Sharing our Inspiration
In the N+T Journal, we search out artists and projects whose vision highlights, enlivens, and challenges the way we think about ourselves and our city. Who are we as Bostonians? What do we value? And how is all that represented in our public art? Find all of this, news on our latest projects, and insights from guest bloggers. We’re always looking for guest writers, email Jackie McLaughlin at jmclaughlin@nowandthere.org.
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?”
With the health of our beloved Boston art community in mind and in response to COVID-19, we are postponing the Now + There Forum: Public Art Accelerator until the fall. But we're sharing some resources for artists starting today!
We’re thrilled to introduce our powerhouse keynote speaker for the Now + There Forum: Public Art Accelerator, Dr. Kymberly Pinder! A public art curator with decades of experience with community-oriented and ephemeral public art projects, Dr. Pinder was named the Provost and Senior Vice President of MassArt in 2019.
Our Assistant Curator, Leah Triplett Harrington, reviews the recently opened MassArt Art Museum’s (MAAM) inaugural shows, including “Valkyrie Mumbet,” “Game Changers” and “Yesterday is Here.”
After we lit up the Prudential Center together with ¡Provecho!, artist Justin Favela sat down with Afro-Latina, agitator, activist and Boston City Councilor, Julia Mejia for a special interview. Click to listen!
Click to listen to Mass Cultural Council’s Anita Walker interview N+T’s Kate Gilbert for the Creative Minds Out Loud podcast!
2020. A much-anticipated new year. A year for looking back and looking ahead. A year for public art to take center stage in the local, national, and global conversation about representation and power. Click to read more about our 2020 curatorial theme Shared Power.
As we gear up to open ¡Provecho!, Assistant Curator Leah Triplett Harrington spoke with artist Justin Favela about , why taking up space is important, the complexities of identifiers, and his favorite comfort foods.
So it’s with great pleasure that we announce this next Accelerator cohort: a dynamic group of six Boston-based artists, very diverse in aesthetic, approach, and media.
We are bursting at the seams with gratitude. Take a few moments with our 2019 gratitude list (you’re on it!) and marvel at all it takes to build our public art city, one project, one artist, and one neighborhood at a time.
2019 Public Art Accelerator Artist Pat Falco walks us through the process of building a three-decker among the towering glass walls of the Seaport.
2019 Public Art Accelerator Artist, Cat Mazza, shares the research and development process that shaped her project, Electroknit Dymaxion and reflects on how tradition, craft, globalism, and digital making techniques inform the work and its purpose.
Become a Now + There contributor! We are now seeking artists, photographers, and content creators to help us launch a new blog series for the Now + There Journal.
Writer Arielle Gray interviews Rob “ProBlak” Gibbs about the traditions and dangers of being a practicing graffiti artist, even amid a rise in the desire for “street art”.
Augment creator, artist Nick Cave is dubbed “The Most Joyful, and Critical, Artist in America” by T Magazine for their annual The Greats issue, out now.
A call for Boston to fully embrace temporary public art as a catalyst for the cultural change we seek.
Associate Curator Leah Triplett Harrington offers a reflection on The JOY Parade, part of Nick Caves’s Augment, and dives into the history of parades as both contemporary art expressions and nexus points for hyper-local happiness and jubilation.
Lori Lobenstine, Program Design Lead with DS4SI joins us on the blog to talk about the impact of public making and how projects like Augment support social intervention and collective agency.
Jameson Johnson, founder of the Boston Art Review talks about how collaborating with N+T for their upcoming Public Art Issue is supporting a more sustainable art ecosystem and introduces six writers who were paid for their work through partnership with Now + There.
What does it take to fill a room with happiness, art, energy, and togetherness? We’ll tell you…
A call for Boston to fully embrace temporary public art as a catalyst for the cultural change we seek.
New space, a growing team, and more commitment than ever to our #publicartcity.
Creating a sculpture that appears to float so effortlessly took over 600 man hours of fabrication and installation. Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at all that went into Growth Rings — and some fun facts about Central Wharf Park, too!
Introducing Growth Rings by Oscar Tuazon, a new commission for Central Wharf Park, guest curated by Pedro Alonzo.
Look through this photo essay, featuring the work of photographer Gabriel Ortiz, documenting Breathe Life 3 and see the artist’s deep affection for and dedication to his work, his practice, his city, and this wall.
As we celebrate the abundance of the season and reflect on the origins of Thanksgiving, we thank the countless individuals and partners whose imagination, care, and collaborative spirit are helping realize a more equitable public art city with bold public art.