Visual Arts
When public art is hard to find
In her latest check-in with the Boston Public Art Triennial, WBUR's Amelia Mason visited Charlestown and Mattapan and saw two works that required initiative from the viewer.
MFA resolves ownership for vessels by enslaved potter David Drake
In a notable agreement, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has returned two monumental stoneware vessels to the descendants of the enslaved man who made them.
A Boston artist ahead of his time
One of the leading Black artists of the 20th century, Allan Rohan Crite was well known for his oil paintings and drawings depicting everyday life in Boston. But his legacy...
How Allan Rohan Crite built a family of Black artists in Boston
The artist was a cornerstone of Boston’s Black arts community, welcoming mentees into his South End home and offering unwavering support. He helped shape careers, leaving a legacy defined not...
From the divine to the intimate, Allan Rohan Crite's 'human art'
Grounded in faith and inspired by his mother’s teachings, the Boston artist was devoted to exploring Christian liturgy and Black spirituality.
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Artist Allan Rohan Crite's vision of Black Boston
A pair of landmark exhibitions at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Boston Athenaeum celebrate Allan Rohan Crite’s vivid portrayals of Black life in Boston. Featuring more than 100 works,...
Artist crystal bi cultivates space for collective imagination
Artist crystal bi is transforming Boston’s public spaces with interactive events that invite residents to reflect on memory, belonging, and the power of imagination. Through collaborative experiences inspired by ancestral...
Community artist Tanya Nixon-Silberg finds power in repair
Known for projects that explore heritage, motherhood, and resilience, Nixon-Silberg uses repurposed fabrics and deep-rooted storytelling to help Boston’s young people find meaning in their histories and repair what has...
Jo Nanajian interrogates memory's durability through natural forms
Using materials like plaster, glass and wire, the artist creates abstract, textured wall sculptures inspired by forms found in nature. Nanajian tries to represent all the ways that human memory...
Artist Lani Asunción confronts the injustice of climate change
In downtown Boston, the artist's installation “SONG/LAND/SEA: WAI Water Warning” rings out a message about climate change.
Arson in the name of art
On a Friday night earlier this month, WBUR's Amelia Mason joined hundreds of spectators on City Hall Plaza to watch some people set a ship on fire for the Boston...
12 art exhibits to explore this fall
From a retrospective of Boston artist Allan Rohan Crite to a showcase of contemporary Indigenous artists, WBUR contributor Maddie Browning shares art exhibitions that consider current injustices and future triumphs.
The art of bearing witness
On a recent trip to Copenhagen, WBUR's Amelia Mason viewed artist Bouchra Khalili's "The Mapping Journey Project," a video installation recounting the forced journeys of eight people. "I found myself...
Boston Athenaeum's quest to ID vintage photos
In 1974, Constantine Manos spent nine months taking thousands of photos of people and neighborhoods across Boston. The photographs will be the focus of a forthcoming exhibition at the Boston...
A bronze menagerie comes to Charlestown
Artist duo Gillie and Marc's "Wildlife Wonders" collection is comprised of three fantastical wildlife sculptures, including a 36-foot-long octopus.
Dispatches from the Triennial: Downtown Crossing
Over the next few months while the Boston Public Art Triennial is on view, WBUR's Amelia Mason will travel to each installation and release occasional dispatches of her impressions. First...
Stephen Hamilton intertwines ancestry and artistry for the Triennial
Boston-based artist Stephen Hamilton explores Black craft, labor, and ancestral traditions in his installation “Under the Spider’s Web,” featured in the city’s inaugural Public Art Triennial. Using weaving, painting, and...
Summer in New England, blending art and nature
The mixture of outdoors and art is one of the reasons why New England is so wonderful in the summer. We have suggestions of ways to get outside and experience...
MFA returns two stolen works from Benin Kingdom
At a ceremony Friday in New York City, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts returned two works of art that were stolen from present-day Nigeria more than a century ago. They...