Category parks
A Radiant Painting Generates Sixth Mural for Greenway Wall
“Carving Out Fresh Options,” Diptych Painting by Shara Hughes Leads Up to a Monumental Mural on the Rose Kennedy Greenway
The mural was scaled up about twelve times from the original painting, but also cropped and shaped to fit the curving, choppy features of the Greenway Wall (one side of the air intake structure building).
The diptych (two-part) oil painting will be on view at deCordova in the museum through May 2019, while the mural is up on the Greenway Wall in Dewey Square Park, Boston.
Uplifting Updates, Thanks to Boston Women’s Heritage Trail and Boston Art Commission
At the end of my self-assigned project of posting about women artists on Public Art Walk, I began to wonder how I could better share the fascinating discoveries that came from it. After listing the artists and my posts on a blog page last month, I wished for some ways to convey what I had learned beyond my own small base of friends, colleagues, and family. Now two organizations are doing what I wished for.
Art and Time on the Greenway: Year of the Dog, We the People II, Spaces of Hope, Balancing Act I and II
This final Friday in April, Greenway Art Ambassadors will lead a one-hour tour of phenomenal public art. The tour includes four engaging works of art, each within minutes of the next. All four are temporary; all four will likely be gone by next April, though new temporary art will take their places.
These current four have given me such valued visits, I’m hoping for still more time with each. I’m posting now to alert you to the tour before it’s over and to give basic background about the artists, their art and my appreciation of their time.
Lilli Ann Rosenberg Engaged People in Making and Enjoying Public Art
Lilli Ann Killen Rosenberg (1924–2011) initiated memorably collaborative community art projects wherever she went throughout her working life. From the Henry Street Settlement in New York City to numerous sites in the Boston area and then others in southern Oregon, she engaged children and adults in creating responsive public art. This post offers images from Boston sites I have visited and quotes or links that motivate me to visit many more.
Nancy Schön Engages Us with Characters and Stories
Making my way through the list of twenty-two women artists represented on Boston Public Art Walk, I’ve grown more aware of how pivotal Nancy Schön has been to my own interest in public art. …Through the years I’ve watched or joined with adults and children of all ages interacting happily with distinctive animal characters from Make Way for Ducklings written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey, published 1941.
Make Eye Contact Many Times with “We the People II,” New Greenway Mural by Mia Cross in Boston near Chinatown
In October I had read about the Greenway mural in progress on the Lincoln Street Triangle. Fortunately, I got there while the artist Mia Carollo Cross and her father were about to finish up the month-long project in the last hour of good daylight! I spoke with Mia briefly about my interest in the process of creating murals and then began to photograph her, the materials, tools, and art.
Temporary Artworks by Adria Arch and Frank Vasello Connect Trees and People
If trees along the Minuteman Bikeway could talk, what would they say about the two most recent Arlington Public Art installations? I think they would say thank you for the respectful attention they’ve been given by artists Adria Arch (“Ripple”) and Frank Vasello (“Current”). As a person passing along the Bikeway, I truly thank both artists for engaging me with the enduring structures and distinct qualities among trees. At the same time, I relish the marvelous patterns created by human hands and minds. I want to look longer, return often, and urge others to visit these artworks too.
Common Exchange Adds Uncommon Experiences to Public Space
Cambridge Common seemed to me a public space of few surprises until a few months ago. Then suddenly it became a place to spark inspiring statements by holding hands, to select story performances from a food truck, to share the seat of a gigantic chair, and to join an eyes-closed tour led by a blind artist. Those were just some of the experiences offered through Common Exchange*, with ongoing installations and scheduled events from May through September 2017.
Pleasures of Playful Perspectives: Art by Mark Reigelman and Meredith James on the Greenway
Enlightened and excited by both artists’ presentations on September 26, I ‘m posting quickly now, just in case you can plan to go before their temporary exhibits vanish October 7 (Reigelman) and October 8 (James). Later on, I hope to share our perspectives in the interactive spirit of these engaging forms of art outdoors.
Four Fascinating Fountains in the Boston Public Garden
Four of the six fountain sculptures in the Boston Public Garden were created by women.The sculptures in these four fountains are smaller scale than the two by men. All four are bronze on granite bases in the center of bricked basins. The women artists depicted children or animals rather than grand heroic or symbolic beings.
