Arts

M/other’s time to shine: MICAfest runs in three Northampton venues through May

By STEVE PFARRER

The challenges mothers face can be legion, especially for those who work and have families and, according to any number of studies, still end up doing most of the chores at home, from raising kids to cooking, compared to their husbands and...

The Beat Goes On: The Iron Horse comes back to life, Joni Mitchell’s music is celebrated in Turners Falls, and more

By STEVE PFARRER

It’s finally happening. Nearly seven months after ownership officially changed hands, and following extensive renovations, the Iron Horse Music Hall, shuttered since late March 2020, threw open its doors this week with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a...

Speaking of Nature: Surprised by strawberries in the grass: Flowers will bloom whether you pay attention or not

By BILL DANIELSON

Every week I try to end my column with an inspirational line or two in the hopes of motivating my readers to get outside and see what’s going on in their own back yards. As I sit and peck away at the keyboard this morning I realize that the...

Dreams take flight (some assembly required): Local pilots build and help build their own aircraft

By STEVE PFARRER

If you build it … you can fly it, too.As Peter Elsea and Jason Lorusso have discovered in recent years, there’s a special satisfaction in building your own plane — or at least assisting in that construction — that can make the experience of flying...

Connected through art: Rocky Hill Cohousing community participates in art exchange with group from Australia

By JAMES PENTLAND

Residents of the Rocky Hill Cohousing community are no strangers to working on art projects together.But, for the Global Art Project for Peace, they’re taking another step — exchanging artwork with a group in another country.“We’ve done other art...

Valley Bounty: Fibers for farmers: Western Massachusetts Fibershed turns local ‘throw away’ wool into fertilizer pellets

By JACOB NELSON

Local wool for your wardrobe … and for your garden?That’s the idea behind a new project from Western Massachusetts Fibershed, an organization working to strengthen our local fiber economy, right alongside our local food economy.Peggy Hart is a core...

Weekly Food Photo Contest: This week’s winner: Betsy Johnson of Shutesbury

Betsy Johnson of Shutesbury must have some very happy neighbors — she made these “apricot pistachio sweet buns with orangey cardamom glaze” to share with them. How to enter: Snap a pic of something delicious-looking and send it with your name, town...

Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: Venture beyond your garden walls: Plant sales and noteworthy gardens to visit this season

By MICKEY RATHBUN

After long weeks of yearning for gardening weather, we’re suddenly inundated by spring. Endless outdoor chores beg for our attention — composting, mulching, edging, scrubbing birdbaths and, at least in my garden beds, pulling out multitudes of maple...

Overlooked no more: Leverett artist’s woodcut prints celebrate remarkable women of the past

By STEVE PFARRER

It started in early 2018 with a special New York Times series of articles, “Overlooked,” obituaries about notable people whose deaths had gone unreported in the newspaper, which first began publishing obits in 1851.Leverett printmaker and collage...

An artist with a green thumb: The creative vision and resilience of Kathleen Chapman, designer of Tuesday Market poster

By PAT JAMES

Kathleen Chapman (“KC”) and I met under a clothesline near her patchwork garden behind McDonald House in downtown Northampton. I wanted to learn more about her artwork, what brought her to Northampton, and how she connected with Grow Food Northampton...

Arts Briefs: Dance festival and a one-woman play in Northampton, summer music fests in Easthampton, and more

Dance festival, encoreNORTHAMPTON — A week after 33 Hawley hosted an extensive dance festival, the city’s community arts center is set to stage another one.On May 10-11, Friday and Saturday, the School for Contemporary Dance & Thought (SCDT) is...

Only Human with Joan Axelrod-Contrada: Dating across the aisle: Can we see past politics in our relationships?

By JOAN AXELROD-CONTRADA

Every time I hear “One Tribe” by the Black Eyed Peas my idealistic and dance-happy sides unite in sonic bliss.I picture everyone coming together in some magic club beaming the feel-good vibes of the boundary-busting band, washing away all our...

Speaking of Nature: Capturing my Bermuda nemesis: The Great Kiskadee nearly evaded me, until I followed its song

By BILL DANIELSON

We’ve reached that point in the school year when it is actually painful (I mean physically painful) for me to leave my yard in the morning. May is the true month of the reawakening and blooming of Nature’s splendor and last week she was in full...

Easthampton author Emily Nagoski has done the research: It’s OK to love your body

By MELISSA KAREN SANCES

‘Emily’s mission in life is to teach women to live with confidence and joy inside their bodies.”This sentence mesmerized me.It’s an assured statement about a complicated topic: body image and sexuality, and it is the crux of sex educator Emily...

Earth Matters: Honoring a local hero: After 40 years, Hitchcock Center bids farewell to educator and creative leader, Colleen Kelley

By TED WATT and HELEN ANN SEPHTON

This column honors Colleen Kelley, the education director at the Hitchcock Center, who will soon be leaving her post after 40 years.In the fall of 1984, Colleen walked into the Hitchcock Center — young, bright, idealistic, and fresh off a position as...

Valley Bounty: Delivering local food onto students’ plates: Marty’s Local connects farms to businesses

By LISA GOODRICH

Nick Martinelli, CEO of Marty’s Local, began his career with a stint at the Farm School in Athol, hoping to learn how he might participate in the local agricultural economy. While conducting market research in 2015, he recognized there was a lot of...

Let’s Talk Relationships: Breaking up is hard to do: These tools can help it feel easier

By AMY NEWSHORE

All of us have probably decided to end a relationship at some point in our lives, as well as having been in a relationship where we were broken up with.A breakup, separation, or divorce is a pivotal and tender time in one’s life. I’d like to shed some...

Weekly Food Photo Contest: This week's winner: Tara Winters of Williamsburg

Tara Winters’ husband, Chris, makes “fantastic Buddha bowls” – this one features “basmati rice layered with sautéed baby spinach with garlic, homemade peanut sauce, and marinated, air fried tofu steaks.” How to enter: Snap a pic of something...

The Beat Goes On: A trombone celebration in Holyoke, Lord Russ shifts gears, and the Hampshire Young People’s Chorus turns 25

By STEVE PFARRER

The Holyoke Civic Symphony has titled its 2023-2024 season “The Brass Menagerie,” not to be cute but to highlight a series of concerts dedicated to celebrating the family of brass instruments: the horn, the tuba, the trumpet, and the trombone.On May...