So, Boston believes it’s a great city. But does it have great public art? Sure, we’ve got a bas relief of Civil War heroes, but Chicago has a Picasso in Daley Plaza.
Art, ahht, however you might say it, pull a Jackson Pollock and splatter paint our website with your comments.
And while you’re at it, send us a cell phone shot, a professional picture, or a tourist snap of your favorite regional public art. Official or renegade, bronze or Banksy knock-off, link them all to our Flickr pool on Boston’s public art.
For more links, videos, pictures and a look at public art in other cities, read on…
Listen to the full show:
Art Around Our Town
Mags Harries’ Asartoon (at left) is just one of her public art works. Next time you’re picking up fruits and vegetables at Boston’s Haymarket, check out the bronze works under your feet.
Taking a stroll along the Charles River Esplanade? Be sure to stop by Ralph Helmick’s massive bust of Arthur Fiedler. The layered sculpture depicts Fiedler more clearly from afar. As the viewer approaches, the scuplture appears more abstract revealing it’s layered structure.
While Boston is rich in historical art and memorials, Cambridge boasts hundreds of contemporary pieces of public art in the form of sculptures, murals and tile and glass works. Cambridge is the only city in Massachusetts that has a mandate to put 1% of the money spent on publicly funded buildings toward a work of art.
Out webchat moderator this week is Nick Capasso, he’s the curator of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA. The Decordova admits all Lincoln residents free and anyone can stroll the sculpture park for free. It is the only park of its kind in New England and unlike other scuptlure gardens, the DeCordova rotates the collection of large scale contemporary American sculpture displyed on its 35 acre public park.
The Radio Boston Video Installation
Part 1: “Waxing Philosophic, With Mustache”
Part 2: “He Said His Love For Animals Started With a Chance Encounter With a Radio Host”
Part 3: “Damien Hirst Puts a Shark in Formaldahyde. We Put Red Auerbach in Bronze.”
Part 4: “Haymarket. No Smells. No Yelling.”
Public Art in Other Cities
From Chicago’s Millenium Park, to Philadelphia’s giant clothespin, to Seattle’s whimsical wheel, click on the images above to find out more about how three leading cities pack their streets with public art.
Radio Boston fans - we’ve been getting some excellent submissions to our public art Flickr pool… one my current favorites is ‘Child Contemplating Cherubs’.
Here’s a link to the pool:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bostonpublicart/pool/
Geotag the pictures, if you could. That way we can have a great map as well.
Thanks - Meghna
Great topic. A fabulous piece of public art was just unveiled last week (May 21, 2008) in Worcester: the Major Taylor monument outside the Worcester Public Library.
http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/events.shtml
The sculptor is Antonio Tobias Mendez, http://www.tobymendezstudios.com
It’s Worcester’s first monument to an African-American, which is obviously long overdue, and also we think it’s the first statue in the country of a bicyclist. Having spearheaded the 10-year effort to get the monument funded and built, I’m very curious to see how it will be viewed and interpreted as time goes by.
Here’s a quotation we’ve used to explain why public art is important:
“Public monuments help shape collective memory.” — Kathryn Allamong Jacob, “Testament to Union: Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C.”
We received some email about the public art show… read on:
—
Name: Katrina
Subject: Lowell
Message: I’d love to hear someone talk about the fantastic work being
done in Lowell with public art inspired by Jerry Beck’s Revolving
Museum. These temporary pieces created by artists working with local
youth have transformed parts of the downtown. Some of the pieces are
now semi-permanent because of the community response.
From another Radio Boston listener:
——–
Hi,
Many states have a percent for art program that sets aside one percent of the cost of new state funded construction to purchase public art for that building. I don’t believe that we still have this program in Massachusetts, although we did at one time.
Attached are two images of murals that I’ve painted: one for the city of East Boston, and one for the town of Brookline.
Best,
Yetti Frenkel