Susan Rodgers/Joe Wheaton Show Opens at Berkshire Museum

Only Stuart Chase, Berkshire Museum's estimable director, could get away with scheduling an opening for a Thursday night (July 1) and draw a crowd like this—a veritable who's who of those who get things done in Berkshire County. Of course, he had plenty of help from the artists in this two-man show, Spatial Relationships. Susan Rodgers and Joe Wheaton are among the community's leading lights, with artistic reputations that far exceed regional boundaries. The talk that night was of Art in America contributor Carol Diehl's charming interview with the artists in the exhibition brochure. Many also remarked on how, in six years, Stuart Chase has maxed the museum's potential by reshaping it into a hybrid—children's museum, natural history museum, and contemporary art gallery. Also overheard: Joe Wheaton's mother Barbara's comment to his brother Henry, "Doesn't Joe look nice? I've never seen him so dressed up."

Stuart Chase, Susan Rodgers and Joe Wheaton

Mary Lee Johansen, Polly Porter, and Susan Rodgers; graphic designer Eileen Rosenthal and illustrator Marc Rosenthal

Richard Lipez, who writes novels pseudonymously under the name Richard Stephenson and Joe Wheaton; Tanglewood's p.r. whiz Kathleen Drohan and Shakespeare & Co.'s Jeremy Goodwin

Vera Lecocq, artist Maggie Mailer, and Nicholas Mailer Wendling; artists Peter Dudek and Grier Horner with Judy Katz

Allison Krol, who works for State Senator Benjamin Downing with Pittsfield City Councilor John Krol, Media Relations Manager for Berkshire Healthcare Systems and host of Good Morning, Pittsfield; Barbara Schulman and Berkshire Museum trustee Stacey Gillis Weber

Joe Wheaton and art writer Carol Diehl; RI contributor and author of The Locavore WayAmy Cotler and artist Tom Powers

Painter Suzette Alsop and composer Clint Elliot, who gave Joe Wheaton his first commission, a 24k-gold mirror; Berkshire Living's Mary Garnish and Roberto Flores of Good Dogs Farm.

Ven Voisey, artist-in-residence at the museum, whose show Artifact is currently on view there, and artist Eric Drury; Hancock Shaker Village's Danielle Steinmann and Colleen Surprise Jones

Photographer Bruce Panock and Ellen Antonville, associate publisher of Family Fun Magazine; Jeanet T. Ingalls and Jay Elling

Eliza Chase and the Clark Art Institute's director of special projects Julie Chase; artist Rebecca Weinman and the Berkshire Eagle's "Serial Socializer" Paul Boulais

Joanna Roche and Isabel Roche; Berkshire Botanical Garden's Molly Boxer and Lou Boxer

Ellen Whitmer and the artist Julio Granda; Joe Wheaton's brother Henry Wheaton with Lindy Smith and his and Joe's mother Barbara Wheaton

Beth Rosner, Merianne Rosner, Reba Evenchik, and Berkshire Museum trustee Lydia Rosner; Artist Michael Zelehoski, Red Lion Inn proprietor Nancy Fitzpatrick, and photographer Lincoln Russell.

Douglass Truth and Nicole Peskin; Hedy Lipez Burbank and Kelton Burbank

Stuart Chase and museum board president Mary Huth; Peter Murkett, Bola Granola creator Michele Miller and gallery owner Lauren Clark