'Lost Kitten!'
“Lost Kitten! ‘Archie’ He is 7 months old & new to the area.” In Malden, Massachusetts, Dec. 18, 2020. Photos…
Reconsidering Ancient Nubia At The MFA
“Ancient Nubia Now”—on view at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts from Oct. 13, 2019, to Jan. 20, 2020—showcases treasures from…
Jeffu Warmouth's Giant Inflated Head Stuffed With Ideas, Daily Concerns, Neuroses
The centerpiece of Jeffu Warmouth’s exhibition “Urgent Blowout,” at Boston Sculptors Gallery from Dec. 11, 2019, to Jan. 26, 2020,…
Joseph Wheelwright Found The Fairy Tales Within Sticks And Stones And Bones
Joseph Wheelwright’s sculptures originate in myths or fairy tales—crescent moons with dreamy faces; ancient personages that seem to emerge from…
Free! How To Get Into New England Museums Without Paying
Wondering how to get into a New England museum without paying? Below is Wonderland’s guide to free days at institutions…
Can You Recognize These Gingerbread Landmarks From Boston Architects?
Each year the Boston Society of Architects’ “Gingerbread Design Competition and Exhibition”–on view at BSA Space, 290 Congress St., Boston,…
Wonderland's Most-Read Posts Of 2019
Below are Wonderland’s most popular posts of 2019, the ones that brought in the most readers and bots. Thanks everyone…
The Year In Photos: Art And Activism In 2019
Art and activism across Boston and New England as I witnessed it in 2019. (Note: Some photos feature events by…
Joe Coleman’s Visionary Icons Of Outlaws And Depraved Souls
Joe Coleman’s paintings of outlaws and depraved souls can bring to mind sordid circus sideshow banners, holy medieval manuscript illumination,…
The Secret Art Of The Godfather Of Boston Punk, Willie Alexander
“It’s here. It’s life. It’s everything. Bam!” Willie “Loco” Alexander tells me as we tour a retrospective of his paintings…
Rediscovering African-American Rock And Roll Pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
“Rebelling against constraint, she let her voice out in ‘Rock Me’ and ‘That’s All,’ and left the house ecstatic,” The…
Photos: Honk Parade From Somerville To Cambridge
Honk!—the infectious street party and festival of activist street bands—paraded from Davis Square in Somerville to Harvard Square in Cambridge…
As Boston Continues To Exclude Hip Hop, ‘Boston Answering’ Aims To ‘Uplift Some Of The City’s Finest Local Artists’
“A cultural response manifested into a show” is how this Saturday’s “Boston Answering” show at the Strand Theatre in Boston…
Somerville PorchFest: Wonderland’s Totally Biased Guide To This Saturday's Music Fest
Somerville’s annual PorchFest is part hootenanny, part a giant open studios for bands. More than 200 bands acts are scheduled…
Unicorns! Gorgons! Manticores! In Metropolitan Chorale's Collaboration With Puppet Showplace Theater
Unicorns, gorgons and other fantastical creatures abound in the Metropolitan Chorale’s performance of Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Unicorn, The Gorgon…
Monkeyhouse Dance At 'Malden Reads' Kickoff
Karen Krolak, artistic director of Monkeyhouse dance company, performs at the kickoff celebration for the 2020 “Malden Reads,” one-city, one-book…
![The Rendille of northern Kenya’s Kaisut Desert: "Throughout the [Herr Heroon, or bull] ceremony, warriors gather in small groups to perform leaping dances, expressing their unity as a generation. When two warriors leap together the dance is called woyee," Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher write in "African Twilight: The Vanishing Rituals and Ceremonies of the African Continent," 2018. (Rizzoli)](https://gregcookland.com/wonderland/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AfricanTwilight_Book1_p111w530-370x168.jpg)
Carol Beckwith And Angela Fisher, Photographers Of African Traditions, Speak At Harvard Dec. 5
For four decades, American born Carol Beckwith and Australian Angela Fisher have journeyed over 300,000 miles across the African continent,…
In Martin Clark’s ‘Substitution Order,’ A Bedraggled Attorney Gets Caught In A Con
Kevin Moore had been a star attorney, beloved by his clients as well as fellow lawyers, judges, probation officers and…
Nina MacLaughlin’s ‘Wake, Siren’: A MeToo Retelling Of Ancient Greek And Roman Tales
Nina MacLaughlin says that she began her brilliant, lyrical, painful new book “Wake, Siren” when she took a stab at…
Maira Kalman: ‘If You Don’t Digress And Go Off The Point, I Think You Miss The Point’
“There’s absolutely nothing you can’t talk to children about. They want to know the truth,” author and illustrator Maira Kalman…
In Sarah Gailey's 'Magic for Liars,' Investigating Murder At A School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry
In Sarah Gailey’s “Magic for Liars” (Tor Books), a drunk, broke private detective gets hired to solve a murder at…
How I Ended Up In A Boat With Captain Ahab Chasing The White Whale In A.R.T.’s ‘Moby-Dick’
Perhaps I should have been mindful that stepping into any boat with Captain Ahab—who doomed his crew via his maniacal…
Photos: Bread & Puppet’s ‘Honey Let’s Go Home! Opera’
When people think of Bread and Puppet Theater, they naturally tend to think of the giant puppets and the garlic-slathered…
An Evening Of Crankies—‘The Original Moving Pictures’—With Katherine Fahey And Friends
“They were like the original moving pictures,” says Katherine Fahey of “An Evening of Crankies,” which she performs at Puppet…
‘Too Fat For China’: Phoebe Potts’s One-Mom Comedy About The Sordid, Racist Adoption Industry
“Every baby is born into a story of how they got there,” Phoebe Potts says at the start of “Too…
Bread and Puppet Theater's 'Diagonal Life’ Challenges Baby Jails, Global Warming, The Unthinkable
“Reality is either horizontal or vertical or both,” a woman explains early in Bread and Puppet Theater’s “Diagonal Life: Theory…
Photos: Boston Circus Guild Brings 'Cirque Of The Dead' To Oberon For Halloween
“The history of Oberon is clouded in mystery,” one of the paranormal investigators warns at the start of the Boston…
Photos: Annual AIDS Vigil at Boston Cyclorama
The 28th annual “24 Hour Vigil – Day With(Out) Art -World AIDS Day” art installation took place at the Boston…
Shepard Fairey Returns To Providence: ‘It’s Pretty Punk Rock To Try To Unite’
Shepard Fairey—one of the most famous street artists in the world, known for his “Obey” Andre the Giant graphics to…
Photos: Honk Parade From Somerville To Cambridge
Honk!—the infectious street party and festival of activist street bands—paraded from Davis Square in Somerville to Harvard Square in Cambridge…
Giant Opioid Spoon Arrives At Library To Protest Companies Behind Drug Crisis
In June 2018, an 800-pound, 4-foot-high, 10-foot-long aluminum spoon appeared in front of the headquarters of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma…
Photos: Boston Climate Strike Demands Action To Halt Global Warming
Thousands rallied at Boston City Hall Plaza for the Boston Climate Strike today and then marched to the State House.…
Protesters Demand MIT President Resign Over Role In Epstein Scandal
“Reif, you can’t hide! We demand that you resign!” hundreds of protesters chanted at an “MIT Rally Against Jeffrey Epstein”…
Photos: Lunar New Year Celebration In Malden
Chinese Culture Connection hosted its annual Lunar New Year Celebration, to mark the start of the Year of the Mouse…
The Year In Photos: Art And Activism In 2019
Art and activism across Boston and New England as I witnessed it in 2019. (Note: Some photos feature events by…
Photos: Bread & Puppet’s ‘Honey Let’s Go Home! Opera’
When people think of Bread and Puppet Theater, they naturally tend to think of the giant puppets and the garlic-slathered…
Photos: Annual AIDS Vigil at Boston Cyclorama
The 28th annual “24 Hour Vigil – Day With(Out) Art -World AIDS Day” art installation took place at the Boston…
Bread and Puppet Theater's 'Diagonal Life’ Challenges Baby Jails, Global Warming, The Unthinkable
“Reality is either horizontal or vertical or both,” a woman explains early in Bread and Puppet Theater’s “Diagonal Life: Theory…
What We Saw At MICE (Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo)
MICE, the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo, was founded in 2010 to focus on the artists—with creators selling their own works…
Photos: Lunar New Year Celebration In Malden
Chinese Culture Connection hosted its annual Lunar New Year Celebration, to mark the start of the Year of the Mouse…
Carol Beckwith And Angela Fisher, Photographers Of African Traditions, Speak At Harvard Dec. 5
For four decades, American born Carol Beckwith and Australian Angela Fisher have journeyed over 300,000 miles across the African continent,…
Photos: Annual AIDS Vigil at Boston Cyclorama
The 28th annual “24 Hour Vigil – Day With(Out) Art -World AIDS Day” art installation took place at the Boston…
Photos: Malden Parade Of Holiday Traditions
“Songbirds for Diversity” by Wonderland Spectacle Co. and friends were honored to be part of the 2019 Malden Parade of Holiday…
Dazzling Chinese Lanterns At Montreal’s Jardin Botanique
One of the highlights of Montreal each fall is the “Gardens of Light,” which illuminates the Chinese Garden at the…
Photos: Honk Parade From Somerville To Cambridge
Honk!—the infectious street party and festival of activist street bands—paraded from Davis Square in Somerville to Harvard Square in Cambridge…
Shepard Fairey Returns To Providence: ‘It’s Pretty Punk Rock To Try To Unite’
Shepard Fairey—one of the most famous street artists in the world, known for his “Obey” Andre the Giant graphics to…
Dazzling Chinese Lanterns At Montreal’s Jardin Botanique
One of the highlights of Montreal each fall is the “Gardens of Light,” which illuminates the Chinese Garden at the…
New Murals On Beverly’s Cabot Theatre Aim To Illuminate All The Creativity Going On Inside
NOTE: I’ve been commissioned by the Essex County Community Foundation to help document/promote cultural projects from its Creative County Initiative,…
Mural At Salem's It's Raining Pets
Mural at It’s Raining Pets, a dog grooming business in Salem, Massachusetts, Sept. 7, 2019. If this is the kind…
First Look At Three New Somerville Murals
“I wanted to share this idea of home, with the community, with the city of Somerville,” Imagine (Sneha Shrestha), a…
Artist Cages Duckling Statues In Boston Public Garden To Protest Abuse Of Immigrants
Well before dawn last Friday morning, Karyn Alzayer snuck a group of miniature cages into Boston’s Public Garden via “a…
Snow!
Snow in Malden, Massachusetts, Jan. 18 to 19, 2020. Photos copyright 2020 Greg Cook. If this is the kind of…
Photos: Winter Solstice Sunrise At Revere Beach
Winter solstice sunrise at Revere Beach, Massachusetts, Dec. 21, 2019. If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures…
Photos: Herring Migrating Upstream In Medford
The Mystic River Watershed Association held a River Herring Open House on May 22, inviting visitors to watch herring swimming…
Woodpecker
Photo copyright 2019 Greg Cook. If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please…
The 5-Year-Old’s Guide To ‘Space’ At Boston’s Museum Of Science
Twice this fall, the 5-Year-Old visited “Space: An Out-of-Gravity Experience,” which is on view at Boston’s Museum of Science through Jan.…
The Dazzling ‘Rockefeller Beetles’ Debut At Harvard’s Natural History Museum
The earth is home to 450,000 species of beetles, Brian Farrell, the Harvard University professor and curator of entomology, told…