Many thanks for your very fine article (Monday, July 23) about Matt Belanger and Marianne Petit of Greylock Arts in Adams. I’d like to add a few things if I may about their venture and what ought to be recognized as its place in the history of this town.
Matt and Marianne started from scratch, and at the beginning, did tons of very hard leg work that would have exhausted any of the very energetic people I know.
Their good will and mag nan imous spirit is of a very rare kind. They ought to be declared ambassadors of the county, and their gallery ought to be designated a museum, because it has much the same flavor and scope of similar places. Not only are there artists of very high caliber from this area who have exhibited there, but artists of international acclaim, including Tristan Perich and others whose work is comparable to that exhibited anywhere in the world.
In the 19th century, a historically significant group called the Hudson River School migrated from New York City into upstate New York and some parts of the Berkshires, and now artists who have been professionally educated at a comparable level are living in our midst. It is an important historical phenomenon and ought to be recognized as such.
Matt and Marianne’s vision has been to openly acknowledge that the phenomenon exists, and to have embraced and wholeheartedly cultivated it.
Richard Harrington
Adams
July 23
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