Newest Features
The Berwick Research Institute is no stranger to change, and this past week they announced another major transition: the end of their Artist In Research (AIR) program. This announcement comes on the heels of a number of changes at the Roxbury-based organization, and the implications are not yet certain. The Berwick team, however, is already looking to the future. Bonnie Bastien, who led the AIR program from 2007, said: “The Berwick is a lot more than just the AIR program, and it was obvious that things were changing. We wanted to end…
By SANDRINE SCHAEFER As Americans, we live with the luxury of ignorance. Some take pride in educating themselves on war, others ignore it, but unlike the citizens of Iraq or Afghanistan who are immersed in the daily consequences of war, we have the ability to choose what we do with our information. In 2007, Joanne Rice, a local artist and Mobius Artist Group member, committed herself to not only think about the war every day, but also chose to share this commitment with the entire city of Boston. It is a signature…
By THEODORE BALE It was a tripartite collaboration that happened only once: in 1979 choreographer Lucinda Childs, composer Philip Glass, and artist Sol LeWitt came together to create the signature performance work of the minimal period, DANCE. Of course, with hundreds of steps, thousands of feet of 35 mm black-and-white film, and millions of notes, “minimalism” is a persistent but hardly apt label. Glass has preferred to describe the music from this early period as “working with repetitive structures.” Childs’ dance at the time was largely non-narrative and plainly dressed, and LeWitt’s…
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND Last April I went to an art exhibit at Brown University’s Nightingale-Brown House. The building houses the John Nicholas Brown Center’s masters degree program in Public Humanities, and though a federally-qualified historic landmark, seemed like a good place for an art installation to a couple of its students – now graduates – who are former curators of Roxbury’s Berwick Research Institute. The BRI is known for its experimental curatorial approach, which the students and show’s curators, Meg Rotzel and Rosie Branson Gill, largely designed. Art+History, as they titled the…
By MATTHEW GAMBER Developed as a series of medical procedures to correct for abnormalities, cosmetic surgery has transformed into an industry to manage what nature has denied. Advanced techniques for plastic surgery were developed after World War I to restore function and symmetry to wounded veterans. Medical aesthetic management is a product of modernity, and offers contemporary society the promise of beauty by knife. This statement is an observation, since collectively we engage so many personal aesthetic enhancements, whether it is by whitening toothpaste or topical moisturizers. However, when function or health…
By BIG RED Thursday September 24th 2009 A Big Red Night On The Town at the opening of “Eat The Art”. Featuring the work of : Alice Abrams, Laraine Armenti, Mara Aspinall, June August, Martha Bedrosian, Alex Campbell, Catherine Davis, Ernie D’elia, Pauline Delin, Mary Dunn, Lisa Fay, Virginia Fitzgerald, Michael Guadagno, Joe Greene, Elisa Hamilton, Jennifer Hill, Leise Jones, Pam Jorgensen, Christiane Corcelle-Lippeveld, Jeannette Martin, Heidi Mayo, Laura Miner, Monica Mitchell, Farnaz Mobayyen, Karen Moss, Kate Moss, Maureen O’Connor, Paul Osborne, Vicki Kocher, Cortney Provini, Amy McGregor-Radin, Ken Reker, Irena Roman,…
By BIG RED The artist, muralist, children’s book auther and former graffiti writer Caleb Neelon at work on his “Imagination Wall” in the lobby of Children’s Hospital, Boston. Neelon was at work 9 to 5, Monday though Friday, 21 September through 2 October in the lobby of the hospital, filling up the 7-feet tall, 52-feet long wall with his paint brushes. Look for a feature on the work in Our Daily RED later this week. Children’s Hospital arts program Caleb Neelon’s Site: The Art Where Dreams Come True Caleb Neelon’s “Imagination Wall”…
By BIG RED Friday October 2nd 2009 A Big Red Night On The Town at the First Friday Openings in Boston’s South End (SOWA) All images by James Manning. James Manning is a Boston based independent curator, artist and film producer. He is a regular contributor to Big RED & Shiny.