Remembering Three Enslaved People Who Poisoned Their Captor: A Cambridge Symposium
“One of the things that makes us uncomfortable is the history of violence, but the 250th [anniversary of the signing…
Shiny Shop Invites You To Be Seen, Safe, Shiny
Lately, Clara Wainwright–the legendary Cambridge and Gloucester quilter and installation artist who founded The Great Boston Kite Festival in 1969…
‘L.V. Hull: Love Is a Sensation’
“Do not try to understand me, just love me,” said L.V. Hull (1942–2008). In small town Kosciusko, Mississippi, the Black,…
JooYoung Choi: ‘You Have Always Been Loved’
“Have Faith for You Have Always Been Loved” read streamers curling across a 2026 mixed-media painting in JooYoung Choi’s exhibition…
In ‘Backrooms’s Cursed Maze Of Abandoned Retail Architecture, Finding America Gone Wrong
The horror flick “Backrooms” originates from an unforgettable image: an endless maze of eerily abandoned, generic commercial spaces, punctuated by…
Tattoos: Ferdinand The Peaceful Bull
Photographer Ryan Williams of Granby arrived at the opening day tour of the exhibition “Under the Cork Tree: The Story…
‘Temple of Our Ancestral Dreams’ At Pao Arts Center
“This space could have become parking garage, but it didn’t,” Anita Yip explained as she presented “Still, We Gather” at…
Was Celebrated Picture Book ‘Ferdinand,’ A Pacifist/ Communist/ Socialist/ Fascist/ Gay Plot?
I first encountered the celebrated 1936 picture book “The Story of Ferdinand” not as a child, but as a young…
How Did They Do That? ‘Photorealism in Focus’ at Brandeis’s Rose Art Museum
The paintings and sculptures in the survey exhibition “Photorealism in Focus” at Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum in Waltham from…
‘L.V. Hull: Love Is a Sensation’
“Do not try to understand me, just love me,” said L.V. Hull (1942–2008). In small town Kosciusko, Mississippi, the Black,…
‘Baby Animals Festival’ At Hancock Shaker Village
On a recent sunny Saturday morning, Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, launched one of the great rites of spring…
Goodbye, Pearl Fryar, Topiary Gardener
In the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar began transforming his home in Bishopville, South Carolina, into a fantastic topiary garden, often…
Goodbye to Isaiah Zagar, Creator Of Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens
Saddened to hear that Isaiah Zagar—creator of Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, one of the great visionary art spaces of the world,…
Dazzling Light Restoration Of 1936 Art Deco Cambridge Storefront
Wow! You need to check this out in person: Newly restored architectural lights delineating the facade of First Church of Christ,…
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…
Muskrat At Saugus River
Muskrat! Was convalescing while chatting with a friend along the Saugus River, just upstream of the Saugus Iron Works, on…
Horseshoe Crabs Nesting At Mouth Of Saugus River
Horseshoe crabs like to do their ancient, annual nesting/mating at the highest tide at the full moon or new moon…
Herring Make Annual Spawning Run At Woburn’s Horn Pond Dam
Herring trying to get up the rocks at Horn Pond Dam in Woburn, Massachusetts. Part of a documentary video I’m…
‘Baby Animals Festival’ At Hancock Shaker Village
On a recent sunny Saturday morning, Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, launched one of the great rites of spring…
Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival: Photos
Gore Place, the historic, 50-acre estate in Waltham, welcomed spring today with its annual Sheepshearing Festival. It featured demonstrations 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…
‘Temple of Our Ancestral Dreams’ At Pao Arts Center
“This space could have become parking garage, but it didn’t,” Anita Yip explained as she presented “Still, We Gather” at…
Bread & Puppet’s ‘Woyzeck’
In 1981, Bread and Puppet Theater toured Germany performing “Woyzeck,” their version of German writer Georg Buchner’s sad, bleak, femicide…
Bread & Puppet’s ‘The End Of The World Never Minding Show’
Our friends Bread and Puppet Theater brought “The End of the World Never Minding Show!” to Somerville’s Center for the…
Welcoming Spring At Bread & Puppet
“It’s more important than ever to remember the ways of our ancestors,” Maria Schumann told the crowd as she launched…
‘Homecoming’: Toy Theater Mulling Migration
“Homecoming” was a meditation on migration, immigration and home–from bird sightings to immigrants crossing the globe. The original toy theater…
Bread And Puppet Theater In Winter
Visiting our friends at Bread and Puppet Theater in Glover, Vermont, buried under the snow and fringed with the icicles…
Tattoos: Ferdinand The Peaceful Bull
Photographer Ryan Williams of Granby arrived at the opening day tour of the exhibition “Under the Cork Tree: The Story…
Was Celebrated Picture Book ‘Ferdinand,’ A Pacifist/ Communist/ Socialist/ Fascist/ Gay Plot?
I first encountered the celebrated 1936 picture book “The Story of Ferdinand” not as a child, but as a young…
Keith Knight
By a lucky coincidence, we recently bumped into Keith Knight, the “K Chronicles” cartoonist and creator of Hulu’s “Woke,” at…
Books I Read In 2025
Here are most of the books I read (finished and unfinished) during 2025 in roughly the order I read them.…
Goodbye To Boston Cartoonist Dan Moynihan
Heartbreaking to hear the news this afternoon of Boston cartoonist and designer and my friend Dan Moynihan suddenly dying on…
Goodbye, Cambridge Poet Charles Coe
Charles Coe, the poet and storyteller and teacher and musician (his beloved didgeridoo) and longtime arts administrator for the Massachusetts…
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…
34th Annual World AIDS Day Vigil And March
“Everyone we lost,” Nigel Griffith said, “..it is because of them we’re still here keeping up this fight.” He was…
Building ‘The Giant Puppet And People Making Mayhem Parade’
We recently bumped into Muffy Pendergast, who for some years now has organized “The Giant Puppet And People Making Mayhem…
A Visit To The 2025 Topsfield Fair
We paid a visit to the 207th Topsfield Fair, which runs from Oct. 3 to 13, 2025. Descended from an…
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…
Christopher Frost’s Revolutionary War Insurgents
Under a 19-foot-tall granite obelisk at the center of Arlington’s Old Burying Ground, off Pleasant Street, are the bodies of…
Goodbye, Pearl Fryar, Topiary Gardener
In the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar began transforming his home in Bishopville, South Carolina, into a fantastic topiary garden, often…
Goodbye to Isaiah Zagar, Creator Of Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens
Saddened to hear that Isaiah Zagar—creator of Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, one of the great visionary art spaces of the world,…
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…