For Immediate Release
November 30, 2023
CLARK ART INSTITUTE HOSTS STUDENTS FROM MORNINGSIDE COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
TO CELEBRATE OUTDOOR POETRY INSTALLATION
Williamstown, Massachusetts—On Saturday, December 2 at 12 pm, the Clark Art Institute hosts student poets from Morningside Community Elementary School, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, who will recite their work during a celebratory reception for a student poetry project that is currently installed on the Clark’s grounds. The reception is free and open to the public. The event takes place in the Clark’s Michael Conforti Pavilion.
On November 27, fifty-one tree tags embroidered with lines of student poetry were placed on trees along the Clark’s trails, near Analia Saban’s Teaching A Cow How to Draw (2020) fence that borders the Clark’s pasture, and along the trail up to Thomas Schütte’s Crystal (2015) atop Stone Hill. The poems were written by third-graders from Morningside Community Elementary School during a November field trip as part of the poetry-in-schools program, Fireside, facilitated by The Mastheads, a public arts and humanities project. Inspired by their tour of the Clark’s galleries and a walk up Stone Hill, the students reflected on the ways art and nature interact while writing poems during their visit.
“This project is a great model of how the Clark can partner with other arts organizations and support our local schools. What’s not to like? Poetry, written by third graders, inspired by the Clark, and installed on our beautiful grounds,” said Ronna Tulgan Ostheimer, director of education at the Clark. Sarah Hobin, Manager of Community Engagement Programs at the Clark, collaborated with The Mastheads to organize the project as a part of the Clark’s community outreach initiatives.
A highlight of each semester’s Fireside project is a surprising, site-specific public text installation of student poetry. Lines of student poetry have been engraved on park fences, painted on sidewalks, plastered on billboards, and now, wrapped around tree trunks at the Clark. The poetry tags will be on the Clark’s trees through December 4.
“Students intuitively love poetry—it's like making art with words,” said Sarah Trudgeon, literary director at The Mastheads. Kids who don’t love writing in other capacities often love writing poems. It also helps students connect with each other and their teachers.”
Tessa Kelly, the Mastheads' design director explains, "Knowing that the outdoor walking trails are a major part of the local community's relationship to the Clark, we wanted the project to add a new element of interest and excitement to already beloved routes through the campus. The selection of tree straps as a medium came about because we want to work with a true horticultural product, which both functionally and aesthetically could be mistaken as part of the landscape maintenance. But when you get close enough, the text delivers a surprise! The project overall builds on The Mastheads' commitment to bringing the voices of Pittsfield youth into the fold of the cultural life of the Berkshires."
ABOUT THE MASTHEADS
The Mastheads is a public arts and humanities project in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It seeks to connect residents to the literary history of the region, create a forum for thinking about place, and support the production of new creative work. Founded in 2016, The Mastheads is an urban architectural experiment, a literary research initiative, a writers’ residency, and an educational program centered around five mobile writing studios installed at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead. During the school year, The Mastheads facilitates semester-long poetry workshops for Pittsfield Public School students that place students at the literary center of the Berkshires.
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 some 300,000 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. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday, from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free January through March and is $20 from March through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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