The Art that is Life

Living in both the San Francisco and Los Angeles area of California provided me with invaluable access to a design aesthetic commonly referred to as the Arts and Crafts Movement. The title of this blog in fact pays homage to the subtitle of architect Will Price’s monthly magazine “The Artsman” (1903-1907). Price believed houses would be modern if they fit the life one lived, and that a home could have everything it needed without costly materials and exaggerated details. Reformer and designer William Morris is credited with the primary tenet of the Movement: “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

The revival of this Movement at the end of the Twentieth century has abated. However, in this period of economic destabilization, the spirit of its ideals, if not the actual visual appearance, remains relevant. In a recent Boston Globe article, South End designer Meichi Peng is highlighted for her uncanny knack for what is both “livable and stylish” in our current times. Notably, she works to create environments that are modern but not sterile. Key to this effect is the use of a few items in the design that are truly one of a kind art or craft.

This effect is something that almost anyone can achieve, if they rethink the use of generically available home décor. For someone wanting to make their living space uniquely theirs, the most limited budget would be better served with one striking element of original art over a plethora of inexpensive reproduction prints or sculpture. You don’t have to travel far afield like Peng to achieve a personal style – in the Boston Area we have an embarrassment of riches with countless open studios events that can provide a ground floor for entering into the art arena. Armed with a map, and good walking shoes, all you need to do your research and hunt is both time to spend and a willingness to explore. Shortly, the Fort Point Open Studios will be here (May 7-9), followed by the SoWa Art Walk on May 15 and 16. In the fall, you will see the greater majority of the studio events open, after hard working artists and designers have spent the summer preparing to show their work. If you live too far outside the Boston area for these open studios, many urban and suburban regions hold similar events at some point in the year. They are different than fairs or art festivals – open studios are designed for the viewer to see the working environment of the artist and directly contact the maker of the object.

You don’t have to wait for the big open studio events. On (mostly) first Fridays of the month, SoWa hosts First Fridays revolving around the area of the 450 and 460 Harrison Avenue buildings in Boston. Part of this includes open artist studios, and part of this is the galleries in the zone. Another smart option is to watch for the art school sales that happen at various times during the year. The SMFA holds a large scholarship fundraiser Inside/Out in November each year, and the students usually have an end of year outdoor fair in May. MassArt likewise holds auctions and sales. With a little ingenuity, willingness to put in time, and a modest budget, unique art to make a personal statement in your home or office is very attainable.

Boston and Art

Boston is my adopted art home, I was born and educated on the west coast. So my perceptions of the energy of the local art scene are colored by that experience, and equally by my participation in the vibrancy of the SMFA. I read the thought provoking Boston Globe discussion of the Boston art arena, "How to start an art revolution", and I began to think about a certain sense of fatalism I first perceived as a newcomer to Boston. The Red Sox had notably not won a World Series for a very long time, and that seemed to become an entrenched attitude about their chances - period. Similarly, I have had more than one conversation at a South End First Friday about the exodus of cutting-edge artists away from Boston as a many decades long phenomenon.

I have traveled to New York as do most Boston artists. I appreciate the variety and diversity I see there. But I don't particularly want to see the New York look cloned onto Boston, I want the Boston look to become both more energetic, experimental, and more unique as its own style of value in the world.

Article author/educator/painter Dushko Petrovich raises many valid thoughts about the problems and possibilities of taking the region to the next level. If the big money is in NYC or LA, then we do indeed need to create a viable working environment to encourage artists to seek out Boston. Part of these possibilities, the commitment to a new and permanent home by Mobius in the South End is one recent upward trend. The economy may be in a lull, but that is the exact best time that new faces can emerge on the scene, such as Walker Contemporary, NKG (disclaimer - my co-owned gallery), or Galvinized - all new to the South End. In the Greater Boston Area, the Arsenal Center for the Arts has a new energetic director, Sharon Glennon, and a new mission to promote visual arts side-by-side with its already strong theatre arts program.

For government and universities to change and be part of the solution, things quite a bit more difficult have to happen. Institutions like those are averse to risk, and will move much more slowly toward change. When I first moved to Boston, it seemed odd to me that Harvard University lacked a Master of Fine Arts program as an option. Relatively recently, Boston has added one low residency graduate program through AIB, Non-art focused colleges such as Babson have created artist in residence options. Bentley University has established a new Media and Culture Major that brings a high level of rigor and preparation to newer media studies. As an educator, I have continued to find the talents of student in my art classes to be exemplary - and most of them want to try and make Boston possible as their post college home. If we could all encourage communities to promote more public art - particularly more temporal and experimental in quality, everyone would benefit for the conversations that are created (love it or hate it). I would welcome more floating/ephemeral galleries, and see no end of possibilities - but it will take hard work with a healthy does of patience.