Dirt Palace: Providence’s Feminist Art Collective Celebrates 25 Years
Twenty-five years ago, in a derelict library in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood, a group of women came together to found a…
First Boston Public Art Triennial: An Afternoon Tour
The first Boston Public Art Triennial officially opened on May 22. For a decade, the nonprofit Now+There had been installing…
Goodbye, Linda Elbow
We arrived at Bread.and Puppet Theater in Glover, Vermont, last Friday evening to learn that our friend Linda Elbow had…
Wonderland Spectacle Co.’s ‘How To Walk Among The Stars’
“What are the wishes of fireflies? Can we summon fireflies to return to our backyards? What is the etiquette that will…
The Techniques Behind Edvard Munch’s Anxious Art
In “Edvard Munch: Technically Speaking”—at the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge from March 7 to July 27, 2025—people face away…
Photos: Outsider Art Fair in New York
The annual Outsider Art Fair features “self-taught, outsider, or art brut artists.” Part of its delight is a chance to…
Ife Franklin’s Healing Hoodoo
Ife Franklin’s most prominent art of the past decade has delved into the legacy of African-Americans in colonial America by…
Steve Plattner’s Photos Of Visionary Art Environments
Cincinnati photographer Steve Plattner is showing his portraits of visionary artists and their environments in the exhibition “Persistence of Vision”…
John Wilson And The Art Of Black Dignity
Around the start of 1986, John Wilson wrapped the bust he’d sculpted of Martin Luther King Jr. in blankets and…
Dirt Palace: Providence’s Feminist Art Collective Celebrates 25 Years
Twenty-five years ago, in a derelict library in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood, a group of women came together to found a…
Steve Plattner’s Photos Of Visionary Art Environments
Cincinnati photographer Steve Plattner is showing his portraits of visionary artists and their environments in the exhibition “Persistence of Vision”…
Backyard Wonderlands: Photo Exhibit Documents People Who Transform Their Homes Into Visionary And Folk Art Worlds
For a decade, Greg Cook has been making pilgrimages to visionary art sites, folk art environments, and “yard shows” from…
To Spread God’s Word, Howard Finster Created 46,991 Artworks. New Exhibit Reveals Method To His Productivity.
As the story goes, in 1976, when Howard Finster was 60, the Baptist preacher was painting a bicycle when he…
Giant Troll Takes Over Thomas Saltsman’s Marblehead Driveway
Architect Thomas Saltsman, of the Boston firm SaltsmanBrenzel, has become a sensation for the giant installations that have taken over…
Wonderlands: Visionary And Folk Art Sites Across The U.S.
For several years now, I’ve been making pilgrimages to visionary sites across the United States. Below are a selection of…
Waterfall At Beaver Brook Reservation
Another waterfall close to Boston is the Cascade at the Commonwealth’s Beaver Brook Reservation along the Belmont-Waltham line. Beaver Brook…
Escape From The Bitter Cold In A Greenhouse
When it gets especially freezy out, I like to escape to a local greenhouse for a bit of warm, green…
Frozen Waterfall A Short Walk From End Of Orange Line
The Cascade in the Middlesex Fells is always dazzling after a fresh snow–and especially after a few weeks of freezing…
The Start Of The Mississippi River
At the end of the summer, the 11-year-old and I drove up to the start of the Mississippi River in…
Century-Old Shipwreck Emerges From Sand At Ipswich’s Crane Beach
In February, pieces of a century-old shipwreck began emerging from the sand at the northwest end of Ipswich’s Crane Beach—a…
Listening For Bats At Mount Auburn Cemetery
The group of nine of us began looking and listening for bats at Cambridge’s Mount Auburn Cemetery as night fell…
Bread & Puppet’s ‘Revolution in Progress Circus’ Is Coming
Our friends Bread & Puppet Theater bring their “Our Domestic Resurrection Revolution in Progress Circus” to Cambridge Common on Saturday,…
Bread and Puppet’s ‘Oh You Beast Descendants’
“This death of Gaza is not chaotic, it is scheduled,” a narrator says during Bread and Puppet Theater’s “Oh You…
Goodbye, Linda Elbow
We arrived at Bread.and Puppet Theater in Glover, Vermont, last Friday evening to learn that our friend Linda Elbow had…
Wonderland Spectacle Co.’s ‘How To Walk Among The Stars’
“What are the wishes of fireflies? Can we summon fireflies to return to our backyards? What is the etiquette that will…
Why American Repertory Theater Tells ‘The Odyssey’s Backstory With Puppets
How do you introduce the backstory of Homer’s epic ancient tale “The Odyssey”? How Odysseus, the legendary Greek king and…
Photos: ‘Crankies Take New York’
“A crankie is basic in concept: it is a scroll that provides the visual narration to a story or song,”…
Some Cartoonists To Check Out At Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo
Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo–aka MICE–is Dec. 7 and 8, 2024, at Boston University’s Fuller Building, 808 Commonwealth Ave., Brookline. Free…
Midcentury Gay Haven In Gloucester Revealed In Long Lost Ellsworth Kelly Drawing
Late last year, archivists made a dramatic discovery when paging through an old guest book at the Hammond Castle Museum…
‘Comics in Color Festival’ Showcases Artists Of Color
The “Boston Comics in Color Festival” showcased comics creators of color with a hall full of comics for sale, talks…
The Children’s Books Of Celebrated Designer Seymour Chwast
In 1954, Seymour Chwast, along with a handful of friends he’d made while studying art and design at Cooper Union,…
At Boston’s Old North Church, Reprinting The Dangerous Ideas That Sparked A Revolution
Though the first printing press was imported from Europe into the Americas around 1554, to Mexico City, and Harvard got…
Amidst ‘70s Boston Desegregation Protests, A Mom Investigates Her Daughter’s Disappearance, In Dennis Lehane’s New Novel
Recommended The folks in Southie might not have money, but at least they take care of their own. That’s the…
Photos: 19th Annual Honk Festival In Somerville
The 19th annual Honk Festival of Activist Street Bands took place in Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts, from Oct. 4 to…
Photos: 2024 Somerville Porchfest
Somerville Porchfest is part hootenanny, part a giant open studios for bands. Inspired by an event in Ithaca, New York,…
Boston Rock History And Vintage Views Of Local Streets In Charles Daniels’s Photos
Charles Daniels always had one or more cameras with him—when he was strolling local streets; when he was emcee at…
‘Road To Ruane’ Remembers Legendary Boston Rock Impresario And Wild Man
“Billy Ruane walked into the room and he said, ‘I need an extra room for my birthday party. I think…
If You Could Play One Of the World’s Best Violins Which One Would You Choose?
On Monday afternoon, musicians from the Boston chamber orchestra A Far Cry were picking out violins to borrow for the…
Oscar-Winning Documentary ‘Last Repair Shop’: Repairing Instruments To Make People Whole Again
“The Last Repair Shop” is an astonishing, tender, heartbreaking, inspiring look behind the scenes at the expertise and love that…
Photos: St. Peter’s Fiesta In Gloucester
At the start of summer in the last days of June, Gloucester celebrated its 98th annual St. Peter’s Fiesta—my beloved…
Photos: 19th Annual Honk Festival In Somerville
The 19th annual Honk Festival of Activist Street Bands took place in Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts, from Oct. 4 to…
Photos: Cambridge Carnival Parade
The 30th anniversary Cambridge Carnival included a parade of masqueraders costumed in feathers, plumes, bright-colored silks, and satin with jeweled…
Photos: St. Peter’s Fiesta in Gloucester
The thrilling, bonkers Greasy Pole Contest increasingly brings attention to St. Peter’s Fiesta in Gloucester, the city’s annual kickoff off…
Photos: Mermaid Promenade at Cambridge Arts River Festival
The Mermaid Promenade kicked off the Cambridge Arts River Festival along the Charles River this morning. The parade, which I…
Photos: Honk Parade From Somerville To Cambridge
Honk, the annual festival of activist street bands, arrived in Somerville and Cambridge this weekend. Begun here in 2006, the…
First Boston Public Art Triennial: An Afternoon Tour
The first Boston Public Art Triennial officially opened on May 22. For a decade, the nonprofit Now+There had been installing…
MLK Memorial ‘The Embrace’ Unveiled At Boston Common
“This work is really about the capacity for each of us to be enveloped in love, and I feel enveloped…
Deceased Beech Tree Turned Into Statue In Somerville Park
When a massive, old European beech tree at Somerville’s Symphony Park declined into disease, the city’s Parks and Open Space…
Rob ‘ProBlak’ Gibbs’ ‘Breathe Life Together” Mural On Boston’s Greenway
“My vision is to add to Boston’s skyline in a way that elevates the voices and work of those who’ve…
Olmsted’s 200th Birthday Remembered With Moss Installation At Jamaica Pond
“Gradually and silently the charm comes over us; we know not exactly where or how” reads a moss installation by…
Best Christmas Decorations Around Greater Boston
Below is Wonderland’s guide to dazzling holiday decorations around greater Boston, from Attleboro to Somerville (listed by community, in alphabetical…