Real Public Art by Paul Shoesmith The public art installation Human Construction by Carlos Dorrien sits in the heart of downtown Lowell on the Pawtucket Canal. It stands on the foundations of the former Martin’s clothing store/Strand Theatre and World Furniture buildings, perpendicularly placed off to the left and right…
Read More »
Watch for details on ordering a new book of Lowell poems (and a few poems set on the Maine coast) from Tom Sexton, known to these blog readers for his literary exploits. Tom leaped from Lowell High School to being Poet Laureate of Alaska in not quite a single bound, but…
Read More »
By 1774 it was clear that the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony could no longer tolerate the tightened contol imposed by England on the citzenry. Attempts were made by committees and town governements to create a constitution for all in the Colony to live by… the final document was…
Read More »
What Lies Underneath: The Story of Pawtucket Prism By Nicolas White Do not let remissive habits of the public art world fool you; Pawtucket Prism may seem like a godless specimen of plop art, but the story behind its present state of disrepair perfectly mirrors the beleaguered history of Lowell.…
Read More »
Today – June 14 is Flag Day! On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress approved the design of a national flag. Since 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation establishing a national Flag Day on June 14, Americans have commemorated the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by…
Read More »
We Built This City by Alex Duran Placed next to the canals that powered the city, paid for by the leaders who bettered it, and honoring the people who helped create and continue to transform it, agápetimé is a symbolically intricate contribution to the Lowell Public Art Collection. In 1988,…
Read More »
Human Construction Adds a Detour to the City of Lowell by Collette M. Marquis Carlos Dorrien’s sculpture Human Construction sits on concrete piers on either side of the Pawtucket Canal Bridge on Central Street in downtown Lowell. Installed in 1989, it is composed of a series of granite post-and-lintel stones,…
Read More »
The Tewksbury Public Library is always a busy place beyond the circulation of books and other communication media. The Library is truly a community center – offering programs and speakers for all ages and all interests. Next week the Library continues its theme of boxing in the Merrimack Valley. Irish…
Read More »
This is the first in a series of short commentaries about the Lowell Public Art Collection by students from an Art History course taught this spring by Prof. John Christ of the UMass Lowell Cultural Studies Dept. Stele for the Merrimack By Carolyn Campbell One of the last installed pieces of…
Read More »
Ezra Pound said something like “poetry is news that stays news.” John Greenleaf Whittier made Poem of the Week in The Guardian of the UK with his “Telling the Bees.” The commentary is as interesting as the poem. Read it here–thanks to Rus Bowden on Facebook for the link. Makes…
Read More »