Put away your seersucker and boatshoes, kids. This past weekend I learned that there is stuff in Massachusettes besides Boston, The Cape, and The Vineyard. Imagine that. Friend M was going home to the wee northwestern town of Shelburne Falls for the weekend, so Friend S and I decided to escape Princeton and Manhattan, respectively, and impose ourselves on M's big happy family. Our weekend primarily consisted of lazing around, eating a probably toxic amount of fresh blueberries directly off the trees, with vanilla ice cream, and in pancakes, and playing high school (not my version of high school, sadly) by drinking plus-sized beers on the rocks down by the river. S and I also managed to get our culture on, both in Shelburne and on the accidentally very long ride home.
Every small town needs to have the World's Largest Something-or-Other. Marshfield has the Round Barn, and Shelburne Falls has potholes.
[I just like this picture of M wearing her friend's four-year-old son's Harry Potter goggles]
I tend to be fairly up to speed in regard to culture, both pop and plain ol', but when S suggested swinging by the Mass MoCA on our way home, I had to ask what it was. Turns out it is a six-year-old contemporary art museum (duh) housed in some old factory buildings in North Adams, MA.
The vast indoor and outdoor spaces allow them to do all kinds of unorthodox stuff like this guy's Chinese scroll-inspired exploding car exhibit [photo ganked from artist's website] and the upside down trees.
There was also a host of works that can only be described as crazy-ass shit that's a little too abstract for lil' old me, though if you want a more academic description you can find it in the "Becoming Animal" part here. My favorite work in the whole museum was, of course, the simplest and most accessible. In Animal, Vegetable, Video, artist Sam Easterson strapped on mini video cameras to various animals, including a chick, a tarantula, and a water buffalo. The results are quite cute and entertaining, and by exploring the disctinction, or lack thereof, between human and animal they help us understand what it means to be human, or something. You can watch part of the videos by clicking the above link. Check out the armadillo with its cute little ears!
3 comments:
i love shelburne falls! a friend and i stumbled into it once a few years ago (after a snowboarding trip) and we've passed through a few times since. did you check out that bridge of flowers, or whatever it is? oh, and as incongruous as it seems in the surroundings, there's this great little underground tapas place somewhere on the main street owned by, i think, some lesbians. it rocks!
damn, we missed the lesbian tapas. but we did see the flower bridge thingy, and also an accordion player with a singing dog on the main street. was cool for a little bit and then i kinda wanted it to stop howling. such a cool and happy little town.
I grew up in SF, moved away, came back, moved away again, came back AGAIN. Guess I'm here to stay (for now). ;). The lesbian tapas place is called Tusk n' Rattle. The food is pretty good, but the cocktails will knock your socks off! These folks don't mess around with the booze! LOL (oh...and they are VERY kid-friendly too--who'd have thunk it?!) It's my fav place to get out for the night...I can have too much to drink and then just walk the 5 minutes home....ahhhh, life is good in the village :)
Post a Comment