TWO UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
April 8–14, 2018
and
September 23–29, 2018
both at Project Art, Cummington, MA
Join internationally acclaimed sculptor Sergei Isupov for a week-long intensive workshop exploring the sculpted form in clay, the painted surface, and development of a personal narrative. Click for more.
July 14–18, 2018
Studio Asuurkeraamika
Tallinn, Estonia
Studio Asuurkeraamika is a ceramics centre located in a medieval tower that once guarded Tallinn’s Old Town. There are five floors with studio, classroom, exhibition place, and gallery. All are linked by spiraling limestone staircases.
Information and registration form are available on Project Art’s website. Click for more.
FERRIN CONTEMPORARY’S SQUARE SHOP
Browse our eclectic selection of small works by resident and gallery artists and our diverse collection of books and catalogs.
Presenting newly available American studio pottery from private collections and artists studios.
Pincus: Channeling Josiah Wedgwood
lecture at NYC&GF with Peter Pincus
Friday, January 19, 12pm
Artist Peter Pincus speaks about his research into the Wedgwood Collections at Birmingham Museum of Art and how conversations with curator Anne Forschler of the Birmingham Museum of Art are being incorporated into his new work and teaching.
Nov 12, 2017—Feb 25, 2018
Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
Ferrin Contemporary artists Sergei Isupov, Jason Walker, Kurt Weiser, and Beth Lipman are among the diverse group of fifty-seven artists interpreting the Sabbath — the day of rest — from their own unique perspectives and engaging with its contemporary relevance. All work is three-dimensional as artists explore the theme through ceramic, wood, and glass.
Highlights from Sergei Isupov: Hidden Messages, originally shown at Erie Art Museum, are now on view at Ferrin Contemporary, 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA. The exhibit includes one of Isupov’s larger-than-life figural sculptures with smaller works blown across a full wall of wind and shadows. Hidden Messages is available for exhibition at other galleries and museums. Click to view more. Click to inquire.
Illustrated Sculpture Workshop with Sergei Isupov
September 17–23, 2017
at Project Art, Cummington, MA
This week-long intensive workshop explores the sculpted form in clay, the painted surface, and development of a personal narrative. The workshop will combine hands-on demonstrations, one-on-one instruction, and lectures. Click for more. Click to register.
This towering sculpture was produced by Isupov in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Skælskør, Denmark, in July 2017.
Image courtesy Pricilla Mouritzen. Click for more.
Ferrin Contemporary at 1315 MASS MoCA Way in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA
JOIN US!
Celebrate the art and artists in Building 13 at MASS MoCA. View ongoing and new exhibitions, meet artists and see work in process in The Studios at MASS MoCA, and browse the gallery and art library at The Artist Book Foundation.
Thursday, August 24, 2017, 5–7pm Building 13, 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA
Beer, wine, and refreshments will be served
1st FLOOR
CYNTHIA-REEVES
Ferrin Contemporary
2nd FLOOR
The Studios at MASS MoCA, a program of Assets for Artists
The Artist Book Foundation
FEATURING
• CYNTHIA-REEVES: Thomas Jackson — exhibition and artist working on-site Click for more.
• Ferrin Contemporary: Sergei Isupov — Selections from Hidden Messages, ceramic sculpture Click for more.
• The Artist Book Foundation: Mary Sipp Green — Summer Vistas and Atmospheric abstracts, autographed copies of Green’s beautiful monograph, “Every Hour of the Light” Click for more.
• The Studios at MASS MoCA by Assets for Artists: Open Studios Click for more.
• Art in the Building 13 Common Area Giselle Hicks — tile painting produced at Arts / Industry Kohler Co., former resident artist at Project Art, courtesy of Ferrin Contemporary Yechel Gagnon — custom-made and hand carved plywood, courtesy of CYNTHIA-REEVES
• The Chalet: Bella — live music in MASS MoCA’s riverside beer garden
Bar opens at 5:30pm; events begin around 8pm. Click for more.
A complex of beautifully restored 19th-century mill buildings, which includes the museum galleries and multi-venue center for the performing arts, the MASS MoCA campus is a constellation of creative artists, innovative programs, cultural institutions, businesses, and lovers of great art, food, and drink who come together to infuse the historic factory setting with vibrant culture and commerce.
Building 13 is located at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, at the south end of the museum campus.
Join us in the gallery at Ferrin Contemporary
Connoisseurship: Buy, Sell, Give on Sunday, July 10, 2016, 3pm
1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA Click here to RSVP.
CLAY IS HOT! — CONNOISSEURSHIP: BUY, SELL, GIVE is a moderated panel discussion among art professionals and collectors presented in the Ferrin Contemporary gallery at 1315 MASS MoCA Way in North Adams, on Sunday, July 10, 2016, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Moderator Leslie Ferrin will lead panelists in a conversation-style discussion and exchange with the audience about issues surrounding changes taking place in and impacts on public and private collections. This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested.
Ferrin explained “We are in the midst of ‘The Great De-accession,’ the result of a generation of baby boomer artists and collectors downsizing simultaneously. Starting with the question of what to do ‘when the kids don’t want it,’ those who are in the midst of this dilemma are leading the way and finding successful approaches to shifting of collections, archives, and libraries. In the process, a by-product is the development of a new generation of collectors, curators, and art professionals who are involved in exploring various strategies to build collections and establish legacies for the artwork of the late 20th and early 21st century.“
The panel will address issues especially relevant to those who wish to sell and give and will discuss the challenges of sharing information about their collections. For many who were born before the computer was a commonly used tool, it is daunting to prepare documentation that establishes provenance and insures their legacy in what is now predominantly a digital world. For those who bought (and sold) at the peak of the market, the results from artwork sold at auctions now can be quite surprising as they create first time public records for living artists and establish new, lower values that are subsequently used in appraisals. While sellers are carefully considering their options, buyers are finding collecting in the 21st century increasingly easy due to the level playing field created by the Internet where access to information and markets are readily found with a Google search.
This conversation about how these trends are impacting each of the panelists and their answers to “what to do when the kids don’t want it” will also be available as a video on YouTube.
THE PANELISTS
The panel will consist of Doug Anderson, art collector; Mark Leach, independent curator and author; Suzanne Ramljak, art historian, author, editor, and independent curator; and Emily Zilber, Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts, MFA Boston.
DOUG ANDERSON
Dale and Doug Anderson began collecting studio glass in the middle of the 1970s. This led to an exploration of the Studio Crafts movement as well as Northwest Coast tribal art and Chinese cultural relics. At the turn of the 21st century, Dale began to collect contemporary photography (primarily Chinese) with an eye attuned to subject matter that both attracts and repels viewers. Dale was the primary collector with Doug playing a supporting role as an activist on behalf of artists through his positions on the boards of Creative Glass Center of America and the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass. As their collection grew and Dale’s interests changed, Doug’s role was to arrange for donations and sales of more than 1,500 works from their collection to 14 museums in the United States and London. Doug and Dale were both members of the Board of Trustees at Pilchuck Glass School for 15 years and co-founded AIDA, the Association of Israel’s Decorative Arts.
MARK LEACH
A native of Pittsfield, Mark Leach is a contemporary arts curator, author, and consultant. He was formerly the Executive Director of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and was the Founding Director of the Mint Museum of Craft & Design. Mr. Leach is a former trustee of the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass and the American Craft Council and served on the Advisory Board of the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Leach has served as curator, essayist, and editor throughout his career. He has held curatorial posts in contemporary art in Arkansas, Montana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Ohio. He has authored many articles for arts publications and published numerous texts featuring individual artists and craft genres. His book Michael Lucero: Sculpture 1976–1995, established this artist as a leader in the field of figural sculpture.
SUZANNE RAMLJAK
Suzanne Ramljak, an art historian, writer, and curator, is currently editor of Metalsmith magazine and curator at the American Federation of Arts, New York. Ramljak was formerly editor of Sculpture magazine and of Glass Quarterly, as well as associate editor of American Ceramics. She has authored several books and catalogues, among them Crafting a Legacy: Contemporary American Crafts in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Unique by Design: Contemporary Jewelry in the Donna Schneier Collection (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Her new book series, Art à la Carte, will launch next year with the first volume, Busted: Contemporary Sculpture Busts. Ramljak has been a contributor to numerous other publications including Objects and Meaning: Readings that Challenge the Norm; Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft, and Design; and Innovation and Change: Ceramics from Arizona State University. Ramljak has worked in the curatorial departments of the Detroit Institute of Arts, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Among the exhibitions she has curated are: “Elie Nadelman: Classical Folk,” “A Disarming Beauty: The Venus de Milo in 20th-Century Art,” and “Seductive Matter.”
EMILY ZILBER
Emily Zilber is the first Ronald L. and Anita C. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She is responsible for the MFA’s contemporary decorative arts program. Prior to joining the MFA, Zilber was Assistant Curator at Cranbrook Art Museum at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She has edited and written for numerous publications; speaks regularly on topics related to 20th and 21st century decorative arts, craft, and design; and is a founding member of the Boston-based consortium The Commonwealth of Craft.
EXPOSED: Heads, Busts, and Nudes is an exhibition of figural ceramic sculpture from 1970 to the present and features masterworks from estates and private collections alongside recent work direct from artist studios.
Bill Rogers, Managing Editor of C-File, reviews RE-Reanimate, Repair, Mend and Meld at Ferrin Contemporary.
“The aesthetics of and philosophical questions surrounding repairs were explored in-depth with RE-Reanimate, Repair, Mend and Meld. The exhibition, originally presented at the New York Ceramics & Glass Fair, explored different inventive ways people have repaired ceramics in the past. It pushes that thread into discussions about repairs that rise above their station and make a work more unique and pleasing. There are even a few works that border on Theseus’ paradox, with some “repairs” being two entirely different plates fused together like a porcelain Frankenstein.”
FERRIN CONTEMPORARY, located on the campus of MASS MoCA, lies in the heart of the beautiful Berkshire Mountains, offers the perfect art vacation destination.
Visit Ferrin Contemporary in the heart of the Berkshires.
FERRIN CONTEMPORARY, located on the campus of MASS MoCA, is in the heart of the Berkshires, about a three-hour drive from New York and Boston. Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, The Clark, galleries, and many great restaurants make the Berkshires the perfect art vacation destination along with the amazing natural beauty of the mountains themselves.
“Since the turn of the 20th century, urban creatives have flocked to the Berkshires—a quiet, mountainous region in Massachusetts—as a fresh air summer retreat. Over the years, these fair-weather tourists have left their mark on the area, establishing a rich assortment of arts institutions and seasonal programs highlighting every conceivable discipline, from theater to sculpture.” — Artsy
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Ferrin Contemporary 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA
. MUSEUMS
The Clark
A 15-minute drive west of Ferrin Contemporary and MASS MoCA, is the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute—recently renovated by Tadao Ando. The permanent collection features European and American paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. The collection is especially rich in French Impressionist and Academic paintings, British oil sketches, drawings, and silver, and the work of American artists Winslow Homer, George Inness, and John Singer Sargent. Click for more.
Williams College Museum of Art
Only a short drive from The Clark, the college town of Williamstown is unexpectedly buzzing each summer thanks to the Williamstown Theatre Festival. These intimate seasonal performances are matched by the school’s impressive art museum. The museum’s mission, “to advance learning through lively and innovative approaches to art for the students of Williams College and communities beyond the campus” means visitors from outside the college are met with a warm welcome. And, there is no admission fee. Click for more.
MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest centers for making and enjoying today’s most evocative art. With vast galleries and a stunning collection of indoor and outdoor performing arts venues, MASS MoCA is able to embrace all forms of art: music, sculpture, dance, film, painting, photography, theater, and new, boundary-crossing works of art that defy easy classification. Click for more.
“A Wall Drawing Retrospective” by Sol Lewitt is worth the trip alone. Click for more. The long-term installation of sculpture and paintings by Anselm Kiefer is housed in a specially repurposed, 10,000 square-foot building at MASS MoCA. Click for more.
MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS
Jacobs Pillow Dance
Jacob’s Pillow Dance is lauded worldwide as a “hub and mecca of dancing” (TIME Magazine), “one of America’s most precious cultural assets” (Mikhail Baryshnikov), and “the dance center of the nation” (The New York Times). “The Pillow” is a treasured 220-acre National Historic Landmark, a recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, and home to America’s longest-running international dance festival. Each year thousands of people from across the U.S. and around the globe visit to experience The Festival with more than 50 dance companies and 200 free performances, talks, and events. Click for more.
Williamstown Theater Festival
Since 1955, the Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought America’s finest actors, directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. Each season is designed to present unique opportunities for artists and audience alike, revisiting classic plays with innovative productions, developing and nurturing bold new plays and musicals, and offering a rich array of accompanying cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night Cabarets, readings, workshops, and educational programs. Click for more.
Tanglewood
Further south, Lenox, Massachusetts, thrives during the summer thanks in part to the legendary Tanglewood Music Festival, which brings acclaimed contemporary classical acts to the rural bandshell. Tanglewood has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Pack a picnic and head to Tanglewood for a starlit night of world-class music. Click for more.
Housed in an airy building on MASS MoCA’s 16-acre campus, this contemporary art gallery is only a short walk from the museums’s front door. A joint venture between Ferrin Contemporary and Cynthia Reeves Gallery, the shared space serves as a flexible platform for both galleries to stage large-scale exhibitions and programming. Our gallery features contemporary ceramic work in themed exhibitions and solo shows.
“Don’t expect local kitsch—the outpost boasts a rotating program of internationally acclaimed talents like Ron Nagle and Betty Woodman.” Kat Herriman, Artsy Editorial
Ferrin Contemporary’s Art Concierge Services
Let us help plan your visit with a curated itinerary. We can help you arrange studio visits, navigate various museum exhibitions and performance offerings, as well as recommend trails and outdoor adventures. Click here to contact us by e-mail. Or give us a call.
Click here to view a sample itinerary for a group of 10 visiting the Berkshires. The tour is filled with art in museums, galleries, and artists’ studios along with live entertainment and good food.
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Book Your Stay Today
Don’t leave your booking until too late. Make your reservations and get the special treatment at PORCHES INN — use the code ARTNA when booking best available rates.
FERRIN CONTEMPORARY, located on the campus of MASS MoCA, is in the heart of the Berkshires, about a three-hour drive from New York and Boston. Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, The Clark, galleries, and many great restaurants make the Berkshires the perfect art vacation destination along with the amazing natural beauty of the mountains themselves.
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