Category bronze
Both Sides of One Monument Multiply Powers of Purpose: “Something Is Being Done” by Meredith Bergmann
Here is an overdue sequel to The Lexington Women’s Monument by Meredith Bergmann Brings Together and Celebrates Many, Many Inspiring Stories posted in July 2024. Photos in that post included people engaging around the monument in celebration. Photos in this post focus on the forms and details of women or girls represented within the monument.The goal here is to bring out how both sides* of the monument share distinct outlines while portraying notably different individuals. A story for each individual is told in LexSeeHer audioguides.Compare the matched images within panels on both sides to recognize this impressive aspect of the artist’s design, which multiplies the monument’s significance!
Boundless Promise in “Unbound,” Sculpture by Harmonia Rosales on Boston’s Freedom Trail
“Unbound” was unveiled outside King’s Chapel on Tremont Street in mid-September, but my first visit was late December. Today my goal is to share photos, links and quotes that lead you there, in person if possible. Soon I hope to learn enough to post a worthy sequel.
Boston Women’s Memorial Resounds with Past and Present Voices
Boston Women’s Heritage Trail (BWHT) alerted me to a resonant event, Women and the Fourth at the Boston Women’s Memorial on Commonwealth Avenue. Joining Meredith Bergmann’s sculptures of Phillis Wheatley, Abigail Adams, and Lucy Stone, Executive Director Dr. Alexandria Russell read aloud from Frederick Douglass’s powerful 1852 speech, What To the Slave Is the 4th of July?
The Lexington Women’s Monument by Meredith Bergmann Brings Together and Celebrates Many, Many Inspiring Stories
My first and only visit to the monument so far was for the artist’s enlightening talk on Dedication Day, May 18. I plan to return often, eager to absorb everything sculptor Meredith Bergmann’s amazing artwork offers. Meanwhile here are quotes, resources and a few photos to guide your own visit, online or in person.
Meredith Bergmann, Sculptor of the Boston Women’s Memorial Speaks at Premier of Talking Statues, October 21
This quick post copies information and links (in red) with background about a significant event I wish I could attend. I do plan to follow up soon, after I experience these Talking Statues on Commonwealth Avenue Mall!
Meet “The Embrace” Sculpture by Hank Willis Thomas on Boston Common, January 2023
On the cold rainy morning after the very crowded unveiling ceremony of January 13, 2023, I began to explore “The Embrace” on the Boston Common’s new ‘1965 Freedom Plaza.’ Here are a few photos, links, and quotes selected for this first in what could become a series of related posts in the years ahead. The focus of this post is the sculpture itself, with basic information about the Freedom Plaza and broader plans from Embrace Boston.
Bronze Sculptures by Cyrus Dallin in Arlington Combine History and Humanity
New important plantings around Cyrus Dallin’s long-standing sculpture (since 1912) on the lawn of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston this summer made me realize how much I did not know about the sculptor. That led me to Arlington, where some of his significant works have braved all weather for over a century, and where the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum has developed valuable online resources about his works. A winter lull finally let me review my summer notes and photos for Dallin’s art in Arlington, where he lived in the first half of the twentieth century. Now I need to share some fascinating aspects of his art.
Circles Unify Art by Laura Baring-Gould and Mags Harries/Lajos Héder in Drinking Fountains Revived Around Fresh Pond Reservoir
For many months of the pandemic, these drinking fountains were shut down (sometimes covered over) sadly signaling limits on ordinary routines and extraordinary art experiences. When the fountains around Fresh Pond became available again, I wanted to honor their functional and creative qualities. I began to see circles as useful frames for water and also design elements in art, as the artists must have from the start.
Restored and New Art Combine in Renovated Clarendon Avenue Playground: Bronze Birds by Juliet Kepes with Leaf-Pattern Fence by Bart Uchida
In 1980, artist Juliet Kepes designed five bronze birds for the brick walls of Clarendon Avenue Park in Cambridge. A longtime admirer of her children’s book illustration, I wasn’t aware of her range of creative work until a few years ago when I read the Cambridge Arts/ Public Art listing below. By the time I managed to visit the park in 2019, it was closed off for extended renovations after almost forty years of use. ….
Recently I learned that the renovated park had opened, so I headed there one early evening in July. The bronze birds were back, set against a stone wall that replaced their brick background. Floral plantings enhanced their new setting, with the promising addition of a flowing plant-patterned fence that certainly added to my appreciation of the whole park.
Metal Preserves and Transforms Features of Trees in Art by Ed Shay and Letha Wilson
Ed Shay’s ten-foot-tall bronze “Acadian Gyro” entered deCordova Sculpture park about three decades ago. Letha Wilson’s nearly as tall cor-ten steel sculpture “Hawaii California Steel(Figure/Ground)” came in about two years ago. Until now I hadn’t considered their common key elements: 1) attention to the forms of leaves and branches, 2) expressive rendering of those forms in durable metals ( bronze and steel) 3)relation to the seasonally changing foliage of nearby trees. My awareness grew from posting about four more obviously tree-related artworks in the park and noting further connections. Though I have been a volunteer guide in the park for almost two decades, this focus led me deeper into resources with heightened reasons to share them.
Art Outdoors 