Tag Archives: Cambridge Arts Council

Look Up to Mosaic Masterpieces at Fletcher Maynard Academy, Cambridge

Closed all spring 2020 like every school, Fletcher Maynard Academy in Cambridge continues to offer art that is open to public view. People can look up above the school’s doors at the corner of Broadway and Windsor Streets to marvel at the Mosaic Masterpieces created a year earlier by students with artists David Fichter, Liane Noddin, and art teacher Lolly Lincoln.

Randal Thurston’s Birds and Butterflies Guide Our Ways through Yerxa Road Underpass in Cambridge

Maybe best to show some of what I have seen lately along this pertinent passageway without trying to explain why I didn’t post earlier. I hope the links and quotes will give you ways to appreciate the efforts and effects of this public art project completed in 2006.

James Tyler’s Tower of East Cambridge Faces Holds Power Over Time

My recent post about James Tyler’s Ten Figures in Davis Square led me to search out and visit his fourteen-foot tower of fifty bronze portraits completed in 1986. 

Nancy Webb’s Bronze Insects and Plants Became Treasures in Cambridge

I’ve walked through Charles Park before, (on the way to or from CambridgeSide Galleria) without noticing most of nearly forty bronze representations of insects and plants Nancy Webb created almost three decades ago.  This week I came to find and focus on them, guided by the Cambridge Public Art Fact Sheet.

David Judelson’s Brickworker and Ballplayer Keep on Documenting History

By  a ballfield  in North Cambridge ( Rindge Field) since 1983, two brick beings by David Judelson have faced each other supported by pertinent names, equipment, and stories. In recent years I had visited them with vague plans to post about them, though waiting for a way to focus. Then this spring when walks with face coverings became one of  the few recreational options, I discovered that Brickworker and Ballplayer had been outfitted in response to the pandemic.

David Phillips Links Earth and Sky at Maud Morgan Arts

The previous post showed Gail Boyajian’s “Bird Mosaic ” in the memorial garden with David Phillips’ marking stone. This one leaps to the top of Maud Morgan Arts where his paintbrush-and-palette weathervane shifts directions with the wind. Next it takes in the whole building’s exterior design to identify other artists’ contributions that should get focus in future posts.

Murals by Lisa Houck, Joshua Winer, and Ellery Eddy Reflect Cambridge History in Inman Square

These three murals within three blocks of each other build on local history and also have histories of their own, revealed as I lately took time to look at them and look online about them. A great resource was Lisa Houck’s documenting of the processes and people involved in restoring her mural on her blog and website. I hope now that the other murals noted here can get similar support to regain clarity, color, and impact. 

Delight in temporary addition to Arts on the Line from 1983 at Porter Square T

Large lovely new nests rest on granite posts designed decades ago by William Reimann.

Please help me solve the mystery of who created the nests!
Eager for any clues or comments,
Deb Lee
Deborah.lee713@gmail.com

Murals that Convey History: Local Examples

Walking to my nearby Porter Square and a bit beyond in Cambridge,  I visited murals that show elements of history in ways that suit this artform. You can learn and sense a lot about earlier centuries in Porter Square by walking the block that contains three related murals.  You can take in the impact and origins of a significant statesman’s life by standing in the presence of the Tip O’Neill mural in North Cambridge.