Past Exhibit › Being There: A Geocoded Landscape

A group exhibition of paintings, photographs, and other location based works by Berkshire artists all geocoded and mapped.

Archived on June 28 2008.

In this group exhibit we explore our surrounding landscape through art and technology. Geocoding is a process where geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) are identified for a particular item or location. Works of art included in this exhibit have been geocoded and mapped, allowing viewers to visit the approximate location where the original work was created in or inspired by.

Curated by Marianne R. Petit, Matthew Belanger, & Richard Harrington.

Click a thumbnail to enlarge photos of art works.

In The Storefront:

Wal-Scape by Matthew Belanger
Consisting of fake flowers and plants, toys, cardboard boxes, plastic bags, a television, and other products purchased from the local Wal-Mart, Wal-Scape attempts to restore the landscape that has been removed with the materials now found at that location. Matthew Belanger, new media artist and Co-Director of Greylock Arts, also a native of Arkansas (where Wal-Mart began), has in his past work explored themes involving these massive retail spaces with photography and video. Wal-Scape, Belanger’s first installation, is a continuation of this interest taken in a new direction. Wal-Scape calls into question our value of manufactured goods over nature.

Being Where? by Daniel Rose
Dan Rose, artist and author, is Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. In 1995 began making and showing art work including 75 one‐of‐a‐kind artist books, a year‐long project of building 25 machines, and installations and performances with actors and musicians. Rose was a member of the artist’s collective, Nexus Gallery, in Philadelphia, and has an art and design studio, Pure Theory, in a building that was formerly Bob’s Used Furniture in Adams, Massachusetts. He has also worked with artists and designers on collaborative projects, most extensively with Melissa Grey, the couture composer. He has lectured and taught at universities in the U.S. and Europe. For several years he was a visiting critic in the Graphic Design Department at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His current projects include the re‐design of an iconic American race car.

In The Gallery:

Night Landscapes by Kay Canavino
Kay Canavino has been exploring themes of the natural world via fine art photography for over twenty years. Her fine art photography is almost exclusively organic: a vanitas series with plants and animals, a series of hand-colored portraits of gardens and gardeners, polaroid transfers of flowers and fish, and most recently, night landscapes and night portraits using light-painting techniques. Her photographs have been exhibited in national and regional juried shows and her work is included in numerous corporate, museum and private collections.

After too long a period without trees, Kay moved to the Berkshires from the Boston area in 2002. In the fall of 2003, she opened her studio in a renovated schoolhouse in Adams, Massachusetts. She provides traditional and digital photography to business clients and continues to expand her fine art photography. Further information on Kay Canavino’s photography can be found at kaycanavino.com.

Paintings by Martha Denmead Rose
Martha Denmead Rose is a painter focused on capturing northern light and space. This interest has led her to explore landscapes in farflung areas, such as Scandinavia, Canada, New England, and her native Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. She has taught widely and currently has a studio in Stamford, Vermont.

MEMENTO: Recent Photographs by Jane Hudson
Jane Hudson and her husband Jeff Hudson moved from Boston to North Adams in 2005. She had been teaching at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston since 1974 when she and Jeff first started the Video Program there. Recently retired from the SMFA, she taught Media Theory for two years in the English/ Communications Dept. at MCLA.

Having worked under pressure in Video for so many years, Jane resumed an old love of photography when she came to the Berkshires. The combination of majestic landscapes and derelict architecture spoke to her of both the strengths and lost pride of the area. In her treatment of images in ‘sepia’ she hopes to reconnect with something lost but still remembered in the ‘bones’ of the images. The vintage frames also lend a note of authenticity to the subjects. For more information: officialjeffandjane.com/jane.html

Unnamed Streams of East Road by Henry Klein
Streams and Rocks. I share my appreciation of nature through painting it and showing it.

The Decline of An American Mill Town: A Work In Progress by John A. Lisee
Discarded, abandoned and covered in rust, lies the machinery that was once an important part of this area’s mill town history. Over the years, I have produced a collection of prints of the regions lost and forgotten industrial artifacts from an earlier period of time when things were more prosperous and mills were the dominant factor in a town’s social and economic structure. For the past several years I have created a body of work entitled “Decline of an American Mill Town: A Work In Progress.” With my Canon Digital SLR camera, I have created detailed images from crumbling vacant mills, decaying vehicles and darkened interiors of neglected schools with the intent to create a fine art print that will make the viewer observe things differently; to see objects that they encounter every day but tend to ignore and to appreciate their intricate detail and unusual beauty.

Leave Us Some Art (A Geocache) by Anita Perr & Marianne R. Petit
Anita Perr is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. In addition, Perr is an artist, ceramist and potter. Marianne R. Petit is an Associate Arts Professor at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at the Tisch School of the Arts and Co-Director of Greylock Arts. In addition, she is an artist who creates animations, videos, comics, interactive dioramas, and more.

Perr and Petit have collaborated on numerous curriculum, assistive technology, and video projects. Perr introduced Petit to geocaching on a recent visit to Adams. Geocaching is an international outdoor treasure hunt game in which participants hide and seek containers (or “geocaches”) through GPS coordinates. Today, over 650,000 “caches” are registered on various sites devoted to the game. For this exhibition, Perr and Petit have inverted the concept of this exhibit by hiding an art-related cache in Adams. They are presenting in this exhibition the GPS coordinates to locate it. For more information, visit geocaching.com.

Greylock Glen by Mary Ann Wojtaszek
These photos were taken over a 10 year period by Mary Ann Wojtaszek. Upon returning to her home in Adams after 23 years away, she was drawn to the beauty of the Greylock Glen and found herself there nearly every afternoon with her sister and four legged friend Iza. Her panoramic camera went with her and captured four seasons of the beauty of the area.

Map:

Thumbnails represent the location a work of art was created at or inspired by. Click on a thumbnail to see details about a particular work. Use the controls on the map to scroll, zoom, and change it’s appearance. You can also scroll the map by dragging on it. Double click an area to center the map.

Exhibit Dates & Times:

May 22nd – June 28th 2008
Admission is free and open to the public.
Open Tuesday – Saturday 1 – 6 p.m. and by appointment.
Appointments can be made by phone or email.
Admission is free and open to the public.

Opening Reception:

Thursday May 22nd 2008, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Click a thumbnail to enlarge photos of the opening reception.

Location:

93 Summer Street, Adams, MA 01220

Press:

Berkshire Fine Arts, 06/28/08: Being There: A Geocoded Landscape