We drove from JFK to Williamstown, MA where we were to stay at the Guest House at Field Farm
A Trustees of Reservations Property. http://www.thetrustees.org/field-farm/ It was the home of Lawrence and Eleanor Bloedel, avid modern art and furniture collectors of the time. Our room had been the master bedroom. Most of the furnishings we used there were original. We took advantage of the magnificent hiking trails on the property. Like MALT in Marin county, this trust protects farmland but also special houses & properties such as this.
Our innkeeper was Swedish and had a degree from Cornell School of Hotel Administration. He was most knowledgeable about the history, architecture, art & furnishings. Bloedel willed his art to the Whitney in NYC and his alma mater, Williams College, 5 miles away.
Williamstown is also home of The Clark Institute of Art; the beneficiary of the Singer machine fortune. Their collection is huge and there were two special exhibits. There was a beautifully curated exhibit of Renoir “the BODY, the SENSES,” and another of work by O’Keeffe. Ida O’Keeffe that is, Georgia’s sister. Georgia was very clear that there should be only one artist in the family. Ida’s work was excellent.
North Adams, MA was only 30 minutes east & home of MassMoCA & two cousins.
Tickets for MassMoCA are good for two days. The town wants you to stay around & the museum is so huge, you should. It’s the largest museum of contemporary art in the U.S. Circa 1872, the buildings first housed a textile factory & then the Sprague Electronics Co. N. Adams, the smallest town in MA, is an example of an American mill town re-tooling itself. We saw many towns in MA & NY that were moy doing so well. They worked with Williams College and opened to the public in 1999. We had visited there many years ago. We couldn't get to see everything. It requires another visit.
The size of MassMoCA enables it to have large permanent installation art pieces.
On the way to Lenox was the Norman Rockwell Museum. I had read about their current special exhibit: “Woodstock to the Moon: 1969 Illustrated.” This was the first of three times during our trip that we encountered exhibits related to the moon. I had known that Norman Rockwell’s politics were a little progressive but had no idea by how much.
Getting a room in Lenox, months in advance, wasn’t easy because of nearby Tanglewood. Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony & Boston Pops Orchestras. Our friends from Marin, who summer in Pittsfield, suggested we see a rehearsal in the morning and a performance in the eve. Great advice. The rehearsal was marvelous with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, four soloists, a full chorus & a lecture beforehand. Sitting 3rd row center, enabled us to hear discussions on stage & see the back of Alan Arkin’s head, a row in front of us.
We were warned that there would be 10,000 (turned out to be 15,000) people attending the evening’s Boston Pops John Williams Film Night. It was only two miles from our inn, so we walked. Smart move.
David Newman conducted the first half and John Williams, the second. David Newman, a noted composer of film music is brother of Thomas, also a famous Hollywood composer & son of Alfred, who won a ton of Oscars. Alfred’s responsible for the fanfare one hears at the opening of a 20th Century Fox film. Oh, and David is the first cousin of Randy Newman.
The next day we crossed over into NY.
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Thanks,
Marty
