2017 CHAUTAUQUA: A CELEBRATION OF TREES, will feature a number of distinguished naturalists, artists, and other performers this weekend at Laurel Park in Northampton. The former Methodist camp begun in 1873, now a nonsectarian community of year-round homes, is offering its 145th consecutive year of programming.
I will be participating, along with fellow Brook Hollow Arts members Holland Hoagland and Bar Lois Weeks. At 2 p.m., Holland will use paper sculptures to demonstrate how she “balances” her processes of subtractive or carving and additive art. Bar and I will follow at 2:30 p.m. with “Our Culinary Forests: The Eternal Struggle to Tame the Wild Apple Tree,” a talk about the local history of apples and heirloom apple tasting.
Following our presentation, there will be an open studio with refreshments in the upstairs of the Parker Memorial Chapel, where I have been painting this summer and fall. I will also be bringing in previously completed paintings that feature trees.
The event marks the public debut of Brook Hollow Arts, an association of artists living and working in a neighborhood of Hatfield, Massachusetts, less than a mile from the Connecticut River. The association comprises fiber artist Heather Hall, sculptor Holland Hoagland, visual artist Russell Steven Powell, manager Betsy Rider, potter/writer Phoebe Sheldon, and writer/photographer Bar Lois Weeks.
Look for more Brook Hollow events and a website soon, including an open studio by Hall and Powell Sunday, November 12, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Here is the full schedule for Laurel Park Arts’s “2017 Chautauqua: A Celebration of Trees.” All events (except lunch) are free and open to the public. Hope you can make it!
Friday, October 13
7 p.m.
Tree Stories and Poetry by the Fire will be a very special occasion. Master of ceremonies Sabrina Hamilton, artistic director of the Ko Festival, has assembled a diverse group of talented storytellers who will gather around Laurel Park’s Friendship Fireplace over s’mores and cider. The event starts at 7 p.m.; please arrive at the Laurel Park gates a few minutes early so that community members can guide you to parking and the fireplace!
Saturday, October 14
10 a.m.
Seeing the Forest AND the Trees: A Walk in the Woods with Ted Watt, naturalist with the Hitchcock Center in Amherst. Meet at Normal Hall.
11 a.m.
Our Local Forests: Conservation, Preservation, and Forest Health, a panel discussions with Bob Zimmermann, president of Broad Brook Coalition; Mark Wamsley, land conservation manager for the Kestrel Land Trust; and Ken Gooch, forest health program director for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Moderated by Judson Brown. Tabernacle.
11 a.m.
From Seed to Forest, movement and other activities for children led by Duncan Dancer Laura Pravitz. Outdoors behind the Tabernacle.
12 noon
Hearts, Minds, Materials, an exhibition of prints and sculpture by Carolyn Webb, photographs by Leslie Starobin, and collages by Peter Dellert, with music by Dick Moulding Ragtime Piano. Normal Hall.
12:30 p.m.
Lunch: several hearty soups, including one from The People’s Pint, will be served with bread from Woodstar Cafe, for $5, with apple pie (also $5) for dessert! Normal Hall. Fee charged.
1:15 p.m.
From Seed to Forest, part 2: Activities for children led by Duncan Dancer Laura Pravitz. Outdoors behind the Tabernacle.
2 p.m.
The Art of Seeing Figures in Wood, presentation by wood sculptor and naturalist Holland Hoagland, using paper sculptures. Outdoors in or near the Tabernacle.
2:30 p.m.
Our Culinary Forests: The Eternal Struggle to Tame the Wild Apple Tree, presentation by Russell Steven Powell, author of Apples of New England, with Bar Lois Weeks, executive director of the New England Apple Association. A local history of the apple followed by heirloom apple tastings. Parker Memorial Chapel.
4 p.m.
Open studio with visual artist Russell Steven Powell, featuring new paintings made this summer and fall. Cheese, crackers, apples, and cider. Parker Memorial Chapel.
