On April 9, 2015, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh launched Boston Creates, an 18-month assessment of the city’s cultural health that will culminate in a long-range Arts and Culture Plan for Boston. Supported locally by both the Barr Foundation and the Klarman Family Foundation, the project will draw heavily on private funding both in the research stage and in its execution. Julie Burros, Boston’s new Chief of Arts and Culture, heads this effort. She has been assembling a broad-ranging team of community-based advisers and outside consultants to assess the needs of Boston’s many arts communities and to recommend “best practices.” In June through September, she will be conducting extensive neighborhood and community focus groups throughout the city with stakeholders large and small. A preliminary draft will be aired at a “Town Meeting” in January, and she will deliver the final report next … [Read more...] about Cornered: Julie Burros, Boston’s Chief of Arts and Culture

The Artist Wears Many Hats Artist. Teacher. Blogger. Filmmaker. Vermont’s Samantha “Sam” Talbot-Kelly fits into all of these categories, and many more. “I’m not a filmmaker yet,” she responds, modestly, when I run by the list of descriptions I’ve amassed for her work. “I happen to go between disciplines, that’s for sure, but I’d just say that I’m an artist and depending on the concept, I decide whether to do it in painting or film or installation or sculpture or illustrations.” And film. Talbot-Kelly, who is based in Montpelier, is in the early stages of putting together a film — with the assistance of cinematographer Carlos Diaz — that will look at the studios of professional artists in Vermont and explore how being based there affects their work. “Sometimes, those artists are bringing the world in to their practice, in the sense of, it doesn’t matter where they are, it just … [Read more...] about Sam Talbot Kelly

A Celebration of Craft in Northampton If you really need an excuse to visit Northampton, the Paradise City Arts Festival is a good one. Two times a year, over the holiday weekends bookending the warm weather season, hoards of artists and crafts practitioners descend upon the Northampton Fairgrounds, transforming the agricultural barns and fallow fields that were once the playground of horses into a grand emporium of fine crafts. Jewelry, fiber and fashion, photography, fine woodworking and elegant expressions of furniture are all part of the mix along with painted tableaus and mixed media works in a plethora of sizes and styles destined to find homes on the walls of patrons. Four art barns feature a stable of artists and crafts folk who regularly return for each show, vending their wares and looking for a unique niche and presentation point. Many have developed an ongoing … [Read more...] about Paradise City Arts Festival

Art Blooms in Greenwich Spring on Connecticut’s Gold Coast and the outside world is imbued with light, scent and color. At the C. Parker Gallery in Greenwich, the “Art in Bloom” exhibition is underway. Within the 2,000 square foot space are many variations from 15 of the gallery’s artists. In conjunction with the gallery’s monthly lecture series, art historian Dr. Jessica Winston is giving a talk on Van Gogh timed to coincide with the upcoming Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, “Van Gogh: Irises and Roses.” And while it’s rare for a retail business to incorporate an educational component into its daily operations, for Tiffany Benincasa, owner of the gallery for the past three years, a passion for art and an interest in learning has long been an ancillary mission. Through many of the services the gallery currently offers, Benincasa hopes to instill in her customers, and their … [Read more...] about C. Parker Gallery