Event Details

Gallery Dedication & Artists Reception for Arthur Hillman & William Jackson, Faculty Emeriti

Artist's Statement: Arthur Hillman

I first became acquainted with Mass MoCA, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, during a pre-construction visit to the site. Even in this rough state, I was immediately drawn to the many different aspects of the architecture, the interesting history of the complex, and the intriguing way that natural light interacted with the interior spaces of the buildings. Over the past decade I’ve photographed these spaces a number of times each year, exploring the ever-changing galleries as they are transformed during each new exhibition and season. The portfolio from which these prints are drawn is titled “Masked MoCA,” as my intention has not been to create a documentary study of the buildings, or to focus on the art work present at each visit, but rather to explore the structural elements, the walls and windows, the corridors, stairways and galleries and interplay of light, shadow and reflection that permeate each of the ever-expanding spaces at the complex.

Artist's Statement: William Jackson

With the exceptions of various sabbatical leaves, I taught studio courses as a member of the Arts Division at Simon's Rock from the fall semester of 1972 until last May. More broadly viewed, this fall is the first since I entered kindergarten that I will no longer be part of an active classroom environment. The outward predictability of my 61 year "academic journey" has been punctuated at many times and in many ways -- some of which are reflected in the fragmented spectrum of works I decided to include in this exhibition. However, I want to suggest these pieces be "read" much less as a chronology or personal narrative than as markers that I will likely use to help rethink or retrace some of my steps, back to specific ideas that were -- mainly of necessity -- too frequently and prematurely set aside for later exploration. "Later" has arrived. Although my choices now will be more limited than I had envisioned when I began teaching in 1968, my selections will still be subjects of empirical experimentation and re-catalyzed by "What if…?" scenarios. I want to thank my wife, Lucy, and my daughters, Marion and Emily, for their unrelenting tolerance of my explorations and the associated by-products. Without the nearly four decades of additional encouragement by supportive colleagues at Simon's Rock, this body of work would be very different indeed!