty mountain air and feeling so close to the clouds, I was surprised that there were people who lived there. I was even more surprised at the beautiful art museum, Clark Art Institute (AKA The Clark), built just at foot of a mountain. Chartered by couple Sterling and Francine Clark, the Clark Museum was built in 1952 and opened to public in 1955. It collects a wide range of art styles and forms, including Old Master Paintings, 19^th century European Paintings, Impressionist Paintings, American Paintings, European and American decorative arts…you name it! Such a wide variety of arts resulted from the Clark couple’s expeditions around the world and their ardor for arts. Walking through the Clark museum, you could smell the scent of history and the luxury of artistry.

            What fascinated me the most was Gallery 1, the first room you walk into in the classical wing of the museum. A rectangular room with grey walls and dim lighting, the room was simply designed. In the center of the room was a large cubic wall dividing the front and the back of the gallery. Artwork is displayed on each wall of the room and each side of the cube. The simply designed room makes artworks especially stand out to the viewers. The gallery mainly collects American oil paintings that portray the monumental power and mysteries of nature, which resonates with the museum’s close-to-nature location.

            When I walked into Gallery 1, a wall of paintings of the ocean by Winslow Homer gave me chills. Every painting portrays a different aspect of the ocean, but all are dark colored and consist of tumultuous waves, to show the graveness and monumentality of the ocean. Undertow, one of the few paintings by Homer has human figures, particularly caught my attention. Inspired by an accident in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1883, the painting depicts the image of two lifeguards saving two women from drowning in the ocean. In the center of the paining are two women, one of whom leans against the wave with her eyes closed, barely alive. To her right, other woman lies on her stomach against the wave, face down, hanging her arms on the other woman’s neck. Their bathing dresses are soaked wet from the water that has almost devoured their pale, fragile bodies. Two rescuers, each grabbing on to one woman, struggle to drag the women to shore. One of the rescuers’ clothes are torn into pieces by the relentless waves. On the left, the rescuer who leads the way has already lost his clothes and helmet, leaving him only in grey shorts. A huge wave, taller than he is, splashes into him from his right, engulfing his body. He raises his right arm and struggles to fight against it, but his brawny biceps seem too week comparing to the roaring wave. The ocean, painted in different shades of blue, appears so three-dimensional that it looks like it is coming toward us. It covers three-fourths of the painting, and seems like it has no end. Looking at the painting, I wondered, how vast is the ocean? How close is the shore to these people? Are they going to survive the attack of the undertow? All of these factors are unknown. Winslow portrays the vastness and strength of the sea waves and the vulnerability of men to show that men are always too small and weak compared to nature. The unknown factors of nature further provokes human’s fear for nature because it creates unstable situations that humans have no controls over. The painting reminds me that I do not have the control over my life and death. I cannot stop a lightening from hitting me, nor can I prevent cancer from growing in me; only nature can make these decisions. The series of ocean painting by Homer sets a serious tone to the museum. It wakes you up in the morning by reminding you of a significant truth in life.

             In Williamstown, a town that is so closely associated with nature, we spend a lot of time appreciating the beauty of nature. Gallery 1 of The Clark Museum reminds us the danger of nature with its collection of paintings that portray nature’s power and mystery. It reminds us that while the beauty in the Williamstown fascinates us, we always need to beware of bears that may attack us at any moment. Don’t be too scared and depressed by my review, however. The Clark Museum is not all about such serious topic. Right after you walk through Gallery 1, the light-colored impressionist art in Gallery 2 will lighten your mood. I highly recommend that you visit The Clark Museum. Both the design of the building and the artwork are very high in aesthetic value. It is so carefully designed and well crafted that it will not only inspire you, but also teach you to beware of bears.

Rich Getting Richer… by Jonathan Coombs

                You know how the rest of the saying goes. After visiting the Clark Museum in Williamstown on March 17, 2015, I am ready to say that the rich do indeed get richer. I get this from the museums history, which was conveniently provided on the bottom floor. Anyway, on to the review.

                If you are familiar with my reviews, I want you to think back to my review of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. If you aren’t I’ll wait for you to read it. … … … … … Ok your back. So remember my rant of the piano? Well guess what. This museum has a piano. However, they allow people to occasionally play it, so that’s better. Still, an instruments ONLY purpose is to be played, no matter how beautiful it is. This piano has Greek words and letters written on the top of it. There are treble and alto clefs drawn around the side, and the ends of the treble clefs spiral out of control like a coiled wire. There is a painting of people playing instruments facing the pianist, just in case the musician decides they are bored with looking at the music. To the sides of that painting are smaller paintings of string basses and cellos. I quite enjoyed looking at this piano, but I wish I could have seen someone play it.

                A piece within the museum I would like to talk about is Boulevard Rochechooan by Camille Pissarro. This piece shows a street of France, from a view of heightened elevation. Camille shows people going through a midmorning routine, being driven by horse-drawn carriages to buying items from a store.  The piece has a midmorning glow about it, giving it a feeling of waking up. I won’t go into much detail to describe it because there is a picture of it along with this review. The piece does a good job showing the relaxing chaos that welcomes everyone at the beginning of the day. Think about it, you wake up and get busy into your normal routine. You step outside to go to your car or bike or however you get to work. There is a calming moment before you start your travel, isn’t there? Or am I just incredibly insane? Anyway, I quite like this piece.

                Overall, the museum is good. There is one niggle I have with it. There is a board of its history in the basement. It shows how the family was rich before the museum was built. This puts a bad taste in my mouth, as going to the museum is supporting a rich family buying art that everyone could enjoy. It would take too long to explain my philosophy of it. Overall, see it if you have time and money.

                Rating: 8 Big Macs out of 10, you feel embarrassed to admit that you like it, as it is fattening and may not be supportive of your own moral compass.

Beauty in the Everyday By Lilly Harvey

As I wandered through the Sterling and Francine Art Institute, most often referred to as, “The Clark,” I was in awe at the amount of beautiful work featured in this one space.  Everything about this museum is pristine, from the polished marbles floors to the carefully positioned paintings. The Clark Museum features a large body of work including paintings, porcelain, silver prints and drawings from the 14^th to 19^th Centuries.  The museum features work from artists who are both extremely famous and completely obscure but somehow flawlessly combines this wide range of work. 

One particularly gallery that I found especially striking was the impressionist gallery.  The room itself feels large and open with pale purple walls and a shiny wood floor.  The ceiling is made of glass, allowing natural light to filter into the gallery, which brings the colors in the paintings alive.  The paintings are placed throughout the room in such a way so that they balance each other out, while bringing out the best in each piece. 

As I drifted through the gallery I was drawn to one specific oil painting called “The Bath,” by Beth Morisot.  The painting captures a girl sitting beside a bath, pulling her light brown hair into a bun. She is wearing a thin white night gown and on her lap, almost blending into her dress, is a tan colored hairbrush.  Despite her state of partial undress, she seems unselfconscious, with a fixed gaze and confident posture.  While I was looking at the painting I felt as if I was walking into a moment that was both private and beautiful.  I could tell that the girl was a close friend or family member of the painter, simply because of the way the girl was captured.  The palette is made of light pinks, blues, and browns, which give the painting a soft, mellow feeling.  The brush strokes are long and broad, giving the piece a feeling of movement. As I took a closer look at the painting, I was impressed by the way that the colors were blended together.  For example, the nightgown is mostly white but the artist blended streaks of light blue and pink, which added more complex layers of color to the painting.

Perhaps why I was so drawn to this painting was because it was so completely different than the other paintings in the room. Brushing and styling your hair is something that most women do every single day and yet the artist made this moment beautiful.  Many of the other paintings in the room portrayed stunning landscapes or grand cityscapes and yet I found this private moment to be just as stunning.  This piece really spoke to me because it made me realize that there is something beautiful in each every day moment, whether we can see it or not. 

 

A Museum of True Art Collectors by James Finneral

            The Clark Museum is located in Williamstown, Massachusetts and is one of the most renowned museums in the area. The Clark consists of a collection from Sterling and Francis Clark. The museum does not only display art, but it also serves as a research center. The museum has a vast collection of paintings, sculptures and prints. The pieces in each gallery are arranged in an intentional order.

            In Room 9 of the museum there are paintings on each wall and a couple of small sculptures in the middle. The pieces in the room seem to circle along the topic of history, mainly the life of Jesus Christ. There are paintings of  Christ as a baby being nurtured by his mother, there is one of him being crucified and there are a few of him with his parents and disciples after he has been killed from crucifixion. Although there are paintings of other people, the main point of this room seems to be the celebration of Christ’s life.

            The paining that drew me in the most was The Lamentation by Jan Provoost. The painting shows the scene on a hill right after Christ has been taken off of the cross. Joseph is supporting the dead body of christ. John, an apostle of Christ, is supporting Mary who is hysterically crying. There is another girl on the right of Christ on her knees praying. Behind the scene there is a man inside a little opening of the hill who appears to be preparing a tomb. At the far right side of the painting there is a city which appears to be at the bottom of the hill. They brought Christ from the city up to the hill and crucified him.

            Provoost did a great job making the painting appear very life like. For example in the painting Christ is shirtless and his chest and his stomach both look very realistic. Another impressive detail about this paining is how Provoost shows the emotion of the characters in the painting. Everyone in the painting is crying, but Provoost does not show that by painting tears, but by making the outside of the character’s eyes red showing that they have been crying. I thought this was a very cool way of showing the character’s emotions and would be much more effective than painting in tears.

            As for the museum as a whole I think we can make the inference that Sterling and Francis appreciated all types of art work. From the beautiful landscape paintings, to the sculptures and to the paintings about historical events, it is obvious that the Clarks enjoyed a wide variety of work. The work in the Clark Museum is extremely impressive and if you are close by Western Massachusetts you should definitely stop by. If you are extremely religious I would certainly recommend going to Room 9 and taking a look at some of the pieces at the different times in Christ’s life.   

                

Come See Jesus by Coby Goodrich

Come See Jesus 

Deep in the mountains just outside the distant land of Vermont, a small town offers a wealth of artistic talent and (somewhat creepy) character. On a rainy March 16^th day, the drowsy Critic Crew arrived on sight in Williamstown at the Clark Museum. Morale remained high, but the hot tub had definitely taken its toll on the energy of the crew. A lovely lady of a tour guide led us on a brief tour of the museum, and then we were released to explore. The Clark Museum is the collection of Sterling and Francine Clark, who spent the wealth of their family collecting paintings and other works of art. 

The majority of the paintings in the museum were still life and nature scenes, but one small gallery held a collection of religious paintings. One of these paintings was called “Virgin and Child with John the Baptist” by Sandro Botticelli and Studio. The painting was done in a gold circular frame, which relates to the time period in which it was painted. The circular frame also compliments the smooth edges and faces of the characters in the painting. The characters pictured are the Virgin Mary, young John Baptist, and baby Jesus. The painting was done with oil paints and a vast stretch of green hills and a river in the background. The Virgin Mary is standing and holding her baby, while young John the Baptist prays by her side. Her face shows a calm and tender emotion as she gazes at her baby, who is clinging to her hair. Almost attached to each of the heads of each person are circular discs. It is unclear what the discs are supposed to be, however they look like halos and give the painting a more sacred feel because of it. The sun also appears to be rising because the light is a pale yellow, and the sky is a lighter blue than black, meaning the sun is coming up. 

I would recommend seeing this painting to any religious person interested in art, as it is also part of a gallery containing religious artwork and could be more interesting to a religious viewer. The museum as a whole is very complete and full of good artwork and presentation. It should be visited by anyone looking to view good artwork. 

Dark and Light by Anna Duffy

            It’s not just two horses fighting; it’s more than that. I recently attended the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute or “The Clark”, an art museum located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The piece I found most interesting there is a French painting, done by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). This painting is titled, “Two Horses Fighting in a Stormy Landscape” and was created in 1828. This name is very accurate, as the painting is literally two horses, a grey and a bay, fighting with each other in a stormy setting. However, you can see by reading the description and looking at it closer, it is more than just the obvious.

            Eugène Delacroix uses nature in “Two Horses Fighting in a Stormy Landscape” to beautifully show something that has always been relevant in society. Delacroix, along with many other famous early nineteenth-century European artists, would sometimes use animals in their work to suggest basic aspects of human nature. In this particular piece, the artist used horse combat to symbolize human hostility between good and evil. You can see this when looking at the colors of the two horses; one is light while the other is dark. The light colored one, the grey, represents the force of good, as it is a brighter and a happier color. The dark colored one, the bay, represents the force of evil, as it is a dimmer and a sadder color. Good and evil human beings do not get along most of the time, which is something that has always been pertinent in humanity, and exactly what Eugène Delacroix was trying to depict in “Two Horses Fighting in a Stormy Landscape”.

            Eugène Delacroix uses animals in “Two Horses Fighting in a Stormy Landscape” to stunningly display something that has constantly been significant in civilization. He uses horses and their colors to show how people that are good and people that are evil do not get along, which is something that has continuously been relevant. I definitely recommend checking out this painting, as it could be relatable to you and is also a gorgeous painting to look at.

           

The Piano I Am Saving My Money For by Theresa Rauh

When the elaborate case of this Steinway piano was displayed in London in 1885, the press called it “splendid”, “remarkable” and “superb”. The piano I am talking about is not a normal piano, which I have to admit is also already really pretty, but no, this piano is more a piece of art than anything else and it seems to be too special to actually play on it. Art and music are connected in one piece. The space around the piano seems to be captivated by its beauty. It has lavish materials and decorative flourishes. On the sides there are fine, difficult carvings, covered with different colors of wood. On the front of the piano, above the keyboards, there is a beautiful image of a roman scene, woman and men standing in a temple, and even the names of Apollo and the Muses are inlaid on the lid. On the top of it there are five circles, with Greek letters, describing five arts theatre, painting, architecture, dance and carving. This is another thing I really like it brings everything together in some way. All these arts are so different, but it shows, that they are connected and similar in some way, it seems to carry a message of everything belonging together somehow, maybe this message goes even beyond arts… ? The piano’s story is pretty long, so many people before us saw it’s beauty and could enjoy it’s probably incredible sound (if it sounds like it looks like…), it was placed in many different places until it finally came to the museum. At one time it was used in Broadway shows, at another it stood in the lobby and people were not only using it as an instrument and piece, they were sitting, leaning and drinking on it… I would have loved to hear the sound of it, the sound of the beautiful, old wooden mallets hitting the strings of this piece of art.  I would have loved to see the keyboards moving. But for that unfortunately I will probably have to wait until I am invited to play, or until I become incredibly rich and can make the museum agree on selling it to me…

But as long as I haven’t reached these goals I will definitely keep the memory of this astonishing piece of art.

Typical Art Museum by Ebie Quinn

My experience with the Clark Museum was pretty so-so. It is located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It became open to the public in 1955.  As a museum, it was fine, it had many fascinating and pretty pieces of art, but as a viewer I wasn’t as engaged as I wished to be. This might be as a result of visiting more modern museums, because in contrast this museum kind of fell flat. I’m not trying to dissuade you from seeing it, in fact quite the opposite. I think you should go see it for yourself, form your own opinion, prove me wrong! It has many great pieces of art and I’m sure there are many people who would appreciate it, and I certainly appreciated parts of it. Overall though, it felt kind of bland.

            The Clark Museum has a pretty extensive history which is a featured and discussed at length in the museum. I found the history to actually be quite interesting. The museum was founded by Sterling Clark. Clark went on an expedition to China in 1908, was introduced to the world of collecting art in Paris in 1910, and married Francine Clary in 1919. Sterling and Francine began collecting lots of American and European art, including prints and drawings, sculpture, decorative arts, and paintings. Most of the artwork they collected is French, and there is a lot of impressionist paintings.

            I was assigned to look at a room filled with all glassware. The glassware didn’t particularly appeal to me, I looked it over but to me it seemed to belong in a kitchen not a museum. There were two paintings tucked away on the sides of the rooms and I did enjoy those. The painting I liked the best was called “The Suitor”. It depicted a women in a beautiful flowing white dress standing at her door. The room she is in is very fancy and nice. It has a decorated table with beautiful white flowers sitting on top of it. Behind the flowers and table, there is a long mirror and the reflections rather blurry, but there are many colors, the most prominent being yellow. The wall is decorated with some sort of design and overall the room feels very classy and expensive. The door the women is looking at is cracked open and it is very blurry but you can see a man on his knees, kissing the women's hand. The whole picture is blurred and it gives off a sort of dreamy feeling. The man is the most blurred, and at first glance, he is not even visible. There is no description of the painting, just the title, “The Suitor”. The artist is Gaston de Latouche, and the painting is oil on panel. I really like this picture because it feels so simple and dream-like. It captured my attention for a while, and was just generally fun to look at.

            So, yes, overall the museum was pretty run of the mill for me, but there were certainly many wonderful pieces of art to view and appreciate. Give it a chance, especially if you are into art or museums in general.

What? By: Emily Pisacreta

           I’m going to be completely honest, I watched the entire 80 minutes of A Rite, and I still have no idea what happened. But, if I’m being completely honest, I was okay with that. When the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company took the stage at Williams College on March 17^th, 2015, I knew I was in for a night of theater that I have never experienced before. The two groups came together to examine the music, dance and consequential riot that ensued after Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was first performed in Paris in 1913.

Now, I could try to describe the plot to you, but I truly have no idea what the plot was. In simplest terms, the dancers danced to the music originally from Rite of Spring, with added elements of the actors giving monologues as different characters loosely related to Rite of Spring. Ellen Lauren, for example, was an actress from SITI Company, she portrayed a character almost like a professor; donned in a blue polka dot dress, she was there to help us understand the music and the riot. Her monologues, which occurred in between periods of dancing, explained the construction of the music, and the audience reactions in a very high pitched, piercing voice. Meanwhile, Steven Duff Webber wore a suit, and with a powerful presence reminded us of the passage of time. His monologue really got to me, to the point where I was thinking about it two days later, trying to really understand it. He taught us that, if you are moving, and someone is standing still, the two of you will have perceptions of “now” that are slightly different. He did this to put into perspective how this event that happened 100 years ago is still important to us today, as time is not moving in one direction, it is all around us. In these moments, the actors really showed every characteristic of their roles, which is what make their acting so strong and engaging. I was interested in the monologues and the characters presented, although half the time I had no idea what they were even talking about, and what it had to do with the piece I was watching. I just liked listening to the stories, and watching these actors, who were so committed to everything they were doing. I was especially amazed at how into the dancing the actors got. Of course professional dancers did the bulk of the dancing, but the actors were right there with them, moving and sweating profusely. Whether it was dancing or acting, the actors dove into everything they were doing and really did an amazing job portraying their characters.

The set was effortlessly beautiful as well. It was a simple black stage with only white lights to illuminate it. The curtain in the background moved every once in a while to change the mood of the scene. For example, in the last scene, a soldier-like character portrayed by Will Bond ran back and forth behind a curtain that was cut into strips that hung across the upstage area. It made the scene more mysterious and a little bit darker than it already was, if that is possible. It added to the desperation I felt while watching him run back and forth. The only props used in the entire performance were stools that the performers sat on, danced with, and threw around, and a piano that was rolled onto the stage to be played and sat on. The set was simple and, for a piece like this, it needed to be. The dancing and acting on stage was extremely complex and difficult to understand. If there had been a bunch of props or complicated technical elements, we would have been even more confused than we already were. With the simple set, the focus was on the performance and trying to understand the piece.

Finally, the dancing. I absolutely loved the dancing. What I loved about the dancing was that I could tell that all of the dancers on stage were miraculously well trained. They went into splits and did double pirouettes when the choreography called for it, but these dancers knew that that they were not there to show us how amazingly technical they were. The choreography was very primitive, with lots of second positions, flexed feet, jumps and moves that were not supposed to be pretty. So many times dancers get caught in trying to make their work look good, but the dancers in this piece knew that this was not what this piece was about. This piece was about riots and sacrifice and instincts, and nothing about that is pretty. My absolute favorite piece of dance was a sequence of lifts that the company repeated a few times. There were some lifts that involved the whole group, where someone would be dragged across the stage. Others where two people would engage in more traditional girl and guy lifts that you might see in a more traditional dance setting. Each and every lift and move in the sequence was seamless, while still being hard-hitting, primitive and exciting to watch. For me, the dancing was absolutely the highlight of the show. And, again being completely honest, I went home and watched far too many YouTube videos of the Bill T. Jones/ Arine Zane Dance Company’s performances. I would go back and watch A Rite again just to watch the choreography, which was so new and out of the box, that I could watch it a million times and find something new that I loved each time .

This piece. I could never describe it as anything but really, really weird. But sometimes weird, out there, incomprehensible work is the most fun to watch. While I did not come out of the piece with any idea of what the plot was, I came out curious and was still thinking about the piece the next morning. This piece was definitely hard at times when things got really weird and all I could do was try and figure out what the heck they were doing. But overall, I still want to go back and watch it over and over until I can understand every little nuance and every intention behind it. This piece is definitely difficult at some points, so if you looking for a fun, easy night of theater or do not like being confused, this is not the piece for you. But if you are looking for a piece that you will be thinking about for the next six months, and still never totally understand, then A Rite is the piece for you.

                                                               

The Power of Shared Ideas by Lilly Harvey

Walking through Mass Moca can only be described as an adventure. Complete with bridges, strange rooms, and mysterious tunnels, everything about Mass Moca is an experience.  Mass Moca features unique contemporary art, which is all displayed in an old industrial building.  By simply wandering through Mass Moca you can discover all sorts of unique artwork.   While all of the art is contemporary, a large variety of pieces are displayed. Some of the is work extremely large and impressive but there are also smaller pieces of work displayed as well.   When I initially looked at some of the art I have to admit I was most often confused more than anything else.  However, when I took the time to think about what I was seeing I found deeper meaning in each piece. 

There was one piece in particular that really made me think.  The piece was located in a smaller gallery, which could be easily missed if you weren’t looking carefully.  The gallery featured six artists, all looking at the space of a library and what that means.  The artists investigated a library as a place where people can share ideas through books.  The gallery also delves into the sharing of ideas in a day and age where social media is such a prevalent way to share our thoughts.

While there were several pieces in this gallery that intrigued me, “Marginalia,” by Jonathon Gitelson really made me think about libraries in a different way.  The piece displayed markings and ephemera that have been left behind in library books. This includes letters, newspaper clippings, polaroid pictures, dried flowers, faded pictures, and wrinkled maps.   I was completely fascinated by these pieces of themselves that people had left behind in library books.  I found myself reading all the letters and thinking about the people who wrote them.  There was something intriguing about the ambiguity of these objects and the stories that they held. 

There was one letter in particularly that I found myself reading over and over, thinking about the person behind these words.  The letter was written on a yellowing, crumpled up piece of paper with a green crayon.  The letter was from a younger child, judging from the messy handwriting and spelling, to his mom.  He was complaining about how his mom always made him eat healthy food, which made him mad.  He also complained about how he didn’t like that his mom always made him go to school.  He went on to describe everything else that he didn’t like about her but at the end he messily scrawled, “but its okay because I love her.” As I read these words, I could almost picture this small, chubby cheeked kid clumsily scribbling these words on this piece of paper. While this letter told a story it also left a lot of questions.  When was this written? How did it end up in a library book? Why did this kid write a letter to his mom? How long ago was this written? How old is this kid now? While part of me wanted to know the answers to these questions another part was perfectly happy leaving them unanswered.  The mystery that these objects held was part of what made them so special. 

This piece perfectly sums up what makes Mass Moca a notable experience.  While the work can seem initially strange, it really causes you to think.  “Marginalia,” really made me think about the importance of a place like in a library in a time with e-books and kindles.  There were many other pieces that made points that were just as intriguing, but this one just happened to be the piece that spoke to me the most.  If you are looking for a unique experience that will make you think I would highly recommend Mass Moca!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entering a another world by Theresa Rauh

When we entered this museum I knew from the very beginning that this museum was totally different than all the other museums we had visited before. The Mass MoCA museum in Western Massachusetts is a huge, old storehouse and factory building full of 100000 sq. feet of incredible contemporary art. Some of these things could never be displayed in the traditional museum/gallery setting. 27000 sq. feet of Mass Moca are occupied with wall drawings of Sol LeWitt from 1968-2007. All these wall drawings are painted differently. The drawings are painted directly on the wall. The exhibit is also special because Sol LeWitt didn’t do the paintings himself but gave directions to his assistance on how to paint them. It is very impressive to see that all the paintings have the exact same style within the exhibitions, although they were executed by different assistance. The first paintings were executed graphite, which are painted very fine.  Later Sol LeWitt executed them in colored pencil and finally in chromatically rich washes of India ink, bright acrylic paint, and other materials. With these materials Sol LeWitt painted large area shapes and patterns. It was interesting to see the enormous differences between his earlier and later works and how is style of painting changed over time.

But the wall paintings are not the only incredible thing about Mass MoCA. We also visited an exhibition by Lee Boroson, called Plastic Fantastic. This exhibition consists of four components: Moisture Content, Depp Current, Uplift, and Subterranean Set. Moisture Content consists of sheer fabric draperies and transparent and translucent crystalline forms arranged to create passageways. It is like moving through shifting fog. First you stumble through the occasional clear view through the haze, but then you lose your view completely when entering the veil, which is set up creating passageways and you feel like you are lost between all these layers. After entering Moisture current we arrived at Deep Current. It is a wooden decking, with a big hole containing white little balls. The entire deck is surrounded, by a railing above the deck. There is a visible machine, which makes the balls fall down sporadically. Deep current is supposed to be a referential ode to Niagra Falls. I think this connection was a little too abstract though. Just past deep current we entered uplift, which is a dark room with blown up plastic bags tied together. Overall it looks like a dark forest, with trees made out of plastic bags. It reminded me in a way of the forest in Snow White when she is escaping the bad queen in the Disney movie. From this dark room, we came in the Subterranean Set, which is a field of hand blown glass shapes containing colored lava like fluids, that move around within the glass lamps. They are located on green, carpeted floor that looks like grass. Both Uplift and Subterranean Set present earth and fire components to the exhibition. This whole piece of art is something I had never seen before and I really liked the reference to nature and that the message it carried about a controlled version of it. Everybody can interpret the message in his own ways. This museum is not like other museums in any way. It is more like entering another world. It is like traveling to an unknown planet, you would have never dreamt of and I would totally recommend going there and making this experience yourself.

 

A Thousand Little Stories by Emily Pisacreta

Bibliothecaphilia: an abnormal appetite for libraries. Well, that’s the definition according to the six artists commissioned to create this piece of work. Confined to a small gallery in the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) in North Adams, Massachusetts Bibliothecaphilia is a small yet exciting exhibit centered around libraries and books. These artists wanted to explore the appeal of libraries when we have the Internet and eBooks just a few seconds away. It was inside this exhibit where I found my favorite piece of work. It was not a huge piece of complicated art, or even one totally created by paid artists. However, the idea behind it captured my attention, and I spent more time thinking about and looking at this piece than any other in the museum.            

Jonathan Gitelson’s Marginalia was my favorite piece in the entire museum. It was simply a clear glass case containing different pieces of paper found in books. There were love letters, pictures, bookmarks, playing cards, grocery lists, doodles and just about anything else you could write on a little piece of paper and stick inside a book. This exhibit captivated me, I think because it connected me to people I had never met before. I spent almost a half hour reading all of the letters and lists and looking at the photographs. Some of them made me laugh out loud; like this one note a kid wrote to his mom about how much he hates eating vegetables and how he will starve himself if she tries to feed him anymore. The note was written in shaky pencil, the word “mom” was spelled wrong, and on the bottom he drew a big frowny-face. Others notes broke my heart; like a letter written in blue ink on yellow paper, written by someone contemplating suicide. It was so well written and desperate, that I just wanted to go help this person. And I think that is why I loved this piece so much. By looking at their pictures or reading their notes, I felt connected to people I have never met before. I felt like I was right there with them. I got a look into the private lives of people, and I was linked to them in a way I never expected. It is an amazing piece of art, especially since it was so simple. I spent so much time reading and looking at this piece, and I could have stayed even longer. It was like watching a movie or reading a book, I was captivated by each individual story and person’s life, and was transported into their world. It was as if for the time I was reading their letter, I knew who they were.

As you can probably tell, I loved this piece of art. Marginalia, along with the entire exhibit reminded me of the beauty of libraries, a place where we can be alone, but connected to each other through the books sitting on the shelf. The entire exhibit was certainly thought provoking and fun to ponder. Bibliothecaphilia will be on display until January 1^st, 2016, so if you have a chance to visit, go check it out. It is an amazing exhibit that really compliments an already awesome museum.

Mass MoCA is a dynamic and fun place to just hang out in while you appreciate some cool, new, contemporary art. I got lost in rooms filled with huge sculptures and small paintings. It has art that I have never seen the likes of before. It was certainly a different type of museum and one that I am glad I had the chance to visit and explore. I would definitely recommend visiting if you’d like to experience art in a new and exciting way.

Experience Reading (without actually having to read) By Ebie Quinn

            The MASS MoCA is my favorite museum experience to date. It is completely modern and features absolutely no historic pictures. MASS MoCA’s history spans for over two hundred years. It has been around through economic, industrial, and architectural development that has been a part of industrialism in New England. It is approximately 13 acres and it is made up of 19th century factory buildings. MASS MoCA is located in North Adams, Massachusetts.

            MASS MoCA is unique and interactive, there is no potential for boredom. Each exhibit is in a different medium and fills up the space differently. Some exhibits include Bibliothecaphilia, Plastic Fantastic, Paper Chorus, It’s only Human, and The Octagon Room. Each exhibit attempts to convey different ideas about humans, society, and nature. Many exhibits contain 3d works of art. I found the exhibits to be fantastic, although I had difficulty following the flow of the museum. It might have just been the way I walked through, but there didn’t appear to be an obvious traceable pattern. But as I said, that could have just been me. Despite the lack of fluidity overall, there was a lot of fluidity in each exhibit. The messages were usually pretty clear, and when they weren’t, the labels helped to explain things.

            I really appreciated a piece in Bibliothecaphilia in particular. The goal of bibliothecaphilia was to explore whether or not the physical and philosophical spaces of libraries remain relevant. It asked questions l

ike, what qualities define a library, and can libraries exist online, or be made up of things other than books? I liked a 3d “scene” or installation created by Jena Priebe. It explored the relationship between the reader, the place they are reading in, and the book itself.  It consisted of a blue arm chair, a foot rest, a lamp, a rug and a book. The blue chair with the foot rest is set up on top of the rug and next to the brightly colored lamp. It looks like an average room. On the foot rest a book sits lying open. Out of it, the pages erupt everywhere, unfurling in all directions. There are long strings of pages that seen to defy the laws of physics, curling up in the air and back down. The entire scene is encapsulated by the pages. Her work blurs the boundary between the physical book i.e. the pages, and the reader’s mental experience of the text. When reading, the contents of the story literally take over your mind, becoming larger than life. This piece portrayed books as an escape from reality, the stories overflowing out of the books filled with ideas. This exhibit spoke to my personal love of reading, and was a testament to my experience as a reader. I’m sure it resonated with many other people’s experiences as well.

            I found that this museum was very visually interesting and thought provoking and I highly recommend it to people of all ages. Even children can appreciate the colors and textures and some of the less complex ideas that Mass MoCa has to offer. If given the chance, defiantly make sure to check it out.

Idiotic Fascination by Vanessa Hsiao

"It’s much more than a contemporary art museum!” I explained to my brother on the phone with anger. I was totally ready to defend the museum. I was talking about the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, or Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA. I visited on March 16, 2015 and was especially drawn to Lee Boroson’s Plastic Fantastic.

Boroson’s work at Mass MoCA contains four components: Moisture Content, Deep Current, Uplift, and Subterranean Set. At the Deep Current, a machine on the ceiling released white plastic balls that fall straight down within the restrain of a net. The balls fall into a brown square box with a slanted bottom and a little opening in which the balls go in to. The balls then go through a metal pipe that goes up to the machine on the ceiling. The machine closes up the hole after the balls are released. This cycle happens about every three minutes. Though this piece of work silly and idiotic, it is actually fascinating. The white balls falling actually reminisce a waterfall. The theme of this collection is plastic but yet, it shows a different representation of nature.

The MASS MoCA is a great museum with interactive and unique art. MASS MoCA is definitely worth going if you’re interested in seeing more than an oil painting on a canvas, and Lee Boroson’s work is a good representation of that.

A Self-Portrait That Will Draw You In by James Finneral

            Last Friday we visited the oldest of the Harvard Art Museums, the Fogg Museum. The Fogg Museum opened in 1896 and is run by Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There is a wide variety of art in the museum ranging from objects from ancient times to paintings that were created within the last century. A painting that caught my eye instantly when I entered a gallery on the first floor was Self-Portrait in Tuxedo by Max Beckmann. Beckmann was born in 1884 and worked in many different mediums such as painting, sculpture and printmaking. He was known for the many self-portraits he created in the early 1900’s. Beckmann created this particular self-portrait in 1927, but did not open it to the public until 1928.

            Beckmann uses oil on canvas for this painting and uses thick paint which creates large planes of color. The image consists of Beckmann in a tuxedo staring directly at the viewer. He has a very blank, but serious facial expression. He appears to be in a dark restaurant or cafe and has a cigarette in his hand. There is a window in the background, but it is completely fogged giving the portrait an even more dim feeling. Beckmann’s pose is very interesting where his left arm is bent and is holding the cigarette while his right hand is against his hip. This pose looks a little awkward, but it also makes Beckmann look more serious.

            The impressive aspect about this painting is Beckmann’s use of color to create shadows. The most obvious example is in his face where Beckmann used white on one side of his face to show some sort of light shining on him and then uses a type of brown towards the middle of his face to show a shadow. Another example is his hands where the back of his hand is white and his fingers are a shade of brown. The use of shadow Beckmann provides gives the self-portrait an even more of an intense feeling. I also enjoy how this portrait fits right in with the style of his other self-portraits. After researching Beckmann I realized he has done many self portraits at many different locations. They all contain the same theme of him never smiling. From his paintings that I have seen I would infer that Beckmann was not a very cheerful person. I enjoy how he is not afraid to show his own personality through his work. I recommend stopping by the Fogg Museum and I guarantee this painting will draw you in.      

Mr. Bartley’s: A Delicious and Unique Experience By Lilly Harvey

Mr. Bartley’s Hamburger Restaurant in Harvard Square, famous for their delicious gourmet burgers, is a classic American burger joint. Mr. Bartley’s has been open since 1960, when Joe and Joan Barber took over a small convenience store.  They had one goal from the start: to perfect the hamburger.  55 years later, three generations of Bartley’s have been selling the perfect burger to thousands of eager costumers.  On March 12, 2015 I enjoyed my first experience at this quintessential American Diner.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into Mr. Bartley’s was the incredible atmosphere.  The dining room has the same feeling as a dorm room, with wacky posters, bumper stickers and signs covering the walls.  The room was buzzing with the sizzling of the griddle, the hum of conversation, and the sharp ding of the bell as an order was finished.  A friendly host quickly ushered us over to our table, where we sat down and began looking through the menu.  As I looked through the menu, I began laughing, astonished by the creative names.  Instead of simply describing the burgers, each burger was named after a person who is well known in pop culture. There were burgers named after Beyoncé, Barack Obama, Tom Brady, and Kim Kardashian.  The creative names made ordering a more distinctive and fun experience. 

I decided on “The Gronk,” a burger with cheddar cheese, bacon, tomato lettuce and red onions with fries.  While I chose a more traditional burger, there were plenty of burgers on the menu that had a unique spin on them.  There were burgers with eggs, mac and cheese, pineapple, maple syrup and a variety of other wacky ingredients.  I had high expectations for my burger, considering the esteemed reputation of Mr. Bartley’s but after my first bite, it was clear that my burger would be anything but disappointing.  Everything about the burger was delicious and comforting, with the melted cheddar cheese and salty bacon.  The crispy fries and fresh Raspberry Lime Rickey I ordered completed my meal perfectly. 

          Mr. Bartley’s in Harvard Square is a must try, not only because of the delicious food but the unique atmosphere as well.  Everything about this restaurant was an enjoyable experience for me, from the funny posters, friendly wait staff, and delectable comfort food.   If you’re ever in Harvard Square, or even if it is a little bit out of your way I would highly recommend trying a burger at Mr. Bartley’s!

Splatter Paint Makes a Splash by Ebie Quinn

            The contemporary art in the Fogg museum first appears to be simplistic but once you delve into the descriptions and consider the artist’s thought process, the art becomes the most thought provoking in the whole museum. The Fogg Museum is the oldest of Harvard University's art museums. It was opened to the public first in1896. The Fogg joins the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum as part of the Harvard Art Museums. Currently it features a contemporary art exhibit. I felt myself being immediately drawn to the whole exhibit. The old historic pictures were getting boring, and these pieces of art seemed new and meaningful. I took a first walk through admiring the art. I didn’t begin reading the descriptions until the end, but once I did I was pleasantly surprised. By reading about the artists intentions, the pieces of art I was witnessing gained a whole different dynamic. The pictures seemed random but in fact that were speaking about many aspects of society. Immediately I wanted to walk back through again and read each description in an attempt to take the art to the next level.

            The painting that stood out to me the second time, was one I hadn’t necessarily been impressed with the first time through. It was long and thin and took up most of the wall. It was full of many colors going every which way, circling around each other. To me, at first, it looked like the splatter paint picture a child might make. Still, there was defiantly something intriguing about this picture, so I read the description. The artist was named Jackson Pollock and the piece was called  One: Number 2, 1950. I learned that the painting was created through the “poured” technique. This technique involves laying a large canvas out on the floor, and then from above dripping, pouring, and flinging paint at the canvas. The looping, tangled lines, alternatively forceful and delicate, represented his highly physical creative process and served as a record of his engagement. To me this showed the patience and effort it took to produce this work that looked so simple. He had to maintain a balance between chaos and control and he did this quite effectively. The picture also shows Pollock’s interest in the different properties of paints. The paint has many different weights and viscosity’s, it bubbled and cracked and sunk into the canvas in many different ways. Pollock explored the paint and the image of the paint in a very controlled way, while also managing to convey spontaneity, which is a feat that I certainly appreciate.

            The piece and many others were minimalistic and generally visually interesting. The descriptions heighten the experience and leave you thinking about different aspects of modern society. I highly recommend this to anyone with a little free time, for you will surely enjoy examining this modern art.

 

Mindless Entertainment by Ryan LaPointe

On Thursday, March 17, we went to see Huntington Theatre Company's The Colored Museum, performed at the Boston University Theatre.  Written by George C. Wolfe, The Colored Museum is divided into eleven “exhibits” that have their own separate plots and characters.  These exhibits include “Cookin' with Aunt Ethel,” “The Gospel According to Miss Roj,” and “The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play.”

The performance had the air of a high-budget production.  It took place on a stage within a stage; a room with stark white walls and a patterned, stone-esque floor had been constructed onstage.  This room was ringed by an equally white proscenium that connected seamlessly to the proscenium of the venue.  Most of the back wall of this room was on top of a massive rotating circle in the floor, and whenever there was a scene change—or “exhibit” change—the wall section and the floor in front of it simply rotated, sending the current set and props behind the wall, and bringing new ones out in front.  The room also had two floor-to-ceiling wall sections, located downstage left and downstage right, that could silently slide open like elevator doors.  Occasionally, these would admit moving platforms and museum display cases that would glide onto the stage by some kind of mechanism, sometimes turning to face the audience and stopping downstage center, and other times continuing across the stage and exiting though the other doorway.

My favorite exhibit of the performance was “Cookin' With Aunt Ethel.”  This scene was themed as a cooking show, and was almost entirely a single musical number in which Aunt Ethel described how to cook a pot of Negroes.  I enjoyed the great singing of Capathia Jenkins, who played Aunt Ethel, but I also enjoyed the exhibit because the lyrics made a point about the bringing of Africans to the United States to be slaves.

As the show progressed, the each scene's connection to the overall theme of the production became less and less apparent.  Near the beginning of the show, each exhibit made a clear point about African American culture or stereotypes; however, by the end of the show, I found myself straining to see these connections.  The performance turned into pointless entertainment, with the deeper meaning lost on me.

I found this performance of The Colored Museum to be good entertainment, but the connection to the greater purpose of the piece was lost on me during some parts of the performance.  I tentatively recommend this production to those looking for mindless entertainment.

Throwback Comedy by Coby Goodrich

            The Color Museum was explosive, well acted, but only funny at the beginning. With moral high, we traveled to see this performance on March 12 in Boston. The Color Museum’s goal was to showcase African-American racial stereotypes through uncomfortable comedy.  It did this with a cast of six talented members, in nine different skits. The skits ranged from casual everyday events, such as cooking and flying (on a plane), to more abstract ideas and explosive musicals.

            The acting was very good throughout the performance. Each character used lots of energy in their voice and expressive body language. One different thing about this performance is that in some scenes, the characters appeared on stage standing completely still. So still in fact, that at first they appeared to be statues. The beginning of the play was killer. It opened with a stewardess giving directions on a “slave plane.” The racial stereotypes were clear and uncomfortably funny, and the actress did a very good job delivering the scene. A cooking scene that was equally as uncomfortably funny followed this scene, and the stereotypes were still clear. After these first two scenes however, the stereotypes and jokes became vey unclear, in part because I was too young to understand the old references. As the performance progressed, the music became louder and the scenes more confusing.

            I would recommend this play if you are looking for something more on the comedy side, but be prepared to feel a little uncomfortable. I also believe that to enjoy the performance one should be older in age because the majority of the racial stereotype references are older and therefore less clear to younger viewers.