Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/144909
(above) MASS MoCA has been called America's answer to the Tate Modern, London; (l-r) Toronto-based Kim Adams's Optic Nerve glowing car; conceptual ceramic engine by Saskatoon's Clint Neufeld; a repurposed factory building, MASS MoCA's galleries are lofty; Sol LeWitt painting at MASS MoCA; (below) the restored Porches Inn. and the walls are decorated with memorabilia from the Mohawk Trail, part of the iconic Route 66. The inn's six row houses (featuring 47 rooms in all) are linked together by the inviting, all-American architectural feature that gives Porches its name. Creativity is spilling out all over North Adams. When MASS MoCA opened, the town was in an alarming state of decline. A little more than a decade later its stock of mills and once-shuttered Main Street stores has been transformed into one delightful gallery and art space after the next. North Adams's growing reputation as an art mecca has driven tourism, and that in turn has given rise to cafés, restaurants and retail spots. Artists are coming to live and work here from all over the U.S. and abroad, encouraged by the creative atmosphere as well as the cheap prices for work/live spaces. All of this is a long way from North Adams's factory town past. I have to ask Jonathan Secor, a local arts activist who has helped spearhead the downtown transformation, what the "townies" think of North Adams's new face. "We do get the odd guy yelling 'art queer' from his car window as he drives by," he says with a laugh as we tour downtown. "But largely the town has been incredibly enthusiastic and participatory." Among the storefront galleries we visit is one belonging to Jarvis Rockwell, the octogenarian son of Norman. Jarvis's high concept art is antithetical to his famous father's seemingly wholesome Americana. inn was part and parcel of the town's dramatic restoration in the 1990s. It features a row of once decrepit, now beautifully restored clapboard houses that back in the day were residences for workers employed at Sprague Electric. The imaginative, sensitively renovated design fuses the town's history with a great sense of fun. Rooms are done in a style that has been described as "industrial granny chic," with wide wood plank floors painted in New England colours like pumpkin, sage and blueberry. There are also some delightfully sly homages to the inn's history. Breakfasts are delivered to your room in a metal lunchbox. Room safes are hidden behind paint-by-number paintings, (top) Jeff Damone/All Canada Photos, (Sol LeWitt) courtesy MASS MoCA, (Porches Inn) Karen Burshtein p28-33_Oh_Canada.indd 31 WESTWORLD >> S U M M E R 2 0 1 2 31 4/13/12 2:18:30 PM