Art

Two Great August Events for MRGI Members

July 29, 2016 by JW Sinton

While not directly related to the Mill River, both these events will appeal to MRGI members — first, a play and second, a paddle.

1. Join us for an outing to the William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington for a performance of “A Fiery and Still Voice,” a site-based living history play about the poet. Here’s what playwright Priscilla Hellweg of Enchanted Circle Theater says about Bryant:

“He was an amazing man — fiery abolitionist, conservationist, statesman, journalist, and poet. Who knew HE was the reason Lincoln became elected (and then he was furious with him for only gradually emancipating the slaves)?! He had the original idea for Central Park! He founded the Metropolitan Museum of Art!”

Members of the Mill River Greenway Initiative and Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee can get tickets through us at the member price of $9/each. We invite you to bring a picnic lunch and walk the beautiful farm and woodland trails of the Bryant Homestead afterward.

Wednesday, August 17
Show time 11:45am (meet at Bryant Homestead 11:30am)

Please RSVP directly to Gaby Immerman at gimmerma@smith.edu if you’d like to join us for this outing!

2. Paddle For Home (002)

Fran Kidder’s 1874 Flood Art Show

January 30, 2016 by JW Sinton

Artist’s Statement: This work is based on the Mill River disaster, of 1874, which killed 140 people in the towns of Williamsburg, Haydenville and Leeds Massachusetts.

I live on that same river and have watched it, listened to it, and painted it over the years. But after reading Elizabeth Sharpe’s In the Shadow of the Dam, a carefully and beautifully documented account of the flood, I began to think l about making art about this tragic event. Tragic on two levels: that of man versus nature, but also that of man versus man, since it was shoddy construction, condoned by greedy mill owners, that caused the deaths of so many innocent people.

A Glorious Paddle at Arcadia

April 22, 2015 by JW Sinton

Thanks to Dave McLean, Jonah Keane and all the folks at MassAudubon’s Arcadia Refuge, the MRGI folks had a wonderful Sunday morning exploring the floodplain forest. How lucky we are to have such natural beauty and expert guides so close to home!
…and what luck to have had our great videographer John Body along. Here’s a quick taste of a couple of highlights. Dave sighted a great horned owl flying, then its nest, then its 2 owlets, the older sibling sitting on a branch near the water and the younger, less fledged, still in the nest. (John Body photos)

Todd Lynch 9/13 Updated Link

August 6, 2014 by JW Sinton

Here’s a link to Todd Lynch’s blog that gives you a hint of this exciting adventure next month. Note the nest (probably a Carolina wren) a bird couple already built in the photo in the second row, far right.

Sept. 13th New River Walk and Art Installation in Williamsburg

August 5, 2014 by JW Sinton

MRGI is proud and excited to support Todd Lynch’s art installation, lecture, and walk on the Mill River in Williamsburg on Saturday Sept. 13th. Todd is a landscape architect and artist who’s been a long-time friend of the Mill River. He will be creating a series of “flotsam weirs,” or interwoven nets of Mill River flotsam that will lead the walker down through the peninsula created by the East and West Branch of the Mill at their confluence in Williamsburg.

Meeting details: Meet at 10:00 at Meekins Library in Williamsburg, then a 5-minute walk to the site of the installation where Todd will lead a tour and discussion of his work.

Here is Todd’s proposal for his work sponsored by the Williamsburg Cultural Council: Todd’s proposal Todd Lynch weir proposal