Turners Falls News
February 22, 2007RiverCulture looking ahead
From the Recorder
KAREN CHYNOWETH, Recorder Staff
TURNERS FALLS - A village song, a concert series and a theater brochure are just a few things the River Culture project has in store for downtown this year.
Lisa Davol, cultural coordinator for River Culture, said the project has raised all but $1,200 of the $35,000 match it needed to receive the renewed John and Abigail Adams Arts Program grant. But, she said it still needs to come up with about $20,000 to do all the projects they have in mind.
Last year, the project created a walking tour pamphlet, commissioned four pieces of functional temporary art, which serve as information posts, and organized several art walks and musical performances.
This year, Davol said the project intends to make use of the new band shell and the recently renovated Peskeomskut Park. She said they are planning summer concerts with a double bill of shows on the third Friday of each month.
"We are looking to have some new music, interesting music not readily found around here," she said. "There is a lot of folk music and brass bands around. We are trying to look for something a little more offbeat."
The River Culture project is also commissioning a Turners Falls song. Davol said the song will be performed by the Montague Community Band, but will also be available for the local schools to learn and for any event that might call for a Turners Falls song.
A sculpture garden at the corner of Third and Canal streets has also been suggested. The space once housed a dilapidated garage, but the property was handed over to the town in lieu of back taxes and it was cleaned up with a federal brownfields grant. The garden would hold temporary sculpture installations to last two or three years only because the grant does not allow for permanent work to be done.
Artists involved in the sculpture garden project are considering hosting a workshop with local children so they can create a found-art sculpture to be included in the garden.
Also proposed are audio walking tours of quirky locations in Turners Falls. Davol said people will be able to make tour guides of their favorite hidden gems in downtown and put them at the River Culture Web site for people to download.
A creative economy conference has also been scheduled for April 10 and will provide economists from the state to come and see an example of a community using the arts to improve its local economy.
Davol said she is also working with Greenfield Community College's Fostering the Arts and Culture Partnership, which is helping set up spaces in empty storefronts for art exhibits in Greenfield and Turners Falls.
A brochure of upcoming shows at the Shea Theater will also be designed.
Anyone interested in sponsoring a River Culture event or helping in other was can call Davol at (413) 230-9910.
For more information about River Culture, go online to: www.turnersfallsriverculture.org.
February 9, 2007
Turners Falls on the Radio
WRSI's on air morning host, Monte Belmonte, chose Turners Falls resident and RiverCulture Coordinator, Lisa Davol, to be featured as one of his Friday morning Personal Profiles on Feb. 9th. Check out what Lisa has to say about our favorite town!
January 29, 2007
Roger Salloom at Shea Theater
Shea Theater Benefit Features Award-Winning Documentary:
So Glad I Made It: The Saga of Roger Salloom,
America’s Best Unknown Songwriter
Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.
For interviews with singer/songwriter Roger Salloom, contactDonald Taylor at (413) 499-5934
dltaylor44@hotmail.com
www.SoGladIMadeIt.com
“A superb story teller with a good sense of rhythm and a great sense of timing, and the music is incredibly infectious.” ─ Rolling Stone Magazine
(February 2007, Turners Falls, MA) The award-winning documentary, So Glad I Made It: The Saga of Roger Salloom, America’s Best Unknown Songwriter, will be presented at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls, MA on Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. The film, produced and directed by Chris Sautter, chronicles the musical career of one of Northampton’s favorite singer/songwriters, Roger Salloom. This presentation is a benefit for the Shea Theater and will be followed by a Q&A session with Roger Salloom and Chris Sautter. Roger Salloom will conclude the evening with an acoustic performance of songs from his CD, “Eventually” which was listed on the 2006 Grammy Awards ballot in an uncommon 8 categories. The film was also on the 2006 Grammy Awards ballot and is listed by Grammy Magazine on its Top 16 list of must see music documentaries made in the last 5 years.
The film focuses on the highlights and missteps of a gifted musician who went on hiatus from performing his craft. Guided by frustration, disillusionment, and personal need, Salloom chose to walk off the stage and take up the challenge of raising his two young sons as a single father. Salloom enjoyed success as a musician in the late 60’s and early 70’s, recording under the band name Salloom, Sinclair, and the Mother Bear on Chess Records. Well known on the West Coast, playing venues like the Fillmore West, the Avalon, the Carousel Ballroom, and sharing the marquee with Santana, Procol Harum, Van Morrison, BB King, and other headline acts, Salloom could not break through the glass ceiling that kept many talented artists from becoming the main attraction. Some would say Chess Records dropped the ball when promoting Salloom and his band. Salloom neither supports nor disputes that claim, instead letting the movie lead the viewers to their own conclusions.
His boys are now grown, and Salloom has met and married his soul mate. It was at her steady encouragement two years ago that Salloom moved out from the shadows in search of center stage. Armed with a portfolio of original songs, gifted with a voice that conveys a riveting range of emotions, and his guitar tuned and ready, Salloom is performing once again. Rolling Stone Magazine accurately describes Salloom as “a superb story teller with a good sense of rhythm and a great sense of timing, and the music is incredibly infectious.”
For more information about Roger Salloom, the film, and to sample his music, visit www.rogersalloom.com and www.sogladimadeit.com.
For tickets, contact the Shea Theater at (413) 863-2281 or purchase tickets online at www.theshea.org. Tickets are $10. in advance and $12. at the door. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. the night of the event. Tickets will also be available at the World Eye Bookshop, 156 Main Street, Greenfield.
About the Shea Theater
The Shea Theater is Franklin County’s performing arts civic center with performances throughout the year. The Shea works with regional artists and professional touring companies who offer a variety of programs in music, theater, movement, and dance.
January 18, 2007
Insight to the Stars
From the Montague Reporter
Brian Mercer photo and illustration by Anja SchutzBY ANN FEITELSON
TURNERS FALLS - Marilyn Monroe, covered only by a thin white sheet, her eyes half closed, her mouth half open, faces the doorway of the Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography. Her image was caught on film by Douglas Kirkland, who has photographed numerous other idols and icons of our day including Audrey Hepburn, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack Nichol-son, Orson Welles, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, John Lennon and Ringo Starr, Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslett. They are all there, on the corner of Third and Avenue A.
Kirkland's exhibit, “Face to Face: Portraits from Fifty Years" -- or, as he alternately subtitled it, "Favorite Encounters from a Half-Century Love Affair with Photography" -- runs through March 18th.
The photographs are worth seeing, as much for their subjects as for their intimacy, and also for what they reveal about the photographer. Kirkland's love affair is with his posers as well as the medium. The camera serving as intermediary, Kirkland negotiates access to a private world, and focuses on his subjects lovingly. They blossom accordingly; the photographs record that synergy. Kirkland has won the trust of many stars otherwise reclusive or elusive, and found unique ways to portray them.
"Photography is connecting with people," he said at the thronged (almost 500 attended) opening of his exhibit last Saturday afternoon. In the case of theMarilyn Monroe photograph, it was a connection not just between photographer and sex symbol, but, as he writes in his book An Evening with Marilyn, between a provocative 36-year-old woman with preferences for silk, Sinatra, and champagne; and an ambitious yet innocent 24-year-old man -- she called him a boy -- who shared the champagne and cantilevered and pretzeled himself into position from a balcony above her in search of the best vantage point. Somehow he kept his head. The delicately misty, seductive picture was on the cover of Look magazine.
The same year that he photographed Marilyn Monroe, 1961, Kirkland shot Art Buchwald in Paris, leaping, improbably spread-eagled in mid-air, the Eiffel tower splayed behind him. In his Saturday evening lecture at the Hallmark Institute of Photography, Kirkland explained that the photo was taken during his first trip to Europe; it expresses "the essence of joy of being in Paris."
Kirkland himself, now 72, leapt for joy, and for emphasis, at least a half-dozen times during his talk to an overflow audience of approximately 300 photographers, students of photography, fans and the general public looking for inspiration and insight into a legendary career.
Lanky and silver haired, energetic and enthusiastic, Kirkland leapt as he advised the aspiring photographers in the audience: "You have to makesomething happen." He sprang up and down when telling of his thrill and pride the first time his photo made the cover of Look. He related a story of meeting Hasselblad, the camera manufacturer, by chance on the street in New York , and leapt again, to underline "photography is fun." He jumped when telling how he wanted to lift up Marlene Dietrich from her sorrow over Hemingway's death. And he jumped yet again, to convey, "I have been so lucky," about the many adventures his camera has provided a passport to, all over the world. He has worked on all the continents (excluding Antarctica).
Was Kirkland's seeming luck in being in the right place at the right time a coincidence? Maybe not: "You always have to be reaching, finding, discovering, inventing," he said. And, "You've got to try as hard as you can every time. You gotta invent, explore, question, search…" Wonderful words to live by. Turners Falls certainly felt like the right place to be last Saturday. The band Viva Quetzal played all afternoon at the museum entrance; the stunning vegetable hors d'oeuvres table with radish lollipops was as luscious a display as it was sustaining, and constantly replenished. The scene was more New York City than humble Western Massachusetts. Even a cameraman from CBSChannel 3 in Springfield filmed the gallery-goers. Parking for the evening lecture was more what you would expect at the Franklin County Fair than a serious lecture. Following the talk, the line of people waiting for Kirkland to sign books of his photographs was three people wide and 25 long, stretching past the dessert array (the lollipops this time were bananas dipped in chocolate) and back to the vast lecture hall.
How does a portrait express or evoke the inner world with only black, white and grays?
To answer that, look at three of Kirkland's photos from the mid-90s on the left wall, towards the back of the gallery. The first, of Elena Bespalova, an art historian who wrote an introduction to Kirkland's book of nudes, is very high contrast, geisha-like, almost solely black and white. Her angled arms form a dynamic V-shaped buttress supporting her face. The arch of her eyelid rhymes with her arched lip, and again with a notch in her bangs; these repeated upward-pointing shapes imply vivacity, aspiration, elevation. Next, a melancholy Rod Steiger is all murky grays, very low in contrast. Every form bespeaks heaviness: his cheeks sag, his head presses on his arm and dents it. His arms are crossed, and he fills the space to bursting, suggesting imprisonment.
In the third photo, cinematographer Philippe Rousselot is at the bottom of the photograph, looking up, with only one eye visible, the other in shadowy obscurity. His hand on his cheek pulls his skin upward, distorting his face. It is not a familiar configuration. The tiny brilliant glints on Rousselot's revealed eye and shining from his hidden eye indicate incisiveness, quirkiness, the ability to see in the dark. This man would be fascinating to know.
As well as having insight and intuition, being a good photographer requires mastering a massive amount of technique and technical information. Kirkland is proficient with more types of cameras and film than you knew existed. He showed a 1960s photo of himself standing with every piece of equipment he used in one year at Look, and a veritable camera shop of stuff it was: tripods, lenses, filters, flashes, flares and strobes - not to mention numerous cameras.
Kirkland has kept up with the times and has fully embraced digital photography. Every one of the pictures at the museum is an ink-jet print via computer, not a gelatin silver print. All of Kirkland's past work has been archived and scanned into computers with mega memories of eight terabytes (the next order of magnitude after a gazillion gigabytes is terabytes). This has allowed him to go back and revive neglected moments and to re-see the past.
Digital technology gives better -- "amazing," he says -- archival quality, guaranteeing prints for 200 years. Kirkland's fans will be looking at them then.
January 1, 2007
Brick House Young MovieMakers Festival
Call to Emerging Youth Videographers
Entries due by April 2, 2007
Contact: 863-9576 or 863-9559
The Brick House Community Resource Center of Turners Falls is holding its second Young Moviemakers Festival on May 5, 2007, and is putting out the call for emerging youth videographers to submit their work! Youth and youth groups (those still under age 21 by May 5th) are eligible to send in their videos and have them compared to their peers’ work and judged by a panel of experts. Submissions will be welcomed from youth anywhere in the region, and the submission deadline is April 2, 2007. The videos of all finalists will be shown the afternoon of May 5th 2007 at The Brick House.
The Brick House is most interested this time around in videos best portraying something about the Connecticut River or any of its tributaries. This can include environmental aspects but might instead concentrate on the (real life or fictitious) people and communities living alongside or near the river. This emphasis on the Connecticut River is part of the Turners Falls RiverCulture initiative, which leverages the river as an historical and cultural focus to support local economic development. This initiative is partially funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. There will continue to be a wide open category to cover any submissions not related to the Connecticut River at all.
Video works must be submitted in one of the following forms (listed in order of preference): mini-DV tape, super VHS tape, DVD, and regular VHS tape. All videos submitted must be under 15 minutes in order to be reviewed.
The jury includes Steve Alves, who worked in Hollywood and New York City as a film editor for 10 years; Robin Mide, whose film credits have ranged from “Three Lives”, now archived at the Whitney Museum in New York City, to the more recent court-related “Day in the Life”; Kerry Kazokas, who wrote the screenplay for, and co-directed “Free To Fly”, which was selected for production by Northern Lights Productions; and 21 year-old Bob Kryzkowski, who is working to turn his highly popular Elsie Hooper comic strip into a motion picture.
Information about this festival can be found at www.thebrickhouseinc.org. For further information on the Young Moviemakers Festival, call Jared or Nate at 413-863-9559, or Michael or Karen at (413) 863-9576, or email info@thebrickhouseinc.org.
The Brick House itself has experienced video staff, access to nearby video editing facilities, video background through production of its “Brick House TV” program, video-based programs in the local schools, and a history of collaboration with both Montague Community Television and Greenfield Community Television.
December 20, 2006
Great Falls Art Fest 2007
Call to Artists
The Brick House Community Resource Center is sponsoring its third annual Great Falls Art Fest on Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20, 2007 on the beautiful grounds of the Great Falls Discovery Center on Avenue A, in Turners Falls (just off Route 2 and over the Gill-Montague Bridge). Proceeds from this event will benefit the community-based programs at The Brick House.
This festival is a juried event, in order to assure a good balance and wide variety of arts and crafts. Artists who are interested in submitting an application can download one HERE. We will begin reviewing applications in late January and will continue until we feel that we have reached our desired level of quality, balance, and quantity. For more information, call Karen Stinchfield at 863-9576, info@thebrickhouseinc.org
Comments from Previous Participants…
“I was very impressed with the volume of people who attended! Great Job!”
“Everything was very well organized.”
“I was amazed at the number of people who came through my booth even though it was cold and rainy….. The fest was very well organized, and communication from The Brick House was excellent. Plus, it supports a great organization!”
The Great Falls Art Fest is a stop on the Arts & Blooms Turners Falls Open Studio and Downtown Walking Tour.
Dec. 7, 2006
Suzee's Laundromat Fashion Show Review
From the Montague Reporter
BY AMY LAPRADETURNERS FALLS - Was it a surrealistic dream or did it actually happen in a sleepy, working class town called Turners Falls? Perhaps a collective hallucination? Any casual observer wandering past the laundromat on 3rd Street on December 2nd at 11 p.m., would have caught a glimpse of wild, glittery folks dressed in trash bag gowns sashaying along a makeshift runway above the washing machines.
The second annual lost and found laundromat fashion show, the brainchild of Chris Janke and Emily Brewster, owners of Suzee's Third Street Laundry took place in conjunction with the Open Studios and Downtown Walking Tour, where local artists opened their studios to the public, and put their talents on display.
Janke and Brewster first conceived of the idea of a fashion show last year, using the clothes left behind by the Laundromat's patrons. This year, once again, Janke gave a grab bag of clothes over to local designers, and asked them to create their own line of hot couture, to be modeled by friends.
In order to boost the town's gathering artistic momentum, Janke decided the fashion show should happen on the same weekend as the Art Walk. "Me and my friends thought it would be a good idea to merge the events, since my establishment has a perfect room in the back for an art gallery, as well as live performances." Janke charged ten dollars per ticket for the event, but the 80-person capacity hall was sold out before the tickets officially went on sale, the Monday before the show. You had to know somebody to get in.
The night began around 8:30 with a slew of bands and performance art. Neil Young (not that Neil Young) performed a solo act, with an explorative sound, called Bomptreb. Jeremy Latch of Moscow Mule also performed, with haunting keyboards and a crooning tenor. Coco Akula Schatchtl, from Moscow Mule, added to the tonal smorgasbord. A scatalogical comedy skit, written and performed by George Myers and Ben Hersey, followed, called Episode 7.
At 10 p.m. Evolution Revolution, a six-piece band from Troy, NY took over the space with their introverted groove rock: Jason Martin, lead guitar and vocals, Jenn MacArron, bass and vocals, Jessie Pellerin, clarinet and vocals, Jessica Shaver, saxophone and vocals, Ross Goldstein, keyboards, and Aaron Smith, percussion, took the oddly contoured back room by storm. They were dressed in outlandish stage attire consisting of various animal masks, tails and creature features, and they gave an exceptional performance of bluesy glam-funk with overtones of early seventies glitter. Evolution Revolution displays a rock star aesthetic reminiscent of old-school showmanship, especially MacArron, the bass player, wearing Brian Ferry flared slacks and wide lapels. While hiding behind her chicken mask, she displayed a juicy charisma rarely seen on stage these days.
While the bands played on, fashion designers, Anja Schutz, Sarah Pruitt, Rachel Teumin, and Anne Harding scurried around, getting their models gussied up amongst the dusty pipes and heating ducts in the laundromat basement.
At eleven o'clock, folks gathered around the washing machines and dryers. All eyes were fixed on the runway, while models sporting attire that varied from comfy and casual - something one might slip into after a swim at the beach - to dresses fit for a drag queen's ball, climbed the short flight of stairs to the spotlit track.
Jamie Berger was MC for the event, while his dog Bo took a trip down the runway with model Dianna DeStefano, clad in a kimono wrap with a draw string skirt, a slightly more sophisticated look than the preceding model, Molly Simpson, who sported a punk rock take on a jungle woman outfit, barely covering her ass.
A bevy of bodies sashayed and undulated under the glaring stage lights, while house music pulsed over the sound system, and the audience itself, decked to the nines, looked on in awe.
The first four models, represented by Harding, wore outfits constructed from Terri cloth bath towels coupled with what looked like denim, and deemed perfect for a stroll through a gentle summer rain.
The next four models were represented by Schutz, and wore skimpy skirts and dresses with a sort of new wave, post punk Flash Dance vibe, that looked like they might have been work T-shirts at an early point in their careers.
The music kicked up a notch as four or five more models strutted their stuff for the cameras, each sporting a Pruitt creation, consisting of evening wear constructed from fabric and clear garbage bags, shellacked with glitter. Loud, aggressive cheers flooded the laundromat as one model performed a seductive wiggle for her audience, her hair glowing like a garland in Times Square.
The last cluster of models sauntered out wearing Teumim togs. Matthew Latkiewicz did a little dance in a costume the teetered between a jailbird suit and a Victorian-era gent's bathing costume, constructed out of stretchy striped pajamas. He carried barbells made from balloons.
Around midnight, all the models and fashion designers gathered on the runway, to take their final turn before an enthusiastic audience, then segued to a late night dance spree, where all guests were welcome to join. The last pedestrians straggled by and peered through the fogged pane glass windows of the laundromat, and vowed to drink less next time.
December 4, 2006
Suzee's Fashion Show Radio Clips
93.9 FM The River
Click the links below to hear Monte Belmonte, from 93.9 FM The River, interview participants at Suzee's Third Street Laundry's Fashion Show December 2nd.Interview with Chris Janke
Performance Art
Fashion Show
Monte Belmonte's Musings
November 29-30, 2006
Images of Turners on Adobe Website
Hallmark Institute of Photography students showcase images from Turners Falls mills on design software maker Adobe's website. The images are part of Adobe's education initiative, Project: Photoshop Lightroom, which brought world-class photographer Colin Finlay and Photoshop Lightroom beta digital workflow technology to photographic educators and students around the country.
Hallmark Institute students discover the history of Turners Falls as a mill town in their project, The Evolving Legacy of New England Mills. Check out these spectacular images here.
Image to the right is by Christine Dombrosky
November 16
Public Art for Turners Falls
This article appeared in Greenfield Recorder on November 16, 2006
BY CHERYL REZENDES RULEWICH “The Village of Turners Falls,” states the RiverCulture web site, “is an extraordinary historic mill town nestled along the Connecticut River that is blossoming from its industrial roots to become a hub of artistic inspiration, recreational adventure and natural beauty. The RiverCulture Project seeks to promote this rebirth of an area that is filled with history, promise and character.”
Understanding Turners Falls’ need for posted maps and information that visitors could easily access while touring through town; the idea of a public art project was born. Why not have several artists design and build interesting, sculptural art structures that could highlight history, culture and art while also providing a physical structure to post maps and information, thus eliminating the need for the standard, generic weather proof marquee.
Lisa Davol assembled an impressive group of advisors and jurors including Hezzie Philips the Director of the Contemporary Artists Center in North Adams, Joseph Krupczynski the Chairperson of the Northampton Public Art Committee, James Florschutz a Vermont artist recommended by the board of the Bratlteboro Museum of Art and Craft, town administrator
A Call to Artists was sent out, bringing in a total of 12 detailed applications from artists throughout New England, including
Stephen Cahill of Turners Falls, Cynthia Fisher of Buckland, Gary Orlinski of Leverett and James Rourke of Northfield were delighted to be selected. After the four detailed proposals were tweaked along with selected locations by the artists their creative juices, energy and skills were put into motion.
The common link between all 4 structures is their reference to the history and culture of the area. It is indeed intriguing and inspiring to view these public art pieces as well as speak to the artists who conceived and engineered them.
James Rourke interacted with town residents the most by assembling his project almost exclusively on location. Positioned by the bike path parking lot at the end of
Rourke choose this particular location because of his draw to the river. The open space dominated by the horizontals of the river and the bridge proved to be an interesting challenge. “The surrounding landscape and structures,” explains Rourke “become materials to be explored so that we may gain a deeper understanding of the life of the past and possibilities for our individual and collective futures. The wheel is a universal symbol of man’s development over time and functions to visually draw a similarity between the recreational and mechanical uses of our earliest technology.”
The stories and chatter from local residents as they walked by while Rourke was working were an added bonus and seem to be an integral part of the finished piece for him. In his art making process Rourke is always trying to relate to his environment, using the colors and materials from the sculpture’s immediate surroundings. “It helps the structure to belong to the area,” states Rourke.
Rourke learned a lot from the project. Creating the sculpture was an agent that helped him get to know the area in a way that went much deeper than his research could have ever taken him. Rourke loves how “…art can be a lightening rod to the community” and enjoys the powerful truth behind this quote from artist Keith Harring, “Ideas are empowered as they are developed.” For more information or to contact Rourke please visit his web site jamesrourkeart.com.
Gary Orlinsky is an accomplished artist in the public art arena and enjoys designing and constructing sculptures that deal with the relationship between nature and civilization. Orlinsky’s piece is situated along side the river on the bike path as well. Its exact location is by the parking lot that is closest to the Fish Viewing Facility.
“Rock, Paper, Knife’ is an elegant sculpture that can be described as a structural collage. A tall, vertical piece, it contrasts nicely with the river and bridge in the background. Using heavy beams and an arched top with a piece of copper sheeting and a small water wheel tucked into the underside of the arch this artwork beautifully mimics the massive structure and aesthetic appeal of the factory buildings that line the river canal. Housing three windows set in a column Orlinsky offers us a glimpse into the past and present of
For the middle window Orlinsky visited Southworth Company, the one remaining factory in Turners Falls. It is here that a fine watercolor paper is manufactured. Orlinsky was intrigued with the beautiful deckled edges of the paper. Using small bundles, again set on their edges another relationship of like materials is born, not unlike the stones.
For the top window Orlinsky used an old sepia toned photograph from the John Russell Cutlery factory, along with several bricks from the factory’s ruins. From the photo stare the hard knowing eyes of workers on an assembly line. The effect is somehow daunting and comforting as well. Orlinsky is pleased with the piece and its location explaining, “In some ways we are all here because of the CT River.”
Orlinsky has been teaching design and sculpture for the past five years at
Steven Cahill is a brick mason by trade. His piece tiled “Doosel” is located on the corner of Avenue A and Third Street in front of the Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography. While thinking about the design, Cahill spent some time walking around the riverbed behind the Discovery Center. Cahill has built a number of sculptures along the area and has always been captivated by the thousands of old bricks and pieces of roof slate he has found there. Intrigued by the way these old building materials look together Cahill decided to incorporate them into his piece.
Cahill spent four days cutting three-inch strips off of the ends of the slate shingles with a diamond wheel saw to create 1600 pieces for the sculpture. Inspired by the architecture of the surrounding old brick buildings, Cahill, using his trade skills built a comparatively small, approximately 4-foot square by 8 feet high brick structure. “The quality of craftsmanship in the buildings of this town has become somewhat of a lost art,” explains Cahill. I hope to pay tribute to this aesthetic in my work.”
It was important to Cahill to create a piece that blended well with the surrounding architecture. Referring to these buildings Cahill stated, “It felt a bit like painting with Picasso.” Although “Doosel” does an excellent job of mimicking these historic structures it also stands as an equally interesting, intriguing and elegant structure unto itself.
Appearing as a small, mysterious building without doors, the street side as well as the opposite side facing the sidewalk incorporates an exhibit window framed out in oak. The window is then further edged with the slate strips laid one on to of another exposing the rough edges to the viewer. Measuring the width of one brick everything was then glued flush on the frame. Another side of the piece houses a display of slate mounted, as they would be on a rooftop. It is quite a beautiful juxtaposition.
Cahill is also a self taught painter having participated in numerous art venues and has been recently encouraged to apply to the cooperatively owned Oxbow Gallery in Northampton cooperative.
Cynthia Fisher’s piece, a mosaic is located in Peskeomskut Park at Avenue A and Sixth Street. Because of the inherent cost of working with this medium Fisher is always on the lookout for public art opportunities, thus making her work more accessible.
Fisher wanted to use a strong image that would be visible from a long distance as well as something that was derived from the historical aspects of the region. An accomplished children’s book illustrator, Fisher incorporated her interpretive lyrical skills into this piece.
Choosing the image of a large salmon Fisher likens her piece to the representation of a healthy river and environment. Fisher is hopeful that the salmon, with our help will return to the area and recover from its drastic population decline over the years because of pollution and the damning of the river. The fish ladders in both Holyoke and Turners Falls have indicated that the indigenous fish is indeed on the rise.
“Atlantic Salmon” is a great smiling mosaic salmon that does indeed beacon one from a far to view its jewel-like reflective scales, read the posted materials and enter this newly renovated town park. Fisher can be contacted through her web site www.bigbangmosaics.com
Funding for the RiverCulture Project has come from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Hallmark Institute of Photography, Western Mass Electric Company, Greenfield Cooperative Bank, The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, the Town of
July 2006
Four Artists Chosen for Outdoor Public Art to be on View for 3 Years in Turners Falls
The Turners Falls RiverCulture Project announces the winners in a call for artists for four outdoor art pieces serving as informational kiosks to be placed in downtown Turners Falls. These functional works of art will open an artistic and historical dialogue as well as serve as a way finding system to the town’s cultural, historical and recreational resources.
The four artists chosen for these commissions are Stephen Cahill of Turners Falls, Cynthia Fisher of Buckland, Gary Orlinsky of Leverett and James Rourke of Northfield. Each proposed a piece centered on a theme relevant to Turners and will include display space for a map, RiverCulture project information and a space for community postings.
Stephen Cahill, a brick mason by trade says, “The quality of craftsmanship in the buildings of this town has become somewhat of a lost art. I hope to pay tribute to this aesthetic in my work…My artistic creativity comes from many places: the decay of man-made buildings, the rust of the railroad or the natural wonders that surround us…Turners has provided me with an endless inspiration that inspires me to create.” His piece will reside on the corner of Avenue A and 3rd Street in front of the Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography. Cahill has created work for the Boston Flower show, independently created and installed sculptures along the river in Turners, and produced paintings and work in mixed media.
In veteran artist Gary Olinsky's description, his piece entitled Rock, Paper, Knife will juxtapose stacked paper from the last remaining paper mill with the stacked rocks from the river, displayed inside of a monumental support made of oak timbers. Rather than use knives from the cutlery factory, he will include the grinding wheels used to sharpen blades as a tribute to all the men and women who labored in the mills. “For it is not the architecture or industry alone that we celebrate- but the spirit of the people who made these things possible.” Much of Orlinsky’s work has explored the dual themes of regional history and the interplay of nature and civilization and notes “while the dams and canals provided the power for the mills, they also created the rather unique landscape of the dry riverbed.” Rock, Paper, Knife, will stand at the riverside bike path next to the Fish Ladder and in front of the parking area.
Mosaic artist, Cynthia Fisher, proposed a large mosaic salmon, a fish that is an important symbol of a healthy river environment. She hopes to pay tribute to the goal and hope of “biologists and nature lovers alike that this once abundant inhabitant of the major rivers in New England will with our help, recover from the drastic population declines.” An accomplished mosaic artist, Fisher has created several works of public art as well as illustrated 30 children’s books. “While color is the obvious attraction for me, it is the more sophisticated and challenging aspects of working in mosaic that I truly respond to…I love bouncing between thinking analytically and intuitively about how to achieve a desired affect.” Her large mosaic will reside in Peskeomskut Park. 
Sculptor James Rourke’s proposed installation called Powertown is an abstracted wheel constructed of forms and materials pulled from the history and visual landscape. The wheel is meant to echo the water wheels utilized by the canal’s factories as well as the bicycle wheel that transforms a rider’s energy into movement. Rourke notes “the surrounding landscape and structures become material to be explored so that we may gain a deeper understanding of the life of the past and possibilities for our individual and collective futures. The wheel is a universal symbol of man’s development over time and functions to visually draw a similarity between the recreational and mechanical uses of our earliest technology.” Powertown will stand at the foot of the bike path at the parking area at the end of First Street in front of the river. Solar lights are integrated in the piece for viewing postings at night.
The public art selection committee consisted of RiverCulture partners, town officials and outside jurors. They include Chris Janke of Suzee’s Laundry; Jack Nelson,artist; Bill Gabriel of Northeast Utilities; Frank Abbondanzio, town administrator; Dave Jensen, building inspector; Lisa Davol, RiverCulture Coordinator;
Special Thanks to Hezzie Phillips, Director of the Contemporary Artists Center in North Adams; James Florschutz, sculptor from Newfane VT; and Joseph Krupczynski, Chair of the Northampton public art committee and Architecture and design professor at UMASS.
Massachusetts Cultural Council, Town of Montague, Western Massachusetts Electric Company, Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography, Hallmark Institute of Photography, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Greenfield Savings Bank, The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, Mark Abramson of Benchmark and Pratt Real Estate, Greenfield Cooperative Bank
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