Community Calendar

Get an inside look at the work of a curator of American art during this special conversation between Kathleen A. Foster (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and Karen Sherry (Worcester Art Museum). In 2021, Foster led the opening of the Robert L. McNeil Galleries of American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. And earlier this year, Sherry headed a complete redesign of the Worcester Art Museum’s American Art Galleries, now open. Together, they will dive into the approaches, perspectives, research, and behind-the-scenes process that goes into reimagining galleries of American art for visitors today.

Speakers: Kathleen A. Foster (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator of American Art and Director of the Center for American Art) and Karen Sherry (Worcester Art Museum, Curator of American Art)

JooYoung Choi is an astro-futurist artist whose expansive practice blends autobiography and invention. For over a decade, Choi's work has centered on developing narratives within a highly structured imaginary realm known as the Cosmic Womb.

Adventures of the Quantum Soup Surfer brings together early and recent paintings, a sculptural installation, and video works that chronicle one character's journey of self-discovery. Long known as Nina Blue, the Quantum Soup Surfer first appeared in the Cosmic Womb as a professional imaginary friend, contributing to the journeys of several legendary heroes of the Cosmic Womb.

The exhibition follows Nina Blue's passage from supporting character to protagonist. She emerges as the Quantum Soup Surfer--a celestial superhero and thoughtful navigator who channels the spiritual energy of water to brave uncharted territories and share her story of resilience.

Inspired by the Cosmic Womb's motto--"Have Faith for You have Always Been Loved"--this exhibition foregrounds imagination, curiosity, and art as tools for resilience that have been significant for Nina Blue's transformation into the Quantum Soup Surfer and the hero of this story.

Adventures of the Quantum Soup Surfer is made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

This exhibition will explore movement as an integral throughline in Kwame Brathwaite’s work—one that spans his deep engagement with social and political movements and his keen attention to the body in motion. Brathwaite’s images intimate the powerful and transformative ways that action can convey joy, beauty, strength, and hope, even in charged moments.

Brathwaite (1938-2023) is perhaps most recognized for photographs celebrating Black beauty and excellence in fashion, music, and athletics. His studio portraits and concert photography like his documentation of historic marches, the everyday life of residents in Harlem and The Bronx, and of athletes such as Muhammad Ali convey the power of the body as a symbol of cultural strength, resilience, and pan-African solidarity. Through a selection of original and new prints from archival negatives, the exhibition will offer an opportunity to experience the breadth of his work and its resonance today.

Curated in close partnership with Brathwaite’s son and daughter-in-law, Kwame and Robynn Brathwaite (Amherst College Class of 1996 and 1998, respectively), Revolutionary Movements will expand stories about the artist's work and its international circulation.

Kwame Brathwaite: Revolutionary Movements is made possible by Teiger Foundation.

An official selection of the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, the East Coast debut of The Clayton Effect is on view throughout June at Split Level Gallery, 33 Hawley Street in Northampton, MA.

Flush with saucy humor, social commentary, and a semi-autobiographical view on transgender life, step inside the bathroom to experience The Clayton Effect. Inspired by the foundational film editing principle developed in the 1900s (known as the Kuleshov Effect), this silent-but-deadly movie, lathered with a throwback feel and a razor-sharp modern twist, takes the plunge into representations of gender. Jiggling the handle has never been more fun!

In addition to the short film, queer artist Jacob Clayton will be showing four mixed-media photo-based self-portraits, as part of We Contain Multitudes: A Curated Collective of 2SLGBTQIA+ and BIPOC Creatives’ Voices, curated by M. Rudder.

Join the Lee Historical Society for a conversation with Madeline Cantarella Culpo, Founder-Artistic Director of Cantarella School of Dance and Albany Berkshire Ballet. She will be joined by some of her former students who took ballet classes in Lee from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Refreshments will be provided by the Lee Historical Society.

Culpo grew up in the Berkshires taking dance lessons with various local instructors. As a teenager in 1949 and 1950, she had the opportunity to take dance classes at Jacob’s Pillow. After attending the Juilliard School, Culpo returned to the Berkshires in 1955 and opened the Cantarella School of Dance on North Street in Pittsfield. Beginning that first year, she offered off-site lessons in both Lee and Adams.

"Miss Madeline" would bring her students to Jacob’s Pillow at least once a summer so they could see professional dance and see what they could become. Beginning in 1958, Ted Shawn, the founder of Jacob’s Pillow, attended Cantarella’s annual end of year recital in Pittsfield High School’s auditorium and awarded outstanding students scholarships to enroll in Jacob’s Pillow’s summer dance school, University of the Dance. Several outstanding dance students from Lee were scholarship recipients.

This discussion is presented as part of the month-long June exhibit in the Scolforo Gallery titled “Jacob’s Pillow in Lee, Mass.” The exhibit traces the long and often overlooked relationship between the internationally renowned dance hub Jacob’s Pillow, and the neighboring town of Lee from the early 1930s to today. This exhibit is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Lee Cultural Council, a local agency funded by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

This exhibition will explore movement as an integral throughline in Kwame Brathwaite’s work—one that spans his deep engagement with social and political movements and his keen attention to the body in motion. Brathwaite’s images intimate the powerful and transformative ways that action can convey joy, beauty, strength, and hope, even in charged moments.

Brathwaite (1938-2023) is perhaps most recognized for photographs celebrating Black beauty and excellence in fashion, music, and athletics. His studio portraits and concert photography like his documentation of historic marches, the everyday life of residents in Harlem and The Bronx, and of athletes such as Muhammad Ali convey the power of the body as a symbol of cultural strength, resilience, and pan-African solidarity. Through a selection of original and new prints from archival negatives, the exhibition will offer an opportunity to experience the breadth of his work and its resonance today.

Curated in close partnership with Brathwaite’s son and daughter-in-law, Kwame and Robynn Brathwaite (Amherst College Class of 1996 and 1998, respectively), Revolutionary Movements will expand stories about the artist's work and its international circulation.

Kwame Brathwaite: Revolutionary Movements is made possible by Teiger Foundation.

JooYoung Choi is an astro-futurist artist whose expansive practice blends autobiography and invention. For over a decade, Choi's work has centered on developing narratives within a highly structured imaginary realm known as the Cosmic Womb.

Adventures of the Quantum Soup Surfer brings together early and recent paintings, a sculptural installation, and video works that chronicle one character's journey of self-discovery. Long known as Nina Blue, the Quantum Soup Surfer first appeared in the Cosmic Womb as a professional imaginary friend, contributing to the journeys of several legendary heroes of the Cosmic Womb.

The exhibition follows Nina Blue's passage from supporting character to protagonist. She emerges as the Quantum Soup Surfer--a celestial superhero and thoughtful navigator who channels the spiritual energy of water to brave uncharted territories and share her story of resilience.

Inspired by the Cosmic Womb's motto--"Have Faith for You have Always Been Loved"--this exhibition foregrounds imagination, curiosity, and art as tools for resilience that have been significant for Nina Blue's transformation into the Quantum Soup Surfer and the hero of this story.

Adventures of the Quantum Soup Surfer is made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

An official selection of the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, the East Coast debut of The Clayton Effect is on view throughout June at Split Level Gallery, 33 Hawley Street in Northampton, MA.

Flush with saucy humor, social commentary, and a semi-autobiographical view on transgender life, step inside the bathroom to experience The Clayton Effect. Inspired by the foundational film editing principle developed in the 1900s (known as the Kuleshov Effect), this silent-but-deadly movie, lathered with a throwback feel and a razor-sharp modern twist, takes the plunge into representations of gender. Jiggling the handle has never been more fun!

In addition to the short film, queer artist Jacob Clayton will be showing four mixed-media photo-based self-portraits, as part of We Contain Multitudes: A Curated Collective of 2SLGBTQIA+ and BIPOC Creatives’ Voices, curated by M. Rudder.

Imaginary Friends is a multi-day gallery installation for all ages that fosters rigorous experimental arts collaboration between parents and their children. The represented projects have been co-created by local artist-parents—and one grandparent—and their children (ages 1-12), led by child collaborators’ imagination and play. The project, curated by Alexandra Ripp and Daniel Sack, seeks to challenge the binary between “kids” and “adult” art, and explore new modes of intergenerational artistic collaboration. Taking seriously the creative potential of children’s play, the artists use their children’s imagination and play as the prime source for collaborative experimental art practice. Media represented include textile, sculpture, film, participatory art, and installation. 

The inaugural cohort of adult artists features Hallie Bahn, Christina Balch & Nora De La Cour, Lisa Iglesias & Bodhild Iglesias, Sarah Marcus, Lucia Monge, Katie Richardson, Daniel Sack, Dante Sepúlveda & Aleksandra Ponomareva, and Marianna Dixon Williams & Amy Nicole Buckley.

JooYoung Choi is an astro-futurist artist whose expansive practice blends autobiography and invention. For over a decade, Choi's work has centered on developing narratives within a highly structured imaginary realm known as the Cosmic Womb.

Adventures of the Quantum Soup Surfer brings together early and recent paintings, a sculptural installation, and video works that chronicle one character's journey of self-discovery. Long known as Nina Blue, the Quantum Soup Surfer first appeared in the Cosmic Womb as a professional imaginary friend, contributing to the journeys of several legendary heroes of the Cosmic Womb.

The exhibition follows Nina Blue's passage from supporting character to protagonist. She emerges as the Quantum Soup Surfer--a celestial superhero and thoughtful navigator who channels the spiritual energy of water to brave uncharted territories and share her story of resilience.

Inspired by the Cosmic Womb's motto--"Have Faith for You have Always Been Loved"--this exhibition foregrounds imagination, curiosity, and art as tools for resilience that have been significant for Nina Blue's transformation into the Quantum Soup Surfer and the hero of this story.

Adventures of the Quantum Soup Surfer is made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.