At Berkshire Art Center, you can make and buy local art, all using our region’s very own currency, BerkShares.
Founded in 1991, Berkshire Art Center is the leading nonprofit community arts school in the Berkshire region. The Center offers an engaging and expanding range of year-round courses in a variety of visual arts mediums: ceramics, printmaking, photography, painting, drawing, and more. You can visit them at the historic Citizens Hall in Stockbridge and, as of September 2022, at their new location in downtown Pittsfield
Accessibility is at the core of Berkshire Art Center’s mission of providing high quality, hands-on instruction in the visual arts to community members. The art school offers courses for all ages and skill levels—always ready to meet students where they are. “Whether they’re picking up a paintbrush for the first time as a five year old or a fifty five year old,” says Lucie Castaldo, Executive Director, “witnessing that spark and excitement is the same incredible moment every single time.”
Lucie herself was introduced to art at Berkshire Art Center in the 1990s, as a member of its summer art camp for area youth. Years later, when she was in college, Lucie returned to the Center as a Summer Teaching Assistant Intern, and after graduating she joined full-time. “I’ve always felt a kinship to this organization, and it certainly started me off on my creative path,” she shares of her life-long connection to the Center. She was named Executive Director in 2018.
To Lucie, the Art Center’s commitment to growing and sustaining local artists fits naturally into BerkShares’ mission of strengthening the regional economy. The organization also works to foster a holistic art economy for the Berkshires by procuring from local art supply stores, such as Sheffield Pottery, JWS Art Supplies, and Miller Supply Company. From materials to final product, the Center is contributing to a thriving regional arts scene that is distinctly “Berkshires.”
There’s no shortage of fascinating classes offered at Berkshire Art Center this Spring: ink painting, raku firing, urban sketching, bouquet making, and much, much more. So grab your BerkShares and head on over to Berkshire Art Center in Stockbridge or Pittsfield—there’s no better gift to yourself or others than a handmade work of art!
See the full list of upcoming classes at https://berkshireartcenter.org/classes.
