Saturday, October 11, 2008

Art Invades the Canal District

Last night Elizabeth and I checked out another show at The Canal Gallery in Holyoke. Today we checked out Paper City Studios and Parsons Hall, two galleries/studios that opened up to the public for the weekend. The spaces are situated in beautiful old buildings that overlook the 2nd level canal. I was blown away by the Parsons Hall building and the artists and art that filled it. Ornamental plaster cast ceilings, hallway corbels, and tile mosaic floors - beautiful details. We saw lots of great audio and video work and hope they put on more shows.

Everything in this city is a constant reminder that, in the words of Jane Jacobs, "Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."

2 comments:

Jeffrey Byrnes said...

I have really been contemplating a studio in or around that area. Across from the canal is an old fire station that has been closed for years. That would make a great studio, well so I think. One thing that I truly want though, is a studio in an old factory or old building.

Jeff

Brendan Ciecko said...

Mount Tom Fire Station is up for sale - go for it, it'd be a great studio. Factories are sometimes a bit homogeneous while Fire Station are usually very unique. This would be a great live/work studio... or something like the The Chicago Firehouse restaurant (dreaming out loud).