The Arrival of Arrival

A REIMAGINED ART FAIR DEBUTS IN NORTH ADAMS

By Liam Gorman

Art Basel, The Armory, Frieze, and Setouchi might be names some readers haven’t heard of before. For the art world, though, they are among the top international contemporary and modern art fairs for collectors, curators, gallerists, and artists alike. They are also places where the art community congregates to network with old friends, make new connections, see new work from emerging artists—and hopefully make some transactions.

From left, Crystalle Lacouture, Sarah Galender Meyer, and Yng-Ru Chen—high-end art fair veterans—will be bringing the art world to Tourists in North Adams this June. Photo by Mel Taing

From June 13 to 15, the Berkshires will be home to Arrival Art Fair at Tourists hotel in North Adams. Billed as “an antidote to the frenetic pace of the art fair circuit,” the founders hope to create a biennial invitational event that is organic, curated, intimate, and community-based. 

“The inspiration was doing something in a beautiful setting, where the knowledge of art is extremely strong, and that is exactly what Berkshire County is,” says artist Crystalle Lacouture, former founding curator of Tourists. Her husband is one of the founders of Tourists, while she is one of the three founders of Arrival. 

Several years ago, Lacouture and Arrival co-founders Yng-Ru Chen and Sarah Galender Meyer were at an art fair in California when the inspiration struck. “We're all very familiar with the art fair circuit, and this particular fair wasn't the most dynamic or exciting,” says Lacouture. “So, we sort of started talking about the Berkshires, a beloved place to myself and Yng, who went to Williams. Sarah is from Upstate New York. We knew that the Berkshires was rural, beautiful, and rich with museums and culture. So, we started noodling.” 

More than two years later, their noodling has resulted in what will be a temporary transformation of Tourists into an art fair displaying contemporary art from across the country. The rooms and continuous deck spaces will be taken over by more than 30 galleries that have been selected by the founders. 

For Chen, who owns a gallery in Boston, bringing an event like this to the Berkshires was a great homecoming and a way to tweak the art fair model. Well-known art fairs can be cost prohibitive to less-established gallerists and artists—between huge booth fees, shipping, travel and accommodations, the price can quickly rise to hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

“One of the beauties of doing this at Tourists is that the exhibitors can stay in the room, which is very comfortable and a prime destination,” says Chen. 

The galleries inhabit the rooms for five nights, and the booth fees vary depending on the room. A big difference with other art fairs is how exhibitors were chosen. Typically, anyone willing to pay an application fee can apply to be a part of an art fair—and hope to be accepted. The Arrival founders thought their relationships in the art world might help create a more curated, organic event. And so, the idea of “curatorial ambassadors” was born. 

“We started talking to our curator friends, a lot of whom graduated from Williams, and they are the ones who make up the bulk of our curatorial ambassadors,” says Galendar Meyer, who manages private collections for clients in California’s Bay Area. She met Chen while studying Arts Administration during graduate school at Columbia University. 

The curatorial ambassadors included museum leaders, curators, and art historians tasked with nominating several galleries they thought would be a good fit for the Berkshire fair. The founders then chose from the nominees to curate the list further. 

"The idea was to have them lend their expertise,” adds Chen. "They're really seeing what's happening in the galleries and with artists in a non-transactional way. It's kind of a very nice entry point into contemporary artists and what's happening right now." 

“I thought it was a great idea, and I was happy to help,” says Dan Byers, Arrival curatorial ambassador who recently left Harvard Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts to be curator of modern and contemporary art at Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). He is excited by the location. “The beautiful and unique architecture of Tourists might create a different kind of environment than a cold convention center booth with fluorescent lighting,” Byers says. “These are warm spaces. They're elegant spaces. You've got beds and bathrooms and more charged spaces which have a little bit more personality. You can be a bit more playful.” 

The galleries exhibiting in the show come from all over, some relatively local—Wassaic, Kinderhook, Millerton—but also Cleveland, Minneapolis, Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

“Art fairs are the opposite of rejuvenating. They make withdrawals from your physical, mental, spiritual kind of bank account. But they’re important,” says Charlie James, a Los Angeles-based gallery owner who has expanded his business through the many exhausting art fairs he’s been a part of. 

James will bring art from the West Coast, hoping to make connections with collectors and curators he might otherwise not come across elsewhere. “There's a whole network of curators there in New England. I know some of them, but I could obviously know more of them. Another thing is, I want to have a nice time out there. I want to relax in the deciduous canopy.” 

Tourists hotel will be transformed into an art fair utilizing both indoor and outdoor spaces for artists to put their talents on display.

He certainly won’t be disappointed when he arrives in the Berkshires, with its mix of rolling hills, deep forests, and a serene natural environment. The beauty of the region will be on full display, as will the beauty presented by local artists, some of whom will be hosting open studios during the weekend. Willie Binnie, a Texas-born artist and professor at Williams, is looking forward to welcoming the crowd of art enthusiasts to his studio space in Hancock. “The goal and the dream is to get as many eyes on your work as possible—especially when you live in a small, tight-knit community, you don't always have that opportunity. So it's really exciting to have a lot of people from a wide geographical area come see your work.” 

For the founders, the art is important, as is the community. The weekend of Arrival also happens to coincide with Williams College Alumni Weekend, and one of the booths will be dedicated to previewing the new space WCMA is in the midst of building with the prestigious SO-IL architecture firm. 

“We care a lot about North Adams,” says Lacouture. “The economy is really event-based. You have part-time workers who work festivals at MASS MoCA—so all of that stuff is already built in there. It's a town that's so good at doing these pop-up events, and Tourists is always a great collaborator.” 

The fair will be free for anyone who wants to stop by to discover new art and help give Arrival a big start. 

Arrival Art Fair, June 13-15 (VIP preview June 12), Tourists hotel, 915 State Rd., North Adams. Admission is free to the public; registration is required. Go to arrival.art for more information and to register.