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October 13, 2002

Bill and I enjoyed the Columbus Day holiday by taking a short trip out to the Berkshires.  We drove out along the Mohawk Trail.  Of course, Bill would have loved to have pushed his M3 (vroom, vroom!) more, but he was kind and noticed my white knuckle grip on the seats as we zoomed around the bends and took it all a mite more slowly than he might have wanted… 

The Mohawk Trail is a section of highway that follows the path of an old Native American trail.  The road was formally opened in 1914, forming a connecting automobile link from Boston to the Berkshire Hills which had been inaccessible up to this time because of the heavy grades.  Autumn in this area is simply stupendous with the trees in all their finery.  Despite dour predictions that this year’s drought was going to make for poor colors, we thought the scenery was spectacular.

We stayed at Porches Inn at Mass MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art).    This was a row of seriously dilapidated Victorian worker’s homes across the street from Mass MoCA that have been renovated and turned into a luxury, fun hotel.

The Porches designers were ingenius in making the most of its blue-color heritage, and the decor is a witty homage to the millworkers who once lived there.  We settled in the library by the fireplace. 

This was the hallway to our room...

Our room was great!  I loved the beadboard walls and the simple, but comfy decor.

I also loved the bathrooms!

The first day we arrived, it was fairly dreary, so we ambled over to the nearby Mass MoCA.  The Mass MoCA is an arts center composed of an vast historic textile mill complex built in 1872 in the center of North Adams.  There are more than 200,000 sq feet of art galleries, performance studios, rehearsal spaces, artist studios, pre- and post-production audio, video and film facilities, restaurants, cafes, and retail shops.  We had a wonderful time!  Here is Bill standing in the middle of Uncommon Denominator.  This hypnotic, undulating black and white grid is formed by an eight-video projector installation.  The scene undulates and gyrates in a truly dizzying manner.

This obese, milky pink Fat Car II is a real road hog.  I guess this car is the opposite of the sleek, trim lines of Bill’s M3.  Fat, pink, and out of control.  Truthfully, I really loved this car.  I’d drive it.  Really.

In this interpretation of the 14 Stations of the Cross, Robert Wilson incorporates Shaker design elements into this processional arranged along a boardwalk.  Each station is set up like a small gray gabled house, or a clapboard chapel, with a simple window in the front. 

Only one person at a time can peer into these windows, and the scenes within them are amazing dioramas with sound and color and sculpture. 

Shakers and Shaker furniture turn up again and again in the scenes. 

I can’t pretend to have understood how these related to the 14 Stations of the Cross, but each view was absolutely stunning.

Robert Wilson is also a well-known set designer and he is best known for his bizarre chairs that he makes.  Here is one titled “Meek Girl”.  On the one hand, I love it, but on the other hand it gives me the willies.

Jarvis Rockwell is the son of the famous painter, Norman Rockwell.  In 1979, he began to amass what has become a huge action figure collection.  He was fascinated by the narrative possibility and fantastic imagery he could create through the idiosyncratic arrangement of these toys. This exhibit, Maya, was inspired by his recent travels to India, where he saw ancient polytheistic temples whose elevated steps were covered with images and icons of the multitudes of Hindu gods and goddesses that strangely reminded him of the action figurines he had at home.  At the core of the exhibit was an 11 foot pyramid covered with thousands of brilliantly colored action figures. 

The Sanskrit word, “Maya”, meaning “illusion” is written in red Indian script on the ochre colored walls.  You can also hear the barely-audible sounds of a foreign marketplace.  We saw ewoks, Tin Men, Captain Picard, Gumby, Marge Simpson, the Lion King, E.T., Santa Claus, Michael Jordan, the Blues Brothers, Snow White, G.I. Joe, Toto, Godzilla, Olive Oyl, Batman, and Burt Reynolds.

 We enjoyed a wonderful meal in Williamstown, and then returned to Porches.  In the back of the hotel, there is a swimming pool and spa carved into the hillside behind the inn.  Despite the chill that evening, we still enjoyed the hot-tub.  Or do I mean the "Ha-tub" a la Welshley Arms Hotel?

On to:  Exploring the Berkshires!

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