A Year in New England: Memorial Day Weekend

by Linda Jacque

We began the weekend a little early with the Irish Jam at McKinnon's in downtown Hartford.

Our source told us there would be a professional tuba quartet there to play Irish music, but they didn't show. Good thing too, because there was a pretty good-sized group without them, sitting in a large circle just inside the door. Around six fiddles, a couple of mandolins, Marie's co-worker Glen on his home-made guitar, one Uilleann pipes, a few Bodhrans (one blind with a bear-like German Shepherd occupying a substantial amount of the floor next to the bar), one cello, one black flute, one tin whistle, and John Whelan on button accordion. It was a pretty organized "jam" with Welan taking the lead with his amplified squeezebox. The blind man sat at the bar and often played on the rim of his drum. Just for himself, not wanting to intrude.

It was a pleasant evening of music, Guinness, and Irish stew. A contingent of the Hell's Angels decided to drop by, adding to the ambiance.

The incidental highlight of the evening takes place around the middle of the following video:

Click here for another video

Click here for another

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Marie and I both participated in the Hammered & Nailed Show at ArtSpace. There was a call to hang any Art earlier in the week, and we got there just as the gallery was supposed to open. We found, however, that almost all the wallspace had been already taken. I quickly grabbed a remaining patch on the far side of the room, near the floor and we hung almost a dozen of Marie's paintings. Polar bears, ravens, and others. I went the next day with Wood Dog Tree and a couple of my new Jack Russel dogs, since there was plenty of floor space available. I set up next to a pole across from Marie's work.

And then the party on Saturday. I brought three more dogs that I just finished, as well as wine and chocolate chip cookies. The event was being sponsored by three pubs, among others, so we expected three kegs. I think there was only one little one, but it was enough for me. For what it was, the Art was pretty good and looked good in the big room. Here are a few of our fellow participants. For a look at more click here.

Matthew Seremet

There was also a performance piece by Paulette:

And don't forget the clowns:

On Sunday, we returned to Northampton for the Paradise City Arts Festival at the Three County Fairgrounds. I should mention that back in 1973 or 74, I helped with an event at the same fairgrounds called New England Artists: A Festival and Showcase which was presented by the Arts Extension Service. It was a great event, held bi-annually. I think it later moved to the UMass campus, but I don't know what became of it. This show was a totally different animal. Strictly a commercial venture, but managed to be named the number three Art fair or festival in the country (by American Style magazine)..

First I was surprised to hear of the Paradise City moniker that Northampton is using. I could have sworn that the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind, called it "the most beautiful village in New England" when she honeymooned there in 1851. She also dubbed a small lake there, Paradise Pond.

Then I was disappointed to see that only a small part of this "festival" was visual Fine Art. It was mostly jewelry, clothes, ornamentals, with just a handful of artists. We did, however, see one extraordinary glas sculptor, Alex Fakete. A real artist among the many glass people there. While this one photo cannot do justice to his work, we were also impressed with his artistic drive and wish him good luck. Click here to go to Alex's website.

Alex Fakete

We also had a good time talking with Julia Gilmore from Toronto, who paints large, colorful, striking paintings, using only her trusty palette knife. She is often on the road, trying to make a living with her Art, and sometimes she brings along her 13-year old son. A daunting challenge for only the bravest. Julia was hysterical, however, in relating to us a few stories. Her eye-rolling and "oh, Mom"s were great. I better put in a link to Julia's wesite, as well. Click here to see more.

Julia Gilmore

Finally, we purchased a mask from an artist named Kamil Peters. He uses primarily discarded and cut up propane tanks for his sculptures, masks, and other creations in his Easthampton studio. (I used to live in Easthampton when I first attended UMass.) We also enjoyed his artistic vision and pleasant nature. He names his masks. Mateo (Marie's purchase) was named after a friend's unborn child. Click here to see more of Kamil's work.

Kamil Peters

Here are a couple of other artists at the fair:

Nathan Macumber

James Kitchen

by Linda Jacque

Then we went downtown for another walk around. The sidewalks were, once again, busy with shoppers and strollers. (Not baby strollers.) Settled on Tibetan food for lunch at Lhasa's Cafe. We passed on the dishes featuring yak. Marie had the ?? with lentil soup and I got dumplings. Only they were more like Chinese sweet buns, but filled with a little spinach and mushrooms. Marie splurged on ginger ice cream served with apple patties for desert. The restaurant had a very pleasant ambiance with subtle music and interesting wall hangings.

We walked up Elm Street along the Smith College campus and found the Museum of Art. It was interesting to read a little about the museum's history after seeing the Art there. The college began collecting original works of Art in 1879, only four years after the school was founded. The initial purchases made by the school president were contemporary American artists, often from the artists themselves. The idea was that the students should be familiar with the Art of their own time. This, of course, expanded over time.

Happy Landscape by Arthur Garfield Dove, 1937

The bad thing about looking at the museum's website, is that I saw many paintings that we did not see and would have like to. Such as Cassatt, Motherwell, Cezanne, and Kandinsky. They do have a terrific collection of Art, with plenty of big names. I remembered these, in no particular order: two or three Monet, Renoir, Morisot, Sisley, Pissarro, Gaugin, Picasso, Leger, a few Rodins, Homer, Sargent, Much, Arthur Garfield Dove, Marsden Hartley, O'Keefe, Copley, Corot, Courbet, Houdin, Degas (bronze and paintings), Manet, Seurat, Whistler, Ingres, Inness, Eakens, and Bellows. I'm sure there were lots more I forgot already.

Auguste Rodin's The Walking Man

Diana by Augustus Saint Gaudens

Bust of Diana by Jean Alexandre Joseph Faiguiere

The museum was organized with the Impressionists and others on the top floor, early American art, religious art, and Classical (Roman, Greek, Egyptian artifacts) on the second floor, with special exhibitions on the ground floor. There is another lower level off the gallery which is sometimes used for the special exhibits, but otherwise has some of their contemporary collection. We saw works by Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Stella, and O'Keefe, among others.

There were noticeably more female artists than seen in other museums. Sorry I didn't note some names. Marie thought that much of the Art by the big-name artists were early work or late works, or unusual subjects like an early Mondrian, I remember. Before the squares.