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Artists Add New Life to Familiar Forms: “GO OUT DOORS – ARLINGTON 2021” November Notes and Quotes
Guided by the very helpful interactive map on the GO OUT DOORS NEIGHBORS!, Arts Arlington, I have visited most of the 2021 doors. I hope to see them all before November ends, when they’ll be kept safe from the threats of winter weather. Then I will watch for their return in spring 2022 and for newly created doors as well. If able, I will want to show and tell more about “Go Out Doors” beyond Arlington.* Meanwhile here are names, art titles, links ( click on artists’ names in red for their websites), and quotes for the doors I’ve seen so far.
New Views Come in through Art for “Go Out Doors” in Minute Man National Historical Park
“Mission: “Go Out Doors” inspires discovery and exploration of outdoors spaces and trails, and the intersection of place, history, community, spirit, and nature. On View Through November 15, 2021” (quote from Umbrella Arts Go Out Doors @ Minute Man National Historical Park) This mission addresses my experience visiting the three doors!
Doors created by artists Yetti Frenkel, Cassandra Charles, and BARD at three separate sites within Minute Man National Historical Park
Artists Reshape Forest Spaces during 2021 ART RAMBLE “Something in the Air”
Curated by Laurie Bogdan and Kimberley Harding; Hapgood Wright Town Forest in Concord, MA, September 1 – November 14…The Umbrella site 2021 Art Ramble: “Something in the Air” lists the sixteen artists’ bios, websites, and statements about their artwork, as well as audio versions to access as you move along.I visited in September and October, followed by posts, each focusing on four installations. This third post connects four more through their relation to the forest’s trees, shadows, and light while always aware of the air.
Visit 2021 ART RAMBLE: “SOMETHING IN THE AIR” for Vital Stories and Vibrant Views
In September, after my first visit, I posted an overview with focus on four artworks and a plan to return for additional explorations. Now, selecting from photos in my second visit, early October, I focus in this sequel post on artworks about animals with wings.
“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:
Artists Ekua Holmes and Elizabeth James-Perry Bring MFA Lawn to Life with “Garden for Boston”
Whether or not you go inside the Museum of Fine Arts, on the front lawn you will find rich offerings by artists and curators attentive to soil, sun, sea, community, and history. One morning in early August, I joined other visitors enthralled by plantings and perspective in the collaborative venture called “Garden for Boston.” Delighted by discoveries, I’ll share a few of my iPhone photos with quotes from enlightening resources on the MFA website and other specified links.
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.
Murals by Sophy Tuttle, Solei, and Ann Lewis Highlight Pumphouses on the Charles River Esplanade
More than a year ago, three artists adorned all sides and surfaces of three different pumphouses on the Esplanade. I had meant to connect and celebrate these accomplishments at that time. Now at the start of a new year, I can do that with additional appreciation of their presence. Though pumphouses along the Charles River have always been essential in regulating water drainage, their cement block structures were neglected and defaced until funds from the Esplanade Association allowed artists to transform their appearances in 2019.
Art Grows from Trees: Alan Sonfist and Richard Rosenblum at deCordova
Sonfist’s The Endangered Species of New England has been part of the Sculpture Park since 2013. Rosenblum’s Venusvine, created 1990, has been there since 1996. Both artworks reflect their artists’ deeply rooted work with trees. Both are metal renderings of natural forms. Both artworks have decisive locations in the park. They’ve held their ground while other artworks have moved around, left or entered in recent years.
Mural for the Movement Makes Statements in Many Languages with Faces, Flags, and Fist in front of MFA Boston
After visiting the mural “No Weapon Formed Against Thee Shall Prosper,” currently on the Huntington Avenue lawn of the Museum of Fine Arts, I want to urge everyone in the Boston area to see it before it leaves November 19, 2020. So, this quick post includes photos, quotes and resources that could help you appreciate the mural in person, or at least through connected stories about it.
Art Outdoors 