Decadence and Decay
« back to All BlogsBy Debbie Hagan
Two gallerists put their heads together and came up with a creative strategy to beat the sagging economy and offer the Berkshires summer community something fun, thought-provoking, and intensely focused on contemporary art. Longtime friends Leslie Ferrin and Sienna Patti came up with an idea they call Decadence and Decay. It's three days of innovative performance, dance, studio openings, lectures, and art exhibits that involve museums, artists, and performance companies throughout the region.
DISH + DINE at Ferrin Gallery Photo: Bill Wright
The first one, in July, turned out to be a big success drawing 100 -150 people to each venue. This raises high hopes for the next one, August 18-21. Check the website for times and locations.
Here is what writer Charles Bonenti had to say about Ferrin and Patti's efforts in the Berkshire Eagle:
Here, [Ferrin] and Patti enlisted existing nonprofit cultural institutions like the Berkshire Museum, Mass MoCA, Williams College Museum of Art, Norman Rockwell Museum, Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio, Hancock Shaker Village, and Jacob’s Pillow to partner in events showcasing contemporary art.
The collaboration, "packaged" under ArtBerkshires, gives collectors, critics, artists and arts professionals a one-stop source of information, Ferrin said, to contemporary art in the Berkshires.
Part of the hope, Patti went on, is that performance venues will be encouraged to bring more visual arts into their programming, such as Jacob’s Pillow has done this summer with an exhibition of dance images by famed contemporary photographer Annie Liebovitz.
The goal, Ferrin said, "is to create an environment that educates collectors and introduces them to deeper levels of understanding of an artist’s work so they are more likely to acquire major works."
With the exception $100-per-person "Dish and Dine" dinners at the Ferrin and Sienna galleries and standard admission fees to cultural venues, most of the activities in theme weekends are free. "We didn’t want to exclude anyone," Patti said.
Michael Eastman photograph from group show Beauty in Decay
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