A4A is excited to announce our first-ever cohort of Pittsfield artists! We’re partnering with our Berkshire neighbor, the City of Pittsfield, to bring A4A grant-making and professional support to Pittsfield’s creative community. Meet the 10 artists in our first Pittsfield cohort; we’ll be announcing a second cohort in 2024.
Andres Ramirez
Andres Ramirez is an award-winning breakdancer and the founder of The Funk Box Dance Studio in downtown Pittsfield, where he teaches breaking to kids and young adults. He also teaches dance in the Pittsfield schools and at Mount Holyoke College. Andres has traveled internationally to compete, and locally has performed at Jacob’s Pillow and community events.
The Funk Box Dance Studio has been named Best Dance Studio in the Berkshires.
Chelsea Gaia
A Pacific Northwest Native recently transplanted to Pittsfield, Chelsea Gaia draws inspiration from natural light, colors, flora, fauna, and the materials of her immediate surroundings. Chelsea is a stained glass artist and patternist, an expressive illustrator, and a practiced botanical and permaculture gardener. Her work often culminates as a statement of the authenticity of one's present experience while honoring heritage of both the land she stands upon currently and the land and roots she has descended from. Chelsea is in the process of opening a stained glass studio in downtown Pittsfield where she will make her own designs & commissions and teach stained glass classes.
Eric Drury
Eric Drury is an artist and designer whose practice is rooted in the cultural interrelation within his mixed, Arab and American New England family and a fascination with the evocative power of objects. His work is an investigation into the points of resonance and discord between these worlds and has included sculpture, functional objects, graphic design, furniture, and painting. Eric holds an MFA in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art and works at Berkshire Community College as the Instructional Program Manager: Making and Manufacturing.
Huckleberry Elling
Huckleberry (Huck) Elling is a multidisciplinary artist working in textiles, painting, and public art. Huck has spent her entire life observing patterns, and since childhood has been compelled to explore colors, shapes and textures through art-making. Because she was never classically trained, Huck considers herself a folk artist and appreciates using readily available materials and processes, tapping into a shared human experience.
For the first phase of her artistic career, Huck crocheted large, fantastical, wearable masks. (You may have seen them at MASS MoCA’s Kidspace or gift shop.) More recently, she has been working on canvases and is currently painting a mural in downtown Pittsfield.
Laura Cabrera
Laura Cabrera is a Mexican singer who left Veracruz, Mexico at age 18, and now lives in Pittsfield with her two children. Laura aims to strengthen community through diverse and accessible programming in performing, movement and creative arts. She is a founding member of Latina413, co-founder of the Hispanic artist collective Amor A Nuestras Raíces (Love to our Roots), and founder of Yo Soy Arte (I am Art), focusing on increasing representation of local Latinx artists in cultural spaces. Laura is passionate about helping the Latin population in the Berkshires share their cultural background with their community.
Marney Schorr
Marney Schorr is a visual artist, teaching artist, art therapist and author exhibiting in New York and the Berkshires. She is also the founder of an award winning arts-based youth suicide prevention program, Arts in Recovery for Youth (AIRY). Marney’s art studio is part of a collective of 20 artists in downtown Pittsfield known as NUarts.
Marney’s studio practice includes three decades of primarily painting, mixed media, and assemblage. Recently, she has begun to explore more political themes in her creative work, and in early 2023 organized a show in Pittsfield called Art for Social Change that explored themes of bodily autonomy.
Nicole Herasme
Nicole Herasme is a photographer, model, and painter originally from the Dominican Republic. Nicole uses art as an expressive outlet and means of healing, both for herself and others. With photography, she seeks to help her portrait subjects feel comfortable and accept who they are with pride. Modeling allows her to embrace her individuality while encouraging others to do the same.
Nicole is planning a series of healing art events to share with the youth community of Pittsfield.
Nicole Rose
Nicole Rose is a visual artist and lifelong ballet dancer whose paintings investigate the synchronicities between movement and mark-making. Each of her paintings begin with uncontrolled pours of paint which are then danced through, allowing the movement of her feet and body to translate choreographed marks onto canvas. The first layer of sporadic movement marks creates a map that guides the following layers of formalized painting. In a broader sense, her abstract landscapes explore the physical and psychological dichotomy between chaos and control. Nicole received her BA in Studio Art from Mills College in California before returning to her hometown.
Stephen Caranci
Stephen Caranci handcrafts fine wood and resin pens. Stephen has been a lover of all things woodworking since high school shop class, and he explored work in construction and cabinetry before turning to pen-making. Stephen uses over 150 different pigments for resins, 45+ species of woods, and recycled materials such as HDPE and reclaimed woods. During the summers, you can find him selling his beautiful wares at the Pittsfield Farmer’s Market.
Zinc Estime
zinc is an intersectional being committed to the art of connection—through sound and visual art. with the integration of storytelling, poetry, music, interviews and resource sharing, they host a podcast in Berkshire County to gather the fruits of our living and dying during this time.
as a member of the z generation, zinc believes that young people’s stories and gifts are being dis-membered without their consent or acknowledgment. yet they hold the power to write a new story; our story.
with a BA degree in cultural anthropology from Mount Holyoke College, they value the power of collecting stories from living and ancestral, local youth & adult leaders; intergenerational collaboration. with their work at Railroad Street Youth Project as a youth-worker of 10+ years, zinc coordinates the Southern Berkshire Community Health Coalition (SBCHC).
when they are not building bridges, they are resting with the trees, planting seeds, and tending to the flowers and bees.
A4A is grateful to our wonderful partners in this programming: the City of Pittsfield, especially Cultural Development Director Jen Glockner, and the members of our Pittsfield advisory coalition: Abby Powers, Kamaar Taliaferro, Alex Reczkowski, Yvette “Jamuna” Sirker, Jesse Tobin McCauley, Bill Wright, Marina Dominguez, Julie Copoulos, Lucie Castaldo, and Brielle Rizzotti. This work is funded by the American Rescue Plan (ARPA).