August Last - Josh Luxon-Robinson

A sold-out performance greeted Josh Luxon-Robinson, the grandson of the late Ben Luxon, when he preformed on Sandisfield Arts Center’s Steinway Model S piano, Sunday, July 28. Josh performed a virtuoso variety of well-known compositions by Brahams, Rachmaninoff, and Bernstein, to two less known pieces by Medtner. The performance was outstanding, ending with a standing ovation. If you’d like to hear him again or missed his performance at the Arts Center, you have the opportunity to listen to him on his YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@joshluxrob .

The Supreme Court

About twenty people from around South County enjoyed a fascinating lecture “Constitutional Limits and the Role of the Supreme Court: Lessons from Franklin Roosevelt’s Struggle with a Conservative Court” on August 10. The speaker, Kenneth Cohen, an accomplished Boston attorney, explained both historical and contemporary Supreme Court decisions from a legal rather than a historian’s perspective. The engaged audience peppered Mr. Cohen with questions for over half an hour after the formal lecture ended.

Small Works

Another fascinating exhibit, “Small Works,” opened in the gallery on Saturday, August 17. The exhibit includes paintings and sculptures that invite viewers to pause and investigate intimate renderings whose impact exceeds their small size. Featured local artists include Mary Brenerman, Steve Butler, William Carlson, Jacob Fossum, Josephine Allesi Freedman, Ann Getsinger, Cameron Goodyear, Josie Miner, Jaye Alison Moscariello, Amy Pressman, and June Wink. The Gallery is open for viewing on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 to 3 until September 8.

September Coming

The Daniel Manacher Prize

The “Small Works” exhibit will continue until September 8. It will be followed by the opening reception on September 14 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. for the Third Annual Daniel Manacher Prize for Young Artists.

This year’s entries were juried by Josephine Halvorson, an accomplished artist with a studio in Sandisfield. Josephine is Chair of the MFA Program in Painting at Boston University’s College of Fine Art.

This year’s three winners are Mico Aldmar Mendoza, Aidan White, and Warwick Willow. Their work, in addition to last year’s winner, Laina Falcon, will be on display weekends from 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. until October 6.

The Daniel Manacher Prize for Young Artists is open to artists, 17-26 years of age who reside or go to school in Berkshire County and work in painting, drawing, mixed media, and sculpture. The work must be less than 60” in any direction, under 60 lbs., and created in the past three years.

In a statement, the Daniel Manacher Prize for Young Artists announced: “We are happy that the judge’s have found young artists who tenaciously pursue their vision. seek to make ordinary objects extraordinary, and bring community into conversation. We hope the prize carries forward values that were important to Daniel.”

Gala Fund-Raising

This year’s fund raising Gala takes place Saturday, September 21, beginning at 6:00 p.m. and will honor the beloved Ben Luxon.

Ben’s extraordinary contributions to the Arts Center include creating the Sandisfield Players, inviting world-class musicians – many of them his friends – to perform here, reciting poetry, and so much more. The evening will include a delicious dinner prepared by our master chef Adam Manacher and clips and remembrances of such performances as Our Town, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Stamp Collection. Tickets for the fund raiser are $75.

"Dick and Jim"

Richard Avedon, one of the world’s most famous photographers, and James Baldwin, best-selling novelist and essayist and a leading literary voice in the American civil rights movement, were high school friends. In the 1960s they collaborated on a book, Nothing Personal, about the state of life in America.

On September 28, beginning at 7:00 p.m., their story will be brought to life thanks to an original play by poet, playwright, and cultural activist Neil Silberblatt and enacted by actors David Boaz and Geof Newton.

The play revolves around imagined conservations between Avedon and Baldwin leading up to the publication of their book, Nothing Personal. According to Amazon.com, the book connects Baldwin’s thoughts “through an interconnected range of questions, from America’s fixation on eternal youth, to its refusal to recognize the past, its addiction to consumerism, and the lovelessness that fuels it in its cities and popular culture. He [Baldwin] recounts his own encounter with police …” Although published sixty years ago the story is painfully familiar today.

The reading will be followed by a Q & A with the author about his research into the lives of Avedon and Baldwin.