Kidspace at MASS MoCA Presents Collaboration between Teenagers and Artist Samuel Rowlett in Teenspace on Holden Street

(North Adams, MA) As part of DownStreet Art’s kickoff, Kidspace will welcome visitors to  an opening reception for its new project, Teenspace, at 26 Holden Street, on Thursday, June 23, 2011. This venture will  exhibit an off (and on!) the wall ink drawing collaboration between Northampton-based artist Samuel Rowlett and 15 local high school students, which will run until August 21, 2011. Laura Thompson, Kidspace Director of Exhibitions and Education, explains that the inspiration behind this new project was for Kidspace at MASS MoCA to continue to work with the community and with artists. “We are excited to bring Samuel Rowlett to local teens, who are collaborating to create drawings and other artwork that I think will prove to be a great demonstration of the impressive creativity of the teens in the North Berkshires!”

Samuel Rowlett was chosen from a large pool of applicants who responded to Kidspace’s open call. Rowlett was born in Leicester, England, and raised in Vermont. He received his M.F.A. in 2008 from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield Hills, Minnesota. He has exhibited in multiple places around the United States including The Yale School of Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, and The Art Gym-Marylhurst University in Portland, Oregon. Rowlett’s artistic viewpoint is well-suited to work with teenagers.  Explaining his most recent work he said, “I have come to realize that my memories of youth are so under-the-influence of peer mythology and popular culture that it is impossible to unravel them. They are projections of a kind of childhood of the collective unconscious.”

The 15 high school students who were selected to collaborate with Rowlett are from local area schools.  Students from Drury High School in North Adams, Mt. Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, BArT (Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter School) in Adams, Berkshire School in Sheffield, Charles McCann Vocational Technical School in North Adams and Hoosac Valley High School in Adams were recruited through the MASS MoCA website and  Facebook page. Applications were also sent to art teachers in each high school to inform students of Teenspace. “The goal of this project is to provide teenage students in the local high schools with an opportunity to work with a professional artist to create a body of work, learn how to install an exhibit and gain experience interacting with the public in talking about their artwork. Student participants will also be receiving a stipend to participate in the program,” said Shannon Toye, Kidspace Education and After School Programs Coordinator.

The  second opening celebration for Teenspace will be held on July 28 from 6-9pm. Opening night will feature live art-making by the teenagers, who will paint the walls in shifts throughout the evening. The gallery space  will be  staffed by the students throughout the duration of the show, which will be open Wednesday thru Saturday from 10am to 6pm, and Sundays from 10am to 2pm, until August 21, 2011.

Kidspace Public Hours:  Kidspace is open every day, except Tuesdays, 11am to 4pm. Summer hours begin June 25m with Kidspace open every day, 11am to 4pm.

Teenspace is funded by the James and Robert Hardman Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

Kidspace is a collaborative project of the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williams College Museum of Art, and MASS MoCA. Major season support for Kidspace is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ann R. Avis and Gregory M. Avis Fund, & Donald R. Mullen, Jr.   Additional support by the Brownrigg Charitable Trust, Milton and Dorothy Sarnoff Raymond Foundation, and Alice Shaver Foundation in memory of Lynn Laitman; Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne; Duncan & Susan Brown; Timur Galen & Linda Genereux; Andrew & Christine Hall; Robert Menschel; Liz & Samuel Robinson; James & Robert Hardman Fund; the Massachusetts Cultural Council; & Gateway Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.  Thanks also to Lisa Corrin & Peter Erickson, Andrew & Tracy Foster, Thomas H. Green, Elizabeth Hilpman, Susan Kaplan, Henry & Maureen Lee, Cherrie Nanninga & Reno Cappello, Marie Nugent-Head, Marilyn & Tom Patti, Peggy Shaughnessy, David & Julie Tobey, George S. Tsandikos, & Byron Tucker.