Arts
The Beat Goes On: Poetry and folk in Northampton, rock, blues and punk in Amherst, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
Signature Sounds is gearing up for a considerably expanded Back Porch Festival this year, with the annual roots music fest, which takes place March 3 through 5, now featuring over 50 bands and artists performing in eight different downtown Northampton...
Art to reflect the community: Forbes Library uses anonymous donation to purchase a range of BIPOC art
By STEVE PFARRER
A couple years ago, Forbes Library received a $10,000 donation from a donor who wanted to remain anonymous but also wanted the money used for a very specific purpose: to broaden the Northampton library’s permanent art collection.More specifically,...
Come on back: The Mead Art Museum, closed to the public since March 2020, reopens Jan. 31 for all visitors
By STEVE PFARRER
AMHERST — The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, which has been closed to the public for nearly three years, is poised to reopen with two new exhibits in place.The museum shut its doors for all in March 2020 when COVID-19 arrived, and though it...
Into ‘The Maelstrom’: Easthampton artist’s new installation contemplates the dangers of climate change
By STEVE PFARRER
About six years ago, in the midst of some of the worst violence in Syria’s long-running civil war, Harriet Diamond was contemplating a couple of different projects. On one hand, the sculptor and installation artist was horrified to hear about the...
A doctor who still makes house calls: Tracy Kidder’s new book profiles Dr. Jim O’Connell, who tends to Boston’s homeless community
By STEVE PFARRER
In a long career that’s seen him win a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a boatload of praise, Williamsburg writer Tracy Kidder has tackled a number of different subjects: the computer revolution, elementary schools, civil war refugees, the...
Pictures of possibility: Exhibit by acclaimed illustrator Christian Robinson aims to help children explore the variety life offers
By STEVE PFARRER
Illustrator and children’s book author Christian Robinson calls his website “The Art of Fun,” and it seems an appropriate title. Robinson’s colorful and whimsical art — a mix of detailed collage, acrylic paint and colored pencil — transmits the sense...
Keeping the torch for books aloft: New bookstore opens near downtown Northampton
By STEVE PFARRER
Dianne and Kevin Germain say they’ve long been avid readers, book lovers who enjoy discussing the ideas and themes advanced by a variety of writers from different fields.In 2019, the Germains decided to take their literary interests a little further:...
Into the fire: Northampton author’s new book re-examines the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas, that left over 85 people dead
By STEVE PFARRER
Waco Rising: David Koresh, The FBI, and the Birth of America’s Modern Militiasby Kevin CookHenry Holt and Co.The images and the story, almost 30 years old, can still shock: a building compound on a Texas plain engulfed in flames following an FBI raid;...
A new home for art, business and community: ‘Bloom Local’ looks to highlight LGBTQ+ artists and organizations
By STEVE PFARRER
A few years ago, Luc Abbott, a marketing consultant who works with various clients in the area, decided to produce an online guide of regional businesses and organizations that, broadly speaking, embodied progressive values and contributed to the...
Arts Briefs: Comedy in Northampton, striking visual art in Amherst and Easthampton, and more
Compiled by STEVE PFARRER
Laughing for a good causeNORTHAMPTON — A number of regional comedians, joined by another who’s worked the national circuit, will host a fundraiser Jan. 21 at Northampton’s Academy of Music for The Literacy Project, the western Massachusetts group that...
The power of women’s hair: Photographer uses 19th-century technique to re-imagine female portraits
By STEVE PFARRER
Time was when Rachel Portesi did much of her photography using Polaroid film. She loved the immediacy of the image, the way each photo was different and often didn’t quite match what her eye had seen, and what she calls “the feeling of Christmas when...
The Beat Goes On: Classical music in Florence, Amherst and Springfield, roots rock in Northampton, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
As John Montanari sees it, the classical music field these days is awash with talent, full of artists who “are so smart, flexible and just damned good that they can pull off virtually anything,” as he noted in a recent email.Montanari, the artistic...
‘The Little Mermaid’ finally swims into view: Amherst Community Theater production opens after two years of pandemic shutdowns
By STEVE PFARRER
It’s been almost three years since Amherst Community Theater has presented its annual musical at Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, given a little problem called COVID-19 that prevented the group from returning to UMass in...
Longtime Eric Carle Museum director Alexandra Kennedy stepping down this year
By STEVE PFARRER
AMHERST — After almost 15 years leading the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Executive Director Alexandra Kennedy plans to step down from her post this year.But Kennedy, known at the Carle as Alix, says she hopes to stay engaged with the museum...
Race Street Live venture ends: Gateway City Arts to resume booking bands for large performance space after DSP Shows ends lease
By STEVE PFARRER
In late 2020, Valley music fans were disheartened to hear that Gateway City Arts, the multi-arts venue in Holyoke, was shutting it doors because of lost business during the first year of the pandemic.But the outlook brightened in April 2021, when...
Of regicides and kings: A bestselling British novelist examines a chapter of Valley history
By STEVE PFARRER
Robert Harris is the author of a slew of bestselling thrillers and historical novels, covering ancient Rome, World War II, contemporary politics and more. According to one count, he’s sold over 10 million copies of his books, a number of which have...
Not too late to start: Late-blooming Amherst writer wins top prize in long-standing sci-fi/fantasy fiction contest
By STEVE PFARRER
As Marianne Xenos sees it, you’re never too old to find new ways to be creative.Xenos, of Amherst, is a longtime visual artist who also received a degree in literature years ago and wrote poetry and short literary fiction for a time. But that writing...
Arts Briefs: History talk in Amherst, jazz in Easthampton, poetry in Northampton, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
Revisiting the pastAMHERST — The monthly Song & Story Swap, sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Folklore Society of western Massachusetts, will feature storyteller and historical re-enactor Dennis Picard in a hybrid event Jan. 7 at 7 p.m.The in-person...
Valley veteran theater critic Chris Rohmann takes a bow
By EMILY THURLOW
For the better part of the last 36 years, all the world’s been a stage for Chris Rohmann. The Advocate’s longtime theater critic has had a front seat view to thousands of plays in the Valley. With that seat, he has penned his perspective on...
Feeling her Irish: Performance piece examines the connection between Emily Dickinson and her Irish maid Margaret Maher
By STEVE PFARRER
It might seem that every conceivable angle of studying Emily Dickinson has been covered, and in just about every format: biographies, academic studies, poetry analysis, novels, movies, even TV shows.Yet the famed Amherst poet always seems to inspire a...
