The Social Network of the Berkshire Review for the Arts

All Blog Posts (19)

New online shop

Hi Folks. Just a quick note to share some info that I find exciting. I recently launched an online jewelry business called 6 Petal Girl. I have two sister shops. One on Etsy and one on Artfire. http://www.6petalgirl.etsy.com http://www.6petalgirl.artfire.com Take a look. I welcome feedback. What kinds of things would you like to see that you don't? Have a great holiday weekend and I'll "see" you online! Michelle Continue

Added by Michelle Silva on May 21, 2009 at 7:38am — No Comments

NEW!!! Eclipse Mill Newsletter

Hi everyone. New from the Eclipse mill, a newsletter to keep you posted on what's going on in the gallery and with all the artists located here. Go to http://www.eclipsnewsletter.com to sign up for the free monthly newsletter and receive all the information you need such as Berkshire Salon information, upcoming openings, artist updates and more. Continue

Added by Michelle Silva on May 4, 2009 at 7:24am — No Comments

Eclipse Mill Gallery to host arts/community related events

The Eclipse Mill Gallery would like to begin hosting events for the North Adams community. If you or a group you may know would be interested in having your concert, workshop, performance, etc. in this space, please contact the Events Director (Michelle Silva) at events@eclipsemillgallery.com for more information. Continue

Added by Michelle Silva on April 16, 2009 at 9:24am — No Comments

Free sample coaching sessions

Hi one and all. It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining. The clouds are fat and fluffy; no sign of that white stuff we are all so done with. I am writing to let you know I am offering free sample coaching sessions to anyone interested in seeing if coaching is for them. Maybe someone you know could use a partner in getting things going. Maybe you need someone to sort your plans out with. Coaching could be just the avenue for you. Check it out. Send me a message or email at facethedoor09@aol.com… Continue

Added by Michelle Silva on March 12, 2009 at 9:06am — No Comments

What is coaching?

Coaching is co-creative process in a supportive environment where you can talk about personal as well as professional challenges, develop plans and solutions, and create the life you want. Imagine having someone you could talk to about anything, someone without an agenda of their own, someone trained to listen, guide you and celebrate each and every milestone, however small. I work with artists, crafters and dreamers big and small on organizational and visualization strategies to clear the way t… Continue

Added by Michelle Silva on March 1, 2009 at 9:09pm — No Comments

Do Americans Really Need a "Secretary of the Arts"?

Just as I began to put my mind to this commentary, the results from the first of this year's old master sales, The Scholar's Eye: Property from the Julius Held Collection Part I, at Christie's began coming in—a most gratifying confirmation of the time-honored forces of the market in the arts: 85% of the modestly estimated works sold, a… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on January 28, 2009 at 2:30am — No Comments

The Thorne Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College opens the Juried Regional Show

The Thorne Sagendorph Art Gallery at KSC host an opening reception for the Juried Regional Show on Friday night, January 23rd in the Gallery. Al Karevy has two photos included as well as his friends, Chris Madigan and Suzanne Flynt. Reception open to the public. It is usually an amazing exhibit of artists within 30 miles of Keene, NH. Continue

Added by Al Karevy on January 19, 2009 at 5:43pm — No Comments

Vermont Center for Photography Galllery Walkabout

Michael Billingsly, Michael Havey, and Michael Miller led a discussion about the Portrait Show at the Vermont Center for Photography on Saturday, January 17, 2009. It was an excellent discussion and could have lasted for hours more. Continue

Added by Al Karevy on January 19, 2009 at 1:53pm — No Comments

The Wagner Cult on Record: Tristan und Isolde, by Huntley Dent

Mild und leise. Plenty of otherwise gentle people lose their grip on civility when Wagner’s name is mentioned. I was standing in line at the post office explaining to a friend why I thought Wagner was greater than Bach. I felt that we were in a safely uncivilized location, but no. The woman in front of us turned around and said, “I totally disagree with everything you’re saying.” I had been foolish. The cult of Wagner, which swept half of Europe

… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on November 18, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Wagner Cult and Conductor Cult, by Michael Miller

It is only too obvious that the worldwide economic collapse will affect all sectors of the global economy and therefore most aspects of our lives. Most arts organizations are already well along in addressing this murky, complex, and constantly shifting situation have announced cuts ranging from the relatively minor to cancelled or postponed performances, exhibitions, and building projects. Their managers know that things will be different in three months or six months, and probably not for the b… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on November 15, 2008 at 2:30am — No Comments

And Now We Are One...and We Have a Network!

Today we mark the first anniversary of The Berkshire Review for the Arts. Our group of writers and critics has grown considerably since then, and so has our traffic. While we were fortunate to attract a sizable group of readers from the beginning, it has grown over the course of 2008 to an average of over 103,000 “hits” and 72,000 pages read per month, peaking at over twice that in June. While I am celebrating the anniversary by redesigning the site to handle our in

… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on October 3, 2008 at 1:41am — No Comments

Reflections on the Elgin Marbles, by Huntley Dent

Rescue or looting? It’s disturbing to visit the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum, I find, because the eye notices their wreckage and beauty at the same time. One empire, the Ottoman, ignored the Parthenon as art, affixing a minaret to it and using it as a mosque. This neglect was probably better than the pillaging that another empire, the British, did after 1801,… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on October 3, 2008 at 1:24am — No Comments

The Elgin Marbles: Another View, by Michael Miller

Every stay in London should begin and end with a visit to the Parthenon Sculptures, or Elgin Marbles, if you like. Years ago my father and I cherished this ritual[1] on our annual visits. Last fall, my son and I unconsciously fell into the same pattern. After my father’s death, I spent periods in London pursuing post-doctoral research… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on October 3, 2008 at 1:20am — No Comments

New on the Berkshire Artsblog: On The Lord of the Rings, The Musical! by Huntley Dent

[Ed’s note. J. R. R. Tolkien detested movies, and he didn’t know what pop culture was, beyond perhaps Ivor Novello and the music hall. He would have been perfectly aghast to learn that he and his Lord of the Rings trilogy would become the most extreme sort of Hollywood epic and that he himself was destined to become a not only a pop culture icon, but a New Age guru as well. Even when I first learned about Lord of the Rings back in the 1960’s, it was as an esoteric highbrow indulgence. Today Hunt… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on July 17, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Of the Fourth of July, UNESCO's Buddy Bears, and Atheists

Remember the U. N.? UNESCO, anyone? While lower Manhattan appears to have become the playground of incompetents, real estate manipulators, and egomaniacial poseurs, they have sponsored an amiable world tour of painted bears, one more variant of a popular shtick in public art, but one which seems, if you examine Joanna Gabler's photographs, to have provided a fair share of fun, comfo… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on July 8, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Cutbacks in Classical Music Coverage Worry Critics, by Michael Miller, from BFA, 6/12/07

When a "regular" disappears for a while, one always wonders... At Berkshire Fine Arts we don't bother with markers for vacations or the like. It serves no purpose anyway. When I read "Paul Krugman is on vacation." in the New York Times, I still worry. In fact, I took an informal sabbatical to finish a lingering translation project. I wish I could say that I was writing a book or protesting against one of the seemingly endless procession of abuses in the world, but I was simply working.… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on May 18, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

I blinked... [more arts critics eliminated at major papers]

...and now I have several items of bad news to report. Absorbed in the intricacies of first-year Latin and stunned by the Karajan Renaissance, I missed a few weeks of music world news. It seems to happen in the spring, whether it is in Atlanta or Minneapolis. Cutting costs right and left, managers in the traditional print media have been busy firing critics once again. Last May the Atlanta Journal-Constitution cut back on arts re… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on May 5, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Oh no! He's not back again, is he? [revised] On the Karajan Centenary, by Michael Miller

Wax Effigy of Karajan in the Miracles Wax Museum, Vienne

Herbert von Karajan, Wax Effigy in

… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on May 2, 2008 at 1:30am — 3 Comments

Bad Art vs. "Bad Art" by Michael Miller

Many art dealers and some curators find any number of artworks randomly passing under their noses in endless variety on an almost daily basis. One can go from a putative Michelangelo to a catalogue of the work of some obscure short-lived Soviet abstractionist to, for example, a certain Ohio artist, who d… Continue

Added by Michael Miller on April 18, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments