Awesome Public Art: a True Gift to our Cities!

I am currently half human and half icicle due to wandering outside in Boston’s winter for 3 hours with a foolishly thin jacket, but that’s all right.

Why?

Because the reason I was outside was to go on a famous Context Tour of Boston’s Big Dig!

I am thrilled to report that thanks to the tour, my noggin is now sparkling with countless new Boston facts, and my camera now brims with 100 fresh photos.

All of these facts and photos will be converted into articles for YOU in the next few weeks, but until then, let’s revel in something that leapt out at me on my trudge back home: Pretty public art makes the world a better place!

Examine these two examples.

The first photo is one of the many painted boxes around Boston, in the act of being created. What’s inside those ubiquitous boxes, anyway? Traffic light guts? Security apparatus? Gremlins? Who knows. But I do know that in neighborhoods all over this city, the bland metal boxes are beautified by both artists and community groups. Yay!

I wonder how this decorating brigade gets activated. Are the artists sought out and hired? Do groups or individuals petition to do it? Dear readers, if you know, enlighten us!

The second photo is a group of sculptures by Rowes Wharf near South Station in Downtown Boston, which is part of one of the many sculpture groups that delightfully dot the new Greenway that replaced the repulsive Central Artery highway. (More on this highway in subsequent post-tour articles!)

Now check out this shape-robot sculpture and just try not to smile. The form is very human-like, innit? And you can see the pulsing blue glow in the middle (which also turns reddish, in person), right? Let out a little chuckle as you realize that is the beating heart of the shape-robot who is clearly in love with you. :)

Artists are heroes. (Incidentally, the workmen who carried out my giant broken refrigerator and lugged in the new one are also heroes. There are a lot of unsung heroes in this world, for sure.)

Artists who create Public Art make our eyes happier and our lives brighter.

Sometimes they take it too far and tick off folks, throwing in our path their crazy expanses of metal, or jagged edges, or gaudy colors (I love how that artist man’s coat matches the mustard-colored flowers in his creation), or risque innuendoes…

… but in the end their hearts and their smarts and their art are in the right place: our faces. Because let’s accept it: our days can ALWAYS use a little color and a little shakin’-it-up.

Hip hip hooray for the Public Art creators of the world. Keep it up!

See more art prompts here!