The Library

Looking further into the book shelves in the Library, you’ll see a number of carefully curated smaller pieces that are designed to draw you in and create an intimate looking experience. These include a set of three paintings by Lauren Ewing called Distance Disappearing. These three small oil paintings were made in response to the artist thinking about the essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin. It discusses the differences in looking at art before and after images began to be mechanically reproduced. The essay talks about aura-based looking, an in-person event as opposed to how we encounter reproduced images in several places including signs and in media. So, Lauren made small landscape paintings of deep space with the word ‘aura’ suspended in the center of each painting. Lauren Ewing works in her studios in Massachusetts, New York City and Indiana and is well known for her work as a sculptor, educator, and installation artist. She works with light, scale, and on specific sites and often uses materials and subjects that create illumination and beauty.

Looking further into the book shelves in the Library, you’ll see a number of carefully curated smaller pieces that are designed to draw you in and create an intimate looking experience. These include a set of three paintings by Lauren Ewing called Distance Disappearing. These three small oil paintings were made in response to the artist thinking about the essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin. It discusses the differences in looking at art before and after images began to be mechanically reproduced. The essay talks about aura-based looking, an in-person event as opposed to how we encounter reproduced images in several places including signs and in media. So, Lauren made small landscape paintings of deep space with the word ‘aura’ suspended in the center of each painting. Lauren Ewing works in her studios in Massachusetts, New York City and Indiana and is well known for her work as a sculptor, educator, and installation artist. She works with light, scale, and on specific sites and often uses materials and subjects that create illumination and beauty.

Looking further into the book shelves in the Library, you’ll see a number of carefully curated smaller pieces that are designed to draw you in and create an intimate looking experience. These include a set of three paintings by Lauren Ewing called Distance Disappearing. These three small oil paintings were made in response to the artist thinking about the essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin. It discusses the differences in looking at art before and after images began to be mechanically reproduced. The essay talks about aura-based looking, an in-person event as opposed to how we encounter reproduced images in several places including signs and in media. So, Lauren made small landscape paintings of deep space with the word ‘aura’ suspended in the center of each painting. Lauren Ewing works in her studios in Massachusetts, New York City and Indiana and is well known for her work as a sculptor, educator, and installation artist. She works with light, scale, and on specific sites and often uses materials and subjects that create illumination and beauty.

Moving from the Library into the Street Bar, the first pieces of art we discover are two paintings from Jeannie Motherwell. Jeannie Motherwell addresses our desire to talk about legacy in the collection. She is Robert Motherwell’s daughter and the stepdaughter of Helen Frankenthaler. Both Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler were two of the most important American abstract expressionist painters in art history and Jeannie continues that tradition, living and working in Cambridge and Somerville. We chose these two smaller works that are presented in somewhat of a through space but we wanted people to spend a moment between rooms. We really wanted these to be a moment of pure style and a different style of painting than many of the other artworks in the collection. The embellished metallic leaf frames showcased these pieces against the dark midnight blue wall like a beautiful piece of jewelry, or a luxurious broach for the Newbury to wear.

Moving from the Library into the Street Bar, the first pieces of art we discover are two paintings from Jeannie Motherwell. Jeannie Motherwell addresses our desire to talk about legacy in the collection. She is Robert Motherwell’s daughter and the stepdaughter of Helen Frankenthaler. Both Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler were two of the most important American abstract expressionist painters in art history and Jeannie continues that tradition, living and working in Cambridge and Somerville. We chose these two smaller works that are presented in somewhat of a through space but we wanted people to spend a moment between rooms. We really wanted these to be a moment of pure style and a different style of painting than many of the other artworks in the collection. The embellished metallic leaf frames showcased these pieces against the dark midnight blue wall like a beautiful piece of jewelry, or a luxurious broach for the Newbury to wear.

Breon Dunigan is a sculptor from a family of art makers who lives and works in Massachusetts. She uses materials that are often used in construction and manufacturing but also used in maintaining a household. So, the idea of the artist studio as a workplace and a daily practice and the idea of a woman in command of that daily practice is a big part of why her practice is interesting. The three sculptures use basically the human or animal form and feel like they are dropping from the sky. She uses basic formal sculptural issues like weight, proportion, volume and in this one case motion and how an object occupies space when it lands there. In a very direct way, she is using the human form as a story and imagining that the human form will just appear or fall from the sky or fall from a dream and interact with some of the existing objects and textures in your house and make a circumstance to delight in.

Breon Dunigan is a sculptor from a family of art makers who lives and works in Massachusetts. She uses materials that are often used in construction and manufacturing but also used in maintaining a household. So, the idea of the artist studio as a workplace and a daily practice and the idea of a woman in command of that daily practice is a big part of why her practice is interesting. The three sculptures use basically the human or animal form and feel like they are dropping from the sky. She uses basic formal sculptural issues like weight, proportion, volume and in this one case motion and how an object occupies space when it lands there. In a very direct way, she is using the human form as a story and imagining that the human form will just appear or fall from the sky or fall from a dream and interact with some of the existing objects and textures in your house and make a circumstance to delight in.

Breon Dunigan is a sculptor from a family of art makers who lives and works in Massachusetts. She uses materials that are often used in construction and manufacturing but also used in maintaining a household. So, the idea of the artist studio as a workplace and a daily practice and the idea of a woman in command of that daily practice is a big part of why her practice is interesting. The three sculptures use basically the human or animal form and feel like they are dropping from the sky. She uses basic formal sculptural issues like weight, proportion, volume and in this one case motion and how an object occupies space when it lands there. In a very direct way, she is using the human form as a story and imagining that the human form will just appear or fall from the sky or fall from a dream and interact with some of the existing objects and textures in your house and make a circumstance to delight in.

You’ll also see some very important small sculptures by an artist named Lavaughan Jenkins, a notable young Black artist who is having a very significant moment in his career right now. Having just finished a 7-month residency at The Fine Arts Work Center in 2022 we selected these two sculptures from Lavaughan’s Duchess Series. His works are made from using and building accumulations of oil paint to depict figures of African Americans throughout American history. Up until the George Floyd incident and the Black Lives Matter movement, Lavaughn had not titled his pieces, simply calling them the Duchess Series. These two have titles from songs. One is ‘We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue’ after a song by Curtis Mayfield and the other is called ‘I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing’ after a song by James Brown.

You’ll also see some very important small sculptures by an artist named Lavaughan Jenkins, a notable young Black artist who is having a very significant moment in his career right now. Having just finished a 7-month residency at The Fine Arts Work Center in 2022 we selected these two sculptures from Lavaughan’s Duchess Series. His works are made from using and building accumulations of oil paint to depict figures of African Americans throughout American history. Up until the George Floyd incident and the Black Lives Matter movement, Lavaughn had not titled his pieces, simply calling them the Duchess Series. These two have titles from songs. One is ‘We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue’ after a song by Curtis Mayfield and the other is called ‘I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing’ after a song by James Brown.