I wonder if there were factory workers’ spirits at the Studios at MASS MoCA. I was at the residency there for two weeks in April. The Studios at MASS MoCA is a residency program for working artists organized by the museum’s Assets for Artists Initiative.
While I was at the
Studios at MASS MoCA, I was working from morning till late night, as if cranking up
many hours on my invisible timesheet. I worked quietly like a cat,
listening to my neighbors making noise and any sounds from outside. My studio
windows overlooked adjacent brick building. It wasn’t exactly a view – or maybe
not a view at all, but it provided a nice consistent natural light coming from
the windows. I liked seeing the weathered bricks on that building.
It was a privilege to be on the MASS MoCA
campus. The 16 acres of the MASS MoCA ground was once a booming one
factory-campus, going back to the colonial period in the late 1700s with
wholesale shoe manufactures; a brick yard; a saw mill; cabinet-makers; hat
manufacturers; machines shops; marble works; wagon and sleigh makers and so on.
From 1860 to 1942, Arnold Print Works
operated fabric-printing business, and built 25 of the 26 buildings in the
present-day MASS MoCA complex by the end of the 1890s. At one point, they
employed some 3,200 people. I noticed the paintings of strange looking figures on
the pillars under the Route 2 bypass, which I could see from my bedroom window
in the apartment. They were the Arnold Print Works Dolls. They were printed on
the cloth and sold as cut-and-sew kits from 1892 to 1920. Every morning, as I
opened the blinds I looked down to see if those dolls were still there. They
look like trolls hiding underneath the bypass.
From 1942 to 1985, Sprague Electric Company
operated their business while making extensive modifications to the interiors
to convert the former textile mill into the state-of-the art electronics plant
but leaving the most of the building exteriors as they were. Sprague
physicists, chemists, electrical engineers, and technicians were called upon by
the U.S. government during the World War II to design and manufacture crucial
components of some of its most advanced high-tech weapon system. To my dismay,
this included the atomic bomb. Spague was a major research and development
center at that time, employing 4,137 workers by 1966. But as many of the
manufacturer companies in the U.S. were forced to close their business from
declining sales due to overseas competition for lower-price, Sprague was not an
exception. The company closed its operations in North Adams in 1985.
MASS MoCA sits on this 16 acres of grounds
that is rich with history and operates in these historical 19th
century former mill buildings. The brick buildings reveal many different
generations of their former occupants. It is also wonderfully complex with
strange pathways to connect buildings. But one of the most wonderful things
about MASS MoCA is the ginormous space for artwork. It is both spectacular and
breath taking, at the same time, it is also challenging and scary for many
artists, especially the football field length gallery space.
Having a studio in one of these buildings on the
MASS MoCA campus made me work like those factory workers. Were there any ghost
factory workers in our studio? I often wondered what those workers did for fun
after work. Did they go out for drinks after work? My fun was stepping into MASS MoCA to see art whenever I wanted,
even after hours.
*Historical information was taken from MASS MoCA's website:
