In the News
HPAA events and activities have attracted media attention over recent months. Look for articles here in the near future.
Hyde Park Open Studios
Dana Forsythe 26.NOV.08
The fifth annual Open Studios will be held throughout Hyde Park next weekend, Dec. 6-7.
This year’s celebration will include more artists, greater diversity, hands-on artist demonstrations and activities for kids.
At the Menino Arts Center (MAC) on Central Avenue, Cheryl Murphy, Sasja Lucas and Susie Robson will all be displaying their work.
"This year, we will have a lot of workshops and demonstrations," Robson said. "Some studios will have some jazz musicians. It will just be a fun time."
"I think that is the real change this year," Lucas said. "[We want to] attract people and show how artists make their art."
This year will also see the most Hyde Park Art Association members showing at the MAC, Murphy said.
"We are utilizing every available inch we have here," she said. "Each artist will have a nice area where they can hang their work. This year will be the biggest we have ever had."
Lucas, a painter, will be premiering four new series of work, each one containing five pieces of art. Each series will be made up of mixed media including painting and sculpture.
"I’m also trying a rubber cement painting on plywood," she said. "It is something new I wanted to try out."
Lucas will also be displaying several of her abstract paintings, some of which are already hanging at the MAC.
Murphy, a painter and sculptor, said she will offer a look at both disciplines.
"I also recently had this epiphany for a new way to develop a portrait," she said. "During Open Studios, that is what I’ll be demonstrating. People can come and see an idea evolving."
"I had this idea after painting portraits for the past few years, of trying to incorporate more about the person in the portrait," she added.
Murphy’s portrait work also incorporates details from the subject’s life.
Robson will be displaying both digital photography and paintings.
"Recently, I’ve been painting with string," she said. "It’s a little Jackson Pollack-y."
"I like shooting roadside oddities," she said of her photos. "I love to travel and capture interesting things, like mailbox held up by Miss Piggy or a frog on a bicycle."
At her studio at 11 Fairmount Ave., Liz Hardy Jackson will join an eclectic group of jewelry makers, artisans and quilt creators.
"I mostly work with quilts," she said. "But I also have some paintings that I’ll be showing."
Jackson’s brother David will also be on-hand, displaying his wire sculpture work.
Jackson echoed the sentiment that this year’s demonstrations will hopefully attract new blood.
"I think having a few [more] activities will bring in some people who might not have come in previous years," she said. "I think there is a mystique around artists. We’re a bunch of odd ducks, so I think people will be happy to see how we work."
At her Fairmount Avenue studio, Jackson will be demonstrating how to make quilts.
"We’ll also have some demos working with polymer clay. My brother will also be giving a sodering demo," she said.
For many artists, Open Studios is a chance to market their work, something artists are notoriously bad at, Jackson said.
"I think artists are a little timid by nature. We make these interesting things, but we’re just afraid to show them. This is a wonderful opportunity to show off what we do," she said.
Rebecca Holland has lived in Hyde Park for 31 years but only recently got involved with the artist community.
"This will be my third Open Studios," she said.
Holland, who also works with quilting, started restoring antique quilts at a local museum and progressed to teaching classes and giving lectures on the subject.
Now she creates fashion as well as art, sewing purses and quilted pillows.
"I’ve really been having fun with it," she said.
Holland said she’s thrilled to be showing her work at the MAC and to have the center as a place to highlight the community’s work.
"I’ve been here since 1977 and we had done some work now and then as a artist community, but it is delightful to now have a center where everyone can go," she said.
For a complete listing of artists, venues and activities visit www.hydeparkopenstudios.org or call the Hyde Park Arts Initiative at (617) 364-7300.
Article from New England Property Report About Westinghouse Lofts & The Emergence of Hyde Park as Another Significant Arts Destination
By Mike Hoban HYDE PARK, MA—Leonardo DaVinci once observed, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” To suggest that the deserted factories, mills and warehouses in Greater Boston would have ever been considered cultural treasures might be deemed a stretch, but the transformation of dilapidated buildings from urban blight to artist live/work communities is increasingly reshaping that impression.
Boston has seen the revitalization of the South End and Fort Point Channel fueled in part by the colonization of empty industrial buildings by the arts constituency. Now, the emergence of Hyde Park as another significant arts destination is being buoyed by the renovation of a former Westinghouse fan factory in the borough’s Readville section. Sixty two live/work studios are being developed at One Westinghouse Plaza by the Hamilton Co. with the assistance of the city’s Artist Space Initiative.
“We’re thrilled with what the Hamilton Co. is doing,” reports Jan Kenney, project coordinator for the Hyde Park Arts Initiative (HPAI), a partnership of local artists, merchants and non-profits. Designed by ICON Architecture of Boston, the Artist Lofts of Westinghouse will provide 39 live/work units, 23 live/work lofts, as well as 9,000 sf of additional work space that can be subdivided. Nine of the lofts are designated as affordable. The ground-floor entrance leads to a gallery/lobby area, while the building is also being equipped by an elevator capable of transporting even oversized pieces. Other features include a landscaped courtyard and garden, racks for 20 bicycles, 70 parking spaces and a common laundry area. Palladian windows (pictured being installed) are part of the facade upgrades enhancing the artistic element.
Marking its 100th anniversary this year, the Westinghouse complex was acquired by Hamilton in 2000, but according to President and COO Carl Valeri, by 2004, “we were running out of steam for leasing to light industrial.” Subsequent discussions with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and Mayor Thomas Menino’s office evoked suggestions of mixing housing and the needs of Hub artists that led to Hamilton designing its proposal.
Under the BRA’s Artist Space Initiative, Hamilton met the requirements to redevelop Building C of the complex into an artist housing community similar to Midway Studios in Fort Point Channel and the South End’s Piano Factory. Developers must have deed restrictions requiring occupants be certified as working artists by the BRA. There is a minimum of 1,000 sf per unit, as well as soundproofing and ventilation specifications. Since the program’s inception in 2002, 178 artists have found permanent live/work space in Boston, while many others have located work-only locations. More projects are in the pipeline.
But zoning adaptations were only half the challenge for Hamilton, with the project moving forward just as the financial markets were beginning to crater. Valeri credits the assistance of the mayor’s office and Hamilton founder Harold Brown’s support for keeping the venture on track. “We’ve financed the entire project ourselves so far,” relays Valeri, whose firm is expecting to secure additional backing from KeyBank sometime this month.
With that matter resolved, the task of gutting and sandblasting Building C while keeping the original elements intact required extra attention as well, according to project manager Steve Baker. “We tried to preserve as much of the structural beam work, flooring and original masonry as possible, because that’s the real charm of the building,” he tells New England Property Report. Even barely halfway completed, the results are impressive. Ancient layers of paint have been stripped bare from the beams and columns, which were then treated with sealant while coats of polyurethane have brought the allure back to the floors after decades of wear and neglect. Units run from 1,000 to 1,225-sf each, and will feature 12-foot ceilings and large Palladian windows to optimize natural light. Hamilton hopes construction will be completed by next spring.
HPAI’s Kenney is among those eager to see the finished product. “There’s always been an artist’s community in Hyde Park,” she says, attributing it partly to the area’s strong building stock. The Hamilton Co. project will buttress such facilities as the recently opened Menino Arts Center, operated by the Hyde Park Arts Association. The MAC, as it is referred to by locals, encompasses 4,000 sf financed by the George Robert White Trust. It offers classes, gallery shows, performances and affordable studios.
“Everything is coming together now,” offers Kenney, whose group’s mission is to promote Hyde Park artists and enhance the business center through cultural offerings. “We find that bringing the local businesses and the arts community together is a great thing all around for the neighborhood,” Kenney says. HPAI and the arts association, for example, are preparing for the sixth annual Hyde Park Open Studios on Dec. 6th and 7th, with an estimated 70 artists expected to welcome visitors to their studios in 10 different locations. (This story was originally posted on Nov. 13th at 12:15p.m.)
For artists:
ArtistLink helps artists, developers, and municipalities develop spaces for creative work and living. The web site has over 80 pages of helpful content on leasing, purchasing and developing artist space, including:
‘Find Space to Create’ at artspacefinder, the definitive place to help you find or list artist space in Massachusetts. Find out about projects such as:
- Renaissance Lofts, 29 new huge live/work units for sale in Marlborough
- Individual studios spaces for rent in the City of Boston
- Ceramic and printmaking studios across the state
- Film/music/photo production
- Dance/theater rehearsal studios