JP Open Studios Preview: Artists at Home

By Kristin Bonelli August 14, 2008

Courtesy Photo "Untitled" by George Anastos is a Chinese watercolor on paper.

During an open studios tour, visitors have the unique opportunity to meet artists presenting work in personally cultivated spaces. Home studios are an important part of any tour, and this year’s Jamaica Plain Open Studios (JPOS) will feature over 50 artists who will show their work where they created it and where they live.

One such artist, George Anastos, has been participating in JPOS for over ten years. Anastos has recently turned his attention to the manipulation of color and texture in his studies of trees. Anastos said he enjoys sharing his work from his School Street home. “It is very rewarding showing out of my home,” he said. “I feel people make a connection to my work and the way I live by being welcomed.”

JP Open Studios Preview

By KRISTIN BONELLI July 24, 2008

Courtesy Photo "The Master Weaver" is a paper mosaic, 9 x 12 inches, by Lina Marks.

Lina Marks: Paper Mosaics

When French-born Lina Marks moved to the United States, she began raising a family and pursuing a career. She also discovered and nurtured her love of the arts. Although gifted with a talent to communicate through a variety of media from marble to pastels, Marks casually regarded these artistic pursuits as “just a hobby.”

After a museum visit to view the works of American collagist Romare Bearden (1911-1988), Marks became energized by the challenge of crafting a piece using collagist techniques. She began to gather interesting pages of paper from old magazines, books and project scraps and set about interpreting the world around her through swatches of colors.

Local activist displays love of bad art in book

By SARAH BLANCHETTE July 25, 2008

Courtesy Photo
“Nice Blueish Boy” is the depiction of the ancient parable in which a Blueish mother gave her son a green shirt and a yellow shirt for his birthday. When he next visited his mother, the nice Blueish boy wore the green shirt, only to hear his mother cry, ‘What’s the matter, you didn’t like the yellow one?’” writes Michael Frank, co-author of “The Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks.” The painting is an oil on canvas by an anonymous artist Frank purchased at a yard sale in Brookline.

Jamaica Plain resident Michael Frank is currently enjoying much success with his recently published book “The Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks.” Frank is the curator-in-chief of the actual Museum of Bad Art, a gallery with two locations in Somerville and Dedham completely dedicated to art gone wrong. These portraits, landscapes and “abstract” pieces can make the viewer laugh, think and maybe even gain a new appreciation for truly good art.

Along with co-author Louise Reilly Sacco, Frank wrote most of the text that accompanies photographs of 90 pieces of art. The book, published in May, includes some of the gallery’s worst of the worst, along with witty captions and accounts of where the art was found or bought.

Forest Hills Lantern Festival celebrates 10th anniversary

By JONATHAN CLARK AND CECILY MILLER July 10, 2008

Photo by Tanit Sakakini
Lanterns drift on Lake Hibuscus during a recent Lantern Festival at Forest Hills.

Ten years ago, when Forest Hills Cemetery organized its first Lantern Festival—a memorial event inspired by the Japanese Bon Festival, a traditional event held to honor ancestors—no one knew quite what to expect. About 200 people gathered to participate in a ceremony of remembrance by inscribing simple wooden lanterns with personal messages to friends and family who had passed away. At sunset, they lit candles in the lanterns and let them float across lake Hibiscus. The ceremony was both deeply moving and very beautiful, and the cemetery decided to make it an annual event. Word spread, and the next year 600 people gathered at the lake, and the following year, more than 1,000.

JP Open Studios Preview

By KRISTIN BONELLI July 10, 2008

courtesy photoWe Like Waterfalls" by Amy Hitchcock is a 11" x 16.75" x 4" found object assemblage.

Amy Hitchcock: Assemblages

The art of Amy Hitchcock is full of vintage toys, plastic animal figurines, old nails, tools, sewing accessories, hinges and cutouts from old magazines and books. The Jamaica Plain resident uses these treasures to construct her assemblages, which she defines as “an attempt to tell a story based upon found objects, photographs, postcards and other things with wooden boxes as the frames.”

JP Open Studios Preview

By KRISTIN BONELLI June 26, 2008

Courtesy Photo
"Wearable Art Designs" by Ifé Franklin is made using eleko, the Yoruba word for wax resist.

Ifé Franklin: Adire Artist

A visit to fiber artist Ifé Franklin’s studio yields emotion, power, beauty and a new outfit.

Franklin started out as a photographer and holds a degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. She worked with master fiber artists, fell in love with the artistic processes and never looked back. She is employed as an arts educator for area youths, teaching students the art of adire, an ancient technique of constructing textiles and dying fabrics in intricate patterns using wax-resistant materials.

Local actor in free production of “Look Back In Anger”

June 13, 2008

Courtsey PhotoGeorgia Lyman will paly Helena Charles.

Lifelong Jamaica Plain resident Georgia Lyman will be starring in The Orfeo Group’s upcoming production of John Osborne’s play “Look Back In Anger.” The play will run Thursdays through Mondays at 8 p.m. June 19 through July 6 at The Factory Theatre, 791 Tremont St. in Boston.

Lyman was nominated for the prestigious Elliot Norton Award for best actor in both the 2007 New Repertory Theatre’s production of “White People,” as well as the Lyric Stage Company’s recent, critically acclaimed production of “The Scene.”

JP Open Studios Preview

By KRISTIN BONELLI June 13, 2008

Courtesy Photo
"Wat er binnen zit" (What's Inside") by Jason Healy is 72 inches x 48 inches and made with oil, pencil, pastel and collage on canvas.

Jason Healy: Color and Landscape

Art therapist and teacher Jason Healy shows his clients and students how to express themselves creatively and affectively. Though acutely aware of the importance of the arts while growing up, Healy did not pursue his own talents seriously until the age of 29. Healy shows two styles of representation in his paintings. His large, textured color field studies are abstract, and his landscape and interior scenes are painted with a dreamlike realism. Both beg for stories to be told.

In his color field studies, Healy explained, “I start with a color—maybe yellow and white—and then I try to get a conversation going with the colors… What are they asking for in terms of movement? Then the colors start getting into an argument and then come around again to a resolution.”

It seems old. I like it. But is it valuable?

June 13, 2008

Photo by Lori DeSantis
Textile vollunteers Allison Cook (left) and Mary Ellen Erenreich proudly show off some of the Loring-Greenough House's cllection. Appraisal Day will raise money to cover costs of documenting the collection.

Expert appraisals June 21 will benefit historic house

MONUMENT SQ.—All those attic finds, family heirlooms and flea market treasures Jamaica Plain people have been hanging onto may be valuable. To give people a chance to find out and to support its historic textiles collection at the same time, the Loring-Greenough House will hold an Appraisal Day on Sat., June 21 on the grounds of the historic mansion. From 1 to 5 p.m., professional appraisers will be on hand to evaluate antiques, fine art and collectibles.

Free chamber music concert June 15

By Joel Ochenheim June 13, 2008

The renowned Fibonacci Quartet will present a free concert of the chamber music of local composer John Warren at Central Congregational Church on Seaverns Avenue on Sun., June 15 at 7 p.m.