Change is coming. Some is already here as people, newly vaccinated, explore the world again, get comfortable in their own skin and long to interact. I spoke recently with gallerist Arlette Kayafas about her vision moving forward because of her years of perspective given that hers is among the longest continuously running galleries on Harrison Avenue at Thayer Street in Boston’s SoWa Art + Design District. Its galleries are places to enjoy art without an admission fee and to learn about art in ways that help unlock and make sense of the meaning of the world we inhabit. Each gallery leans into that responsibility differently and so, among SoWa’s galleries, there is really something for everybody. For some, going to SoWa to look at art will be a new experience and for others a reactivation of familiar ritual. In any case, there are many contemporary art galleries here, artist studios and … [Read more...] about MEANT TO INSPIRE: NEW VENUES & ARTISTS KEEP SOWA CONTEMPORARY

It’s another First Friday, 6 p.m., and the clouds are finally lifting to liberate the sinking sun’s pale gleams. Since Covid arrived, I’ve rarely visited SoWa except briefly and alone. Now, on June 4, 2021, I’m fully vaccinated and ready to risk a crowd in Boston’s South End. Clad in sneakers and studio jeans, I trail a stylishly shod, light-skinned woman in long black culottes and a three-quarter-sleeve charcoal silk jacket down the steps into Beacon Gallery. Two women holding glasses of Chardonnay are chatting with gallerist Christine O’Donnell. Four others inspect the fresh summer light of Lori Mehta’s oil paintings. I feel for my mask and cross to a safer corner. A headless torso there impresses me just as it did two months earlier, when I interviewed Mehta at her Cape Cod studio. Crisply framed by the chill Atlantic waters and a corner of cerulean sky, the white shirt, … [Read more...] about SOWA UNMASKED: A RETURN TO HARRISON AVENUE