This week's assignment was to go to 4 different parts of town to find artwork from the Public Art Boston interactive map. When we discussed the map in class, I was intrigued by the paint boxes and was determined to find one, and lo and behold, there was one just sitting there on my walk to work, just itching to be photographed. It is of a watermelon, put simply, with a wedge taken out of the side.

 I was a little underwhelmed at the simplicity of the piece and disappointed at its seemingly meaningless existence at first. However, the more I walked by this unnaturally box-shaped watermelon, the more I appreciated its presence. Even though it seemed to symbolize nothing, it gave people something to look at and wonder about on otherwise mundane walks across campus. By meaning virtually nothing, is it suddenly more deep and curious art, making the observer think harder about meaning and come up with his or her own ideas about its background? In any case, it definitely added color to a boring corner of the street, and the fact that these boxes are so open to the common people adds character to the city and its otherwise ordinary civilian population. 

On Sunday, I struggled with how to tackle the other three art pieces, since I had to leave my comfortable burrow that is the expanse of campus. When scouring the map, I found a piece depicting a tree located in Chinatown, and with a hankering for authentic Chinese food and an equally hungry suite mate, I took the T down to Chinatown, in search of an artistic tree and a highly rated Vietnamese restaurant. 

When me and Phoebe were done eating a hearty meal (at a different restaurant because the Vietnamese one seemed to be non-existent) and spent entirely too much money at the market, we almost accidentally bumped into the tree plaque, which looked entirely different than the one in the picture on the map.

Confused, we searched the surrounding area for an entirely similar plaque, only in color and on a wall, and spotted it on a building only a few feet away, which seemed odd.

However, upon further research, the story is interesting. The one in the window is very old, a symbol of the town's real liberty tree, but the plaque is newer. Apparently, a man named Ronald Kessler had an idea in the sixties to build an entire park-like area dedicated to this important American symbol, which ended up not happening and the location was simply commemorated with another plaque. This site claims the park idea might be revived as soon as this fall or next spring, and I'd be curious to see how that goes. Otherwise, I feel the piece is interesting, albeit awkwardly located. A tribute to America located in Chinatown seems somewhat misplaced. Regardless, any historical art has value in both contexts, and gives a glimpse into the artistic talents and inspirations of the past. While leaving Chinatown, I happened to pass this rather interesting work of art in a window.

It is simply what appears to be the face of a heavily adorned woman in a stone bust. I snapped a picture of it and its caption, just because I felt it needed to be shared somewhere. What is interesting is about whether or not the theater which either was there or still is there might have been torn down in favor of the liberty tree... Something to think about. 

A few days later, on a nice, breezy autumn day, I took a stroll over to the MFA to see the sculptures outside the building. I found them rather odd, seeing as they were just two giant infant heads, a deer, and a Native American shooting a bow. 

The Native American and deer at least made sense together, but I'm not sure about the enormous baby heads. However, they did catch my eye. The artist meant them as a means to represent sleeping versus being awake, the "known and unknown". For sure, they are a statement piece that I think give the area character. The other two sculptures were fine, adding art to the fitting location of an art museum, and the culture of America's lost past, of the "Indian Hunter" and "Pronghorn Antelope". This also provokes some thought though, because the artist could either have been depicting the Native American in a cruel, murderous view, or he could have been simply paying homage to the country's lost past.

I continued my journey with the destination of Copley Square in mind, remembering I had seen there was art there. I walked along the beautiful scenery and took all too many pictures of buildings and landscape and relied too heavily on my GPS, until I finally reached Copley Square, and with only 1% battery left snapped a quick photo of the first statue I saw and ran to the T station in the hopes of not letting my phone die. The picture I took is actually of John Copley, presumably the area's namesake. 

It was elegant, and somewhat fit with the historical theme of this post's artworks (minus the watermelon). Knowing nothing about him, I looked the statue up, and he was an artist himself, a portrait painter. I thought it would be fun to look up the yelp review of the statue, and while there was only two, the comparison of them really revealed the importance of art in a city. The first woman called it a "perfect picture opportunity" and detailed it as something to see on your way through. The other reviewer was incredibly thorough, raving about the wonders of the statue and the interesting aspects of Copley's life. Even these two reviews give a glimpse at how art affects everyone in different positive ways. I might have found too many statues and historical pieces this week, but I felt it was much more enlightening to really get out of my comfort zone and learn more about the city.

*** Here are some bonus pictures from the trip***