Public Art | Painting | Chromodynamic Light
THIS just went up at the Kensington Connector (used to be Kensington Underpass of 93) by the Style Cafe! A project of East Somerville Main Streets with funding from Somerville Arts Council, inside the Connector is community art organized by … Read More
I’ll be participating in the online edition, using Topia and BoothCentral for May 1 & 2- stop in and say hi! Also added more items to the shop on this site for the occasion. Some of my effort over that … Read More
The pins are ready to ship! The Vaccine Victory Pin, the size of a quarter, is made of cloisonne enamel and 14K plated gold. A brief explanation of the colors & symbolism: The Light Blue of the V is the … Read More
This design project has been close to my heart and a few months in the making. Jeweler and author Karen Christians had the idea for an enameled pin, I came up with the design, and we both noodled it through … Read More
These manhole covers on the Arlington/Cambridge border appeared in May, but could be seen as having more meaning during the 2020 election season. Want to hit “RESET” on our national malaise? GO vote! BTW early voting info can be found … Read More
Creating a fun and colorful pop of vibrance and happiness on the corner between the Town Hall and the 1853 Homer House. This transformer box, painted in September 2020, is part of the “Transforming Belmont” program of the Belmont Art … Read More
At the close of July, we put the finishing touches on the block-long Unity Path that stretches throughout Artists’ Row! Its colorful ground art and several walls weave together elements, ideas and words of welcome from cultures that make up … Read More
There’s plenty to see now on Artists’ Row, as the artists set up their shops, the Artists in Residence Lauren & Jacob (Creative Blocks) do cool interventions all over the centre city, and our team adds welcoming color and good … Read More
To celebrate the (safe) reopening of Salem’s Artists’ Row for the 2020 summer season, lead artist Liz LaManche and a team of community members are filling the block with a series of decorative ground and wall art murals signifying inclusion … Read More
City of Boston just released their 2020 Transformative Public Art grantees, and “Distance Whispering” (see previous posts here) has won a development grant (“Later Projects”), meaning a stipend to further develop the design and build plan and to seek appropriate … Read More
Proposed for the Celebrity Series of Boston for 2021: Like the tremendously successful Street Pianos project, this would place an open-ended invitation and conversation starter out in our neighborhoods. Each could be pre-programmed with a schedule of performers, and also … Read More
People need some outdoor time for physical and mental health, but need to stay physically distanced while we beat the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been some wonderful and playful ways to keep each others’ spirits up and demonstrate solidarity, like … Read More
The Mural Arts folks liked Connected By Sea and the various other symbology-driven tattoo themed pieces I’d done in the past to honor our cultural variety within one human family. This proposed piece was in that series. The SEPTA underpass … Read More
Inspired by the multidimensional Orb of Agamotto that appears in the Marvel universe, this project began as a joint-double-dare and weird idea generated by Lark Russell, an ex comic book writer. I of course offered to paint it and supply … Read More
Patriot Ledger: “Public art installation nearing completion in Hull.” The new Hull Art Walk will line a rebuilt long-abandoned pedestrian walkway near Nantasket Beach, near the historic Paragon Boardwalk. Several artists are contributing murals to give the walkway a variety … Read More
October 18, 2018, 6-7pm: Hosted by Loading Dock Arts and Western Avenue Studios as part of their “Business of Art” lecture series. In which I talk about the How and Why of public art for artists interested in working more in the public realm. The … Read More
Expressive of a feeling. With thanks to my very favorite model, Gilded Lillian.
This year’s Public Space Invitational contest by the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, called “Play Around the City,” was aimed at enriching a series of urban bus stops. Inviting temporary interventions with a limited budget, their goal is to add … Read More
Locals and visitors to Winter Hill noticed a new street art stencil over Somerville Open Studios weekend. The art marks the location of President Obama’s old basement student apartment at 365 Broadway in Somerville, where he lived while a graduate student … Read More
I don’t usually work with kids. But I had the pleasure of creating a couple of public events lately where visitors are invited to help color in the art, and this naturally seems to turn into a kid-centric activity. Everyone … Read More
I’m loving the street art installations at Boston’s Underground at Ink Block, but there is still so much bare concrete! Those oversized cement columns always make me think… I’ve always wanted to just start painting them up with Egyptian and … Read More
Music Is Love: This new community mural was kicked off by a participatory live painting day at ZUMIX Radio Block Party, 9/23/17. On the wall of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Education & Training Institute, 250 Sumner Street, East … Read More
The Mass Ave Diner in Central Square is rebooting this month and next with new decor and a new menu. It will still be a neighborhood comfort-breakfast-food diner by day, but at night it will turn into a funky bar … Read More
I recently has the pleasure of working with the excellent folks at Dave’s Fresh Pasta on their new venture, SEMOLINA Kitchen & Bar, in Medford. Modeled after Dave’s and soon to feature both dining, bar and a small market, this … Read More
For the month of June, my series of portraits will be on view at the Somerville Media Center, 90 Union Square. It’s open Monday-Thursday Noon to 10 PM, Friday & Saturday 10 AM to 4 PM, and closed Sunday and … Read More
I’ll be at Artisans Asylum Tuesday the 18th of April, from 7-8 pm, talking about experiences doing large public art, both in Somerville and elsewhere. My murals and tattoos have appeared in various places, from an industrial shipyard to downtown … Read More
I came back from being away, to a wonderful new issue of the Somerville Scout, full of write-ups of the people I love doing fabulous things around town. I am in “Art For All: Finding Eye-Catching Works in Shared City … Read More
Join us for an evening talking about working in public art.. How I got into doing larger art in public, and how you can. We’ll delve into some of the philosophical WHY as well as answer your questions about the … Read More
People have been telling me they want to try making bigger projects themselves. While painting the recent Butterflies mural at Esh Circus Arts, I was joined by the talented Matt Em Weston who did some filming. I cut that together into … Read More
In recent news, as government agencies have been told to scrub climate science information from their websites, the Twitter accounts of various federally funded agencies have “gone rogue” and refused to stop posting scientific facts… These include most of the … Read More
Artist and writer Greg Cook just came out with a well-written article looking at “The Soul’s Journey As A Series Of Weird Old Cars”, titled “New Mural In Somerville Honors Beloved Auto Mechanic” October 14. Check it out at WBUR! Excerpt: “The image … Read More
This has passed the approval process with Somerville Arts Council and the City, and is now in process. It’s in the parklet at the intersection of Medford Street and Pearl Street, across from the ABJ Auto lot. Painting is going … Read More
This 96-foot long crosswalk is a project of Walk Medford. The figures are traced from crosswalk signs, safety signs, and from people dancing. The “ped figures” start out walkign sedately, then get more exuberant toward the middle, till they are … Read More
Creating a Street Piano for Celebrity Series‘ “Play Me, I’m Yours” hitting the Boston streets in September! The 60 artists chosen all worked in a shared industrial space in the Innovation & Design Building from July 18-Aug. 26, and the pianos will be … Read More
It’s July 11 and everyone is playing Pokemon Go… the streets of Cambridge and Somerville are full of folks walking around looking at their phones, catching Pokemons. I decided it was time to prank them by printing out colorful Pokemon creatures about 8″ … Read More
In my quest to do street paintings in Somerville, here is my proposal sketch for the Pearl Street Steps. I’d like to decorate this staircases in honor of our longtime community friend Al Riskalla, who owned the ABJ Auto mechanics shop … Read More
I’ve been working with the City of Lowell and CDM Smith engineers to create art for their Decatur WAY project in Lowell, a beautiful new walkway in what had been a bit of an eyesore alley behind the historic Cote’s … Read More
I’m pleased to say I have an article published in the journal “The Artists’ Working: Theory and Practice”. It’s on the process of making the Connected By Sea installation. There are 8 fat & juicy articles in this publication, well … Read More
Had a very lovely Open Studios weekend, maybe the best ever! Saw lots of good folk, had excellent conversations, showed off art, sold art! People liked the old color-changing painting setup and the new Rain Art demo! My and other … Read More
Having a great Somerville Open Studios weekend. But one interesting complication has been the letter emailed to all the exhibiting artists from the SOS organizers at 9pm Saturday night, (that’s right, halfway through the event!) saying that the Somerville Board … Read More
Earthsign Studios just got our shipment of industrial superhydrophobic waterproofer, and I get to try out Seattle-style Rain Activated Art! Here’s the video of my test piece. Spoiler: It works great! I’m about to use it on the new Decatur Way Green … Read More
This year’s edition of the Boston PSI or Public Space Initiative has come upon us, and I’m submitting Stairs of Fabulousness II: The Blinky Edition (or more properly, “Stairs of deLight”!) An interactive LED light installation on the bottom staircase … Read More
This is a proposal I’m working up for the embankment behind Somerville City Hall, on School Street. Right now it’s bare concrete. I’d like to use a background of Art Nouveau stylized lilies and a realistic Eastern Box Turtle… these … Read More
If I had my way, this is what I’d do in the Kensington Underpass (that ugly walkway under 93 from the Stop & Shop to Assembly Square). Painting with Color Kinetics lighting. The complicated one would use stencils to make parts … Read More
I put this wheat paste up in the Alley in Central Square, in response to Gov. Baker’s attitude toward the Syrian refugee crisis.
Well now, there appears to be a rather worried Lemur on the Rte 93 pedestrian underpass to Assembly Square. Posted without further comment.
Video flythrough just posted: Visiting Salem for Halloween? Take a peek down Derby Sq and Artists Row: Last looks at my tattoo-art-inspired public art, “Salem’s Connected World”… designed as a temporary installation for the summer season. I just put together the … Read More
The kind people at Invitae commissioned me to do a 16’x8′ mural for their new Cambridge office’s entryway. They are a genetic information company specializing in affordable genetic testing for medicine. Their motto, “We are all connected“, resonated strongly with … Read More
Thanks to local art-supporters and good-guy volunteers Lisette Larkin and her most enlightened sweetie Ben, the tattoos of Salem’s Connected World are being well maintained through the summer season. Some of the tattoos have been wearing more than others, mostly … Read More
Beautiful sunny day and a Sankofa symbol in the making by Old Town Hall. Learn from the past… This one suggested by African art expert Stephen Hamilton, with much good background information that we will add here soon. So many … Read More
Today in Derby Sq: Lisette and Michael put finishing touches on the new Honu tattoo next to Old Town Hall. Awesome first painting day, 4 designs laid out, one finished already! Loving the vibe in Salem too, people are nice!
Excellent day kicking off tattoo project in Salem!! Half the ground prepped, placement decisions decided, volunteers found and met, a fantastic bunch of people up here with a desire to make cool stuff! Big thanks to Daniel Stanwood for stalwart … Read More
So my big project OTD: I’ll be creating a new public art piece in Salem this month! City of Salem is commissioning a Connected By Sea companion piece as a temporary installation for their summer arts festival season, to be … Read More
This afternoon 12-6pm, 35 Kidder Ave, Somerville: Looks like a great day to see Open Studios! Map is here New: Pillows, Dock Tattoo related art and items, weird little sculptures by Andor artists. Also not to be missed on your … Read More
GREAT NEWS: After a fantastic night of beer and art for Visualize Somerville at Aeronaut Brewing Company on Friday, the management decided they wanted to rent this piece to add to their deco and interactive fun for the entire month of … Read More
This was a slogan that my friend the music producer Encanti came up with months ago, and I have been threatening ever since to make it into a T-shirt. Well as a trial balloon for getting a Society6 account, here … Read More
I‘ll be at Fountain Street Fine Art this Saturday from 5-7pm, for the opening reception of the show Visual Alchemy. “2015 begins with VISUAL ALCHEMY, a cutting- edge Group Show curated by Elizabeth Devlin, founder of Flux-Boston art blog.” This experimental … Read More
Here is a lovely shot from the atrium inside Boston City Hall, with the Stairs of Fabulousness and the 2015 Textable Christmas Tree, where you text it a Crayola color and it lights up- LED lighting joy! Have a fabulous … Read More
Phase 2 of the rainbow stairs tape installation in Boston City Hall is coming Monday, Nov. 24: As previously planned, we’re adding tape to the stair risers (the vertical bit) so visitors at the front door and ground floor get some happy color rainbows … Read More
Experimental media piece “Hole” has been accepted to the juried show “Visual Alchemy” at Fountain Street Fine Art, on the theme of “Tangible evidence of experimentation, discovery and transformation.” Juror Elizabeth Devlin is an independent curator, art consultant, and founder of … Read More
Non-skid treads in fabulous color are now viewable and walkable in the main interior atrium at Boston City Hall. Tape installation completed this Tuesday night, usable by a youth council meeting in the evening attended by Mayor Walsh. The fluorescent colors show … Read More
Some of my design work will be going to the Playa this year, as part of an Honorarium-grant funded piece to be displayed outside Center Camp! Read about Cosmic Praise here: The “Landmark space Minaret” with Spark Chamber at the top! I’m … Read More
Moving forward! After being one of the chosen projects for the Boston Public Space Invitational, the work begins… Meeting with City Hall to talk about specifics. I’ve got updated numbers on everything, and samples to test stick-on-floor-ability under wear, in … Read More
Another of the designs that we submitted to the Public Space Invitational: Bug Bench! See the full Poster PDF
Come see me this weekend, 12-6 Saturday and Sunday, for Somerville Open Studios! I’m at #17 on the Useful Online SOS MAP. Featuring a kinetic light room, new paintings, and a variety of silliness new and old, that you’ll only see at … Read More
I was happy to hear today that New Zealand-based tattoo artist Tiki O’Brien has agreed to work on a design for the Pacific Islands portion of Connected By Sea. I had been concerned because our initial communications got off to … Read More
Based on meetings happening this week with the shipyard, it looks like it will be best for all concerned, for the installation to happen in June. Possibly June and July. For me the concern is having dependably warmer weather, and … Read More
April 8, 2014, Arts & Entertainment: One Last Glimpse at the Artwork That Marks the Buildings at Bartlett Yard Article: Steve Annear, Photos by Margaret Burdge Also: South side with sneakers
Suggestion for sprucing up Boston City Hall: I found the atrium staircase dark and treacherous; the old caution tape on the steps is a mess. It needs safety tape, and that comes in colors! That means we can make City Hall 400% … Read More
Several of my traditional-style paintings are on display right now at Out of the Blue Gallery in Cambridge. Theme is: edibles. Traditional still life but with a little extra… edge of intensity? Something a little tongue-in-cheek-y? They’d still fit right … Read More
I just debuted a new kinetic light painting at FirstLight, the new media/ interactive/ electronic arts gallery space at the Hynes Convention Center for the Boston First Night New Year’s Eve celebration. This larger (6 feet wide) painting is interactive, … Read More
I feel that this is an important discussion right now. Increasing sensitivity is one was we’re positively evolving as humans, but having artistic dialogue and learning/influencing/being influenced, with love and respect, is also the only way we’ll move forward and … Read More
Input device for new interactive kinetic light painting is a-building. Made with IR detectors, an Octolively, and Arduino (for the first version- much learning here.) Here’s a sneak peek!
Despite frigid weather, tattooing of the main pier at Harbor Arts continues. The second of a dozen planned tattoo installations was drawn onto the pier surface yesterday, this one commemorating the early Basque fishermen who taught us cod fishing and … Read More
