To celebrate the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration, Wellesley Booksmith will have a life-size cardboard cutout of Barack Obama on hand Jan. 17-20. You’re invited to swing by and get your picture taken with the future prez (bring your own camera).
Needham High School’s principal has emailed parents to tell them that the school’s students will not be allowed to attend Wednesday’s boys hockey game vs. Framingham because of rude fan behavior at Saturday’s 6-1 rout vs. Wellesley High (see game lowlights here). Earlier steps taken by Needham school officials to control the hooligans apparently haven’t worked. From a Boston Globe article on the issue:
“Needham’s student section chanted, ‘Wellesley . . . Wellesley . . . you s -k’ several times,” Richards said in an e-mail to parents. “In addition, they chanted, ‘Put your clipboards away,’ to the MIAA reps who were there to observe our fan behavior.”
If you’ve ever had a seat on this bench in the hallway leading to Wellesley Free Library off the back entrance, then you’ve had a brush with local furniture designer/maker Dale Broholm.
We caught up with this 18-year Wellesley resident to ask him a few questions about his background and work:
Where he works: “Due to space needs and zoning issues my studio is 11 miles south in Norwood. I’m in a old mill complex where I’ve been for the past 11 years.”
How he got to be a furniture designer/maker: “I trained at Boston University, and have a degree in Furniture Design. I’ve been designing/making furniture for the past 25 years, mainly my custom designs for residential clients. For the past 10 years I have been teaching part-time in the Department of Furniture Design at the Rhode Island School of Design.”
How to describe his work: “My work I would call contemporary with historical design influences.”
Choosing wood: “I use all woods depending on the project but prefer domestic temperal forest hardwoods for reasons of environmental issues. My favorite wood is Curly Maple and I do use poplar as a base wood when the object is to be painted or have a colored finish. Poplar is relatively stable and inexpensive.”
How’s business? “Business was good for 2008 but I believe 2009 will be rather slow. My work ( as all high end work) is expensive [his website lists a range of $2K to $15K per piece depending on complexity of design/cost of materials] and my clients do feel the pinch.”
How long it takes to build this stuff: “Time frame to build varies with the design. There is very little I can build in under 40 hours, most jobs run 100-200 hours. I don’t make much money in this line of work but that’s not the reason for doing it.”
Besides the Wellesley Free Library, where you can see his work: “I have pieces in the permanent collection of the MFA Boston, Smithsonian Institute, Smith College of Art, Duxbury Art Complex to name a few.”
What’s new: “I have just developed a class at RISD that is a collaboration with the National Park Service utilizing historic trees (called Witness Trees) as a means of teaching cultural studies and history through object creation. The pilot class will run in fall of 2009.”
Playing favorites: “I don’t have a favorite piece but I do find tables to be my favorite object.”
How a furniture designer furnishes his own house: “The objects in my house are a mix of mine and hand-me-downs. It makes me crazy to buy furniture. Most of it is garbage, won’t last very long and the high-end designer trade furniture tends to be more expensive than custom. Why buy something from a catalog when you can have something created unique to you and support local trade at the same time?”
We hear Wellesley’s Julia Blake, quoted in this Boston Globe piece about jumbo loans that we mentioned earlier in the week, will also be part of a CBS Evening News report on the topic Wednesday night…
The Dana Hall School Art Gallery will feature the exhibit Facing East: Work by Contemporary Asian Artists January 12-February 6. An opening reception is scheduled for January 20 from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
The show will feature sculptures and videos by Yuya Shiratori (Japan), drawings and paintings by John Chang (China), and paintings by Myung Sook Kim P09 (Korea).
The Dana Hall Art Gallery provides a program of exhibitions by local and visiting artists throughout the academic year for the Dana Hall and surrounding communities. The Gallery is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. It is closed weekends and school holidays. For more information, call (781) 235-3010.
Earthfirst, a blog about environmental issues, puts its spotlight on Wellesley College’s green efforts. The blog recognizes Wellesley’s efforts in waste management and dining services and for attempting to instill awareness of green issues in students so they’ll be a positive influence on the environment once they graduate. The blog also lauds a student-led group on the campus that has created change.
We’re hearing rumblings from the Wellesley High student body about new firewall/content filtering technology installed at the school upon their return from vacation.
Students found that they couldn’t access popular Web sites like Facebook, YouTube and SparkNotes that they could previously. (”Blocks a ton of sites,” according to a web posting by one student.). Techier students have already concocted workarounds.
One source says it’s unclear whether the change is temporary or permanent, though suspects it’s a work in progress.
The Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College has released plans for new exhibits beginning this March and for a couple more in the fall.
Beginning March 11, the Museum will showcase “Prints in an Age of Artistry,” which features 16th and 17th century Italian prints, like this one, dubbed Sleeping Cupid.
Also on tap is Michal Rovner’s “fictional documentary” called Borders shot along the border of Israel and Lebanon.
An opening reception for the public will be held March 11 at the museum from 6-8pm. (Also on view will be art from the permanent collection.)
Looking further out, the museum next fall is scheduled to have exhibits called “21 Etchings and Poems” and George Legrady, Cell Tango. This work by this new media artist is an evolving exhibit fueled by contributions from cell phone users.
The Boston Globe writes about how some country clubs are reducing fees in light of the bad economy in an effort to attract newcomers and not lose current members. Though it does say that schmantzier clubs don’t have to worry so much about defectors:
“Observers say that the most prestigious clubs, like the Country Club in Brookline, should not have trouble hanging on to members because it’s not just a privilege to be admitted, it’s an investment. It’s less painful to quit a place that cost a few thousand dollars’ entry fee than to jump ship from the Wellesley Country Club, where initiation now costs $50,000.”
Wellesley ranked second on Forbes’ list of America’s Most Educated Small Towns, a listing based on largely on the number of advanced degrees among residents (45.6% of residents 25 or older). The ranking also makes note of Wellesley’s college scene and strong high school. Bethesda topped the list and nearby Mass. towns Brookline (11) and Needham (17) also made the list.
