Inspiration by the Decades at 10x10 On 10

Lisa Green reports from Pittsfield. What inspires you most at this decade of your life? That’s the question curator Diane Firtell (left) asked of each girl/woman who created a piece of artwork for the Alchemy Initiative’s art exhibit that opened on Saturday at Y Bar on North Street. Organized by decade, with works ranging from that of a nine-year-old to a woman of 93, the exhibit of 10” x 10” paintings, collages, photography, and ceramics conveyed a timeline of inspiration. As part of the second annual 10x10 Upstreet Art Festival, the Alchemy Initiative exhibit is a collaborative event with WAM Theatre, which mirrors the inspiration-through-the-decades theme with an original theater piece created by local writers and performed by an ensemble of local professional actors.

Contributing artists Roselle Chartock and Suzanne Stefanik; standing by her 10x10 entry is the youngest artist of the group, Collette Hartcorn, with her mother, Andrea Hartcorn.

The 10x10 On 10 organizers: The Alchemy Initative'sDiane Firtell and Jess Conzo (with son Wylder Vecchia) flank Sara Katzoff, co-founder and artistic director of the Berkshire Fringe, and who directed the theater piece, and Kristen van Ginhoven, artistic director of WAM Theatre.

Michael Durst, who is in the hospitality industry; Lorrin Krouss, a writing student of exhibit contributor Suzi Banks Baum, and Andrew Krouss.

Artist Collette Hartcorn checks out what inspires artists in their 50s; Amelia Wood, a contributing artist who works in museum education at the Williams College Museum of Art, is accompanied by Benjamin Wood and Scot Vighi, a Lenox-based natural healer and yoga instructor.