Gallery sights in Boston
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MassArt
More formally known as the Massachusetts College of Art, this is the country’s first and only four-year independent public art college. In 1873 state leaders decided the new textile mills in Lowell and Lawrence needed a steady stream of designers, so they established MassArt to educate some. The South Building houses over 9000 sq ft of exhibit space in the Arnheim, Bakalar and Paine galleries, while the Tower also houses the President’s Gallery. There’s always some thought-provoking or sense-stimulating exhibits to see.
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ICA
Boston is poised to become a focal point for contemporary art, with the highly touted opening of the new Institute of Contemporary Artsin its dramatic new quarters. The building is a work of art in itself – a striking glass structure cantilevered over a waterside plaza. The spacious light-filled interior allows for multimedia presentations, educational programs and studio space. More importantly, it provides the venue for the development of the ICA’s permanent collection of 21st-century art.
Several galleries are dedicated to the growing permanent collection and the ongoing Momentum series, while others rotate, showcasing national and international artists working in …
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List Visual Arts Center
The stated goal of the List Center is to explore the boundaries of artistic inquiry – to use art to ask questions, not only about aesthetics, but also about culture, society and of course science. Rotating exhibits push the contemporary art envelope in painting, sculpture, photography, video and just about every other medium imaginable. This is also where you can pick up a map of MIT’s public art, proof enough that this university supports artistic as well as technological innovation. The university’s progressive Percent-for-Art program requires that a certain percentage of every new building and renovation project be earmarked for art acquisitions. If you want a professi…
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Motif No 1
Dock Sq is the hub of Rockport. Visible from here, the red fishing shack decorated with colorful buoys is known as Motif No 1. So many artists of great and minimal talent have been painting and photographing it for so long that it well deserves its tongue-in-cheek name. Actually, it should be called Motif No 1-B, as the original shack vanished during a great storm in 1978 and a brand-new replica was erected in its place.
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Bryan Gallery
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Axiom
You know this place is going to be cool and cutting edge, by virtue of the fact that it is attached to the T station. Indeed, the contemporary glass and steel space is unique in Boston for its dedication to exhibiting artists who are working in the ‘new media.’ Blurring the line between technology and artistry, the exhibits explore ways to use video, audio and other unexpected media to look at the world. At the time of research, Axiom was hosting the first annual one-minute film festival.
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GASP
Created by the wife-and-husband team of MM Campos-Pons and Neil Leonard, ambitious and independent GASP serves as a gallery, studio and performance space for cutting-edge contemporary art. Don’t be fooled by the somewhat remote Brookline location: while plenty of Boston artists and performers use the space as a second home, this is an international house of experimentation, inviting curators and artists from Norway, Montreal and Egypt.
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Alpha Gallery
Presenting the work of some headline-grabbing artists (sometimes local, sometimes international), this starkly minimalist gallery mostly shows oils (some figurative, some abstract), though occasionally you’ll see sculpture, mixed media and prints. They have an annual new-talent exhibition and intermittently have special shows of masters such as Max Beckman and Milton Avery.
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Photographic Resource Center
The independent Photographic Resource Center is one of the few centers in the US devoted exclusively to this art form. The PRC’s rotating exhibits lean toward the modern and experimental, often featuring work by amateur members. Other resources include educational programs, online exhibits, a well-stocked library and unique events.
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Barbara Krakow Gallery
The catalogue of artists represented by this older gallery (established in 1964) reads like something you’d expect from a major museum. Among the famous are Josef Albers, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt and Jasper Johns. Though it’s very much a house of the modernists, the gallery sometimes displays the work of an emerging artist.
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Fenway Studios
Fenway Studios is housed in a historic Arts and Crafts building from the early 20th century. It is home to 25 artists who live and work on site. It’s worth attending their occasional open-studio events just to see the amazing interior, modeled after the ateliers of 19th-century Paris.
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SoWa Artists Guild
In the South End, the area south of Washington St has been dubbed SoWa. Out of the former warehouses and factories, artists have carved out studios and gallery space. The center of the action is the SoWa Artists Guild, which hosts an Open Studios event on the first Friday of every month.
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Allston Skirt Gallery
For stunning exhibits by rising-star artists, visit the Allston Skirt Gallery. The work displayed often combines material beauty with rich interpretations of art theory. Works by Tina Feingold, David Robbins (if you haven't seen his snowmen, you should), Heather Holber-Keene and more.
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Gallery Naga
Inside the Gothic digs of the Church of the Covenant, Gallery Naga exhibits contemporary painters (eg Bryan McFarlane) and has a warm place in many hearts for specializing in unique and limited-edition furniture.
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Walsingham Gallery
This stark Federalist building – a former sea-merchant’s warehouse – holds interesting exhibits of artists from New England and beyond.
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JOJ Frost Folk Art Gallery
A historical and artistic exhibit of paintings by local artist JOJ Frost, depicting life in 19th-century Marblehead.
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Churchill Gallery
Exhibits landscapes, still lifes and figurative paintings by emerging artists.
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