Amateur pick-up games of basketball are a part of the DNA of summer. And with the recent rise in popularity of the WNBA as well as New England’s excitement about the Boston Celtics 2024 NBA Championship win, the timing is apropos to discuss Providence College Art Galleries’ initiative over the past five years to enrich basketball courts in Providence with world-class art. Jamilee Lacy, recently appointed as the director of the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, began developing this program while serving as director and chief curator at Providence College Art Galleries. The idea for art-infused basketball courts actualized in 2018. Quite soon into the process the project became My HomeCourt (MHC). Lacy alternated the duties of selecting artists for this initiative between herself and Providence College Art Galleries curator, Kate McNamara. The program was designed to function … [Read more...] about MY HOMECOURT’S SYNERGY OF PLAY: ART AND BASKETBALL TEAM UP IN PROVIDENCE

Of late, Easthampton, in Western Massachusetts, has become more arts and artist-centric, perhaps due to the handful of mill buildings housing artist workspaces and creative small businesses. Some also say it’s due to overflow from artsy Northampton, about 15 minutes north. It’s also because it’s still considered “affordable.” For four-plus decades, the mill at One Cottage Street (c. 1859) has housed over eighty affordable artist workspaces as Cottage Street Studios, filled with creatives of all sorts including bookbinders (did you know neighboring Holyoke is “Paper City?”), painters, photographers, print-makers, graphic designers, woodworking shops/school, sculptors, furniture designers/ makers, fine lighting, stained glass, custom wedding gowns, mixed media, martial arts and other disciplines, over five floors. It was the first mill to be converted for creatives in Western … [Read more...] about KEEPING COTTAGE STREET AFFORDABLE: ARTIST WORKSPACES THREATENED IN WESTERN MASS