Another highly successful spring Round the Mountain Book
Sale (highlighted in the Artist Date: Used Book Stores blog post) last Thursday
afforded us with an “excuse” to extend the book-buying spree throughout the
weekend and provided us with an opportunity to check out Arts Night Out
Northampton on Friday evening.
Northampton hosts Arts Night Out every 2nd
Friday of the month. There are approximately 34 venues that participate, the
majority of which are located on Main Street (please see map below) and you can
check them out before you set out at http://www.artsnightout.org
- this site is updated every month prior to the event.
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| Entrance to the "Bank Vault" |
We found out pretty quickly that the three hours allotted for the event is simply NOT ENOUGH time to see everything, and, in some cases, some of the venues actually closed early (~7:30 pm), so we will definitely have to return again!
We found out pretty quickly that the three hours allotted for the event is simply NOT ENOUGH time to see everything, and, in some cases, some of the venues actually closed early (~7:30 pm), so we will definitely have to return again!
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| View from the 2nd floor |
The size of the building and the amount of art that they are able to fit within it is nothing short of incredible. There were multiple “shows” going on, including an artist’s reception for Turi MacCombie’s wildlife watercolors on the 2nd floor, as well as representation from at least a dozen additional artists.
The size of the building and the amount of art that they are able to fit within it is nothing short of incredible. There were multiple “shows” going on, including an artist’s reception for Turi MacCombie’s wildlife watercolors on the 2nd floor, as well as representation from at least a dozen additional artists.
On the 1st floor in the back was the Children’s
Book Illustrators show that highlighted by additional prints and sculptures by
Dr. Seuss, some Eric Carle drawings, and my new favorite: Jon Muth’s Zen pandas - please see below :)
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| View of Leonard Nimoy's photos on the 2nd floor |
But the “show” that stole my imagination for the rest of the evening... or to be more accurate, the rest of the weekend, was a small group of photographs by Leonard Nimoy. Yes, all you Trekkies: Mr. Spock himself. Who knew he has been a photographer for 60 years? I am certainly not going to pretend that I did.
Specifically, it was Nimoy’s photographs from “The Full
Body Project” which immediately caught my attention: all of the women in the
series are not what society would immediately call “beautiful” and, yet, I
found the photos of REAL women: women who are strong and proud and photographed
in a respectful manner - the most unforgettable works of art in the galleries.
Please check out Nimoy’s statement at: http://www.rmichelson.com/artist_pages/nimoy/pages/MaxBeaut.htm
And please check out the rest of the incredible artists represented
at the R. Michelson Galleries: http://www.rmichelson.com/artist_pages/nimoy/pages/MaxBeaut.htm
Note for all
bibliophiles: In addition to the four bookstores that participate in the
RMBS, we stumbled across an unusual collaboration in Hadley, MA: the Grey
Matter Bookstore and the Troubadour Books.
These two bookstores are under the same roof and it is
not always obvious where one starts and where the other ends, but they do have
one AWESOME art book collection. In fact, there is an entire ROOM dedicated to
the arts. Simply the largest collection I have seen so far. The collection
includes a lot of out of print and specialty books, so the prices are slightly
higher, but last weekend there was a 35% off sale that helped a lot. If you are
in the area, please check them out!
47 East Street, Hadley, MA
Jenn White
White Rooster Studios
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