As playgrounds have cautiously reopened, I can happily share more photos of art by Mitch Ryerson and Gail Boyajian. This lifts my own sad restrictions on earlier posts about these artists and others with work outside Maud Morgan Arts. Now I can show and celebrate art that was meant to be where children play.

For example see Mitch Ryerson’s art (climbers, back locust, 2009) at Kemp Playground, Cambridge Common.

For more and better photos, go to Ryerson Design, Playgrounds, Cambridge Common.

“He likes to work in black locust wood that he sources from western Massachusetts. “It grows in really interesting shapes, so it’s good for sculptural arrangements,” Ryerson says. “And it’s extremely durable.” He and his crew transform the logs with chainsaws, power planes, electric grinders, chisels, mallets, drawknives, adzes, axes and hatchets. The logs become smooth like driftwood but retain a raw, rustic look.” (quote from recommended reading,  “Mitch Ryerson Is Carving Out The Future Of Playgrounds” by Greg Cook for the ARTery April 2014)

Also see Gail Boyajian’s Otter Fence (painted steel)  along the playground at Larch Road Park, 119 Larch Road, Cambridge.

“Living in this neighborhood, Boyajian is familiar with the local wildlife and brings her affinity with nature to her playful addition to the park fence. “ (quote from Cambridge Public Art Tours: Creatures )

“This project designed and fabricated for the Cambridge Arts Council. It consists of a band of baby otter silhouettes welded to the top edge of a fence surrounding a children’s play area near Fresh Pond, an area that these animals once inhabited.” (quote from Gail C. Boyajian website Public Art Projects 8)

For photos of the fence in snow, go to Museum Without Walls, Otter Fence.

Art by David Phillips and John Tagiuri is on display in many playgrounds too. For such examples, see their websites: JohnTagiuri at JT Studios and Phillips Sculpture, Recent Works

See related Art Outdoors posts from earlier years:  PLAYGROUND ENRICHED BY COLLABORATIVE ART,  DAVID PHILLIPS’ ART ENGAGES ALL AGES AT PLAYSPACE ON THE ESPLANADE 

Mitch Ryerson’s process is documented with notes and photos in a 2017 post by Blake Johnson: Sacramento Street Playground