Despite finger numbing cold and a light dusting of snow the night before, on Saturday, Nov. 30, the West Cornwall Holiday Market, held on the lawn of The Wish House, attracted many shoppers.
Ashley Parsons, of “Parsnips Playful Creations” filled her booth with her handmade crocheted and playful teddy bears, dragons, snowflakes, dogs, mushrooms, gnomes, rabbits, and crocheted plants whose leaves, when pulled, became coasters.
Parsons has been making her crafts “since the pandemic.” She just started selling. “It’s a new adventure.” she said.
Lauren Kendrick shared a booth with her mother Treasa Pattison. Lauren said, “I usually paint but have been getting into sewing this year.” She makes “Lauren’s Little Birds” and “teabag” bookmarks made of cloth.
Her mother, Treasa Pattison, who organized the holiday market, had her “Mother Tree Remedies” on sale. Pattison is a medicinal herbalist. Her products “are made from herbs that I either forage for or grow.” Among her products are Sleepy Tea, Poison Ivy Bug Bite cream, Elderberry Elixir, and Arnica Oil.
Michele Paladino of “Lindera,” had wreaths made of grape vine, and decorative arrangements for the holidays. Paladino “Collects native seeds from this region and grows them,” for her products in Falls Village.
Sharing her booth was Helena Barnes, proprietor of Sharon Valley Honey. The honey comes from her own hives. She had three kinds of honey: raw, whipped, and honey butter. She noted “the color of honey is tied to the flowers.” Golden rod, for example, makes darker honey.
At the Birch Lane Rustics’ booth, Matt Wabrek from Canaan, explained how he got started making things. “A cherry tree fell in my yard. I didn’t want to waste the wood.” He milled the wood himself and made a table and charcuterie boards. “I have a welding background and so I could make the legs. I like mixing metal with wood.” He “repurposes and upscales things,” using horseshoes, skis, pickaxes, hoes, hammers, and other old tools in his creations. Birch Lane Rustics will be appearing at craft and artisans fairs in the coming months.
At Lynette’s Precocious Preserves, her helpers, dogs Reese and Rita, wore reindeer antlers and greeted customers. Lynette Hatfield makes the preserves herself in Kent. “Strawgasm,” a mix of strawberry and rhubarb, is a best seller.” She grows her own rhubarb. Other flavors include Black Bear Jam and Mushroom Magic.
Next to Lynette was Pebbles, a French bakery which makes organic and locally sourced baked goods, including scones, Madeleines, tarts, and Coffee Ganache Cake. Owners Ji-Won Lee and Alex Delletery, make all the pastries themselves.
Jewelry maker, Rose Fitch and her twin, Indigo, sat with earrings and necklaces Rose made. Rose explained the jewelry began as her “capstone project at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.” Capstone projects have to show responsibility and problem solving. She moved on to selling her designs.
Ann Gold had a table with homemade jams and hand sewn potholders. All the proceeds from items sold go to the Chapel at All Saints. Jams include Plum Apple, Apple Pie, and Pear Jalapeno.
After the event organizer Treasa Pattison said, “It was a great turnout and a ton of fun!”
Many of the vendors have Instagram or Facebook pages and also sell their goods at local farmer’s markets and at The Local, a new store in West Cornwall that sells products made by local residents.
L. Tomaino
Matt Wabrek of Birch Lane Rustics, with one of his garden sculptures. He repurposes and upscales old horseshoes, skis, hammers, hoes, shovels and other old tools in his sculptures and furniture. His work was on view at the West Cornwall Holiday Market on Nov. 30.
Contemporary chamber musicians, HUB, performing at The Clark.
MASS MoCA is known for its 20th-century holdings spread throughout a sprawling complex of industrial brick buildings. Installations by Sol LeWitt and James Turrell have permanent homes there. Just down the road in Williamstown, the Clark features masterworks by Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet.
But what visitors might not immediately associate with those established names is how deeply both institutions invest in art happening right now.
On Saturday afternoon, a panel of young artists discussed their relationships with art, identity and technology as part of MASS MoCA’s “Technologies of Relation” exhibition, which opened that evening. The artists represented a broad range of cultural backgrounds, drawing on ancestry while exploring the future of art and technology.
The work itself ran the gamut: wax relief paintings, stained glass, interactive video and sculptural installations. One immersive piece automated the traditional Armenian practice of reading fortunes from coffee grounds. Particularly striking were Roopa Vasudevan’s hand-drawn QR codes and Taeyoon Choi’s large-scale weavings of binary code.
Opening the same night was Zora J. Murff’s “RACE/HUSTLE.” Through photographs, paintings and installations, Murff explores the wide-ranging and sometimes violent implications of being Black in America today. Each piece — whether confronting the rise of white supremacy or examining stereotypes imposed on Black communities — carries razor-sharp visual commentary designed to unsettle.
Pelenakeke Brown’s “Reverb” (detail) at Mass MoCA. D.H. Callahan
On Sunday, the Clark continued the contemporary thread. A small exhibition of work by Raffaella della Olga, titled “Typescript,” features intricate patterns created using a typewriter on varied paper surfaces. The effect seems almost impossible until viewers watch a video of della Olga loading her typewriter with 140-grit sandpaper and typing in a hypnotic rhythm. Though the typewriter is considered obsolete technology, she continues to find new applications for it, completing some of the works in recent months.
Next door in the Clark auditorium, HUB New Music performed works written specifically for its unusual instrumentation: violin, cello, clarinet and flute. While that combination may not stand out to casual listeners, relatively little classical repertoire exists for it. The ensemble regularly commissions composers to expand the possibilities.
The results were striking. From the opening notes of Francisco del Pino’s “Passacaglia,” the quartet’s command and layered repetition pulled unexpected emotion from the audience.
After three pieces came the world premiere of Daniel Wohl’s “Mirage,” a roughly 25-minute work accompanied by digital blips, static and electronic textures evoking radio transmissions and UFO lore. Hearing four virtuoso musicians extract entirely new sounds from traditional instruments echoed the weekend’s larger theme: old tools made new again.
Like della Olga’s typewriter, Vasudevan’s QR codes or Murff’s charged imagery, the performances demonstrated that contemporary art often grows from familiar materials — reimagined.
The old masters will always draw visitors to these institutions. But when living artists command equal attention, this quiet corner of the Berkshires feels less like the middle of nowhere and more like a creative epicenter.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his artist wife in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
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