When it reopens in late March after a period of construction, the Berkshire Museum plans the following exhibitions:
March 29, 2008-ongoing Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation An exploration of innovations and innovators that have enhanced people’s lives around the world. Innovations that originated in the Berkshires have had worldwide influence. The multi-media exhibition explores innovations in science, technology, business, politics, culture, and the arts, and includes original historical artifacts, works of art, video, and interactives. Innovations and innovators featured in the premiere version of the exhibition will be: Crane & Co., printers of U.S. currency; Tripod and user-generated web content; Elizabeth Blodgett Hall, founder of Simon’s Rock College; Elizabeth Freeman and the end of slavery in Massachusetts; Cyrus Field and the first transatlantic cable in 1866; Herman Melville; the Berkshire plastics industry; Ted Shawn and modern dance; Elkanah Watson and the nation’s first agricultural fair; Douglas Trumbull and cinematic special effects; George Mobray and excavating with dynamite; Frank Julian Sprague and electric trolley; William Stanley and the AC transformer; the Shakers; the art of Nancy Graves; W.E.B. Dubois, co-founder of the NAACP; Clare Bousquet and night skiing; and glass artist Tom Patti. Made possible by The Feigenbaum Foundation.
April 12, 2008-ongoing America Seen19th-century American art and decorative arts from the Berkshire Museum collection, including the return of the museum’s Hudson River School paintings by such artists as Frederick Church, Thomas Cole, and Albert Bierstadt. Also included are contemporary American works by such artists as Gregory Crewdson.
April 12, 2008-ongoing Native Peoples: Northeast-Northwest Musical instruments, cooking utensils, hunting tools, baskets, clothing, weapons, pipes, toys, and games used in everyday Native American life, all drawn from the Berkshire Museum's rarely seen collection, tell stories of native people in the northeastern woodlands from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. The exhibition includes contemporary native voices and explores the traditions of the Iroquois, Mohican, Haida, and Tlingit nations. Visitors may play instruments, games, and toys, and try on clothing.
April 12, 2008-ongoing Ancient CivilizationsThe ancient peoples of Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, and Mesopotamia created complex civilizations. They used and made objects that communicated important ideas about their daily lives, their homes and businesses, and their beliefs and practices for the afterlife. This new installation drawn from the Berkshire Museum’s extensive collection of ancient art and artifacts will feature ritual objects, burial objects, every day household objects, and jewelry. Highlights from Ancient Egypt include the mummy Pahat (circa 332 BC), a falcon mummy, canopic jars, and shabti figures in faience and wood. Ancient Roman glass and bronze household objects, Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets, ancient Greek pottery, and terracotta figures from ancient China will also be on view, as will 19th-century plaster casts of the famous ancient Greek sculptures Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace.
April 26, 2008-June 1, 2008 What’s the Story? Museums are more than repositories of objects—museums tell stories. From works of art depicting historical or mythological tales to personal items once connected to a real life to abstract images evoking one’s own imagination, the objects here all have tales to tell. From the carved tusk of a legendary elephant with Pittsfield connections to Victorian memorial embroidery to paintings by Norman Rockwell, the works of art, historical artifacts, and natural science specimens in this exhibition explore storytelling as an important way that people make sense of their world. Sponsored by TD Banknorth Foundation.
May 9-12, 2008 Galleries in Bloom Professional and amateur designers will create one-of-a-kind floral arrangements inspired by the works of art throughout the Berkshire Museum. Sponsored in part by Cranwell Resort, Spa, and Golf Club.
July 1, 2008-October 26, 2008 Look at Us Portraits--paintings, drawings, photographs, and prints-- by artists ranging from Ammi Phillips and Erasmus Salisbury Field to John Singer Sargent and J.M. Whistler to Grant Wood and Red Grooms will be complemented with a selection of portraits by such artists as Chuck Close and Andy Warhol, on loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art. -- www.berkshiremuseum.org
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