January 30, 2025
MCLA’s Gallery 51 and MOSAIC to present “Women Walking to Water,” an exhibition of
artwork created in response to regular walks to a mountain cold swimming/dipping hole
in the Greylock range foothills.
The exhibition at MCLA's Gallery 51, features work by Suzi Banks Baum, Brece Honeycutt,
Melanie Mowinski, Sarah Pike, Lori Spencer, and Jessica Yurkofsky. The exhibition
opens with an artist reception during North Adams’ First Fridays on February 7, 2025,
from 5 to 7 p.m. at 51 Main St. In North Adams. The reception is open to the public
free of charge and refreshments will be served.
To practice Wilderness Mindset, you begin with self as subject and researcher. Then,
you deliberately place yourself into spaces that challenge and force acceptance of
the unpredictability of the present moment. This practice of presence, when paired
with walking can assuage longing, loss, a whole host of things through connection
to the earth.
Within this mindset Melanie Mowinski convened a group of women once a month, from
May through October in a private performance: a walk to a mountain swimming hole where
each participant dipped, played, and sometimes even soaked in water that ranged in
temperature from 45 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. A cold-water immersion challenges and
forces acceptance. It's impossible to think of anything else. After the dip, the women
walked back to share a meal and conversation. At each convening, Mowinski served as
interlocutor, providing a different question and readings to center each conversation
around her idea of Wilderness Mindset, a framework for engaging with the uncomfortable
and the unknown. She asked how is Wilderness Mindset:
• A tool to recenter the soul?
• A process to help release reaching?
• A way to reframe fear?
• A feminist reclamation of freedom?
• Eco-theological and an invitation to redefine dominion?
• How is ALL OF THIS about BECOMING?
Something happened within this regular convening of women as they conversed with each
other and the river. Every participant identifies as an artist. Their mediums range
from paper and drawing to textiles and printmaking. As the months progressed, water
and immersion into it began to show up in their artistic practices. The exhibition
showcases this work, as well as a print exchange made specifically for this exhibit.
In addition to the upcoming exhibition, a film screening of “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood”
and artist conversation will follow, with more details to come. Artists invite those
interested to take advantage of a cold plunge experience at Sand Springs Pool in Williamstown
in anticipation of the film screening.
Images:
Honeycutt
Mowinski Floating
Mowinski Pivot Open
SBB Embroidered Illumination
SBB Print
About MOSAIC & Gallery 51
MOSAIC is MCLA’s community-serving cultural events program. MOSAIC brings people together
through the acts of artistic and cultural exchange in order to learn about each other,
break through barriers to understanding, and build the commonalities that define communities.
Through programs like Gallery 51, MOSAIC presents public cultural events in the form
of exhibitions, performances, workshops, readings, lectures, and discussions. Events
are inclusive, diverse, and accessible, and focus on the exchange between communities,
artists, faculty, and students.
The Gallery is open Wednesdays through Sundays from11 a.m. to 5 p.m., located at 51
Main St., North Adams, MASS. Please view www.mcla.edu/mosaic for more information.
About MCLA
At MCLA, we’re here for all — and focused on each — of our students. Classes are taught
by educators who care deeply about teaching, and about seeing their students thrive
on every level of their lives. In every way possible, the experience at MCLA is designed
to elevate our students as individuals, leaders, and communicators, fully empowered
to make their impressions on the world. In addition to our 130-year commitment to
public education, we have fortified our dedication to equitable academic excellence.
MCLA has appeared on U.S. News & World Report’s list of Top Ten Public Colleges for
10 consecutive years, earning the No. 6 spot on the list of Top Public Liberal Arts
Schools in the nation for 2025, after earning the No. 7 spot the prior three years.
The College’s focus on affordable education and economic prosperity is reflected in
additional 2025 U.S. News rankings: No. 5 for Top Performer on Social Mobility for
liberal arts colleges in the state and No. 2 for Top Performer on Social Mobility
for public liberal arts colleges in the country. These rankings measure how well schools
graduate students who receive Federal Pell Grants. Learn more at www.mcla.edu.
