Artist Joel Haynes delivers a message with downtown mural
The mural creates a great photo op, but the artist s motives go much deeper.
GREAT BARRINGTON The recent deluge of rain has hardly dampened the spirits of artist Joel Haynes. Perhaps you’ve spied him, atop scaffolding in the alley between Tom’s Toys and Calyx Berkshire Dispensary, intent upon bringing a panoply of flowers and birds to life for a single purpose: a downtown art installation for all to enjoy.
When the elements ruined construction early on (the boards Haynes primed and affixed to the building’s brick facade buckled under the intense moisture), Haynes found himself back at square one with a smile. “The beautiful thing is, while it might be confusing for a few days, I’ve already done it once,” Haynes told The Edge on a recent rainy afternoon.
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Last Updated: 02/17/2021 12:34 pm After three years of wading through red tape, Donna Norman finally opened the doors of Calyx Berkshire Dispensary in Great Barrington this November. As a small business owner entering the recreational cannabis space without outside investors or an existing medical license, she had been caught unexpectedly in an endless bureaucratic loop with Massachusetts s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). Since Calyx is a woman-owned business, Norman s path to a recreational license was supposed to be expedited. To prove to the CCC that Calyx was woman-owned however, it had to be third-party certified through an on-site visit to the store made impossible without the license to open from the CCC. Norman eventually brought the unrealistic hurdle to CCC Commissioner Shaleen Title, which prompted the CCC to change its requirements. For three years, I ve had paper on my windows, and I honestly couldn t blame the