Good & bad news for Wellesley police: $150K donation from new resident; public art defaced

January 19, 2022 by Bob Brown

A new resident has donated $150,000 to the Wellesley Police Department for use at the chief’s discretion, according to town Executive Director Meghan Jop, who teased news of this “incredible” gift at this week’s Select Board meeting.

Chief Jack Pilecki has indicated a desire to use the funds to support community policing initiatives, including the public art project that has focused on painting electrical boxes around town. He’s expected to appear at next week’s Select Board meeting, when the gift will be up for approval by the Board.

This is not an anonymous donation, so we may see the Chief recognize the benefactor.

Let’s hope this generous new resident is a big local news supporter, too…we have a free subscription waiting for you!

Electrical box art defaced

Several of the electrical boxes that local artists have painted with colorful designs over the past few years were recently defaced with hate group flyers.

The paintings were damaged to different degrees, but will be restored.

defaced electrical box art — Remnants of vandalism on the painted box at Seaward Road and Washington Street.

Artist Alexander Golob, who painted the box in Lower Falls in front of St. John School, took to social media to call out what he referred to as a “sickening” act. “It’s no accident that, of all places to deface with White Supremacist content, it was community-grounded public art. Time and time again, it’s clear that public art is indicative of shared values…” he wrote.

The act also galled the Wellesley Police Department, which is investigating the incident. Chief Pilecki has been spearheading the painting projects with arts leaders in town.

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Wellesley arts roundup: Davis Museum not quite ready for the rest of us; Dana Hall shows children’s book art; paintings & collage at Main Library

January 12, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Our round-up of the latest Wellesley, Mass., arts news:

Davis Museum not quite ready for the rest of us

The Davis Museum at Wellesley College will be reopening its galleries to the Wellesley College campus community at the start of the spring semester, come Jan. 25. Among the exhibits: “Picturing Pompeii: Archaeology and Early Travel Photography.”

Virtual galleries remain the consolation prize for the wider community. Thanks, but we’ll pass. We filled our art quota for the month by taking in the Worcester Art Museum (we’ll try to sum up that visit for you soon).

worcester art musum — The big mosaic a Worcester Art Museum

Dana Hall gallery shows children’s book illustrations

The new Dana Hall Art Gallery exhibit called “Children’s Book Illustration and Other Work,” will run through Feb. 11. The show features the art of alumnae illustrators Devin Cole ’06 and Nez Riaz ’14.

Cole is a multimedia artist based in Italy whose work ranges from conceptual jewelry to large-scale paintings. Cole has self-published a children’s book intended to aid in teaching Italian.

Riaz has experience in children’s publishing and editorial illustration as well as educational art for print. She is serving as a sabbatical replacement for Visual Arts Department Head Michael Frassinelli.

Located in the Classroom Building, the Dana Hall Art Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Due to COVID-19 protocols, please email [email protected] before planning your visit. The gallery is closed weekends and school
holidays.

Wellesley library exhibits

At the Wellesley Free Library, two exhibits will run through the end of January. In the lobby, Wellesley resident Jae Roosevelt explores collage in her garage studio, which she describes as a “welcoming and creative space.”

Roosevelt, a Boston University Art History graduate, has shown her work in numerous galleries in Washington, D.C., as well as Accra, Ghana, and Nantucket. This is the first exhibit of her collages.

Art, Wellesley, Jae Roosevelt — Jae Roosevelt, collages.

In the Wakelin Room, Small Works, by Michael William, features paintings on a relatively small scale. William’s goal was to not spend more than a few days on each piece, and to choose simple subjects. In an artist’s statement, William says the paintings, “…bring me back to those moments where something often overlooked moved me enough to want to capture it.”

Art, Wellesley Library, Michael Williams — Spring Wedding, 12″ x 16″, acrylic on wood, by Michael William.

More: Seeing the world through Kunal Sharma’s eyes at Wellesley Free Library photography exhibit

Seeing the world through Kunal Sharma’s eyes at Wellesley Free Library photography exhibit

January 3, 2022 by Bob Brown 6 Comments

Kunal Sharma’s photography has really been making the rounds, and it’s currently on exhibit at the main branch of the Wellesley Free Library.

Kunal introduces himself on his Kunal’s Klicks website, by proclaiming: “I have down syndrome. So what? I have many hopes and dreams like everyone else and most importantly have high expectations of myself.”

The photographic results of those expectations are on display at the library, as they have also been at past trunk shows (including at Wellesley Square’s Isabel Harvey), and will be later this year at Weston Public Library.

Kunal Sharma, photography, Wellesley — A sampling of Sharma’s photos on display at Wellesley Free Library

Kunal lives in a group home in Sharon and attends a day program in Wrentham, where he works or volunteers. His parents, Sandhya and Ravi, live in Wellesley, and coordinated with Kunal to answer our questions about his photography.

The 36-year-old has long been drawn to art, though picked up his photography skills during the pandemic. He went on long drives with his parents, and his favorite spots were beaches.

“We would visit different beaches each weekend. His picture taking was very organic'” Sandhya says. “He took them with his iPhone and would later look at them at home just to help jog his memory and give himself a visual representation of his day.”

Ravi adds: “Initially, he saw his parents taking pictures on walks and hikes during the pandemic and did the same. It spurred something inside him and started asking to go out to take pictures.”

As he became more interested in photography, Kunal branched out to taking pictures of fall colors, water, and cars. “Now almost everything captures his attention,” Sandhya says.

Locally, Morses Pond is a favorite subject, and the library is a place he has enjoyed visiting in the past to pick up movies.

There’s no theme to Kunal’s library exhibit, but Ravi says: “The idea of the show was to share the world and what holds visual appeal for him through his eyes, even though he is not able to articulate his thoughts behind it.”

Kunal Sharma photography — Kunal Sharma at his Isabel Harvey trunk show

Red dresses at Wellesley College stand in for missing Indigenous women

December 18, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

During a recent walk on the campus of Wellesley College, we came across a haunting outdoor installation created by artist Jaime Black. From branches of several mature trees hung red dresses, blowing in the breeze. A nearby plaque identifies the artwork as the REDress Project, which “…works to create space for families of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Persons (MMIP) and their supporters to tell their stories and to find solidarity in the struggle to protect the rights of Indigenous women and girls.” The dresses are a visual reminder of MMIP girls and women who have gone missing or been murdered.

Wellesley College, red dress — The REDdress Project, an art installation by Jaime Black, will remain at Wellesley College until Dec. 21st.

Indigenous women and girls face higher rates of violence than any other group in Canada and the Unites States, the plaque continues, calling for the demands of families and communities to dismantle the colonial system that allows perpetrators to escape justice to be heard.

Jaime Black is a multidisciplinary artist of mixed Anishinaabe and Finnish decent. According to her website, Black’s work, “engages in themes of memory, identity, place and resistance and is grounded in an understanding of the body and the land as sources of cultural and spiritual knowledge.”

The dresses will remain in place until December 21. The project’s placement on campus was funded in part by the college’s Native American Student Association. The REDress Project has been installed in public spaces throughout Canada and the United States.

Wellesley Society of Artists displays at library

December 4, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Society of Artists Annual Library Show, featuring 50-plus paintings, is being held at the recently reopened main Wellesley Free Library building until Dec. 30. You can find the art in the main lobby and in the Wakelin Room.

(Updated 12/6/21): Awards were given for first, second and third place as well as the Margaret Fitzwilliam Award for Excellence in Watercolor and the Yale Nicolls Award for best interpretation of the natural world. The judge for the show was Jeanne Rosier Smith.

The first place award winner is Lori Mehta for her painting Renew.

Second place went to Kristin Conant for her painting Stormy Boston Marathon in Framingham.

Awarded third place was Fritz Kubitz for his painting Eight Rowboats at Rest.

Yale Nicolls earned the Margaret Fitzwilliam Award for Excellence in Watercolor for her painting Tanked. Dayle Bodnar
received the Yale Nicolls Award for Best Interpretation of the Natural World for her painting Maine
Morning.

Live theatre at Wellesley middle schools: Matilda & A Midsummer Night’s Dream

November 17, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley Middle School this week invites the public to attend Matilda: The Musical Jr. in person from Thursday, Nov. 18 to Saturday, Nov. 20. This will be the first in-person theater performance at WMS since before March 2020.

Ticket are on sale now.

Masks are required for all attendees, regardless of vaccination status. In addition, seating will be assigned to support social distancing.

The Dana Hall Middle School presents its fall play, William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, on Thursday, November 18, at 7:30 p.m., in Bardwell Auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public.

Like with Wellesley Middle School, this is the first public performance at Dana Hall since early last year.

In keeping with current protocols on campus, all students involved in the production and audience members will be masked while in Bardwell.

Bardwell Auditorium is located on the Dana Hall campus at 37 Cameron St. Bardwell is not wheelchair accessible. For more information, please call (781) 235-3010 ext. 2731 or visit www.danahall.org .

Wellesley arts news: Dana Hall hosts fiber art exhibit; Wellesley residents performing in TCAN’s Harvey; more electrical box art; From Art in the Park to art in storefronts

October 31, 2021 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Our round-up of the latest Wellesley MA arts & entertainment news:

Dana Hall School hosts fiber art exhibit

The Dana Hall Art Gallery presents Windows and Mirrors, running through Nov. 19. The show features the work of Boston-area textile artist Clara Nartey, a parent of a Dana Hall senior.

“This exhibition, Windows and Mirrors, is my way of telling the youth that I see them, and I hear them,” Nartey said, in a statement.

The gallery had been closed for a year and a half, but is now open to the public.

Thanks to Wellesley’s Abby Glassenberg for sharing these photos from the opening:

Windows & Mirrors show at Dana Hall art gallery — Photos courtesy of Abby Glassenberg

Wellesley residents in TCAN’s “Harvey” production

It’s good to see live theater back in action, in person.

Wellesley’s Sylvia Czubarow and Cathy Merlo are among cast members for TCAN in Natick’s production of “Harvey” running Nov. 5-14.

Tickets are $22, $20 for TCAN members, and $17 for
seniors ($12 on Sundays) and may be purchased through the box office at 508-647-0097 or online at
www.natickarts.org.

Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play is the story of Elwood P. Dowd, an amiable but eccentric man
with a very strange best friend—a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch invisible rabbit named Harvey.

TCAN is located at 14 Summer St., in Natick and the theatre is wheelchair accessible.

More electrical box art

Three more electrical boxes in Wellesley are being painted by local artists. Goldfish, hot air balloons, and a kid with binoculars are the themes this time around. Organizers discussed the works recently during a Select Board meeting (about the 7-minute mark of the Wellesley Media recording).

We caught high schooler Evelyn Harrison painting the box at Church Park in front of Village Church as the Boston Marathon whizzed by. This was very early on, so be sure to see the finished product.

You can learn about the painted electrical boxes and artists across town via an online map.

From Art in the Park to art in storefronts

The individual quilt sections made at the Art in the Park event during Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend have been stitched together and now are shown in otherwise empty store windows at the west end of Wellesley Square on Central Street.