Ice Cream Shop Shots for this weekend's ArtWalk.

Thought I'd share the short blurb to go with a show I just put together for the walls of the shop and this weekend's ArtWalk Easthampton. If you're out artwalking this weekend, I hope you'll swing by for a look.

Ice Cream Shop Memories.

Images by Jim Ingram

I’ve always held the firm belief that our best memories are not as much from big events, trips, or major milestones, but more often found in everyday moments of bliss. In this case, enjoying an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. These moments can come and go fast. I say best savor them while you’re in ‘em. This show is a snapshot of a few of those moments. I hope you enjoy.

And if you recognize someone, feel free to let me know, and the photo is yours when the show is over.

As you've probably noticed, my blogging time has taken a backseat to ice cream making lately. Been quite the summer for summertime weather, that's for sure. No complaints here. I suppose I could complain about working too much, but I can rest when the snow flies, as we ice cream type folks like to say. Hope you're enjoying yours and managing to stay cool. I look forward to returning to random ranting here on the ICD when things quiet down in here again..

And if you haven't yet, become a fan of Mt. Tom's over at Facebook to stay up to date on new flavors and other intriguing goings-on at your favorite scoop shop.

See you soon.

ArtWalk Easthampton Tonight.

painting by Allison Hunt.

A quick little reminder, it's the 2nd Saturday of the month, which means ArtWalk time here in Easthampton. It goes 5 - 8 pm tonite, and as always, it's full of great local art to see. And free snacks.

Here at Mt. Tom's, it's a great group show:

'Night'

Each artist was asked to create a 12” square oil or acrylic painting portraying a night scene. The resulting exhibit consists of subjects ranging from moonlit skies to bonfires to the summer front of a Cape Cod food stand. The artists included in this exhibition were part of Kat O’Connor’s Spring 2010 Thursday night oil painting class, held in Clinton, Massachusetts. This exhibit was created specifically for Mt. Tom’s Ice Cream in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

painting by Kat O'Connor.

Hope you can stop by. Old Town Hall and Nashawannuck Gallery next door are two other spots to not miss too.

Jelly Fish, M&M paintings, and Chocolates.

This weekend brings us to the 2nd Saturday of the month, and with that, another exciting ArtWalk Easthampton evening. Just hung yesterday here at Mt. Tom's, an inspiring photography/painting combo show featuring the works of photographer Rob Colclaser and his wife Allison, painter. Stop by for a look at some amazing images and beautiful paintings.

While you're out, check out the rest of the ArtWalk venues. 5 - 8pm.

I hope you can stop by for a coffee, a bit of chocolate, say a hello to the artists, and enjoy their show.



While I'm here, a big thanks to Torrie, Carleigh's mom, for the cool thank you for the birthday party at Mt. Tom's photo collage. Nice...



Good weekend to you.

Tiny Valley - The Show.

Probably should have posted about this before the actual opening reception during this past weekend's ArtWalk, but I didn't want to bump the JJ Dushane entry before that event. The good news is this past weekend's ArtWalk was a big success, crazy downpours be darned, and Chris Evans' show here at Mt. Tom's was great. And more good news, Chris' show will be here right through until the next ArtWalk on June 13th. The show is called 'Tiny Valley', and it's a very cool collection of Chris' favorite images of scale-model-like scenes from the Pioneer Valley. He used a technique called 'tilt shift', which allows you to focus sharply on a specific aspect of an image while blurring the rest. You get a bit of an idea from the image above, but the best way is to come down and see the images on the wall in full 16x20 living color.

When you look at them, you really do think they're models, but they're not.

Laura Merwin graciously covered the event at one of my favorite blogs, Bay Road Photo over at Masslive.com. Patrick Brough even got a shot of Chris and I being interviewed by videographer Jon Persson,as part of a documentary being put together in conjunction with Easthampton City Arts, the upcoming Bear Fest, and local cable access channel 5.

If you weren't able to do the ArtWalk thing this past weekend, I hope you can still stop by and check out Chris's show. Ice cream and gummy fried eggs are optional.

Luke Cavagnac likes ice cream.

There are many famous and immensely talented artists that live and work in Easthampton. It's just one of the things that makes it such a cool place to live. Not sure if it's the laid back atmosphere, lower cost of living, beautiful landscape, plethora of colleges, or the many converted old mills that make ideal and affordable studio spaces that draws (and holds) artists here. Perhaps it's a combination of all those things and more. It may be a little bit of a chicken or the egg kind of thing, but this area is just overflowing with good creative energy. There are many hip galleries here in western Mass, from MassMoca in North Adams to the Hosmer gallery in Forbes Library in Northampton. We even have a nice little gallery in our building, the Nashawannuck Gallery.

And until recently, one of the few times we regular folk have had easy access to the art scene here in Eashampton has been during open studios weekends, held just twice a year.

That's just one of the things that make Artwalk Easthampton so cool. Every second Saturday you can catch a bunch of shows featuring all the local artists you love. What's not to like about that? Can't afford it? Can you afford free? There's even a free shuttle bus.

Next artwalk is tomorrow night (Saturday). 5-8pm. And here at Mt. Tom's you can check out a fun little show by nearly a household name around here, Luke Cavagnac. When I asked him to do it, he said sure. If you've ever been to his studio/gallery in EastWorks, you know he has literally thousands of paintings on his walls. They're all unique, in themselves and to his style, and extremely affordable. I figured he'd just grab 15-20 paintings off the wall, throw them in his mini-van, and fill my walls with color.

Little did I know, he'd create a whole show of ice cream paintings. Leave it to Luke.

The weather looks good. The lineup looks great. And the walls here will be covered with ice cream. What more could you ask for in a free night out?

Hope to see you there.

Fire & Ice: The Trailer

In case you missed last week's Fire & Ice ArtWalk extravaganza, a cool little video/promo for an upcoming local Channel 5 show...

(There seems to be some issues with the video. You can go to their blog and check it out..)

Fuzzy Clock Productions

Live Ice Sculpting in your Hometown.

And it's not even New Year's Eve.

In case you weren't able to get out and 'artwalk' tonight, here are a couple shots from the front steps of the Old Town Hall, home of the Easthampton City Arts Gallery and Elusie Gallery. Local art hero Trace Meek tries his hand, and chainsaw, at ice sculpting. He looked like a pro out there, hard to believe it was his first time in the ice medium. Nice job Trace.

Adding to the ambiance was a cool set of ice votives, created by Easthampton's own, Kristin Angel.

One more of Trace, working his magic with the chainsaw...

There were a bunch of people out for the ArtWalk tonight. Great to see. The ArtWalks should get better and better as we slowly rid ourselves of winter. And it won't be long before we start seeing cool painted bears all about town. Easthampton BearFest (fyi: the bear website was also created by Trace the ice sculpure guy). More on that soon...

Call for Ducks, er Artists.

Hope you got to get outside this weekend for a little dose of vitamin D. The ducks and geese were out in full force over in Lower Mill Pond today. That wind kept us from enjoying the full effects of the thaw, but wind or no wind, 45 beats oh 5 any winter day.

Since most of my posts this week will probably be bent towards all things Valentine's Day, I thought I'd take this opp to pitch my annual request for ArtWalk Easthampton artists for the walls of Mt. Tom's. I've got a few months booked, but many months are still available. We've got about 17 spots to fill the walls. Your work will hang for a month, starting the 2nd saturday of that month. You're welcome to put labels with pricetags. You can make it whatever you choose. Calm and casual, with just a few invites to friends and an appearance during your ArtWalk. Or you can make up postcards, invite everyone you know, set up apps & beverages. Or something in between.

This coming weekend is our next ArtWalk. Since I was unsuccessful in recruiting an artist on short notice, having just reopened, I've volunteered myself to put together a little show.

If life gives you snow, make snowcones.

Ok, so most of us are already tired of shoveling and slushing around covered sidewalks, and it's barely February. Well, since there's not much we can do about it but complain, the best thing we can do, besides ski or eat ice cream, is make art out of it. Since fire & ice seems to be this month's theme, my show will be all about ice. And snow. And all things cold. Here's hoping it'll warm you up.


I hope you'll stop by and check it out... And do email me or pull me aside in the shop if you're interested in showing here at Mt. Tom's this year. Thanks in advance.

JimArt On the ArtWalk

Whoever said art and ice cream don't mix?

The image above is an original work in mixed dairy media. To be more specific, it's an unstirred batch of coffee ice cream mix, with a caramel 2X thrown in to enhance the coffee coloring. Unfortunately, the stirring image was gone a couple stirs later. So it's back to plan A.

For this month, I've claimed the walls as my own and put together a little show I'm calling...

Down on the Farm(share) - images from Mountain View Farm.

With a few Fall shots from Williston School and around town thrown in for good measure. Here's one of my favorites, just hung today-

Lots of great art, music, and snacks to be had tomorrow night (Saturday) 5-8pm. Be there. Here's the lineup And the MAP.

But wait, there's more. From the ArtWalk Easthampton gang...

Come enjoy art, live music, fun performances and even a turkey hunt at this month's Art Walk! We've hidden turkeys at secret Art Walk locations. Find them, pluck a feather, and use it to enter a raffle at Old Town Hall. Winners announced at 7:30PM. It's fun; it's free; it's family friendly. Open the attached map for a list of this month's participating venues or visit the website at www.ArtWalkEasthampton.org.

Hope to see you there (here).

It's ArtWalk Easthampton Time Again.

Watercolor by Liz McDonald. It's part of her show, 'A Moment in Time', and it can be seen right here at Mt. Tom's during this weekend's ArtWalk Easthampton and until November 6th.

Yes, it's the 2nd Saturday of the month again, and that means a cool night of art strolling to be had by all. As usual, lots of great shows featuring the talents of local artists, live entertainment, free snacks, and even a sneak peak at Easthampton's newest eatery - Casita Asteca, the new Mexican place on Cottage Street.

And rumor has it, there's a scavenger hunt that you can partake in during your scouting of all the ArtWalk venues. Here are the details from the site...

The October 11th Art Walk includes the first ever "Get a Clue" Scavenger Hunt. Participants will be provided a map and list of riddles, which can only be solved by visiting Art Walk venues. The Scavenger Hunt will begin on Cottage Street and progress through town to a final, secret location where prizes will be awarded. The shuttle bus schedule, rules and list of clues will be available at 5:00 on Saturday, October 11 at participating sites.

It goes from 5-8pm Saturday night. Hope you can check it out. Best of all, it's free.

Shop's gone to the Dogs.

Adorning the walls of Mt. Tom's this month, it's regular dogs in crazy digs. Check out this madcapped collection of aristodogs all month as part of this weekend's ArtWalkEasthampton festivities.

The artist is Carol Lew, and she paints dogs in fancy clothes. The show includes both prints and original oils, all in handsome frames. Definitely worth dropping by for a look. And while you're here, may I suggest the strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Or perhaps the peach mango or blackberry merlot sorbet?

And while you're strolling around Cottage Street, don't forget to check out the Nashawannuck Gallery's 'Oz show', held over for another month. Rumor has it, that Red Shoe'd girl will be making an appearance.

ArtWalk goes from 5-8pm Saturday night. Here's a map for you.

Wanted: Artists

Every second Saturday of the month here in Easthampton is ArtWalkEasthampton. Organized a couple years ago by Michael Crawford and Thomas Hanus, it's a great way for local artists to show their work. It also makes for a fun and interesting night 'on the E-town'. Each month, participating local businesses and organizations each choose an artist to display art on the walls of their business. During the warm months, ArtWalk nights include cool street performers like the Silver Swimmers... The hours are 5-8pm, and the next one is March 8th. Aside from June, I'm still looking for artists to fill my walls during this year's walks. My walls have room for around a dozen pieces. Each show usually hangs until just before the next one, so in addition to ArtWalk night, your art will be viewed by anyone who comes to Mt. Tom's during that entire month. You're welcome to put prices on work, and I'm happy to help connect you with anyone looking to purchase a piece.

If you're interested in showing your art here at Mt. Tom's, just drop me a line or stop in.

Silver Swimmers rock.

Talk about your crazy customers. During last night's ArtWalk Easthampton, the Silver Swimmers wandered into the shop for an impromptu performance. Part mimers, part Blue Moon group (on mute and in silver not blue), but mostly just cool street performers, the SS swam around the shop for about fifteen minutes, entertaining a full house of ice cream eatin', intrigued, and some just perplexed patrons.

Taryn and Abby, the Saturday night crew, were a bit intimidated at first by the silver four, but seemed to relax once they realized slow-motion mute mimes are actually quite harmless.

The Swimmers were part of this month's ArtWalk Easthampton festivities. They spent the Walk swimming and performing odd and interesting dances on the sidewalks and in ArtWalk shops. I must admit, they were pretty cool.

A bit of silver paint cleanup this morning was a small price to pay for a taste of big city street performance art in the New City. If you ever get a chance to check them out, I highly recommend it. Just be careful if you let them climb on you. There's a pretty good chance you will end up with your own silver coating...