By Suzanne Volmer BOSTON, MA -- In Boston, and globally, Public Art is focused on placemaking. This means there is an active shaping of identity to build community and to foster relationship with environment. Philadelphia pioneered the Percent for Art policy in the United States and today it is a world-class art destination with exceptional outdoor sculptures. In a percentage for art program, part of the building costs are dedicated to art in public space and that figure is customarily one percent of the total. The experience of Public Art in Philadelphia is that it fits effortlessly into the landscape and enhances the environment. Chicago’s sophisticated Percent for Art program has used the concept to bring a human dimension to vast plazas below its skyscrapers and planners have chosen permanent sculptures by Blue Chip artists such as Jean Dubuffet, Pablo … [Read more...] about Boston’s Public Art Wow Factor
street art
Put Me In, Coach
HIGH-FLYING MURALS AT NEW ART CENTER by James Foritano Newton, Mass. - January and February are ordinarily months of cabin fever, when walls close in — unless, of course, you’re the kind of athlete who sees sport in snow and ice. For enthusiasts of the “great indoors,” as more and more I count myself, there are always walls begging to be inscribed, emblazoned with intuitions of the heart and soul. Skeptical? Suffering under the illusion that art is for artists and walls are no place to be leaving the untutored effusions of an amateur? Relax. You have The New Art Center in Newton’s Holzwasser Gallery — a modest space of about 300 square feet with walls that soar to an 18-foot- high ceiling — and the sanction of a young program that encourages anyone and everyone with a yen to team up with like-minded participants and, under expert but gentle coaching, make your … [Read more...] about Put Me In, Coach