NORTHAMPTON — A new community art space in the Pioneer Valley is finding multiple ways to emphasize visual arts through workshops and exhibitions.
Local photographer Rick Colson, along with his small brass of staff and board members, began Human Scale Art Space around a month ago to help tie the visual arts to the existing base of performance arts currently established in the Pioneer Valley.
“We’re hoping to expand the definition of what the arts really are,” Colson said in an interview with Reminder Publishing. “All these arts derive from a common need. And the need is that there’s something internal that artists want to try to make external, shareable and communicated.”
Colson, the director of Human Scale Art Space, said that their group is currently functioning as a “pop up” space that conducts different workshops and exhibitions in various physical spaces in the area.
One such workshop, called “Rock and Roll Stage Photography,” will teach people how to take better stage images at any kinds of concerts. That workshop opportunity will be conducted at the Iron Horse on Nov. 2 and will be taught by Colson and John Robison, a board member for Human Scale Art Space and a New York Times bestselling author and photographer whose images have graced major periodicals like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
“That’s one example,” said Colson, who spent many years as a curator, commercial photographer, hobbyist photographer and more. “We’re not producing music events, but we are potentially producing art events that in some ways tie into musical events or other performance events.”
That event will be $15 and free for Parlor Room Collective members and those that are under the age of 18.
Another workshop, which is happening on Dec. 14 at a location to be determined, will feature a famous playwright Jay Sefton teaching workshop participants about how to take an internal idea, whether that is based in trauma or something else, and try to bring it to life through storytelling, solo shows, monologues and more.
Other workshops and events are currently listed on the website for the coming months.
According to Colson, Human Scale Art Space is currently in its very early stages as an organization. They currently have two staff members, including Colson and Treasurer/Secretary Marcia Sailor, as well as two board members, including Robison and John Reuter. Colson said they are on the verge of landing nonprofit status, which will make it easier to find funding.
Depending on the needs within the community, Colson said they could explore looking for a permanent space in the future, but for now, they just hope to collaborate with existing spaces in the area for their workshops and exhibitions.
“We’re going to be looking for exhibition space or event space,” Colson said. “Some of that might be for longer periods of time, in the months. Some of it might be we just need a space for an individual event.”
Human Scale Art Space currently has around six to eight workshops in the pipeline for the rest of the year, and Colson said they hope to have many more in 2025.
“All these workshops come from looking at holes in the marketplace,” Colson said. “What’s really not happening that we think will be useful in the marketplace.”
Readers can explore the different workshops and events coming up and learn more about Human Scale Art Space by visiting the website: https://humanscaleartspace.org/. There are comprehensive descriptions of the upcoming workshops on this site.
