We found this great article on the May 29, 2007 edition of the Fast Company Blog about the value of arts education. It was written by Ruth Sherman, and just begged to be reprinted. Thank you to Ms. Sherman and Fast Company:

There is a lot of talk these days about education, what we should be teaching our children so they will be successful. A consensus seems to have arisen that math and science should be more rigorously taught and that the United States stands to lose its business leadership role as a result. There is never, ever any talk about the arts – music, the visual arts, drama, writing – and what their place is in the education of our youth. Maybe that’s because knowledge of and prowess in the arts are not included in any of the plethora of standardized tests that schools administer.

As a result, most people have tacitly accepted that if it’s not tested, it’s not taught or taught very little and never at the expense of another, “academic” subject. In the schools where the arts are a component of a well-rounded education, they tend to be worth only a small fraction of the credits that accumulate toward graduation, relegated to extra-curricular activities, take second-place to other curricula or are delivered privately, paid for by parents, if they can afford it.

According to Elliott W. Eisner, Professor of Education at Stanford, this presents a problem for business:

“The problems of life are much more like the problems encountered in the arts. They are problems that seldom have a single correct solution; they are problems that are often subtle, occasionally ambiguous, and sometimes dilemma-like. One would think that schools that wanted to prepare students for life would employ tasks and problems similar to those found outside of schools. This is hardly the case. Life outside of school is seldom like school assignments–and hardly ever like a multiple-choice test.”*

Eisner cautions that the ways schools teach today robs students of their innate ability to think and solve problems creatively and flexibly, something arts education excels at.

“Creative thinking abhors routine. Routines may be good for the assembly line, where surprise is the last thing you want.”*

Perhaps most importantly, the arts teach that qualitative evaluations can be as valid as quantitative evaluations. Questions such as: Is the work good? How do you know if there are no rules for judging it, or “correct” answers? are easily addressed by artists. Arts also teach about teamwork (think choral singing, band, orchestra, drama and other forms of group performing) and appreciating the different talents and strengths that others bring.

The arts provide opportunities for us to express ourselves through our feelings in media other than words or numbers. And it is such opportunity for expression that plays such a compelling part in our communication. Eisner says

“Neither words nor numbers define the limits of our cognition; we know more than we can tell. There are many experiences and a multitude of occasions in which we need art forms to say what literal language cannot say. When we marry and when we bury, we appeal to the arts to express what numbers and literal language cannot. Reflect on 9/11 and recall the shrines that were created by those who lost their loved ones — and those who didn’t. The arts can provide forms of communication that convey to others what is ineffable.”*

Most importantly, I think, the arts teach us how to play and thus, are about expressing joy. At work, we want to be around other people who can express their joy or at least their happiness or contentment.

But what kind of a message does it send when a company gives a standardized test to potential new hires, as if a test can give a company a full or even fair picture of a candidate? It’s the same message the schools send when they test and teach certain subjects to the exclusion of others: that no matter how accomplished or talented you may be, some pursuits are not worthwhile, meaningless in life and in the world of business where only hard facts and the bottom line matter. Thus, you need not apply.

Is this the kind of world we want?

*Eisner, Elliot W. “Three Rs Are Essential, but Don’t Forget the A — the Arts” Los Angeles Times, January 3, 2005 Commentary

Ruth Sherman is CEO of Ruth Sherman Associates, LLC, Greenwich, CT.

It’s the contemporary art world’s equivalent of a perfect storm. Starting with the Venice Biennale (labiennale.org), which opens on June 10th, several major international contemporary art fairs are set to begin next month in Europe, including Art Basel, opening June 13th (artbasel.com), and Documenta (documenta12.de) and the Münster Sculpture Project (skulptur-projekte.de), both opening June 16th.

These fairs consider themselves so important that they have joined together to adopt a collective name, “The Grand Tour,” in reference to the grand tours of the Gilded Age, when the rich and famous made a circuit of Europe’s largest cultural events. (grandtour2007.com)

It’s a week of high-octane culture, for sure. But what do you do if you don’t have the time or resources to join Europe’s contemporary art cattle drive? We at Kolok Gallery suggest that you spend the week in the Berkshires, which promises its own summer-long world-class roster of contemporary art and cultural events. Compared to the European fairs, we’re much more laid back and informal, our art is just as cutting-edge, and you’ll have such a good time you may even forget the word “Biennale.”

In this spirit, Kolok Gallery has assembled its own suggested day-by-day alternative itinerary to the “Grand Tour.” It is contemporary art and culture, Berkshires-style:

June 10th: In the morning, catch the last day of the Warhol and Ezawa exhibitions at the Williams College Museum of Art (wcma.org).

In the afternoon, take in the Tennessee Williams classic “The Glass Menagerie” at the Berkshire Theatre Festival.

June 11th: Stroll the idyllic grounds of the Berkshire Botanical gardens, and stop to admire the garden ornaments exhibit, certainly the antithesis of the “Sprockets”-like furor across the pond. If there is time left, visit the Mount, the stunningly designed and restored home and gardens of Pulitzer Prize-winner Edith Wharton.

June 12th: Head back to the Williams College Museum of Art to check out “The Moon is Broken: Photography from Poetry, Poetry from Photography”. In this exhibition, regional poets curated photographs from the museum’s collection and wrote original poems, creating lyrical arrangements that explore how image and text resonate. The exhibition, and its accompanying interpretative programming, is an invitation to reconsider and respond to photography and poetry.

June 13th: If the body itself is indeed a work of art, then consider a day trip to the nearby Cranwell Resort, where you can have their experts do some serious conservation work on your own canvas and frame, bringing it back to its former glory (or at least make it look better with the right lighting). Later that afternoon, pay a visit to us here at Kolok Gallery, and we will give you a personal tour of our current group exhibition “Second Coming”, with works from emerging and established artists such as Jean Noel Chazelle, Debi Pendell, Ben Potter, Brandon Graving, Joshua Field and DNA.

June 14th: In the afternoon, stop by the ClarK Art Institute to see the film “Van Gogh.” Later that evening, choose between “Herringbone,” starring B.D. Wong at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, or “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Shakespear & Co.

June 15th: Head over to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art to take in “Spencer Fitch: What Time is it on the Sun?”, a landmark exhibition that explores the mechanics and mysteries of perception. “Sun” includes over 40 works, comprising more than 160 pastels, 62 photographs, 6 major sculptural installations, and a 30-foot long drawing.
Afterwards, stay for MoCA’s NL Opening Party, a dance party where Dutch DJ/VJ Micah Klein will spin the night away in celebration of the opening of the Berkshires-wide, season-long examination of Dutch art and culture everyone here is calling “NL: A Season of Dutch Arts in the Berkshires.”

June 16th: End your Berkshires tour by going back to Mass MoCA to see “Made at MASS MoCA” a documentary project exploring the issues raised in the course of complex collaborative projects between artists and institutions. Your goal isn’t really to see this show, but instead to try to sneak a peak behind the blackout curtains at the now-canceled exhibition “Training Ground for Democracy,” a massive site installation that is the subject of litigation between the museum and the Swiss artist Christoph Büchel.

Before leaving town, come back once more to Kolok Gallery, and ask Director Kurt Kolok for an advanced private showing of some of the works set to be exhibited later this summer.

In addition to some of our faithful regulars, there were a number of first time visitors at Saturday night’s opening reception. Included among them were some friends from my Boston days–Robert Frye and Jay Calderin. Our hectic schedules have kept us from reconnecting since running into each other while each visiting Christo’s infamous saffron “Gates” in Central Park two years ago. I have to say, their surprise visit to North Adams made the one-year anniversary celebration that much more special. Robert and Jay had promised to make it to the Gallery at some point and at the last minute decided to rent a Zipcar and make a ‘quick’ trip to the Berkshires. Unfortunately, they were only able to stay for a brief visit since their car had to be back before midnight–hmmmm–wonder if Zipcar investor?!

Several of the “Second Coming” artists were on hand for the event. Carlo Vialu traveled from NYC, Ben Potter came down from Maine with family in tow, and our Berkshire-based artists were present in full force–Brandon Graving, Debi Pendell and Joshua Field. We received a great number of compliments on the artists and work shown. Personally, I think it’s one of our strongest shows to date…I’ll include a couple of images and let you decide for yourself.

Here is a full copy of the article “Contemporary Revolution: Kolok Gallery celebrates its first anniversary that appeared in the Thursday, May 24, 2007 print and online editions of the Advocate Weekly.
By Catherine Fahy

North Adams - Kurt Kolok considers running a contemporary art gallery well worth the effort on days when a child, following a parent on an errand to another business in the Windsor Mill, will pause at the door, captivated by the colorful artwork on the whitewashed walls.

“The kids will really react to the colors and the parents will ask if it’s OK to come in,” Kolok said.

Such encounters may not result in a sale, but that’s not always the point, Kolok said, if it means introducing contemporary art to someone.

The Kolok Gallery celebrates its first anniversary this weekend with Saturday’s opening of “Second Coming,” an exhibit of paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures by new and existing gallery artists, plus six more exhibits planned through the end of the year.

Kolok credits Mass MoCA with his transformation from a product of the dot-com generation to a gallery owner.

“I was really tired of Boston and I thought I’d move to New York until I went to an early Mass MoCA exhibit,” he said, mentioning the local documentary film “Downside UP,” about the area’s modern art metamorphis, as another influence on his decision to move here.

Now, Kolok is part of the contemporary arts revolution that has grown up around Mass MoCA in the past decade. With a degree in arts management and a background in sales and marketing, he was well-positioned to open a gallery. For now, he still pays the bills as a project manager for a technology company, but hopes the day is not far off when the gallery will sustain itself. Until then, he’ll keep up his 100-hour work weeks.

“It’s all about the business,” he said with a smile one recent afternoon behind the spare desk in his gallery.

Part of his workload comes from his determination to maintain regular gallery hours, even in the winter when he said he was surprised to make some of his best sales during snowstorms.

Kolok finds artists through word of mouth, generally through other artists, or through his own travels. He signed his first artist on a business trip to Australia.

“If I find a good artist, they know good artists but you have to look far and wide,” he said.

Among the artists he has signed for his 2007 shows are new emerging and established U.S. and European artists, including Massachusetts artists Dana Bergstrom, Lana Z Caplan, Joshua Field, and Debi Pendell; DNA (Delgado/Almendral) and Carlo Vialu from New York City; Laura Olear of Chicago; and Ben Potter of Maine, a 1993 Williams College graduate.

As the northern Berkshires’ only contemporary commercial gallery, Kolok’s clientele is also word-of-mouth, drawing mainly from New York and the Pioneer Valley region.

“I’m still surprised when people say they’ve heard of me,” Kolok said. “I’ve had curators come in and say this is more New York than New York.”

With moveable walls, Kolok’s gallery has a lot of flexibility to show a wide range of work, and he hopes to use the space for readings and art-related activities. For now, a small library of art books beneath one of the tall factory windows invites people to linger.

Kolok takes full advantage of contemporary art’s reputation to stretch boundaries, like Brooklyn painter Limor Gasko’s deceptively innocuous images of the conflict between animals and humans, or Tricia Zigmund’s eerie self-portraits. A new artist, Shuli Sade, overlays photographs of industrial architecture with tar then peels it off to reveal yellowed but still-recognizeable features. Kolok also shows sculpture by his uncle, Vermonter David Bradshaw, who has collaborated with Robert Rauschenberg and William S. Burroughs in the past and blasts steel with gunshot for his nephew’s gallery.

“I’m trying to go after art you don’t necessarily see in the Berkshires,” Kolok said.

Although North Adams is admittedly still struggling to reconcile its identity as a contemporary arts mecca, Kolok said he does not regret his decision to move there and he and his partner have bought a big old Victorian house in town.

Between Mass MoCA, the Eclipse Mill, Brill Gallery and others he hopes there is some sort of critical mass.

“You see things come and go, but I credit the area with trying new things,” he said. “It’s a great place to live.”

Kolok Gallery will celebrate its one-year anniversary on Saturday, May 26th with an opening reception for “Second Coming,” the first exhibition of its summer season. Starting at 5:30 PM, “Second Coming” is modeled on the Gallery’s May 2006 inaugural exhibition.

“Second Coming” presents works by some of Kolok Gallery’s artists in a group setting, and gives a sneak preview of artworks by newly signed artists. Artists exhibiting works in “Second Coming” include Dana Bergstrom, Lana Z Caplan, Joshua Field and Debi Pendell (all from Massachusetts); Paris, France based Jean Noel Chazelle; New York City artists DNA (Delgado/Almendral) and Carlo Vialu; Chicago’s Laura Olear, and Ben Potter, a resident of Maine and a 1993 Williams College graduate. “Second Coming” also includes works not previously shown by Gallery artists Limor Gasko, Brandon Graving, Jill Grimes and Ryan Scheidt.

“Second Coming” runs through June 19 and includes paintings, photography, works on paper, and sculpture.

While you’re at the opening reception, be sure to ask Kurt to show you some of the great new artworks in the Gallery’s flat files.

For the past week, we’ve been putting in some serious overtime to make sure Kolok Gallery is in top shape for the Saturday, May 26th opening of “Second Coming”, the first exhibition of our Summer 2007 season.

That’s why it was so nice to take a break today and open the local newspapers–and find not one but two great articles about the Gallery and the North Adams renaissance.

The first article was an interview with Gallery Director Kurt Kolok. It was published in the May 24, 2007 edition of the Advocate Weekly. We’ll upload it to the blog later on, but for now here is the picture Kurt that accompanied the article. Kurt is standing in front of an oil painting by Cathleen Daley.

Photo by Catherine Fahy, 2007.

The second article was printed in the North Adams Transcript (May 24, 2007). Under the headline “North Adams Artapalooza,” The opening reception for “Second Coming” was listed in the paper’s “week’s best bets” column, along with openings at Mass MoCA (”Made at Mass MoCA” and “Spencer Finch: What Time Is It on the Sun?”) and the Eclipse Mill (”Landscapes and Visions”).

The “Landscapes and Visions” exhibition at Eclipse Mill features large-scale paintings by Rick Harlow that are in-spired by experiences in the Colombian Amazon and panoramic photographs of the Northern Berkshires by Kelly Lee.

“Ephemeral” one of the works by artist Debi Pendell that will be part of the Second Coming exhibition at Kolok Gallery.

The Transcript also included a handy guide to the opening dates for all of our Summer-Fall 2007 exhibitions.
“Elephants,” by Limor Gasko.