On April 24, 2020, we hosted our fourth N+T Asks conversation. This week Assistant Curator Leah Triplett Harrington asked you and our guests Stephanie Cardon and Charla Jones, "How does art offer hope to artists and the public?" Click to watch or listen to the full conversation.
We’re working from home too, which means curating from the kitchen table. Click to read about our first virtual studio visit with interdisciplinary artist Zsuzsanna Varga-Szegedi whose work blending media to “analyze” absence, distortion, and distance is particularly poignant during this time. Click to read more about Zsuzi and her perspective on “possibility”
On April 17, 2020, we welcomed artist and curator Rachel Allen, social change designer and founder of DS4SI, Kenny Bailey, and over 80 of you into a conversation exploring the question: “What can artists do right now?”
We were glad to have special guests artist Stephen Hamilton (2018 Public Art Accelerator and creator of The Founders Project) and Tiffany Cogell, a driven advocate and community organizer (and one of the powerful women featured in Elisa Hamilton’s 2017 project Slideshow) join us for our second installment of N+T Asks and help us answer: “What does care mean right now?”
On April 3, 2020, we launched our new online conversation series "N+T Asks." We were excited to welcome artist Silvia Lopez Chavez, Program Director of Public Art at New England Foundation for the Arts, Kim Szeto, and more than 75 participants from across the cultural sector as we asked: “What does public mean right now?”
Looking back and ahead, a New Year's greeting from Director Kate Gilbert. In a decade from now when Greater Boston is a must-see destination for public art enthusiasts I believe we’ll look back at 2015 as a pivotal year. 2015: the year public art became an integral part of the re/development of engaging public spaces, the year when artwork selection processes shifted from juried to curated, and the year we learned to balance spectacle and civic engagement.
Guest blog post by MBTA public art finalist Elisa Hamilton on the importance of public art in her childhood and it's influence on her career as an artist.
"Did you know that the glass tile wall of that bus tunnel used to light up? I have childhood memories of waiting near that wall all aglow in blue and red, as if it was magically lit from within. Those colors are still vivid in my memory; maybe you’ve also felt that brilliance. I believe that the people in our communities deserve to have that light alive in our public spaces, and I believe that - with enough support - we can keep the light of public art shining in Massachusetts, so that we can all be illuminated in its glow."
Learning From Our Communities is a simple, small community engagement project we initiated for the Emerge festival at City Hall, and decided to bring to the Boston Center of the Arts Open Studios weekend as well. We asked the public a variety of questions regarding their thoughts and opinions on what their neighborhoods need as well as the gems and resources they cherish.
We're thrilled to be joining the Boston Arts Commission at Emerge, the Boston Arts Festival this Thursday, September 10. This newly renamed and reimagined festival invites the citizens of Boston to City Hall to experience our shared civic space as one that actively fosters cultural events and community dialogue.
Kate and I have had the beach constantly on our minds as we transition into this sweltering August weather. We both fantasize about lying on an obnoxiously bright towel at a picturesque sandy spot with a good book while we work away at our respective desks in our closet size office. So in an attempt to live out our fantasy vacation, we have compiled a list of 5 great beach reads, public art style. Safe for non-beach goers too! Guest post by Now and There staffer Audrey Hsia.
We sat down with Amy Archambault, the BCA’s Summer 2015 Public Art Resident, on the eve of the opening of her first interactive public art work, inMotion: Memories of Invented Play, and chatted about how she’s successfully transitioning from the unconventional artist/builder to public artist.
What comes to mind when you think about public art in Boston? Boston is a city rich in history, but also in imagination. We’re a mecca for start-ups and people who believe anything is possible. We know how to have fun too! Does our art reflect that?
It's starting to. Whimsical public art is reinvigorating the cities public spaces and gaining national attention: from Höweler + Yoon Architecture’s iconic Swing Time at the Lawn on D, to Janet Echelman’s ethereal sculpture on the Greenway, to Figment’s upcoming Giant Typewriter. As part of our mission to help Boston define its public art identity, Now +There joined forces with theBoston Society of Architects and the D Street ArtLAB at the Lawn on D for "Play in Public Art," a conversation with the artists, architects, and citizens who are making public art happen in Boston.
