Arts Aug 03 Artist Mel Kendrick on seeing the other side of things An "alternative perspective" is what artist Mel Kendrick has offered for 40 years. Special correspondent Jared Bowen of GBH Boston takes us to the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts to see why Kendrick's art has such staying…
Arts Jul 13 Sonya Clark on the Confederate truce flag and creating a collective work of healing As statues of Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were taken down in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend, special correspondent Jared Bowen of GBH Boston explored an exhibit by Sonya Clark in Lincoln, Massachusetts at the deCordova Sculpture Park and…
Arts Jun 08 Using music to heal the healers on the frontline of the COVID fight With COVID-19 cases dropping in most places, frontline workers are now reckoning with how the pandemic has impacted their lives. In fact, a few medical professionals are collaborating with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier to weave their profound experiences into song.
Arts Mar 31 This artist's work encompasses centuries of art history and his own feelings, energy He’s not a magician, but artist Shen Wei is very good at disappearing — losing himself as he creates, conjuring ethereal lands and reimagining the human body. His work is now on view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in…
Arts Feb 24 Boston restores monument to Black Civil War troops In a time when statues and monuments around the country are being removed for what they represent, the Shaw Memorial in Boston is receiving attention of a different sort. It is being fully restored, with pride that the monument depicting…
Arts Oct 27 Program putting artists to work during pandemic takes leaf from the past The arts have been devastated by the pandemic, with consumer spending in the sector dropping significantly this year. Now, a pilot program in the mountains of western Massachusetts is looking to ideas from the past to ensure artists’ futures. Special…
Arts Sep 11 The unveiling of painter John Singer Sargent's unsung muse When John Singer Sargent was commissioned to paint a series of gods and goddesses at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, he turned for inspiration to Thomas McKeller, a young black model. Little has been known about the pair’s relationship --…
Arts Jul 24 A Boston artist paints the backdrop to national conversation on racism As protests and rallies against racism continue throughout the country, one Boston artist says he’ll paint the backdrop to the momentous national conversation. Robert “ProBlak” Gibbs has been creating street art for years, teaming with Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts…
Arts Mar 11 Memory, meaning and mortality are at the heart of this migration exhibit Nearly 71 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide, including nearly 30 million refugees. How does that movement shape migrants' understanding of where they belong? The current exhibit “When Home Won’t Let You Stay” uses art and found objects to…
Arts Mar 04 How painter Jacob Lawrence reframed early American history with 'Struggle' Amid the McCarthy hearings and the launch of the civil rights movement in the 1950s, painter Jacob Lawrence, the most famous black artist of his era, sought to reframe early American history the way he saw it. His ensuing work,…