These trails lead to artistic expression

Museums Special

October 23, 2011|By Cate McQuaid, Globe Correspondent

There’s more than natural beauty to see for those tooling around New England this fall. For those who also have a taste for culture, three consortiums of art institutions (with an occasional natural history museum thrown in) can help travelers focus their plans.

The newest of these is Museums10 in Massachusetts’s Pioneer Valley. Museums10 comprises six art venues, two historic sites, the Beneski Museum of Natural History at Amherst College, and the Yiddish Book Center.

“It’s like a mini Smithsonian, but in multiple locations,’’ says Alexandra de Montrichard, Museum10’s communications coordinator.

Formed in 2005 under the auspices of Five Colleges Inc., which helps link programming at local academic institutions, Museums10 holds regular meetings of its participating directors, curators, and communications staff, so they can plan programming and support each other.

That active collaboration has prompted occasional cross programming, such as last year’s “Table for 10,’’ for which every museum created exhibitions and educational projects on the art, history, and science of food.

Now the group has devised seven self-guided itineraries, tailored to interests such as “Art and Nature,’’ “Contemporary and Modern Art,’’ and “Adventures with Families.’’ One itinerary, titled simply “Interact,’’ takes visitors from story time at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art to the apprentice’s workshop at Historic Deerfield, then to listen to classic radio programming at the Yiddish Book Center and a romp through the public art collection at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Even when no joint exhibitions are planned, themes can arise serendipitously. This fall, there has been an unusual number of photography shows at Museums10, including “El Muro: Photographs by Eduardo Hernández Santos’’ at the Smith College Museum of Art through Nov. 20, which also has a memorial exhibit of photos by Jerome Liebling through Jan. 29. Hampshire College Art Gallery offers “The Legacy: A Daughter’s Experience of the Holocaust,’’ photos by Beth Burstein, Nov. 1-19. “World Documents,’’ at Mount Holyoke College Art Museum through Dec. 18, examines contemporary documentary photography.

But there’s no need to restrict yourself to photo exhibits. The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College marks the sesquicentennial of the start of the Civil War with “Disunion! The American Civil War 150 Years Later,’’ up through December. And the Eric Carle Museum celebrates Jules Feiffer in a show opening Oct. 25.