NORTH ADAMS -- Highlighting the fourth and final installment of DownStreet Art this year will be the unveiling of a public mural inspired by the types of rock used to build the city.
Jonathan Secor, director of special programs at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, said Wednesday "That’s Gneiss!" -- a work by North Adams-based artist Melissa Matsuki Lillie -- will be unveiled at 6 p.m. on Holden Street.
"Meri Jenkins of the Massachusetts Cultural Council will say a few words, as well as Mayor [Richard] Alcombright and MCLA President Mary Grant," he said.
Lillie’s work is the final installment of the Mural Project, which includes murals on the back of the Mohawk Theater, the side of the Northern Berkshire Juvenile Court building on Center Street and on the pillars of the Veterans Memorial Bridge on Marshall Street. Art About Town will celebrate the completion of the Arnold Print Works doll murals on the bridge’s pillars at 6:30 p.m.
"I wanted to take something in the community and make it into something approachable," Lillie said of her work.
At the beginning of this year, she was involved in a collaboration with the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, and had an opportunity to work with the mineral archivist there, she said.
When it came time to contemplate the mural, she thought it would be interesting to investigate the rocks of buildings on Main Street in North Adams, she said.
"The mural is loosely inspired by them. I just used the form and shapes of them, and then applied my own pallet," she said.
Secor said a total of 10 exhibitions will open as part of this round of DownStreet Art, including an installation at Gallery 107 based on the theme of insomnia.
"It’s a beautifully dark piece that includes creating a whole bedroom out of cardboard," he said.
Artist Gil Scullion, who lives in Connecticut, said he doesn’t draw on his own life for material, but in this particular case, he did.
"Generally speaking, my work is done with presence through absence," he said. "Insomnia is the absence of sleep, and sleep is the absence of consciousness. So you have this rotating set of absence and presence."
The exhibit incorporates three short stories about waking up in the middle of the night after a disturbing dream, lying awake worrying about things such as one’s home, job and family, and hearing a dog barking in the distance, he said.
"All of these stories I cut into stencils so that I can spray paint these stories onto disposable material of cardboard or craft paper," he said.
Besides the gallery openings, the band One Way Out will perform from 6 to 9 p.m. under the marquee of the Mohawk Theater on Main Street. At 7 p.m., fine and performing arts students at MCLA will perform scenes from their upcoming production, "Cabaret," in front of Berkshire Bank on Main Street. Singer and songwriter Patrick Porter will perform from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Artery Gallery on Holden Street.
Secor said there will be a free trolley shuttle, which will make stops at Berkshire Towers and the Townhouses for MCLA students, and entertainment during the trolley rides will be provide by a ukulele player.
The essentials
* Opening of "Figuratively Speaking, Abstractly," 5 p.m., Adams Community Bank Gallery, Eagle Street, featuring artists Bob Anderson and Williams Clements
* Unveiling of "That’s Gneiss!," 6 p.m., Holden Street between Main and Center streets, featuring artist Melissa Matsuki Lillie
* Recognition of students involved in "Art About Town" project, 6:30 p.m., under the Veterans Memorial Bridge, featuring painted images of dolls once made at the Arnold Print Works on pillars
The following gallery openings will take place from 6-9 p.m.:
"Dualities: The Painting of Ed Carson and Ceramics of Joshua Primmer," NAACO Gallery, corner of Main and Marshall streets
"The Afterlife: Interpretations of the Hereafter," Gallery X at Jarvis Rockwell Gallery, Main Street
"Die Formmeister: The Masters of the Form," MCLA Gallery 51, Main Street, featuring artists Yura Adams, Karen Arp-Sandel, Michael Vincent Bushy, Janet Cooper, Helen Febbo, Linda Kayes-Moses, Fay O’Meara, Dina Noto, Glenn Shalan and Paula Shalan.
"Mostly Photographs," Wendy James Studio, Holden Street, featuring artists Howard Itzkowitz and Wendy James.
Artists Signe Kutzer, Pam Buchanan, Kristen Parker and Christina Scott create a mural inside the Artery Gallery on Holden Street
"Getting there is easy," PRESS Gallery, Main Street, featuring creations made at the gallery during the summer
"Insomnia," Gallery 107, Main Street, featuring artist Gil Scullion
"Transcend: Art as Activism in the Occupy Movement," Branch Gallery
"Through a filter brightly -- Solarized," The Transcript Gallery, Main Street, featuring artist Gillian Jones
* There will also be installations at the Martha Flood Studio on Eagle Street and studio21south at the Beaver Mill.
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