for immediate release:
Berkshires artist announces release of new album and film “Sky Stories” in celebration of Earth Day (4/22/2025). Artist’s film and music encourages slow experiences of weather and climate change, from a Berkshires perspective.
Contact: Gregory Scheckler; Address: available on request; phone: available on request; Email: studio.gregory@gmail.com (contact by email is preferred)
Location: Williamstown MA.
Press release:
Made from over two decades of photos and films of the sky and clouds in the Berkshires, Williamstown artist Gregory Scheckler crafted his new album and movie Sky Stories out of the beauty of the sky.
“Climate change,” he notes, “is such a long-term trend that it is difficult to see in everyday life. But weather is immediately apparent.” And so to consider how we are altering our world in seen and unseen ways, he used a long lens that pulls in imagery from beyond human visual perception. Most of his photos of the sky literally could not be seen by the naked eye. The film footage, however, was at a more human and normal depth – thus combining seen and unseen cloud imagery into one film, mirroring the breadth of short-term weather versus long-term climate change observations.
He made the music too, using a mix of traditional and modular synthesizers with electronic and acoustic percussion, as well as samples of sounds from nature such as wind, rain, and crows’ calls. These sounds were stretched and granulated to produce new tones, textures, and melodies. Like fast-changing weather patterns, some of that music rises immediately and changes quickly. But other aspects of the music take long periods of time to rise and fall throughout the Sky Stories half-hour composition, echoing longer-term trends such as climate change.
Scheckler filmed North Adams’ murder of crows, and a pair of vultures, and even an osprey carrying its prey. “I cannot think of the sky and weather and climate change without also thinking about those who fly. And many bird species over the last twenty years have altered and changed their migratory paths in relationship to climate change. But it seems like the crows are ever-present, and I love seeing and hearing them around MCLA and MASSMoCA, especially in the early evenings when they are active.”
“This project exists in a variety of forms over two decades. It’s been individual photos or selected groups in art exhibits, and was also a book.” Many of the photos have been exhibited around the area, including a 2010 show Natural Selections, at Greylock Arts, in Adams. Some imagery of unusual events like sun-dogs and iridescence along the edges of clouds was shown in a group exhibit at the National Science Foundation, back in 2012. And today this series has become a new arrangement as the film and album.
The music and film combine jazzy, sonorous percussion with modular synthesizers, and field recordings for far-reaching, pensive ambience.
As part of celebrating Earth Day, Scheckler is donating all of his profits from the album to the non-profits of The Planetary Society, the Society for Science, and the MCLA Foundation. Both the Planetary Society and the Society for Science support education and promoting the understanding of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement: to inform, educate, and inspire. Meanwhile, the MCLA Foundation supports dozens of scholarships and many other initiatives, including the many arts, at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
Where to find the art and music: Scheckler’s “Sky Stories” film can be seen online at https://youtu.be/2TQaXyV8EUY, and the new album Sky Stories, will be available on Bandcamp for free for the first 200 downloads, on and after 4/22/2025, at https://gregoryscheckler.bandcamp.com/
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About the artist: The multidisciplinary artist Gregory Scheckler lives in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. His creative projects focus on nature- and science-inspired themes, often using drawing, painting, digital media and sound. His artworks have been in over a hundred exhibits, including with the One West Art Center, the Bennington Museum, the Berkshire Museum, the Center for the Visual Arts Gallery at Illinois State University, and the National Science Foundation. He earned degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Washington University in St. Louis, and Utah State University. In addition, he graduated from writing workshops through the Ad Astra SF Institute, as well as the Clarion West Writer’s Workshop. Today, he teaches at the at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, providing creativity and critical thinking through visual art, often taking students on nature excursions. He envisions the arts as survival strategies, playgrounds, vivid storytelling, rich ways of thinking, and core functions of our humanity. When he’s not working, he hikes the Berkshires and hangs out with his wife the artist Laura Christensen. He enjoys playing drums and synthesizers, and tending their solar-powered home, and playing with their adopted dog. He is currently working on a series of new multidisciplinary artworks that combine art, music, and inspirations from the many sciences.
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Additional quotables, ideas, topics for press:
On being an artist who also makes music: Although he’s known mainly as a visual artist and art professor at MCLA, Scheckler’s no stranger to music. “I was fortunate to grow up in a family that was enthusiastic about music. When we were kids, we all had to learn how to play piano. My siblings were far better at that than me, but soon I took up drums and blasted down the whole house, and have played one way or another ever since. I’m grateful today that my parents insisted we learn some music at an early age. Playing and finding new sounds has been a lifelong source of joy. “
He teaches art too, but sometimes music sneaks in: “Years ago, when MCLA was able to hire one professor in the arts as MASSMoCA opened, they wanted someone who could do a little of everything – a multidisciplinary artist who could make art, and also teach some arts business, and understand music and theatre students too. I got lucky and got the job. It’s amazing to be part of how much has grown in music in the region too: in the summer Bang-on-a-Can is always a source of inspiration, as are so many incredible concerts today at the museums, and now Studio 9 in North Adams. Not to mention the many dozens of art exhibits throughout the region. The level of art and music in the area here is incredible and invigorating… the old phrase about the museums is true: we’re a supercollider for the arts here in the Berkshires.”
Electronic music infuses a lot of his work today. “Contemporary modular synthesis offer an immense and flexible range of musical expression to artists today. It’s like Lego building blocks for musicians — following a few simple rules, you can patch and wire anything that makes or sculpts sound together, and then record to computer and edit if needed. It’s incredible and can sound great.” In the context of art about climate change, however, power usage and electricity are potential issues. “Our house is solar-powered, so I feel like by using electrical equipment, at least we are doing our little part to help the environment, keeping energy costs and profits local – that’s good for business.”
The art and music is inspired by experiencing science and nature. Sky Stories shows us climate change in unusual ways that can be difficult to notice, but can be observed over long periods of time. Some studies, Scheckler says, suggest that New England will be wetter and a bit warmer due to climate change. That means on average less snow, and bigger thunderstorms. Cloud cover is also likely to be more frequent and thicker, which can magnify some aspects of cooling, and many aspects of warming, further changing old familiar New England weather patterns – which in turn has a lot of effect on winter sports and snow, outdoor recreation, hunting, hiking and many other activities. As insect populations change in response to these pressures, birds and other animals and people, must adapt too, further altering ecosystems.
But despite the real dangers of these issues, Scheckler is not a doom-and-gloom climate pessimist. “I don’t find litanies of disaster predictions motivating or energizing. Meanwhile, there’s a great deal we can do to adapt, adjust and reduce our effects and influence on the world, and we should. We have the power to make good changes. We need vivid and clear public policy to make that happen, and that too is something that we can keep building and improving. I am worried today about the defunding of science research at the federal level, and even of basics like weather balloons to help track weather and climate issues. In my experience we all benefit much more from the reverse: robust science and research funding to help inform and grow our understandings and new innovations. STEM education ought to be a fundamental part of what we invest in too.”
On how to engage with ecology and art: “Closer to home, and not being a scientist, learning to understand nature starts with experiencing it, to learn to love its beauty and dynamics firsthand. Drawing, painting, photo, and sound recording can help us notice much more detail and subtlety in nature. So I often take art students outdoors to experience the world through art-making, and emphasize art that is science-oriented and science-inspired. Usually when they see how birds fly, or soft outgrowths of lichens and moss, or the gorgeous glacial gravel-till beneath our feet, and the incredible beauty of the sky and how it changes — we all begin to appreciate it more, and in turn realize it’s worth relating to with deep compassion and action and learning. Nature in all its forms can be quite destructive, but it is also the source of great goodness. I try to keep that balance in mind when making art inspired by science and natural imagery.”
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Photos and Media: (available here for download for review and/or mass media usage)
Complete Sky Stories film, available for press review pre-release: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TQaXyV8EUY
Complete Sky Stories album, link here available for press review / pre-release only. Public release will be on 4/18/25 in advance of celebrating Earth Day 4/22/2025: https://bandcamp.com/private/O5T7192C
Gregory Scheckler 