Category women artists

Arlington’s Artist-in-Residence Michelle Lougee Highlights the Existence of Persistence on the Bikeway

Many hands and minds created each of nearly forty unique forms installed among the trees two months ago to survive four seasons of New England weather. Their shapes and textures have become more distinct since October’s shade from autumn leaves has gone. Like others who use the bikeway, I’ll watch for ways the art will change with wind, snow, sleet and sunlight. And I’ll keep thinking of the meanings of “persistence.” Meanwhile, here are quotes, links, and images that should reveal the resourcefulness, resilience, and reasoning that have carefully kept this prescient project going.

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.

Louise Nevelson and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Briefly Share Space and Spirit

Since 1985, Louise Nevelson’s painted steel sculpture, Night Wall 1, has stood 12 feet tall on a lawn edged by several Harvard University buildings, including the law school library ( Langdell Hall). Last week for the first time I found a way to post about this admired art and artist, though I had meant to many times for many years. At the start of the Jewish New Year, 5781, Louise Nevelson’s monumental sculpture kept a steady silent vigil in view of a steadily growing memorial for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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.

Colorful Characters Brighten Brine Tanks: Mural by Monique Aimee in Cambridge

Selected and funded by Percent-for-Art program in Cambridge, Monique Aimee proposed, planned, and painted her mural on all sides of the four tall brine tanks along the lot for Saint Peter’s Field. She began near the end of June and finished near the end of August. My photos here come from a few visits there throughout the summer. The links should take you to videos and exciting photos of the work in progress on Monique Aimee’s Instagram site: https://www.instagram.com/moniqueaimee/ The quotes here should give background that lets you visit in person or online.

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.

Animal Sculptures by Judy McKie and Jay Coogan Prove Patient, Purposeful and Playful

Judy McKie’s bronze cat benches and Jay Coogan’s aluminum dogs and cats were kept off location during extensive construction of Cambridge Public school and library properties where they had become favorite features. Soon after they returned ready to resume their roles, the closing of all schools and libraries in March 2020 cut short the opportunities for children and adults to interact with them again. Though I had found opportunities to admire and photograph these artful animals, I didn’t want to share the images until the sculptures could be part of daily life once more.

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.