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July 1, 2004
• Best Bets Best Bets In Edith's gardens The Mount, Edith Wharton's estate and gardens, will offer a special garden talk, "Harmony and Symmetry," Fridays throughout the month. The talk is one of several activities marking the 100th anniversary of Wharton’s 1904 garden and travel book, "Italian Villas and Their Gardens," at The Mount this season. July's talk will explore Wharton’s discussion of the harmony and symmetry inherent in Italian Renaissance garden design. Participants will discover how Wharton applied this vision to the design of her own gardens at The Mount, translating the "garden-magic" of the Italian Renaissance to the natural features of her distinctly American landscape. The 20-minute talk will take place Fridays, July 2, 9, 26, 23, and 30 at 1 and 2, beginning on The Mount's terrace. It is free with paid admission; limit 20, register on-site. The talk will be led by Betsy Anderson, lead garden guide. The Mount is located at Route 7 and Plunkett Street in Lenox. For more information, call 637-1899. British art comes to Sheffield gallery
British idiosyncratic art will make its American debut at The Loring Gallery this weekend. According to a press release from the gallery, "Eight outrageous artists from London's trend-setting Portal Gallery will be making their debut. From the surreal and the magical to the fanciful, dark and erotic, [the exhibition will feature] art that’s decidedly outside the mainstream." An opening reception will be held Saturday from 11 to 5. Jess Wilder, director of London's renowned Portal Gallery, will give a comprehensive lecture illuminating the importance and magic of British idiosyncratic art. The exhibition will be on display through August. The gallery is open daily (except Tuesdays) from 11 to 5, and is located on Route 7 in Sheffield. For more information, call 229-0110. Hooker comes to Lenox for a week of events
The Elizabethan theologian Richard Hooker, who profoundly influenced America's founding fathers, will be in Lenox in the person of his biographer Dr. Philip Secor, for a week of appearances beginning Sunday. As Richard Hooker, Dr. Secor will preach the sermon at Trinity Church Sunday at 8 and 10:15 a.m. He makes another appearance on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Ventfort Hall in the "lecture and tea series." Secor will appear in costume at Ventfort Hall in the title role "Richard Hooker and the Elizabethan Settlement" on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The "Settlement" was the religious compromise between Catholics and Puritans in the unsettled period following the Reformation. This tumultuous time provided Shakespeare and the Elizabethan playwrights with much material during a golden age of theater. Admission for the Wednesday program and accompanying tea is $15 for nonmembers and $12 for members of the Ventfort Hall Association. Reservations are recommended as seating is limited. Call Ventfort Hall at 637-3206 for information and reservations. On Thursday and Friday, July 8 and 9, Hooker will make his debut at Shakespeare & Company's Bankside Theater at 6:45 p.m. in a debate with his Puritan rival Walter Travers, played by Rev. Booth. Actress Catherine Taylor-Williams will portray Queen Elizabeth I. The new play by Secor will dramatize the 1585 "Battle of the Pulpit" confrontations at Temple Church, London. There Hooker would preach his tolerant, inclusive, "middle road" philosophy where all men had the potential for salvation, followed in the afternoon by the Calvinistic Travers who narrowed the door to salvation. “Richard Hooker won the battle for the Shakespeare generation,” says Booth, “but Travers' side won the war.” Secor is the author of "Richard Hooker: Prophet of Anglicanism." 'Bonjour!’ to summer at the Clark
A series of free lectures at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Instiute will explore great works of art featured in the summer exhibition "Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet!: The Bruyas Collection from the Musée Fabre, Montpellier." On selected Saturday afternoons at 2 in July and August, Clark curators will present "Masterpieces in Focus." Each lecture will highlight a different work of art. The series begins this Saturday at 2 when Sarah Lees will discuss Gustave Courbet's “The Meeting.” Lees is assistant curator at the Clark. The exhibition, "Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet!" features masterpieces by Gustave Courbet, Eugène Delacroix, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Camille Corot, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Alexandre Cabanel, and others. On display through Sept. 6, the show highlights some of the most influential images of 19th-century French painting, including the famous title painting by Courbet. The 40 paintings, 20 drawings, and five sculptures, many of which have rarely been seen in the United States, are all drawn from the collection of Alfred Bruyas (1821-1876).The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute is located at 225 South St. in Williamstown. The galleries are open daily 10 to 5, and gallery admission is $10 (members, students, and 18 and under free). For more information, call 458-2303 or visit www.clarkart.edu/courbet. Becket Arts Center to present 'The Muse of Valentine'
This evening, at 7:30, noted playwright and author Susan Dworkin will direct a reading of her new play titled "The Muse of Valentine." The play, featuring actors from New York City, Boston and the Berkshires, deals with a very unusual theory about women artists, their muses and their men. The event, which is free to the public, will kick-off the 34th season of the Becket Arts Center, located on Route 8 in Becket village. A discussion with Dworkin and the actors will follow the reading. A Becket resident, Dworkin has published 14 books, including two novels. Her plays have been performed in New York and throughout the Northeast, and she teaches at Tufts University. She received a Peabody Award for the television special, "She's Nobody’s Baby" (HBO). The reading will be followed by three consecutive Thursday evening "Writing for Performance" workshops, taught by Dworkin. This class series will culminate in a public reading of student work by actors from Boston, New York and the Berkshires, on July 29 at 7:30. The Becket Arts Center is located just off Route 8 in the heart of the old village of Becket. For more information about the reading or workshops, call 623-6635 Ventfort Hall to present American Girls Club programs Berkshire County and area girls, ages 6 to 12, are invited to join The American Girls Club summer programs sponsored by the Museum of the Gilded Age at Ventfort Hall in Lenox. Three five-day weeks are scheduled: Session I, July 12 to 16, 10 to noon; Session II, July 19 to 23, 1 to 3; Session III, Aug. 16 to 20, 10 to noon. Each session is limited to 20 girls. Each program consists of friendship activities, projects, crafts, games and books that celebrate American Girl historical characters. Girls are encouraged to bring their American Girl dolls and parents are welcome to stay. All three sessions are $15 per day or $70 per week. All supplies and snacks are included. On Friday of each session the program will conclude with a Victorian manners and tea party. Historical dolls are the core of the club programs. Samantha (Gilded Age, 1904) and Addy (Civil War, 1864) and their eras will be the focus at Ventfort Hall. To register for the American Girl sessions at Ventfort Hall, call 637-3206, 10 to 3 daily or leave a message. Ventfort Hall is located at 104 Walker St. in Lenox. |
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