Tau Herculid meteors: Worth watching!

The much-anticipated Tau Herculid meteor shower put on a fine display overnight on May 30-31, 2022, although the hoped-for meteor storm did not materialize. Hourly counts ranged from 10 to 25. The peak of the shower appeared around 5 UTC (midnight CT), as predicted. These meteors were generated during the 1995 breakup of periodic comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3 (SW3). When a comet breaks up, it litters its orbit with debris. Earth passed through this region of debris Monday night … giving us a chance for a meteor storm. But there were many unknowns, and the storm didn’t happen, although many saw a decent meteor shower. Thanks to all who contributed meteor showers to our community photo page!

The Tau Herculids from Ohio

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Brian Mollenkopf in Lancaster, Ohio created this beautiful composite image from photos taken during the Tau Herculid meteor shower on May 30, 2022. Brian wrote: “Composite image (11 PM to 1:30 AM) of the Tau Herculid meteor shower from last night. This image is facing west (light pollution from Lancaster, Ohio USA).” Thank you, Brian!

The Tau Herculids from Canada

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Joel Weatherly in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, caught a glimpse of the Tau Herculid meteors on May 30, 2022, and wrote: “This evening, I watched for the possible meteor storm with debris from 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3. While a full-blown meteor storm did not precipitate, I did manage to catch a few Tau Herculid meteors. It was still a great excuse to get out and do some stargazing.” Thank you, Joel!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Cox captured the essence of last week’s Tau Herculid meteor display in this composite image. He wrote: “Composite of 25 meteor streaks captured over 68 minutes during the May 31 Tau Herculid meteor shower. The photograph was taken on the boardwalk of the Spruce Bog hiking trail in Algonquin Provincial Park, an excellent dark sky region of Ontario Canada. Although the potential meteor storm did not transpire, there were numerous short meteor streaks visible under the dark sky to provide good viewing entertainment.” Your photo matches most reports we’ve heard, David … about 25 meteors/ hour. Thank you, David!

The Tau Herculids from North Carolina

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Luciana Caballero in Mebane, North Carolina caught a glimpse of the Tau Herculid meteors on May 31, 2022, and wrote: “Even though the meteor storm didn’t occur I still enjoyed being outside in the middle of the night. A chatty owl kept my company through the stargazing event.” Thank you, Luciana!

The Tau Herculids from Alabama

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Matt Lantz in Gulf Shores, Alabama caught this impressive photograph of a Tau Herculid meteor on May 30, 2022, and wrote: “On vacation at Gulf Shores, Alabama, provided a nice dark sky to view the Tau Herculid meteor shower. It certainly over-performed from what is usually expected, but overall only saw about 10 meteors over about an hour and a half. Luckily, I captured one of them streaking in front of the Milky Way! Made it worth staying up late.” Thank you, Matt!

The Tau Herculids from Arizona

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Caroline Haldeman in Flagstaff, Arizona, caught this incredible array of the Tau Herculid meteors on May 31, 2022, and wrote: “There were several “meteor watch parties” going on all around my neighborhood, and it was so fun and neat hearing everyone’s collective “Ohs!” & “Wows!” and excited comments and gasps as the meteors fell. It was just like watching a 4th of July show, but it was provided by Mother Nature! :)” Thank you, Caroline!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeff Grubbs in Elgin, Arizona took this serene photograph of two meteors during the Tau Herculid meteor shower on May 30, 2022, and wrote: “What was billed as an all or nothing event turned out to be a pleasant little meteor shower. I headed out to the Empire Ranch near Elgin, Arizona, to set up for the evening. While most of the meteors were dim and short, there were a few overachievers.” Thank you, Jeff!

The Tau Herculids from California

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Rob Colatutto in Julian, California, took this beautiful composite photograph of the Tau Herculid meteors on May 30, 2022, and wrote: “Composite of two foreground exposures, 26 meteor exposures, and a milky way exposure taken right after the last meteor frame.” Thank you, Rob!

The Tau Herculids from Morocco

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Khalid Guerdou in Khenifra, Morocco, took this photograph of two meteors during the Tau Herculid meteor shower on May 31, 2022, and wrote: “We were trying to photograph the Monday Night meteor shower and captured this. Two meteors, one to the right and the other in the left of the image.” Thank you, Khalid!

The Tau Herculids from Florida

Cloudy but some clear patches to hunt for Tau Herculid meteors 1245am – 130am I saw three and caught one in these photos Ormond Beach FL @AMHQ @earthskyscience @weatherchannel @JenCarfagno #TauHerculids #weather #sky pic.twitter.com/tJ7uMAHw85

— Greg Diesel Walck (@GregDieselPhoto) May 31, 2022

The Tau Herculids from Ireland

The Tau Herculids from Puerto Rico

Kevinizooropa on YouTube wrote:

Although there was no meteor storm, the Tau Herculids provided a moderate meteor shower. Images taken from Puerto Rico by the Sociedad de Astronomia del Caribe (Astronomical Society of the Caribbean) show some of the meteors. These are related to the fragmentation of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, which spread some particles very close to Earth’ orbit. The meteors were captured on the night of May 30-31, 2022. The SAC said:

Our cameras captured a lot more, but these are just a few of the meteors seen over the island.

Tau Herculid observer reports

The Western Hemisphere had favorable conditions for this event and reports poured in from many locations. Joe Rao, observing from western Arizona, observed 19 meteors in two hours, while his wife Renate saw 26. Joe commented:

The meteors did happen as predicted but not in the numbers that people were hoping for.

EarthSky writer Dave Adalian, observing from near Visalia, California, saw 7 shower member meteors and noted that they had a reddish tint. His skies had a Bortle Rating of 4.5.

Robert Lansford, Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers Meteor Section Recorder and contributor to EarthSky, observed from near the town of Alpine in southern California. He saw about 35 shower meteors and called it a “nice display” and described it as “steady with some bursts.” The brightest meteor he saw was magnitude -2 and appeared copper-colored.

From Don Machholz’ observing location in western Arizona, around the time of the peak, bright meteors increased in numbers as fainter meteors decreased. Don said:

I watched for telescopic meteors, those not visible to the eye but hopefully observable using my 10-inch reflecting telescope, at a magnification of 50 and a field of view of 1.8 degrees, I counted the number of meteors I observed. I saw three, magnitudes 7, 8, and 10, between 3:52 a.m. and 4:08 a.m. UT. Between 4:10 and 4:20 UT only one, magnitude 12, was observed. And none were seen from 4:34 to 4:50, and between 5:07 and 5:23.

Meteors before May 30-31

As last weekend began – Friday night, May 27, 2022 – something unexpected occurred concerning the Tau Herculid meteor shower. Meteors began to fall. They were not bright but were picked up by the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) survey. On May 27, five meteors were detected with enough cameras to determine the radiant. On May 28, seven more shower members were detected. And on May 29, 12 more were seen.

The meteors prior to the main shower were also reported by Denis Vida (@meteordoc on Twitter):

First tau Herculids were detected last night by the #globalmeteornetwork. The geocentric radiant was R.A. = 203.2°, Dec = 17.7 deg based on 17 orbits. The activity seems to be only starting – first detected on May 28, 19h UT with a ZHR ~ 0.3 and not dropping. pic.twitter.com/MoU8CXVRIf

— Denis Vida (@meteordoc) May 29, 2022

Where did the other meteors come from?

Going into the weekend only three meteor shower peaks were being considered:

Material left over from the comet when it was here in 1892 would be visible on May 30, about 16 UTC.

Material from the comet’s visit in 1897 would be visible on May 31, about 10 UTC.

And material from the breakup of the comet in 1995.  Some predicted this would be a major shower.

The shower caused by the 1892 visit of the comet to our inner solar system materialized per a tweet by Ye Quanzhi.

But what caused the meteors that fell on May 27 through 29? Astronomers had not predicted there would be any and so they will be researching this over the next few months.

As darkness descended over the land on the evening of Monday, May 30, the question remained: Will the debris trail from the 1995 breakup of Periodic Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 appear in our skies too?

An infrared image of the broken comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3 (SW3) in 2006, skimming along its trail of debris. The flame-like objects are the icy comet fragments and their tails. The dusty comet trail is the line bridging the fragments. Earth passed through this region of space overnight on May 30-31, 2022. We hoped for a meteor storm as fragments of the broken comet entered our atmosphere! And there were meteors from the comet … but no storm. Image via NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

What could possibly go wrong?

For there to have been a good meteor shower overnight on May 30-31, 2022, three key factors must fall into place.

First, a large number of particles must have been expelled from the comet’s nucleus during its 1995 breakup. This appears to have happened, as images taken at that time indicate.

Second, the breakup of the comet would have had to eventually push the material forward in its orbit. As a comet orbits the sun and ejects material, let’s assume that particles go in all directions. Those pushed backward will assume a slower speed and – governed by the laws of gravity – they’ll fall closer to the sun. Since they’re now closer to the sun, they will speed up. And, in time, they’ll pass by the comet on their smaller orbits and get ahead of the comet. Images from the 2006 passage of the comet show:

… Large chunks in a temporary orbit behind one of the larger fragments.

Finally, the comet must eject the material at a speed fast enough to assume this new orbit. A speed of about 60 miles per hour (97 km/hour) is necessary to pull this off. This is faster than typical, but the major outburst and breakup of the comet’s nucleus in 1995 might have been strong enough to produce this speed.

If all three of these conditions had been met, we would have had the perfect storm.

So, since there was not a storm, why not? Astronomers do not know why and will continue to work on understanding just how Periodic Comet 73P/SW3 fragmented in 1995. It makes a difference. What we learn from this comet will help us better understand the next comet we observe breaking apart.

Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3 broke up in 1995 and continued to fragment. Hubble took the images of the fragmentation here in 2006. Some of the material you see burned up in our atmosphere this past week. Image via NASA/ ESA/ H. Weaver (APL/JHU), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI).

A fractured comet

Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann of Hamburg Observatory discovered two comets before this one (SW1 in 1927 and SW2 in 1929), not while looking for comets, but instead while conducting a photographic search for asteroids, or minor planets.

They found SW3 on May 2, 1930.

But, after its initial discovery in 1930 – despite its relatively short orbit around the sun – no one saw the comet again until 1979. Why not? Astronomers missed SW3 partly because of its intrinsic faintness. And the astronomers were also looking in the wrong place in the sky. Their inaccurate orbital calculations were due to occasional close sweeps of this comet past the giant planet Jupiter. The close passes near mighty Jupiter had changed the comet’s orbit.

And then … people began to see the comet again. With the exception of 1985, astronomers have caught it on every return near the sun since 1979.

In 1995, comet SW3 suddenly brightened by a factor of nearly 7 magnitudes. In other words, the comet suddenly got about 600 times brighter. For a while, it could be seen with the unaided eye.

A month after this outburst, observers using telescopes noticed that the nucleus, or core, of SW3 had split into pieces. They ultimately determined that the comet split into four parts, with two parts disintegrating and two parts remaining, still following the original comet’s orbit around the sun.

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 breaking up. Image via NASA.

2006 return: 68 comet pieces

By 2006, two things had become clear. First, the comet had by then fragmented into at least 68 pieces.

Second, it was still falling apart.

And that’s where the story of the possible Tau Herculid meteor shower in 2022 gets even more interesting, for earthly observers.

What can we expect at the comet’s 2022 return? We don’t know yet what we’ll see when the comet comes back this year.

Comet 73P/SW3 returned in 2011. But it wasn’t well-placed for observers that year, as it stayed mostly behind the sun. So we didn’t learn from that passage.

In 2017, astronomers observed the main component (C), along with one new fragment (BT).

The nuclei or multiple cores of this comet are small. For instance, the largest part, component C, is only about 0.6 miles, or 1.0 km, in diameter. That’s in contrast to a typical comet nucleus, which is about 6 miles (10 km) wide.

Who saw the meteor shower?

This map above shows the altitude of the Tau Herculid radiant at the predicted peak time for the meteor shower at 5 UTC on May 31, 2022. Image via Jérémie Vaubaillon.

Bottom line:  Best images and video from this week’s much-anticipated (and not disappointing) Tau Herculid meteor shower.
Read about upcoming meteor showers in EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

January 26, 2022

Alex Woody

If you’re longing to reconnect in person with your IBM i colleagues this year, we have good news for you: in-person events will make a comeback in 2022. COMMON’s annual POWERUp conference in May in New Orleans tops the list. but many other groups are also celebrating their physical comebacks.

COMMON President Gordon Leary is committed to physically reuniting the world’s largest IBM i user group beginning May 23 when the POWERUp 2022 conference begins at the New Orleans Marriott. So are many COMMON members who haven’t seen each other in two years.

“We knew there was a backlog of training and face-to-face events from potential attendees, exhibit partners, volunteers and the speaker community,” Leary tells IT Jungle. “COMMON is known for our in-person conference events as the place where this IBM i community connects, so we knew we had to bring that value back in a safe and responsible way. As we see more and more industry events returning to face-to-face events, albeit slightly different than ‘normal’, we are cautiously optimistic that we will return to face-to-face events as well.”

The last two years have been tough for COMMON. In March 2020, the Chicago-based organization canceled POWERUp 2020 less than a month before it was scheduled to begin in Atlanta, Georgia. It quickly moved what would have been the group’s 60th birthday event to late summer in Tampa, Florida. But about a month before that event was due to take place, COMMON had to cancel it as well, thanks to a late summer COVID spike. The group quickly turned and held it as a virtual event.

Quite the optimists, the COMMON leadership has boldly scheduled POWERUp 2021 for last October in Virginia Beach, Virginia. But thanks to the Delta variant, the group was forced to cancel this event and hold it again virtually.

As the recent Omicron surge begins to fade, Leary is confident COMMON doesn’t need to take POWERUp 2022 to Zoom school.

“No, we never thought of making POWERUp a virtual event,” he said. “We have numerous virtual training courses and events planned for 2022. Our upcoming FOCUS conference will be a virtual workshop-only conference and our fall NAViGATE conference is planned as a hybrid event.”

It’s not clear at this point if masks and social distancing will apply to the show. COMMON is following New Orleans City guidelines on this matter, Leary says, and is in close contact with city officials. Currently, these policies require masks and proof of vaccinations or a negative COVID test to gain entry to indoor events.

Leary hopes that the POWERUp participants will understand the situation. “Like everyone else in the events industry, they remain cautiously optimistic, knowing that sometimes the decision is out of their hands, and follow company policy when it comes to travel,” he says. “The same goes for the speakers and our exhibiting partners, who are probably even more excited and anxious to return to the in-person conferences and speak to attendees.”

COMMON isn’t the only midrange user group venturing back out into the world. The Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association (WMCPA) is jumping into 2022 with both legs by committing to an in-person conference in March. It will hold its annual spring conference March 15-17 at the Lake Lawn Resort. WMCPA also holds its monthly meetings in person.

The Southern California OCEAN user group has several face-to-face meetings planned, including an event in March with IBM i security expert Carol Woodbury. (February’s meeting with IBM’s Tim Rowe will be held online.) The group usually meets at a Costa Mesa university. The group’s annual summer shindig will be a hybrid event held physically and virtually.

The Omni User Group is also venturing into the real world. Last week, the Chicago-based organization held its first in-person meeting in two years at a local restaurant. IBM’s Scott Forstie was the guest speaker. A little further east, the Midrange Meetup of Michigan is also planned again with face-to-face meetings in 2022. The next meeting will be on February 8th at a restaurant in Grand Rapids. Meanwhile, in Nashville, Tennessee, the IBM Midrange User Group is holding a meeting at a restaurant tomorrow with Dan Magid as the guest speaker.

Like many other local user groups, the Mid-Atlantic Group of IBM i Collaborators (MAGiC) is keeping its monthly meetings online for the time being. However, the group plans to hold a two-day in-person event this June. MAGiC also hosts an annual conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia, usually in the fall; Last October’s conference was a hybrid event.

The North East User Group Conference (NEUGC) is bringing back its traditional spring two-and-a-half day conference. According to their website, the 30th annual conference will take place on April 11-13 this year.

Our IBM i colleagues across the pond are also preparing to meet again in person. i-UG, the UK’s largest IBM i user group, will hold its i-UG Conference North on February 3rd at a hotel outside Manchester. COMMON Europe is also preparing to host an event from June 13th to 16th in Alicante, Spain.

If you have IBM i-related events planned – in person or not – let us know by leaving us a message on Dandy IT Jungle’s handy contact page.

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Artwork by Anthony Bauer

By now, you should know that I move to my own pace when compiling these best of the year lists. If you missed it we just shared our best albums list last week as well.

My biggest gripe for all the other publications is that they seem to rush to the finish line before the Thanksgiving turkeys have started thawing out. I get it, clicks, ad revenue, etc. But there is something about making a proper list and taking your time to compile your favorite musical moments of any given year. Or maybe I just procrastinate. But the other stuff sounds a lot better.

In some ways, I prefer making the best songs list as it allows you more freedom to highlight songs from artists that maybe you are an outright apologist for, but they somehow managed to deliver a career-best song on an album full of clunkers. Or that one song that came out of nowhere and showcased a duo as the next buzzy band that you will hear about constantly for the next 12 months and beyond.

Anyhow, 2021 was a weird and unique year for obvious reasons. But there were plenty of musical moments that helped make it a tiny bit easier.

As usual, find the Spotify playlist available to follow, like, share, or laugh at right here.

100. Prima Queen – “Chew My Cheeks”

99. Ski Lift – “Portal”

98. Hand Habits – “Aquamarine”

97. Toledo – “You Won’t”

96. Linn Koch-Emmery – “Linn RIP”

95. The Haunted Youth – “Coming Home”

94. Cassandra Jenkins – “Crosshairs”

93. Indigo Sparke – “Bad Dreams”

92. Lucid Express – “Hotel 65”

91. FUR – “The Fine Line of a Quiet Life”

90. Hadda Be – “Another Life”

89. Cal Rifkin – “Break My Heart”

88. The White Russian – “Cancer Knee”

87. Ok Cowgirl – “Unlost”

86. Springfield Elementary – “Keep On Moving”

85. Affleck’s Palace – “We Can Be The Avalanche”

84. feeble little horse – “Chores”

83. Nation of Language – “This Fractured Mind”

82. Sea Lemon – “Sunday”

81. Foyer Red – “Slander”

80. Corntuth—“D-003”

79. Andy Sauf – “Green Glass”

78. Mt. Misery – “In The Blink of an Eye”

77. Villagers – “Circles In The Firing Line”

76. Pearl Charles – “What I Need”

75. Future Islands – “Peach”

74. Damon Albarn – “Royal Morning Blue”

73. Jesop – “My Daily Existential Crisis”

72. Courtney Barnett – “Write A List of Things To Look Forward to”

71. Arlo Parks – “Hurt”

70. Julien Baker – “Song in E”

69. Iceage – “Dear Saint Cecilia”

68. Amen Dunes – “Feel Nothing” (feat. Sleaford Mods)

67. Katy Kirby – “Cool Dry Place”

66th Yard Act – “The Overload”

65. WH Lung – “Gd Tym”

64. FEZ – “Oh Henry, Oh Man!”

63. Foyer Red – “Slander”

62. Vince Staples – “ARE YOU WITH THAT?”

61. The Smile – “You Will Never Work In Television Again”

60. Low – “Days Like These”

59. Dummy – “Daffodils”

58. Band of Horses – “Cructch”

57. Yumi Zouma – “Mona Lisa”

56. Momma – “Medicine”

55. Amyl and The Sniffers – Hertz”

54. Faye Webster – “Cheers”

53. black midi – “Slow”

52. Animal Collective – “Prester John”

51. Cloud Nothings – “Nothing Without You”

50. Still Corners – “Crying”

49. Snowy Band – “Living with Myself”

48. Parquet Courts – “Walking At A Downtown Pace”

47. The Lovelines – “Strange Kind Of Love”

46. ​​Pinegrove- “Alaska”

45. Big Thief – “Little Things”

44. Good Morning – “Country”

43. Girl and Girl – “Shame It’s Not Now”

42. Courting – “Grand National”

41. Pom Pom Squad – “Drunk Voicemail”

40. Squid – “Narrator”

39. Bess Atwell – “Co-op”

38. Small Black – “Postcard”

37. shame – “Station Wagon”

36. Lucy Dacus – “First Time”

35. Japanese Breakfast – “Be Sweet”

34. Bridge Dog – “San Francisco”

33. The Weather Station – “Tried to Tell You”

32. Pip Bloom – “Keep It Together”

31. Bo Burnham – “That Funny Feeling”

30. IDLES – The Wheel”

29. Snail Mail – “Headlock”

28. Squid – “Peel St.”

27. Hamilton Leithauser + Kevin Morby – “Virgina Beach”

26. Wolf Alice = “Lipstick on the Glass”

25. Beach House – “Over and Over”

24. For Those I Love – “Birthday / The Pain”

23. Together Pangea – “Nothing to Hide”

22. Little Simz – “Miss Understood”

21. The Coral – “Change Your Mind”

20. Ducks Ltd. – “18 Cigarettes”

19. Dry Cleaning – Strong Feelings”

18. The War On Drugs – “Change”

17. Wet Leg – “Chaise Longue”

16. Magdalena Bay – “Chaeri”

15. Deafheaven – “Great Mass of Color”

14. Turnstiles – “BLACKOUT”

13. Bess Atwel – “Nobody”

12. Tyler, The Creator – “WILSHIRE”

11. Black Country, New Road – “Track X”

10. Nisa – “Unthinkable”

9. Wolf Alice – “Delicious Things”

8. Geese – “Disco”

7. Maple Glider – “Good Thing”

6. The Killers – “Desperate Things”

5. Japanese Breakfast – “Posing For Cars”

4. Sharon Van Etten + Angel Olsen – “Like I Used To”

3. Coldplay – “Coloratura”

2. Lord Huron – “I Song” (feat. Allison Ponthier)

1. Flyte – Everyone’s A Winner”

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – MCLA Arts and Culture, formerly MCLA Berkshire Cultural Resource Center, will host events and exhibitions by three guest artists in 2021 and 2022: Conrad Egyir, Nathaniel Donnett and Joshua Ross.

Upcoming Events

Ross will hold his opening lecture as Artist in Residence on October 5th at 5:30 p.m. in Murdock Hall Room 218 on the MCLA campus.

Egyir will give an opening lecture as the inaugural lecture of the Benedetti Teaching Artist in Residence on October 19th at 5:30 pm in Murdock Hall Room 218 on the MCLA Campus.

MCLA Artist Laboratory Residency

The MCLA Artist Laboratory Residency, now in its second year, will host Ross for the fall semester 2021 and Donnett for the spring semester 2022. Each of these artists was selected based on their practice, contribution to the art world, and the way in which their career reflects the diversity of thought, talent, and triumph that exists among artists striving towards what is considered to be will contribute and consequently expand it canon of art history.

Joshua Ross holds an MFA in Art from the University of California, Irvine, and a BFA in Photography from the Herron School of Art, Indianapolis. Ross’ research-based practice is an entrenched phenomenological approach that examines institutional, physical, and spatial structures that organize and influence perception. Ross’ multidisciplinary practice uses and appropriates a wide variety of materials and media developed through relationships with methods inherent in his research and archival experiences in photography. Some of the recent notable exhibitions Ross has shown include the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Queens LA, and Human Resources Los Angeles.

Nathaniel Donnett lives and works in Houston, Texas. Donnett received his BA in Fine Arts from Texas Southern University and his MFA from Yale University School of Art. Donnett is a recipient of a 2020 Dean’s Critical Practice Research Grant, 2020 Art and Social Justice Initiative Grant, and the 2020-2021 Helen Frankenthaler Fellowship . Donnett is the founder of the “Not That But This” website blog. Donnett was awarded a Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant, a 2014 Harpo Foundation Grant, 2015/2011 Idea Fund / Andy Warhol Foundation Grant, and a 2010 Artadia Award in 2017/2011. His work has been shown at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA, the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, Virginia, the Mennello Museum, Orlando Fla, the American Museum, Washington, DC, and many other museums across America

Benedetti Artist and Teaching Residency

New this year, the MCLA Arts and Culture Benedetti Artist and Teaching Residency welcomes a teaching artist to campus to spend the school year creating work, teaching, and with the students, staff and faculty as well as the North Adams community and beyond that to get in touch. The first Benedetti Artist and Teaching Resident is Conrad Egyir.

Conrad Egyir’s work borrows from Afrocentric folklore rooted in political and religious scholarship. He creates narrative paintings that focus on themes from the Afro-Diaspora that interact with identical versions of themselves. At the same time, they take on several staged roles, both as antagonist and protagonist, as friend and enemy, or as nobleman and commoner as a tool that immerses the viewer in awe of a collective human spirit in the diverse incarnations of each topic. Conrad Egyir has exhibited at the Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco; Library Street Collective, Detroit; and Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, among others.

The Benedetti Teaching Artist Residency seeks dynamic exhibiting artists with an understanding of technical and conceptual issues in the media of painting, sculpture, graphic design, illustration or mixed media, with knowledge of historical and contemporary practices and a commitment to artistic imagination and education. The resident is selected based on excellence in professional achievement, creative achievement and recognition in their specific field and provides certain services to the college including lectures, performances, demonstrations, master classes and counseling.

This residence is financed by a legacy from the estate of Alma Benedetti in ’37. As an art teacher in North Adams and a lifelong advocate and friend of the college, Alma Benedetti has inspired generations of children with her keen sense of color, composition, and design.

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