Winter 2022 World News Changes Views of Public Art

These photos, notes, and links are my attempts to connect recent and past events in outdoor art. These may help transition to some future post with my own thoughts.

Ukraine’s Colors Draped along Patricia Thaxton’s Mural around T-stop Kiosk, March 2022

Ukraine Flags Adorn Skraelings by Bob Smith of Minimum Wage Art, Brattle Square, March 2022

Anne Whitney’s Sculpture of Charles Sumner, installation “Ukraine Echo,” ( March 20-30, 2022)

“The statue of abolitionist senator Charles Sumner in Harvard Square, wrapped by artists Ross Miller and Yolanda He Yang to echo the sight of statues in Lviv, Ukraine, where statues have been wrapped in plastic and fireproof materials to protect them from war damage…… The artwork, “Ukraine Echo,” brings awareness to one of the great horrors of war: the destruction of culture. “( quotes from WBUR local coverage/arts and culture, March 25, 2022)

Photos and Notes from before February 2022:

Wapiti the Green Elk, Michelle the Blue Elephant, Analog the Sphinx Dog moved from Palmer Street

Panels from Patricia Thaxton’s  printed mural “The Beauty of Everyday Living ” August 2021

Sculptor Anne Whitney’s monument to abolitionist Charles Sumner, near an entrance to Harvard Yard, since 1900

ART OUTDOORS posts about these artworks:

MORE PUBLIC ART APPEARS IN HARVARD SQUARE: “MICHELLE THE BLUE ELEPHANT”; PATRICIA THAXTON’S MURAL, August 5, 2021

MEN IN CAMBRIDGE MADE BY WOMEN: ANNE WHITNEY AND THEO ALICE RUGGLES KITSON, April 3, 2019

PUBLIC ART PERSONALITIES GREET THE SEASON TOGETHER ON PALMER STREET IN HARVARD SQUARE December 19, 2021

RELATED NEWS

“The Battle for the Mural — and the Future of Belarus“ New York Times Magazine, by Sarah A. Topol, March 30, 2022

CAN ART CHANGE THE WAR?, A SOLIDARITY NFT PROJECT FOR UKRAINE