At TurnPark, Summer Opens with Art in Flux and Clay in Fire

TurnPark sculpture park and art space in West Stockbridge launches its 2025 season with a double bill of exhibitions informed by transformation—both in material and in meaning. Two concurrent solo shows from artists Jim Morris and Paul Chaleff animate the Gate House and Garage Galleries, inviting viewers to consider how they visualize power, memory, ritual, and natural forces.

The exhibitions mark the beginning of TurnPark’s ninth season, which co-founder Katya Brezgunova says, is guided by the intention of herself and husband Igor Gomberg to “connect art, nature, and community in a unique and inspiring way.” 

Set on a dramatic 16 acre former quarry site that the founders have restored and recontextualized, TurnPark has grown into what Brezgunova now calls “a platform for creative people to express themselves and unite, no matter what their background is.” The Brezgunovas are of Russian and Ukrainian descent. While it was not their intention to become local ambassadors for the art of their home countries, when they settled here 14 years ago, current global politics have added poignancy to Turnpark’s peaceful artistic mission.

“Sculpture – Tablets – Chargers” by by Paul Chaleff.

Twin Exhibitions

In the Garage Gallery, “Sculpture – Tablets – Chargers” presents a survey of recent ceramic works by Paul Chaleff, a pioneering sculptor credited with reviving the appeal of wood-fired ceramics in the US. Chaleff’s gestural tablets and vessels—fired in massive “dragon kilns” modeled after Japanese anagama traditions—evoke Neolithic pottery as well as the modernist legacy of artists like Isamu Noguchi and Anthony Caro. “For him, clay is like nature itself,” says Brezgunova. 

Chaleff’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A reception for the exhibition will take place on Saturday, May 24, from 3 to 5 pm, and the show remains on view through August 3.

In the Gate House Gallery, Jim Morris’s “Leaving Traces” showcases a series of complex, densely layered drawings that transform data and documentation—everything from archaic maps to modern satellite images—into visual meditations on volatility. The Holyoke-based artist draws from sources such as surveillance footage, architectural plans, and medical records to explore how we consume and cognitively process information. The resulting images are enigmatic and quietly confrontational. The opening reception for “Leaving Traces” will be held Saturday, May 31, from 4 to 6 pm. The exhibition runs through August 10.

A scene from the 2024 Summer Festival. 

Summer Rituals 

The season’s centerpiece, TurnPark’s annual Summer Festival, will be held Saturday, June 14. This year’s theme, “Roots and Wings,” symbolizes, in Brezgunova’s words, “the necessity to feel connected to the ground we stand on, and at the same time, to have the strength and wings to soar.” Programming will span immersive installations, live music, wearable sculpture, and performance art. Among the highlights are Uta Bekaia’s “Roots,” the interactive performance quest “Visa to Dreamland” by Luna Go and Maidibor, and a sound journey by Uyanga x Bansara, the duo of vocalist Uyanga Bold and flutist Josh Geisler, known for their fusion of nomadic traditions with electronica.

The “Visa to Dreamland” performance will culminate in a ritual act of symbolic transformation. “The main character is like a bureaucrat buried under cardboard folders,” Brezgunova explains. “At the end, he will take down his costume and burn it—like a symbol of freedom. Then we’ll see his new wings.” She adds, with a laugh, “We like fire. We like to burn something.”

Uyanga x Bansara, the duo of vocalist Uyanga Bold and flutist Josh Geisler.

Brezgunova and her husband, both Russian immigrants who founded TurnPark more than a decade ago, are clear that their aim is not national diplomacy but creative community-building. “It was never our mission to build a bridge between the United States and Russia,” she says, “but definitely we wanted to give a platform for creative people. In our collection, more than half the works are by American artists, alongside artists from Ukraine, Estonia, Georgia, Israel—many places. We speak with different accents, a lot of them, and we believe in the common language of art.”

TurnPark Art Space is located at 2 Moscow Road in West Stockbridge, MA. The park is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm (galleries and gift shop closed Tuesdays). Admission is free for West Stockbridge residents, children under 12, and TurnPark members. General admission is $14, with discounts for students, seniors, and families. Special events, including the festival, are ticketed separately.

Festival tickets are $40 in advance or $45 at the door. Children under 12 attend free with an adult. For tickets, full event listings, and exhibition details, visit Turnpark.com.