Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Pittsfield. Leave it to Leslie Ferrin, gallerista extraordinaire, to draw a crowd indoors on a perfect summer afternoon. Such was the case on Saturday, July 30, for the opening of her latest exhibition, Beauty in Decay. This two-pronged show features a wall full of antlered trophy heads crafted by Gordon Chandler (at left, with Ferrin) from reclaimed metal parts that Chandler salvaged from junkyards and recycling centers, plus a few of his signature oil-barrel kimonos. The work of four photographers—Gregory Crewdson, Michael Eastman, Susan Mikula, Nicholas Whitman—who explore the beauty that can be found in places and situations that other eyes might find appalling, or at least unappealing, fills the other half of the Ferrin Gallery.
Artists Grier Horner and Mark Tomasi, a marketing specialist at Berkshire Bank, with 1Berkshire CEO Stuart Chase.
Carol and Eric Haythorne; Beth Sapery and Rosita Sarnoff.
Art consultant Barbara Paley with sculptor Misty Gamble; Stockbridge gallerist and photographer Cassandra Sohn with artist Peter Dudek, who runs Bascom Lodge.
Berkshire Eagle art critic Keith Shaw with Julie Chase, the Clark's director of special projects; sculptor Joe Wheaton and Northampton publicist Michael Kusek.
Lenox gallerist Sienna Patti with South African artist Dolla Sapeta, who just finished a residency at Art Omi and is now in residence in the Berkshires, and studio jeweler Biba Schutz, whose work is now featured at the Sienna Gallery.
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
