CLARK ART INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES WINTER ACTIVITIES, HOLIDAY HOURS

For Immediate Release

November 20, 2014

Williamstown, MA—The Clark Art Institute offers something fun for the whole family this winter, starting with “Songs, Shopping, and S’mores” on Friday, December 5 from 5–7 pm. The free event, which kicks off Williamstown’s Holiday Walk Weekend, includes roasting s’mores over open fire pits, an ice sculpture carving demonstration, and holiday caroling led by Williams College a cappella groups, all held on the Clark Center terrace. Galleries and the Museum Store, which offers an eclectic, unusual selection of holiday gifts, will remain open until 7 pm.

During school vacation week, the Clark offers two free family-friendly events: a series of intergenerational yoga classes and a film festival. Yoga classes, designed for ages 10 and up, will be held Tuesday, December 30, Wednesday, December 31, and Friday, January 2 at 11 am in the Clark Center. Participants should bring yoga mats or towels. The film festival will be held on the same three days at 2:30 pm in the Clark Center, beginning with Disney’s smash hit Frozen on December 30, followed by Fantastic Mr. Fox on December 31 and Hugo on January 2. Babysitting is available. All movies are rated PG; for more information, visit clarkart.edu.

The Clark’s 140-acre campus is perfect for snowshoeing, sledding, and cross-country skiing. Trail guides are available.

Holiday Hours
The Clark is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. The Institute will be closed on Thursday, November 27 for Thanksgiving Day; Thursday, December 25 for Christmas Day; and Thursday, January 1 for New Year’s Day. Admission is free through December 31, 2014.

About the Clark
The Clark Art Institute is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, open to the public with more than 240,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark opened its expanded facilities on July 4, 2014, unveiling new and enhanced spaces that accommodate the continued growth of the Institute’s programs. Included in this final stage of the project are the new 42,600-square-foot Clark Center designed by Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, expansion and renovation of the original Museum Building and the ongoing renovation of the Manton Research Center by Selldorf Architects, and a sweeping redesign of the grounds by Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture. The first phase of the campus expansion project was completed in 2008 with the opening of the Lunder Center at Stone Hill, a striking conservation and exhibitions facility also designed by Tadao Ando.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is free through December 31, 2014 ($10 for the Monet | Kelly exhibition) and free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

Press contact:
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ardymon Director of the Clark Art Institute, presents the free lecture “Turner and Constable: Stark Contrasts” on Sunday, January 6 at 3 pm. The talk will be held in the auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.

Meslay highlights differences in the lives and works of J. M. W. Turner (English, 1775–1851) and John Constable (English, 1776–1837), preeminent landscape painters of the nineteenth century. While both hailed from England and were associated with London’s Royal Academy—training in its schools and exhibiting in annual summer exhibitions—the two artists diverged in their choices of subjects, the way they handled paint, and their domestic priorities. Meslay discusses works on view in Turner and Constable: The Inhabited Landscape to underscore how these sometime rivals raised the status of landscape painting in distinctive ways.

Turner and Constable: The Inhabited Landscape, on view through March 10, 2019, features more than fifty paintings, drawings and watercolors, prints, and books. The works in the show are primarily drawn from the Clark’s Manton Collection of British Art, created by Sir Edwin and Lady Manton and given to the Clark by the Manton Art Foundation in 2007. This transformative gift included more than 250 oil paintings, sketches, works on paper, and prints, making the Clark a center for the study of nineteenth-century British Art.

ABOUT THE CLARK

The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of more than 270,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm; open daily in July and August. Admission is $20; free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. Free admission is available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; EBT Card to Culture; Bank of America Museums on Us; and Blue Star Museums. For more information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

Press contact:
[email protected]