Archives

Early Twentieth Century Craftwork and Artisans Featured at Historic Deerfield

In the early 20th century, the village of Deerfield supported a thriving Arts & Crafts community of metalsmiths, potters, furniture makers, photographers, embroiderers, and basket makers. A new exhibit at Historic Deerfield features objects from Historic Deerfield’s collections that celebrate the Arts & Crafts Movement. Use this community based educational opportunity to support interests in local history, women’s studies, consumerisim, and craftsmanship.

Category: Community Based Education, Franklin County, Hilltown Families, Museum, Suggested Activity Tags: American Craftsman, American History, Arts & Crafts Movement, Arts and Crafts Movement, gender studies, Hipster Culture, History, Pocumtuck Basket Makers, Women's Studies

Contemporary Islamic Art & Events in the Berkshires

Beginning next week, “Islam Contemporary”, a contemporary exhibit of Islamic art, opens in Pittsfield. This exhibit is just one of several featured events in the Berkshires that celebrate Islamic art and culture in August. Over the course of the month, there will be a community Eid celebration, a documentary screening and talkback with the directors, and a concert of classical Middle Eastern music. Great events to supplement Middle Eastern, Art & Women’s studies…

Category: Art, Berkshire County, Cultural Events, Hilltown Families Tags: Arab, Arab Countries, Art, Berkshires, Contemporary Islamic Art, Cultural Studies, Eid, Eid-ul-Fitr, Islamic Art, Jorban, Lebanon, Middle Eastern, Middle Eastern Music, Morocco, Pakistani, Palestine, Pittsfield, Ramadan, The Other Half of Tomorrow, Whitney Center for the Arts, Women's Studies

Westfield State Students Demonstrate the Importance of Kindness and Compassion

Cranes for Compassion Most professors assign a final paper or exam to end the semester, but Andriana Foiles, adjunct professor of Ethnic and Gender Studies at Westfield State University, had her students conduct a campus-wide presentation on the importance of kindness. Called Cranes for Compassion, Foiles’s Intro to Women’s Studies students spent weeks collecting stories of random acts of kindness and documented the stories on papers that were folded into paper cranes…. Read More

Category: Hampden County Tags: Acts of Kindness, Violence, Westfield State University, Women's Studies

Remarkable Women of the Pioneer Valley: Local History Resource

Remarkable Women of the Pioneer Valley A Pioneer Valley History Network Resource Most Western MA kids probably know that Theodore Seuss Geisel is from Springfield and that Norman Rockwell lived in Stockbridge. But do they know about Catherine Howard Mary Dole? Probably not. The Pioneer Valley History Network has established “Remarkable Women of the Pioneer Valley,” a website that offers biographical information on local important women. This page is a great resource… Read More

Category: History, Pioneer Valley, Resources Tags: History, Pioneer Valley, western massachusetts, Women, Women's Studies

Video Review: 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art My 4yo daughter and I have watched this video a couple dozen times. She is fascinated by it. I love it. The first time she saw it she asked, “Mommy, are they angels?” The video is truly other-worldly. Cello music by Bach plays while portraits of women painted over the past 500 years by many great painters are morphed from one into the other: