DownStreet Art Hosts Free Events on Thursday / NorthAdams.com

	EXHIBITION OPENINGS
	Here So Lightly by Bill Guild NAACO Gallery 33 Main Street Click here for more info. A figure is seen leaving the frame of the photo. A landscape is revealed that could easily come out of a dream. Using perspective, tonality and texture, each Bill Guild image is crafted to become more of a meditation than a photograph. The scene dissolves leaving only a felt sense.
	Space Was The Place MCLA Gallery 51 51 Main Street (413)664-8718 Click here for more info. Taking as subject the utopian—which has as object the respective moment of an individual instance's conception and extracts its desire from the material world positioning it within a vacuum— the artists in Space Was the Place consider the determination and distribution of the desired as a means to critique not only social constructs but also the utopian nature of criticism itself. Featuring work by: Ivan Argote, Hackworth Ashley, Steven Millar, Gary Nickard & Patty Wallace, Julian Osti, Paul Lloyd Sargent, and Alex Young & Chris Skinner. Curated by Alex Young.
	Lose It by Katie Baker The Artery 26 Holden Street Click here for more info. Artist Katie Baker has been working at The Artery (former Artery Lounge) space for almost a week to create Lose It a site-responsive installation. Using drawing materials she began a dialogue with the site filtering her projection of the familiar onto the unknown, and the mixed frustration and relief that comes with losing the past to an undeniable present. 'My drawing process reflects the way we inhabit new spaces. The images I draw from reflect my family's history, my past and present interactions with loved ones and the multiple places I've called home." 'Katie Baker is a MFA candidate at the UMass Amherst.
	Film and Video artist Molly Davies Sheer Madnees Gallery 81 Main Street Click here for more info. Noted for her richly textured work, Ms. Davies frequently uses multi-channel video, monitors and projections to immerse the audience in a meditative encounter with the subject. The exhibition features three video works from 80’s, 90’s and 2008, in a mesmerizing abstraction of color and form, slow motion of sensual dance in a glorious celebration of unconscious beauty.
	This One Goes to Eleven curated by Melanie Mowinski PRESS 105 Main Street Click here for more info. This One Goes to Eleven, will feature pressure prints, linoleum prints, prints with moveable type as well as book art and paste papers. Some of the work will be the curator’s and proprietress Melanie Mowinski; some will be from the classes/workshops run during the DownStreet Art summer months. Students had the possibility to also explore the theme “GREEN” through the vehicle of low relief pressure printing after which were then stamped and stenciled upon. Go see the result of this exciting printing adventure!
	The Art of Dissent curated by Ann Scott Little People From Here by Claire Fox Grass Gallery 107 Main Street Click here for more info. The Art of Dissent opens for its second annual exhibit featuring woodcut prints made by members of the ASARO collective (Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca) of Oaxaca Mexico. The Little People From Here is an installation of tiny paintings and wood figures. Every piece lives in tree house structures. The small blocks and figures work together to create an unique and strange world.
	These Things Remain curated by Ali Herman Adams Co-Operative Bank 31 Eagle Street Early Opening: 5-6pm Click here for more info. A series of conceptual photographs portraying artist’s family and home in a frozen period of time. Ali Herman, is a native of Pittsfield and she recently completed her BFA in studio arts from UMass Amherst. She uses timely artifacts to create intimate imagery of her memories of home, creating her own story of remembrance. Kristen Parker, curator of the exhibition, decided to show Ali’s work to provoke the importance of local artists in the Berkshires.
	LIVE MUSIC, PERFORMANCES AND SPECIAL EVENTS
	Hoosic River Walks Starts at City Hall 5pm Click here for more info. Enjoy a guided, 30-45 minute walk along the Hoosic River. The historical walk, sponsored by the Hoosic River Revival, will begin at 5 pm at City Hall. The route will vary depending on the interest of participants. The River Revival's Historical Walking Brochures will be handed out during the walk; they are also available at: Gallery 51, the N. A. Public Library,Clerk's office in City Hall, N. A. Historical Society, and W. Gateway State Park Visitors Center.
	Mail Myself To Thoreau 35 Main Street, in front of Berkshire Bank 6-8pm Click here for more info. Acoustic/non-eclectic/not melodic/kind of political/old timey/not metal/punk-core from Northampton, MA. Mail Myself To Thoreau will do an open performance for people to play acoustic instruments and share songs with them. Bring your own instrument and join the fun!
	Britney Lutz 109 Main Street, under the Mohawk Marquis 7-8pm Click here for more info. Brittany Lutz's, locally grown in North Adams, first public concert. "Music has been my inspiration, but my son has always been my motivation." Lutz attends Drury High school, and plans to further her education, and music career by doing what she loves the most; singing, and performing. She looks up to; Jewel, Ani Difranco, Jason Mraz, Metallica, and probably anyone else you can think of. "I wouldn't specify my genre in music, I love everything, and if I don't 'love it' I find something I love about it"
	C. Ryder Cooley and Jasmine Dreame Wagner XMALIA 18 Holden Street 8-9pm Click here for more info. C. Ryder Cooley will perform at 8 pm the Dodo-trapeze act from “XMALIA: Songs About Extiction,” a mesmerzing performance about vanished creatures and their stories. Following Cooley’s performance special guest Cabinet of Natural Curiosities will perform a series of songs. Jasmine Dreame Wagner is a musician and artist who writes poems and makes folk and experimental music as Cabinet of Natural Curiosities. She has also worked in photo series, pen and ink drawing, collage, and bookmaking.
	DIY: Make Believe MAYA IV 49 Main Street Click here for more info. Jarvis Rockwell uses action figures and toys to create stories about the way we live. Now is your chance to do the same! Maya IV is Jarvis's pyramid of toys which is meant to represent us in all our variety. During August 25 opening reception, visitors can arrange figures on a landscape created just outside of the gallery. Jarvis is donating a selection of toys to this event so that the public can watch and join in as the narratives change throughout the night. If anyone has any old toys or figures they'd like to use, feel free to bring them too to the event.
	NOW ON VIEW
	MAYA IV by Jarvis Rockwell 49 Main Street Click here for more info. Pyramid of toys, wall drawings, and assemblage reveal the imaginative world of Jarvis Rockwell. Maya IV is a tower of toys that Jarvis Rockwell has put together to represent who we are as people. “Maya” is a Hindi word which implies that the world we live in is an illusion that we have created. Rockwell has been collecting these action figures since 1978, but never before has his pyramid been accompanied by such an array of his other artwork in one gallery space.
	When I Was Young by Cynthia Consentino PIP Postal Instant Press Gallery 53 Main Street On View 24/7 till September 25th Click here for more info. With her artwork, Consentino replaces the mundane and saccharine figures of the past with a wry and contemporary comment on issues such as increasing violence among our youth and the objectification of the female body. The installation, co-presented with Ferrin Gallery in Pittsfield, focuses on violence and the obsession with guns in our culture, as well as the passive, good-girl role of the female.
	Suncatcher Glass 7 Holden Street Open late on DSA Last Thursday Click here for more info. Anna Kronick re-opened a space downtown North Adams to host her work in a small gallery setting. “As an artist, I believe that art making tells a story and I always try to create artworks full of imaginative narratives. Each piece is a tale designed around a variety of different subjects that come out of my cultural background, my diverse interests, biblical and folkloric research and personal experiences.” A. Kronick.
	Slow Fade to Black by Carrie Mae Weems Legacy Gallery 28 Holden Street On View till September 25th Click here for more info. Carrie Mae Weems is an award-winning photographer and artist whose work focuses on contemporary African American issues such as racism, gender relations, politics, and personal identity. In Slow Fade to Black, co-presented with Williams College Museum of Art, Weems strives to spot the ghost of our past by examining cultural memory and its divides. As a collage of sound, image, and soulful video projections, the exhibit highlights remarkable moments from the civil rights era and extraordinary voices.
	OPEN STUDIOS
	Wendy James art space 10 Holden Street Wendy James and Susan Hall show a photographic installation of correspondence and photos documenting the winter in South Beach and North Adams. Also on view new large nudes and small abstract paintings by Wendy James.
	William Oberst Studio 16 Holden Street Click here for more info. The working studio of realist painter of people and landscapes. “We all have a shared humanity. Should any of my pictures survive for the next three hundred years, I would hope that people in that distant future see, in my art, how we felt about each other in the twenty-first century, and how we felt about being alive. I would also hope that those future viewers recognize something of themselves in my work.” B. Oberst.
	Martha Flood Design 38 Eagle Street Click here for more info. Martha Flood presents original fabrics, The Woodlands Collection, for sale in the Eagle Street Studio and Gallery. The designs are inspired by textures and patterns found in the Berkshire woodland environments. The nontraditional natural images are examples of cutting edge pattern design and advanced digital fabric printing technologies.
	Michael Martin Eagan at The Flatiron 42 Eagle Street Click here for more info. Contemporary paintings by Michael Martin Eagan. “Although heavily influenced by Van Gogh’s colors and movement, my strongest influence undeniably resides with the abstract expressionist, Jackson Pollock. From 2005-2007 I ran my own gallery in Rockport, Massachusetts where I displayed and sold many of my contemporary works. I am currently an emerging artist to the Berkshire art scene.” M. M. Eagle.
BUSINESS SPECIALS	Get your passport at any of the DownStreet Art galleries, collect the stars and claim the special in one of the businesses listed below or all of them!