Each summer, local artists are invited to interpret and express The Red Lion Inn’s spirit through a partnership with IS183 Art School of the Berkshires.

This year, the Red Lion Inn will host architect Tessa Kelly. For the months of July and August, Tessa is invited to create work, both on site and off, using the Red Lion Inn as their studio and inspiration. Join her, midway through the residency, for a discussion of her background, artistic vision for the project, and experience so far at the Inn.

Tessa Kelly and Chris Parkinson are architects and founders of ARCADE in Pittsfield, MA whose mission is to use design as a platform to create and support culture in disinvested, de-industrialized cities.  

ARCADE's work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, displayed at MASS MoCA and Hancock Shaker Village, and featured in Dwell Magazine and the Boston Globe. Notable projects include The Mastheads and the Westside Riverway Park, both of which expand the relationship between architecture and communities to provide ongoing opportunities for public humanities programming to new audiences.

Tessa Kelly is a graduate of Williams College and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and has taught in the graduate program at the Yale School of Architecture. She is a native of Pittsfield, MA.