When I last lived in the city during the 1980’s, Boston’s South End was a pretty derelict place. The streets closest to the Prudential Center had started to trend up, but most of the area was dilapidated and unsafe. What a difference the end of Rent Control and a growing economy can make! The South End comprises the area bounded by East Berkeley Street (east), Mass. Ave. (west), the Prudential area (north) and Albany Street (south). It is the site of the largest Victorian row home district in the United States.
Tremont Street bisects the neighborhood with block after block of good to great restaurants plus many independent boutiques. Boston Center for the Arts at 539 Tremont has expanded to include six performance spaces, gallery, studio, and rehearsal space. A recent Saturday in June, I wandered the area to participate in the South End Garden Tour, an annual event sponsored by the South End/Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust. Spectacular private gardens and elegant Victorian parks pervade this area. Union Park, created in 1851, is a particularly stunning garden oval with two fountains. Montgomery Park, not far away, is privately owned and managed through a Trust established in 1867 for the owners of the 36 (now 78) households that abut and surround the park. This sylvan oasis was a dump full of trash and debris during the South End’s rooming house period (1890 – 1970). The park is the backyard to these homes and is entered from private patios and through three gates from the surrounding streets. It is an inspiring example of civil society and civic pride and has been voluntarily lovingly restored beginning in the 1970s.
A copper beech tree, once almost dead, now thrives and its shade can be appreciated by sitting on the circular bench that has been built around it. Perennial gardens and specimen trees abound. On the day of my visit, I encountered a cellist, a painter, and a resident cat whose job it is to chase the rodents away. www.montgomerypark.org/history.htm
Tremont Street bisects the neighborhood with block after block of good to great restaurants plus many independent boutiques. Boston Center for the Arts at 539 Tremont has expanded to include six performance spaces, gallery, studio, and rehearsal space. A recent Saturday in June, I wandered the area to participate in the South End Garden Tour, an annual event sponsored by the South End/Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust. Spectacular private gardens and elegant Victorian parks pervade this area. Union Park, created in 1851, is a particularly stunning garden oval with two fountains. Montgomery Park, not far away, is privately owned and managed through a Trust established in 1867 for the owners of the 36 (now 78) households that abut and surround the park. This sylvan oasis was a dump full of trash and debris during the South End’s rooming house period (1890 – 1970). The park is the backyard to these homes and is entered from private patios and through three gates from the surrounding streets. It is an inspiring example of civil society and civic pride and has been voluntarily lovingly restored beginning in the 1970s.
A copper beech tree, once almost dead, now thrives and its shade can be appreciated by sitting on the circular bench that has been built around it. Perennial gardens and specimen trees abound. On the day of my visit, I encountered a cellist, a painter, and a resident cat whose job it is to chase the rodents away. www.montgomerypark.org/history.htm
At the southern end of the area is SoWa, which stands for South of Washington. 450 Harrison Avenue is an anchor with its artist studio lofts and retail gallery space along an attractive promenade. On the first Friday of every month, studios and galleries are open from 5-9pm. Visitors wander from gallery to gallery sampling wine and cheese. The next First Fridays are October 7th, November 4th and December 2nd
Gurari Collections: Antiquarian and Contemporary Arts excels in its dedication to the inventive mind. Russ Gerard, owner, is an architect with long experience in academia and the commercial world. Some may have met him when he owned an antiquarian map store on Beacon Hill. Russ engages his patrons with inventive art and unusual scientific objects and instruments, many of which hail from the early to mid twentieth century. This gallery appeals to the intellectual and the aesthete.
Wendy Artin, one of the artists featured at the Gurari Gallery, deserves considerable attention. Her nudes are breathtaking. She draws no lines at all, but paints the effect of light and shadow using monochrome watercolor. Then, in her studio, she scales up, employing charcoal on a special paper to represent the form. Using tiny marks with the charcoal to illuminate the light and the shadow, graceful and sculptural human bodies emerge. One has a visceral reaction to their beauty. They are perfect.
Look for a show at Gurari Collections in November dedicated to Wendy’s newest work which involves architectural and human forms from Roman antiquity.http://www.gurari.com/ and http://www.wendyartin.com/.
To Read The Rest Of My Newsletter, Click Here
Gurari Collections: Antiquarian and Contemporary Arts excels in its dedication to the inventive mind. Russ Gerard, owner, is an architect with long experience in academia and the commercial world. Some may have met him when he owned an antiquarian map store on Beacon Hill. Russ engages his patrons with inventive art and unusual scientific objects and instruments, many of which hail from the early to mid twentieth century. This gallery appeals to the intellectual and the aesthete.
Wendy Artin, one of the artists featured at the Gurari Gallery, deserves considerable attention. Her nudes are breathtaking. She draws no lines at all, but paints the effect of light and shadow using monochrome watercolor. Then, in her studio, she scales up, employing charcoal on a special paper to represent the form. Using tiny marks with the charcoal to illuminate the light and the shadow, graceful and sculptural human bodies emerge. One has a visceral reaction to their beauty. They are perfect.
Look for a show at Gurari Collections in November dedicated to Wendy’s newest work which involves architectural and human forms from Roman antiquity.http://www.gurari.com/ and http://www.wendyartin.com/.
To Read The Rest Of My Newsletter, Click Here
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