Clark Art Institute to Host First Sunday Free: Artists' Books Day

07:33AM / Wednesday, April 02, 2025Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute will present its First Sunday Free series on Sunday, April 6, coinciding with Artists' Books Day.

The event will feature free admission and activities throughout the day, focusing on the Clark's collection of over 5,000 artists' books. Activities include:

Clark Book Expo: From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Michael Conforti Pavilion, the Clark will host a Book Expo featuring regional artists, practitioners, and artists' book publishers. Participating entities include Antler Editions, Draw Down Books, Ghost Proposal, Horse Gurl Press, Kareem Michael Worrell, Kylie Gellatly, La Horchata Zine, Looky Here, Messenger Press, Molly Rideout/Alyssum Press, mundus press, Nine Syllables Press, Passenger Pigeon Press, PRESS | 29 Press, Publication Studio, Red Trillium Press, Seaton Street Press, siglio, Small Editions, THE BIRD PRESS/Thorsten Dennerline, and The Brother In Elysium.
Artists' Books Art-Making Activities: From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Manton Research Center reading room, art-making activities will be available. Participants can engage in activities such as creating accordion books and mini books.
Unusual Bindings and Inventive Structures Pop-Up: From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Manton Study Center for Works on Paper, Andrea Puccio, director of the library, will present a selection of artists' books from the Clark library's collection.
Panel Discussion: From 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Manton Research Center auditorium, a panel discussion will take place featuring May Castleberry, Lisa Pearson (Siglio Press), and Steven Daiber (Red Trillium Press). The discussion will focus on the production and distribution of artists' books.
Iron Coffee Co.: From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Orientation Center, coffee from Iron Coffee Company will be available for purchase.

Free admission will be offered all day. Special activities will be held in the Michael Conforti Pavilion and Manton Research Center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For accessibility questions, the Clark Art Institute can be contacted at 413-458-0524.

Tags: Clark Art,

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Letter: Incomplete Picture from Greylock School Committee

Letter to the Editor06:30PM / Wednesday, October 28, 2026

To the Editor:

At the October Mount Greylock School Committee meeting, there was much celebration over the student growth percentiles (SGP) from last year's MCAS test data (Spring 2026). Growth is worth celebrating. But I worry the meeting, and the coverage of it, left families and our community with an incomplete picture of how our students are doing in math.

"Growth" sounds like it means scores went up, but that isn’t quite what SGP measures. SGP compares each student to students in the state who scored about the same the year before, then ranks how they did this year against that group. If a whole group of similar students decreases, the student who decreases the least can still earn a high growth percentile. A strong SGP tells us our students did better than their peers who scored similarly the year before. It doesn't tell us whether they are at grade level.

For example, the current 6th grade class at Williamstown Elementary School (WES) has decreased in their grade-level math proficiency every year since their 3rd grade MCAS. In 2024, 64 percent of the class was meeting expectations; in 2025 48 percent were at grade level, and in 2026 only 33 percent of their class met grade-level expectations. Our current WES 5th grade class follows a similar trend, with 48 percent meeting grade-level math expectations last year vs 56 percent meeting expectations in 2025 when they were in 3rd grade.

Not every class follows this pattern; our current 7th graders gained to 62 percent last year. But seeing entire classes decrease is something that deserves our attention.

Growth comparisons across the state provide useful information, but they do not tell the complete story. We also need to look at where our students are in terms of grade-level proficiency and how those numbers are changing from year to year within the Mt. Greylock school district. This will be our first year with the math interventionist role filled at WES and our second year with the new i-Ready curriculum.

As we watch whether these changes are working, I hope the School Committee will discuss proficiency alongside growth in its public meetings, so our community can see the full picture. Growth matters, but it isn’t enough if fewer of our kids are reaching grade level each year.

Sincerely,

Jenna Hasenkampf
Williamstown, Mass.

Hasenkampf is a parent of WES students in Grades 2 and 4.

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