Category environmental sculpture

Panels from Significant Summer 2020 Extend Mystic River Mural and Affirm Hopes

In my July post about the Mystic River Mural Project, I was hopeful but not sure that the Summer 2020 project would work through all the complications of the pandemic. Now I can gladly share glimpses of the inspiring outcome with photos of the 2020 panels added this fall on Mystic Avenue. For context, read quotes with links to informative sources. Also note a new video that adds an enriching overview of the whole project.

Respond to the Spirit of Art Ramble around Fairyland Pond in Concord

My goal now is to get the word out about a wonderful way to get away, though this temporary exhibit in Concord’s Hapgood Wright Town Forest won’t let you get away from the issues of climate change. I went once last week and hope to return as often as possible before the last day, November 8. I hope to post again with more photos and reflections on water, but here are quotes and links to lead you into the forest, around the pond, with art and poetry.

Applaud Playground Turtles and their Creators: Nancy Schön and Lilli Ann Killen Rosenberg

Endurance is a quality shared by the turtle sculptures in this post. Lilli Ann Roseberg’s colorful concrete turtles in Cambridge have been ridden, jumped on, snowed in, flooded over and lots more in the past three decades. Nancy Schön’s bronze Myrtle the Turtle was bound up and relocated within Boston’s Myrtle Street Playground soon after settling in last year. These sculptures endured isolation while playgrounds were closed in the spring and then cautiously reopened.

Gardens in Radcliffe Yard Contain Changing and Constant Art

While kept apart from most indoor art  throughout the spring of 2020, I became especially grateful for the outdoor art in Radcliffe Yard. I managed to post about one sculpture then, with intentions to mention more. Here now is a broader view that encompasses other highlights of Radcliffe Yard.

See Poems in New Ways along the Bikeway in Arlington and Somerville

This week I enjoyed Walking Poetry in Arlington and  Poetry on the Path in Somerville. Both added to my awareness of when, how, and where a poem can move people. I should post swiftly and simply with quotes, links, and photos that let anyone who lives near these locations experience poems that may be elsewhere in a week or two.

Playgrounds Thrive on Art by Mitch Ryerson and Gail Boyajian

As playgrounds have cautiously reopened, I can happily share 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.

John Tagiuri’s Art Can Open Doors in Surprising Ways

The two giant paintbrush “door pulls” created by John Tagiuri for Maud Morgan Visual Arts in 2009 when the center first opened now must wait for a post-lockdown reopening, whenever that will be. Meanwhile my attention to these and other artworks outside the center pulled me into John Tagiuri’s website, which is rich in samples of his other projects, all displaying unique combinations of strong concepts with playful twists. From those, I located the towering endless-column lamps over the basketball court in Sennott Park, at Broadway, Cambridge.

Structure Guides Discoveries in Alicja Kwade’s Art at Castle Hill and MIT

I visited Alicja Kwade’s TunnelTeller at Castle Hill in Ipswich in mid-November and hope to do so a few more times before it goes on April Fools’ Day! This post shows my photos of Kwade’s impressive work , including outdoor art at MIT. It provides links to more persuasive photos and information. I’m posting now so local friends and colleagues can plan to go before Kwade’s art has gone.

See all Sides of Art Installation by Jessie and Katey on Western Avenue in Allston

In May 2017, Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn incorporated every outer inch of a building, including roof, steps, and chimneys into a colorful commanding work of art. They responded inventively to the dimensions and angles of the space; they chose challenging materials as well. More than two years later their installation still stands out and draws us in. 

Art Ramble 2019 Creates Connections in Concord Town Forest

Six weeks over and just two weeks left, I took the golden opportunity of a sunlit October morning to take the trail through Hapgood-Wright Town Forest around Fairyland Pond and enjoy fourteen temporary art installations connected by the theme, Witnessing Change. I hope to go again before it ends November 1 and to convince anyone who can to go as well. Each stop on Art Ramble 2019 offers an enlightening way to engage with some aspect of the forest.