We took our first ever art roadtrip this this summer. The idea was to head up to Mass MoCA, stopping at Dia:Beacon and seeing some small towns in the Hudson River Valley area. Getting out of DC was essential. Just getting "out" was basic.
We scheduled only the first night (Nyack) and near the end, three nights in Williamstown Mass, very close to North Adams and Mass MoCA. The rest of the time we winged it.
The art we saw was pretty overwhelming and mind boggling. Dia Beacon was off the charts in scale and in the scope of art in those humongous spaces. The Joseph Beuys sound room with huge rolls and stacks of felt was the highlight for my sound sensitive musician husband. He understood it immediately and hung out in there. My highlights were the extensive survey of John Chamberlain's steel sculptures - they looked like colorful abstract expressionist paintings come to life in 3D. There were installations by Robert Morris, Robert Smithson, and Louise Bourgeois, and many others. The place feels like a small city with skyscrapers - the space around and above me was almost too much.
From Dia: Beacon we headed north to Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. Our main goal was to see the work of Anselm Kiefer, my favorite living artist. http://massmoca.org/event/anselm-kiefer/. I was rewarded with three enormous rooms of his work, including The Women of the Revolution, created in 1992, comprised of more than twenty lead beds with photographs and wall text. An unbelievable array of installation work by Nick Cave was the headliner when we were there, and I was awed by the work. One question he asked was "Are there Black people in heaven?" James Turrell's work took us to another world of ethereal light and space. We hung out there for a while in heaven. So many gourmet meals .... I was nourished with as much art as I could handle. Below are some random shots from Mass MoCA and Hudson NY.
Last but in no way least is THE ONE HOUSE PROJECT that I am involved in. The opening is Friday November 3 from 6-8:30 pm, and there are 3 more events scheduled. So far there are 223 artists who have created "ancestor panels," each one giving image and voice to an ancestor (or themselves) who has come to the United States from another country. The spread of countries and situations that brought the people here is pretty awesome, as is the variety and beauty of the individual works. You can see them here. https://www.touchstonegallery.com/one-house-1 All are now installed, creating the One House structure in Touchstone Gallery here in DC. I will be leading a workshop on November 18 in which you can create your own panel to take home. Limited to 20. To sign up contact Ksenia Grishkova at 202-347-2787 or rsvp@touchstonegallery.com
Touchstone is located at 901 New York Ave NW Washington DC 20001
