Category furniture

Time and Space Connect Art by Misa Chhan and Zhidong Zhang on the Greenway

Ten cyanotype-printed* flags by Chhan and a richly coordinated cabinet by Zhang draw on their families’ historic crafts. Explore work of both artists along the flow of Chinatown Stream! Quotes, links, and photos should support their connections. * photo process printing in blue

Dreams and other Themes Connect Seventeen Sculptures in Riverway Park, through August 2025

I am lucky to live near enough to enjoy this engaging exhibit throughout July and August. Before June ends, I’m posting quotes, links and a few samples to lead you there in person or at least online!  “Studios Without Walls, a Brookline nonprofit, is sponsoring Dream Upon the River, its 26th annual exhibition. Twenty-one local artists have created site-specific works of art that will remain on view at Riverway Park throughout the summer.” (till Sept 1)

Who Restores the Art Outdoors? Clues in Cambridge Examples: William Reimann’s Bollards and Bland Hoke’s “Artesian Well”

As I have visited and revisited local art outdoors for many years, I’ve seen how artwork can be worn down by time, weather, and all imaginable events. Luckily, also I have seen how artwork can be restored by planful focused funded teamwork. For example, here are photos, quotes and links with hints of how change happened at two sites in Cambridge.

Take Part in Public Art at Universal Design Playground, Danehy Park, Cambridge

With great enthusiasm, I share my recent discoveries of three public art projects within the relatively new Louis A. DePasquale Universal Design Playground: 1. Mitch Ryerson’s “Sensory Hilltop,” 2. NuVu Studio’s “Pipe Dreams,” 3. Dominic Killiany’s paintings. Here I simply build on background in earlier ART Outdoors posts about Mitch Ryerson’s playground design, but the other two were new to me: Nu Vu Studios, the Innovation School in Central Square Cambridge, and Dominic Killiany, an artist with autism. I hope the photos, quotes, and links add to your own explorations.

“Arboreal Attire” and “Chairful Where You Sit” Extend History around Jason Russell House in Arlington

Sculpture by Leslie Wilcox, Poetry by Jessie Brown, Chairs Transformed by Many Artists: This post honors an inspiring event last Saturday (8/21/21) that reminded me, yet again, of how much public art keeps offering no matter how many challenges continue. Walking among at least thirty chairs and six tall trees with unique creative identities, I began to understand they all shared histories extended by artists’ careful appreciative attention. Also most chairs there were made with wood, so crafted originally from trees. Musical performances, poetry reading, artist talk, and many other happenings were free for anyone who visited the lawn of the historic Jason Russell House near Arlington Center.
That led me to this quick post ( with links, quotes, and key resources in red type) because the chairs are only up for bidding until September 5:

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.

Mitch Ryerson’s Benches Begin Adventures for Many at MMVA

Mitch Ryerson’s Dancing Benches near the Sacramento Street sidewalk signal the start of the short walk to the gate that leads our way to workshops and studio classes at MMVA whenever art centers can open up again. Meanwhile these two benches have led my way to learn how many other enticing outdoor structures have come out of Ryerson Design.