While the Berkshires Arts Festival may be celebrating its 25th anniversary this coming July fourth, it is still bringing a fresh, new, and exciting energy to Ski Butternut in Great Barrington. Richard Rothbard, co-founder and director of the festival with his wife, Joanna, is especially looking forward to this year’s selection of artists. “We have some major artists coming into the show that have never been in the show before,” he says.
Some of these artists are Leslie Emery, a painter who works with mixed media gradients and large, differently shaped canvases; Dale Rogers, who makes life-sized rusted steel sculptures of animals; Rick and Denise Pratt, who specialize in making furniture out of willow branches; and Hoogs and Crawford, who create colorful and delicate handblown glass vases and sculptures.
The Berkshires Arts Festival, set against the backdrop of the pastoral Butternut ski mountain, spotlights one artist a year with a special solo gallery. This year, Rothbard is thrilled that the artist selected for this showcase is Laura Adams, a paper collage artist out of Atlanta. She uses pieces of paper that are nearly a third of the size of a price sticker to create massive canvases of animals, including the birds, giraffes, and lions she has seen on her many trips to Africa. Rothbard explains that her paper work is so intricate, they have to display a sign over it specifying that it is not a painting. “That’s Laura Adams,” Rothbard says. “She is a show within a show.”
Another draw of the Berskshires Arts Festival is its air-conditioned display room. People flock to the Berkshires to spend time outside. However, summer temperatures can uncomfortably reach the high 90s. “Picture this!” Rothbard exclaims. “Just when the heat’s getting to you, you come inside and relax, eat great food, and listen to great music.” With 175 booths, carefully selected from a field of over 300 applicants by a jury led by the Rothbards, this festival’s reputation is one of quality artists, diverse prices, and a clientele that is interesting, engaged, and willing to fully indulge themselves in the experience of the art.
“What do you do in the Berkshires during the day, when you’re not hiking or eating?” Rothbard asks. “You’re at the art festival. And guess what? We’re tariff-free!”
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