WINDOWS ART PROJECT 1999:

Growing in the City

Jan Arabas

Garrett-Lynch Insurance, 411 Highland Ave

My favorite art media are drawing and monotype printmaking. My favorite subject is plants - especially trees, and people.

I like drawing because the marks the artist makes as they think about the drawing are in plain view, so when you look at a drawing you are in a way looking at the artist's thought process. I love this possibility- of viewing an artist's thoughts in such a direct way. I think art should communicate something about being human, and this seems most possible to me in drawing.

I like monotype printmaking, or rather the version of it that I do, because I get to use a giant, one ton machine- my etching press, which is a power trip, and to make drawings that have transparent layers superimposed upon each other. To make a monotype, I draw an image, in printers ink, on a plexiglass plate. I use the press to transfer the image to paper. Printed images come out mirror image-backwards. The stuff I draw on the right side of the plate, ends up on the left side of the transfer, which means I have to think backwards as I prepare the plate. I use a transluscent paper, made in Japan, called "Okawara", and transparent inks, so I can print many layers on top of each other. This allows me to kind of build an image, much the way a carpenter might build a house, except I am building a two dimensional, flat, thing.

In the pieces I am making currently, I start with a portrait of an individual tree. As I build the image, I layer drawings of tree parts, and sometimes, ( human) body parts as well to remind me that the tree is a live thing with a living body. This part of Somerville- Davis Square, had orchards at one time. There are still old cherry trees growing in some of the yards around the square, remnants of these orchards. So I thought for the Windows Project, to make a portrait of a cherry tree. Some of the things I wanted to draw include the deep red bark, the way this type of tree branches, the distinctive leaf and crown, and the fruit. I also wanted to draw picking cherries, one of the best ways to interact with a live cherry tree, after all.

Laura Baring-Gould

In Street Trees - Davis Square

On Thursday night someone set fire to Laura Baring-Gould's beehive piece (located on Holland Street near the Somerville Theatre). As a result, Laura will be redesigning her installations and will be back in mid-July to experiment with new (fire-proof) projects.

As an artist, I combine elements of history, biology and archetypal form to make environments of introspection and wonder. Each project - Viking ships suspended above 11 tons of salt or a forty foot long burnished copper tree with a fleet of small boats carrying copper seeds - begins with a simple premise or observation that is followed by research and intense physical labor to make a large scale sculpture/installation/event - where the precise word for the work lies somewhere in-between these three concepts.

This summer, my fourth as a Somerville resident, I have become an urban beekeeper. The bees pretty much keep themselves - but I love watching them and the structure of hives, honeycomb and swarming bees are deeply and buoyantly compelling. The old straw beehives of Ireland inspired the idea of making large scale sculptures out of hay - and it seemed appropriate to bring the rich and elemental smell of hay back into an urban environment.

Three different hay sculptures will ultimately grace Davis Square - and each, I hope will invite imagination and curiosity.

Resa Blatman

With poetry by Mary Clark

Middlesex Federal Savings Bank, One College Ave

The Somerville Arts Council invited Resa Blatman to produce the six pieces you see here for the Windows Art Project. "I was inspired to participate in this event because it means a great deal to me, as a Somerville resident, to give something that can be enjoyed and perhaps bring a sparkle to the community in which I live."

Shown in the windows are six monoprint collages by Resa Blatman. By adding textures, layers and elements to her monoprints, Resa creates art both raw and beautiful. Like an inviting garden, each print creates a lush and sensual place for the viewer. The prints are made in several stages using abstract fields of color, drawing, painting and scratching onto the print surface. Sometimes elements such as rope, wire, poetry and leaves are added. Each stage brings with it a new mood and sense of history, and each tells its own story.

Although Resa is strongly influenced by her career as a graphic designer, her monoprint work undoubtedly stands on its own merits and strengths. Her acute visual sense, her eye for color and proportion help make Resa's work bold, yet subtle. Having studied painting at the Ringling School of Art, in Sarasota, Florida and immersing herself in the art world of Florence, Italy for three years in the early 1980s, Resa returned to school in 1993. She graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art with a BFA in graphic design. In 1996 she was the sole founder of Bella Design, a graphic design and fine art studio in Somerville, Massachusetts. "Working for myself allows me the time to explore many areas of creativity, which I believe is necessary in becoming a fully developed designer and artist." Merging Resa's fine art with her graphic design projects has become an important part of her studio's identity - she is also the graphic designer for the Creating Eden/Windows Art Project event brochure. Resa is currently producing new work; abstract oil paintings with pieces of metal incorporated into them, and she plans to exhibit this work in 2000.

Lisa Brukilacchio

China Sun, 7 Holland Street

The theme "Growing in the City is one that encompasses a number of my passions. I am known as the "Garden Lady" or the Tree Lady by many of the youth on community., names that have grown from my work as Somerville Department of Public Works Greenspace Coordinator over the past five years. I have also been a gardener all my life, having learned at the feet of my grandmother, my mother and countless friends and neighbors. I have had the honor of being a Somerville Garden Awards winner for two different gardens. One of my greatest pleasures in recent years has been the opportunity to introduce young people in Somerville to the whims and wonders of gardening.

In the last five years, I have enjoyed moving beyond creating gardens to photocopying them. As evidenced by the popularity of the Art's Council's Garden Awards show, Somerville gardens, and in my case, the gardens in public spaces, offer a number of images that can challenge people's usual perspective of our city. I have had the pleasure of sharing some of these images through photo displays and slide show presentations at regional, state and national forums talking about Somerville programs.

Last winter, I took a Poloroid Transfer workshop to explore new options for working with photography as an art form. I was intrigued with the concept of printmaking from photos. Not quite knowing what will happen when you make a print from a specific slide is similar to the mystery of how a certain plant will work in a garden. Multiple factors play a role in the final outcome, There is a large element of faith involved; one needs the willingness to try, to spend the time, to invest in something that may or mot come out the way you planned. That's strong theme for me in gardening and is clearly present for me in the process of creating these prints as well.

The images I've selected for this exhibit are ones that address growing in the city from a human development as well as plant perspective. I have brought much of the training and experience I gained as an occupational therapist to bear in my work promoting gardening education in Somerville. Gardening as an activity provides so many of the basic corner stones of healthy development . Personally, it was very helpful to me in recovering from a major accident five years ago, triggering an interest in Horticultural Therapy. Now, working with kids and watching their joy, amazement, and sometimes sadness as they learn from the garden, offers me learning, pleasure and inspiration.

These images are created by using a special camera to make a Poloroid image of a slide. The resulting photo is then cut apart to create the raw material form which the actual print is made, or "transferred" onto paper. Differences in timing and treatments create varied effects in the images. These are then hand colored with pencils to enhance certain features. These youth are all at the Somerville Community Growing Center, which was designed to provide a site for exploration, adventure, and learning. The name itself is supposed to convey that this place is designed for promoting growing, both of individual and the community,. Two young sisters are checking out the iris as part of a Cummings after school program. Two more sisters proudly hold their "broccoli bouquets", mistakes in vegetable production but precious trophies. A young woman hangs food for the birds on a pine tree in the winter as part of the Eagle Eye event.

I feel that we should be proud that so many wonderful gardens have taken root in our city. These gardens are not without their challenges, but offer much joy and provide critical nurturing for the soul of our city. The little pockets of wildness, of temporal beauty, or tons of tomatoes are part of the fabric of Somerville. I have had a lot of fun trying to capture some of the elements and images related to the more public garden spaces woven into the city.

Pamela Dodds

TSR Wireless, 18 Holland Street

In my work I explore the complexities of human relationships. I am particularly interested in those transitory, often poignant moments in our interactions with one another. The paintings are created from imagination, memory and observation. I paint on a large scale so the figures are life size or larger.

Although the pictures have an autobiographical quality, they are not snapshots of my life. The stories are open to interpretation. There is no right or wrong way to see them.

Beth Galston

Morgan Memorial Goodwill, 230 Elm Street

In my studio I have a large collection of natural materials--leaves, seedpods, acorns, logs, branches--which I have been using in my sculptures since 1995. Many of the pods have fascinating shapes and textures. One day I was looking at the sweetgum pods (the brown balls with many spikes) and saw that they stick together, like a natural velcro. Using a glue gun, I began fastening them together. Working from the center out, I added one pod at a time, and kept turning the construction to keep it round. I wanted to see what a large sphere made of many smaller spheres would look like.

Some of the images I was thinking of as I worked were cell division, the big bang, galaxies. Basically, these are just balls of stuff. After working for a while on the sweetgum sphere, I began making other spheres using beechnut husks (which are star-shaped, brown on the outside and lighter on the inside), dried red Japanese maple leaves, and water chestnut pods (which are gunmetal black and have four sharp points).

I enjoy collecting, which I consider to be part of the creative process. I usually don't go looking for particular materials, but simply find things I like as I'm going about my business. Most of my finds are from the greater Boston area. I noticed the black water chestnut pods during a walk at Great Meadows in Concord. One of the ponds at Great Meadows was drained this year, revealing tons of dried pods at the bottom. Evidentally, water chestnut plants have been so successful that they're choking out other vegetation. I got a permit to collect from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who were happy for me to remove them.

"Will I ever see you again"
is a sculpture created by Kathleen Griffin

Kenney Park, Grove Street (between Highland and Elm)

The phrase "will I ever see you again" is first dug out of the ground and then later this summer will be planted with crocus bulbs. Because the crocus is a perennial flower, the phrase will reappear every year adding both irony and meaning. This piece is inspired by the cyclical patterns life seems to follow; no matter how much things change there are certain things that are always returned to in one way or another. The concepts of the piece are furthered by its seasonal reappearance in spring and its close proximity to both a playground and a train station.

Martin Knox

Fleet Bank, 403 Highland Avenue

Coming to a river near you . . . The Alewife Story. It is fun to think about how fish live and grow in the city too. At this time of year, down at the river, the sparkling schools of Alewife are a delight to discover. The Mystic River and its tributaries have been herring breeding grounds for centuries. Every spring, adult Alewife swim upstream to spawn and then the little baby Alewife swim out to the bay.

Thanks to the children and their parents at this year's annual Alewife Run celebration at the Mystic River. They helped me decorate the mobile fish with blue and green glitter and wiggly eyes. I am still finding glitter in my hair from installing this thing! It is always a pleasure for me to orchestrate community participation in an art installation that draws attention to an environmental issue. See you down at the river.

Dominique Lecomte

Traffic & Parking, 133 Holland Street

In my work, I try to represent situations and spaces from which imagination can expand and run freely. I think this is what art is about. I also try to make the audience laugh because I don't think life is something one has to take too seriously. Art can be a good way to express that, too. It all depends on the subject, my mood, and sometimes the medium.

I favor harmony in composition in order to suppress any clashes. When I draw characters, they are there as an invitation to travel, or an invitation to laugh with them. They can be "real" or they can be "Les Bonhommes" (The Goodmen), a kind of figure I started to use in 1987. It is the atmosphere and the calm of the picture, mixed with a somewhat realistic representation of the world, that must invite a dream from what is shown. The attitudes of "les Bonhommes", linked to the scenery that surrounds them, must suggest a story and a smile.

To give strength to my pictures and add to the message, I use black and white or bright colors. When one sees my work, I would like him or her to remember it and be happy for a while. One must think about forgotten things pleasant to remember again, like old book illustrations. One must also be taken by the nostalgia of a past when the world seemed simple and paralyzed in a reassuring duality of cardboard, sometimes funny, sometimes sunny, sometimes mysterious... Most of the time, the image is naive. If it is a pleasure just to look at it and imagine a story, then my goal is achieved.

For the Window Art Project, I first sent six prints that I made in France in 1996 and 1997 during summer vacations, when I was remembering my time in Boston. Because they were imaginary recollections of the city and their suburbs, I thought they would fit well with the theme "Growing in the city". Later, when I had been accepted in this project and when I had been told that I would exhibit in the Traffic & Parking Building but needed to enlarge or blow up my linocuts, I went in front of this building and I noticed that they had street signs in their windows. It gave me the idea of putting these signs in a composition that would use only four of the original works I sent, but would add a touch o real city life and keep the identity of the building. I chose a checked pattern because it mixes equally black and white and color, and is often seen on an American city map. I also put a cow sign (at least in a draft project I made, and I hope I will find one to put with the others) because it would be funny to see one in a city, and if it makes you laugh when you see it, that's good!

Keith Maddy

Token Booth, Davis Square MBTA Station

When the theme of "Growing in the City" was announced, I photographed locall gardens, yards, city landmarks and scenery. I pruned these photos and planted them in rows to represent a sense of vibrancy that exists in Somerville, not only of gardening, but also, of the growth and development of the city as we continue to celebrate it as a destination to live, work and explore. To promote this reality both locally and beyond, three of my collages will be printed will be printed up as full color postcards and available for free at local retail and service establishments.

Displaying the images in the MBTA is a way to bring fresh air to their cavernous halls. Unable to fund enlarged, full color copies of my collages, I decided to enlarge them in black and white and highlight them by illumination from within. Many of the cropped images may be difficult to identify or place, but they are all Somerville stock. The slicing of the images makes identification much more puzzling, "Where did I see that?!" I enjoyed exploring the city again, which I've lived in for 10 years, and still finding something new and exciting around the corner. When we look close, beauty is not far away.

Daniel Maher Stained Glass Studio

US Trust Bank, 212 Elm Street

The Daniel Maher Stained Glass Studio was formed in 1989 and is dedicated to the highest ideals of the art and craft of stained glass. The Studio focuses equally on the creation and restoration of stained glass and maintains close contact with other studios and professional organizations to share information in the latest techniques, materials.

Daniel Maher has cultivated an environment in which creativity and a passion for learning are the priorities. The diversity of the people with whom he has chosen to share his vision provides the studio with a wide range of creative and technical resources.

The studio has received new work commissions from Waterstone's Booksellers, Boston, AM; Analog Devices, Norwood, MA; The Cambridge Brewing Company, Cambridge, MA; St. Paul's AME, Cambridge, MA; St. Jame's Church, Cambridge, MA; Church of All Angels, Haines Falls, NY; The Roxbury Latin School, West Roxbury, MA; St. Paul's Church, Millis, MA; Capital Resource Partners, Boston, MA and numerous private residences.

Windows Art Project/Growing in the City

For this project, the Daniel Maher Stained Glass Studio created four separate stained glass panels, each designed by one of the four artists at the Studio. The panels represented the individual artist's unique view of the urban landscape. The Daniel Maher Stained Glass Studio is: Dan Maher, Nancy Nicholson, Anna Johansson and Kate Gakenheiner.

Joy McLaughlin

Sidewalk Chalk Drawing, Davis Square

I have been creating streetpaintings in chalk (pastels) for the past 5 years. The streetpainting tradition dates back to 16th century Italy when soldiers returning from war would create these incredible, ephemeral pieces of art (usually depicting the Madonna or religious scenes) in exchange for room and board from the local churches. I have continued this tradition by creating streetpaintings at festivals, parties and charity events across the United States. These works have included reproductions of Masterpieces as well as original creations.

As an artist the most important aspect of the work is not the finished "product" but the process of the work. Streetpainting allows me to convey this to the audience and allows the viewer to become involved with the making of art. I am very interested in all forms of Public Art which takes art off the pedestal in the gallery or museum and hands it directly to the audience allowing them to come upon it - rather than have to seek art out. Creativity in all its forms is a basic element of all life and so art should be a part of our lives.

The painting being created for The Windows Art Project in Somerville uses a tromp l'oeill effect (which means "to fool the eye"), By the use of creative perspective and shading an illusion of depth and another deminsion appears to the viewer. For the optimum illusion the viewer should stand at the center bottom of the painting (see footprints).

Mystic Teens Writing Group

In McIntyre & Moore Booksellers, 255 Elm Street

These are excerpts from some of Somerville's newest authors, teens from the Mystic Housing Development. The theme of "Growing in the City" is relevant to their work in several ways. They have all been raised in Somerville's urban environment and experienced first hand the pleasures and difficulties of growing up in a city. Through a special class taught by local writer Dale Thomas, they have also "grown" into young authors, gaining new skills and learning to express themselves through writing.

Dale's writing workshop, called "Books of Hope," was offered through a collaboration between the Somerville Arts Council and the Mystic Learning Center. Every Tuesday evening for 14 weeks the teens met with Dale to create their own books. Each session started with writing exercises designed to get the imagination going and ended with a roundtable meeting when two or three of the young authors would read aloud from their work in progress. The whole group would comment, giving feedback about what they liked about ideas, language or plot.

Some of these young authors chose to write autobiographies, while others wrote fiction inspired by the lives of people around them. Others chose to write poetry, fantasy or children's books. While some of the stories may seem bleak, they represent very real issues that these teens and their friends face. The fact that the authors had the courage to face the challenge of telling their stories is inspiring and fulfills the mission of "Books of Hope."

Nan A. Nickson

Saragas Eye Center, 413 Highland Ave

SEMANTICS Following the advice given to writers, I paint (carve, crochet, form, assemble...) what I know. My experience is my subject. Lately, that has been participating in the growth of my son, the spirit and beauty of the plants, water, and dirt I walk on, and the culture and individuals I find myself walking among. To my eye, art at its best is powerful, compelling, and beautiful. We are bombarded with images that move us with their brutality. These are a reflection of what our culture serves up as power. The challenge I set before myself is to move my audience with beauty. This is in opposition to being evocative with images that shock through morbidity, fear and repulsion. My images strive to animate feelings as visceral as despair, with subject matter that reflects something subtler and more powerful than intimidation and inflicted suffering. I paint commonplace subjects in a way that reveals their sublime beauty. The beauty of our world needs to be honored and brought to the fore so it can set the example for what we should aspire to. I accept the age old challenge to the artist - to create beauty... beauty that inspires.

SUBJECT I paint where I am. I have been painting at local ponds (Walden Pond, Punkatassett and Wright Pond) for the last few years. Recent landscapes include the Maine woods, Newfound Lake in New Hampshire, and a meadow in Upstate New York where I traveled last summer. I have also developed a series of "Café Paintings" over the last five years. These are groups of friends and family set at a local Café. In addition to these are individual portraits. I paint people doing what they are doing in their real life. Examples are Matt pouring coffee in Someday Café-Davis Sq., Jessica & Jasmine's Lemonaide Stand, Benjamin walking in the woods (When Khy Died), and Willy putting whipped cream on cocoa, etc., etc. I am very interested in doing portraits of people in their own space, and have begun a series of life-size tapestries.

TECHNIQUE The paintings I am making now are expressionistic renderings of local scenes. These paintings play with opaque and translucent light to create an atmosphere within the painting that is evocative. They are figurative (people and trees) and perspectival with a clear sense of gravity and space, although the figures can be abstracted. They are composed of brush work, implementing multiple washes of (acrylic) paint for effects of depth, and thick carved (oil) paint for solid grounded structures. In many cases I have inverted the canvas, painting on the back side stretchers and all, playing with the borders and edges of the traditional boundaries of a painting.

EXPERIENCE I have been painting for 15 years, using both oils and acrylic paint on a variety of surfaces, often combining the two. I have done extensive landscape painting in the field, as well as working with photographs and dream images. Specialized course work includes: Color Theory, Renaissance Painting Technique, Mosaic, Stone Carving, Welding, Ceramics, and Figure Painting. In sculpture I utilize crocheting, stone carving, welding, and quilt making techniques with plaster, clay, paint, wire, and found objects; incorporating these in various combinations. Since completing my undergraduate work at Mass Art and The Museum School (Boston), I have presented work in 5 competitive Juried Exhibits, and had 6 solo Exhibitions. Currently, I am working on my MFA in Painting at Syracuse University.

* inquiries about paintings or commissions can be directed to the artist at (617) 491-7034 or by e-mail at nannickson@juno.com

Shoshana Phillips

Pluto, 215 Elm Street, and the Social Security Building, 240 Elm Street

The people in my life are what provide me with personal and meaningful subject matter. I am lucky to have friends who have always been willing to attend my parties, walk my dogs, shop for shoes or clothes, or just hang out, all for the sake of supplying with material for my etchings.

This collection of portraits is a tribute to some of my closest friends who, over the years, have been the models and inspiration for my artwork.

Mark Schafer

"Growing Out of Somerville, Going Out of Somerville"
Baker Travel, 407 Highland Avenue

When we travel, we grow. We experience new sights, sounds, smells, climates, landscapes, languages, customs and they change us. As Madeline Dunn of Baker Travel says, "When you travel, you meet people from different cultures with different ways of doing things and you become more open to them, more independent, and more social."

Last summer, as I was hanging maps I'd made of my own imaginary journeys in the windows of Baker Travel for WAP '98, I began to notice the women who work here. Every day they help multitudes of people to travel around the world. Where, I wondered, had they traveled? What were these travel agents' own most memorable travel experiences? Meanwhile, I, as an artist, wanted to grow, to travel outside the confines of my own imagination. So I asked them about their travels. And this is the collaboration that resulted, combining the words and images of the women at Baker Travel with my own map and word-filled imagination. I am grateful to Mary, Madeline, Donna, Maureen, Janet, Anne, and Ferne for sharing their memories and enthusiasm for travel with me. This project has certainly been a trip!

Stephen Sette-Ducati

Maven Realty, 402A Highland Avenue

Anna Shapiro

THE WAVE Part II: Somerville
The Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square

I like making waves. The Wave can be interpreted as a sign of relaxation and cleansing or it can be understood as the flow and chaotic activity in a busy city like Somerville. I make portable waves that I fold and carry in my pocket. The folds create a grid in the paper that, for me, signify the power grids and concrete grids of the city. The subversive act of carrying "the wave" with me in my travels through Somerville brings an element of nature into urban spaces. This creates sites of incongruity. I unfold the wave in various parts of the city and photograph it emphasizing a "green" space in the city or juxtaposing its deep blue with an industrial or barren location. People in the community hold the wave for me while I document the interaction with photography and video.

This installation of the wave in the Windows Art Project incorporates "The Wave," the people and places that interact with it and the documentation of this process.

William Turville

Downtown Wine and Spirits, 225 Elm Street

As I work, I feel my relationship with the natural world. This is a system of growth and change. Much of my work reflects natural forces and their effects on me. The energy and feelings of the moment create a spark which triggers my response to materials. I try to capture the essence of that moment and bring it into the physical dimension. The energy and feelings are transformed into a presence which I contemplate and learn from. My resulting pieces often resemble or use natural objects or landscapes. Often the forms signify growth, movement and change.

William Wainwright

Harvard Vanguard Building Lobby, 40 Davis Square

These butterflies and leaves are a small part of an installation I made for the entrance lobby of the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science in Durham NC for their recently completed free flying butterfly habitat. The materials are reed from the Caning in Davis Square and fabric.

I enjoy the gentle way they move with the lobby's air movement. They seem to almost float.

Sara Beth Wiley

Carberry's Bakery, 187 Elm Street

Participating in the Windows Art Project has given me an opportunity to document the changes I have seen in Davis Square over the past four years (the length of time I've been living in the area). My photography expresses the theme of Growing in the City by depicting growth, movement, and variety; from chairs to buildings, the photographs capture the diversity of Davis Square and illustrate the ways in which everyday objects change shape and mature. The source material I used in the collages was a full set of encyclopedias I found on trash night in Davis Square. These are also relevant to the theme of growth and maturity for me as an artist, since they date back to 1967, the year I was born.

At the Distillery in South Boston I have a studio where I paint and make gum bicromate prints, the work I did for this project is a variation from the style of my printmaking. By mounting transparencies onto plexiglass, I used the same collage style but also created an effect that enhances their function both aesthetically and visually. Joining the artwork to a clear surface allows the images to meld with the panoramic view of Davis Square, providing different perceptions of the neighborhood that depend on the viewer's position and time of day. This was important for me to achieve because when I was considering how I would approach the Windows Art Project, I looked deeply into the elements of Davis Square and wanted to portray this same effect for the viewer. What I found was a melding of old and new, past and present. The change and growth has thus far enhanced Davis Square, but hanging on to the elements of the past is what will keep this a rich and exciting community.

I am a graduate of UMASS Dartmouth with a degree in graphic design. I currently freelance as a designer and occasionally as an illustrator, the ArtBeat festival being my most recent project.

Return to main WAP 1999