Have you wondered how much prices have increased over the last five years?
Here are the nitty-gritty details....
year-over-year sales data for somerville, 2012-2016 * single family YEAR
TOTAL # SOLD
AVERAGE SALES PRICE
MEDIAN SALES PRICE
SP:LP RATIO
HIGHEST SALES PRICE
LOWEST SALES PRICE
AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET
2016
86
$828,137
$718,500
103%
$1,750,000
$325,000
46
2015
84
$753,005
$725,000
104%
$1,725,000
$299,000
39
2014
85
$626,071
$562,000
102%
$1,335,000
$206,000
51
2013
88
$572,527
$549,350
103%
$1,150,000
$208,000
32
2012
92
$509,861
$466,500
100%
$1,295,000
$180,000
64
YEAR
TOTAL # SOLD
AVERAGE SALES PRICE
MEDIAN SALES PRICE
SP:LP RATIO
HIGHEST SALES PRICE
LOWEST SALES PRICE
AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET
2016
488
$635,140
$595,250
104%
$1,750,000
$151,000
37
2015
407
$591,740
$561,000
104%
$1,504,900
$209,000
39
2014
474
$518,166
$490,000
103%
$1,395,000
$130,000
38
2013
475
$449,936
$419,900
102%
$1,125,000
$130,144
37
2012
461
$400,805
$385,000
99%
$1,200,000
$135,000
63
YEAR
TOTAL # SOLD
AVERAGE SALES PRICE
MEDIAN SALES PRICE
SP:LP RATIO
HIGHEST SALES PRICE
LOWEST SALES PRICE
AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET
2016
165
$958,707
$900,000
100%
$2,460,000
$515,000
50
2015
152
$932,115
$857,000
101%
$2,225,000
$426,500
37
2014
150
$810,796
$780,000
102%
$1,575,000
$366,000
42
2013
149
$708,966
$680,000
104%
$2,100,000
$400,000
44
2012
161
$574,030
$549,900
98%
$1,400,000
$235,000
70
condos
multi family
*Data from on-market sales compiled from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database. “SP:LP RATIO” means sale price to list price ratio. The data for “AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET” is inconsistent, because some things are marked “under agreement” when an offer is accepted, whereas others are marked “contingent” when offer is accepted until all contingencies are fulfilled and continue to accumulate days on market until then. The wide range of prices for multi-families (MF) can be attributed to the range in number of units. A majority of MF sales are 2-3 unit buildings, but there are some larger (4-10+-unit) buildings that are included, skewing the figures higher.
Free Classes First Time Home Buyers
How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time
Thursday, March 16th
Wednesday, March 22th or Wednesday, April 5th
an overview of the buying process 6:30-7:45 pm
If you’re considering buying your first home and want to understand what’s in store, this is a quick and helpful overview. Led by our agents, it includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
for homeowners contemplating a move
6:30-7:45 pm
If trying to figure out the logistics of selling your home and buying a new one make your head spin, this workshop will help make the process understandable. This workshop, led by our agents and a loan officer from a local bank, includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session.
To reserve space in a class, please email Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com. Admission is free, but we appreciate donations of canned goods or coats/gloves/hats for the Somerville Homeless Coalition.
New Listings
Thalia Tringo 26 Newbury Street #1, Somerville ~ $549,000 Adorable condominium with 2 beds, 1 bath, renovated kitchen, shared laundry and private storage area in basement, and 2 exclusive driveway spots between Davis and Teele Squares.
President, Realtor ® 617.513.1967 cell/text Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Niké Damaskos
Residential Sales and Commercial Sales and Leasing 617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
14 Wheeler Street #1, Somerville ~ $635,000 East Somerville 2-bedroom, 2-bath condominium with stunning kitchen, in-unit laundry, private storage room, exclusive driveway and deck, shared yard. Walk to Sullivan and Assembly subways, CT2 bus to Kendall, great East Broadway eateries, and Union Square.
Jennifer Rose
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.943.9581 cell/text Jennifer@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Lynn C. Graham 4A Sargent Street, Cambridge ~ $925,000 Feels like a single family! Lovely 3-level TH with 3-4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, private deck and yard, and exclusive driveway in convenient, neighborly North Cambridge. Walk to Davis, Porter, and Alewife subways, shops, nightlife.
37 Allen Street, Somerville ~ $1,400,000 Rare opportunity to own a loft-style single family with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, central air, driveway, and yard in a converted industrial building in Union Square. OR to develop the property into three units as approved by the Zoning Board in 2016. Seller will give buyer his approved development plans and permits.
57 Highland Road, Somerville ~ $1,400,000 This enticing single family has 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths on 3 floors, with updated kitchen and baths, original details, 2-car garage, high-efficiency heating system, and solar panels —all on a coveted tree-lined street between Davis and Porter Squares.
Coming Soon Arlington ~ 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo in an enviable location between the Center and the Heights
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.216.5244 cell/text Lynn@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Brendon Edwards
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.895.6267 cell/text Brendon@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Adaria Brooks
Executive Assistant to the President, Realtor ® 617.308.0064 cell/text Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
About our company... We are dedicated to representing our buyer and seller clients with integrity and professionalism. We are also commi ed to giving back to our community. Our agents donate $250 to a non-profit in honor of each transaction and Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. also gives $250 to a pre-selected group of local charities for each transaction. Visit our office, 128 Willow Avenue, on the bike path in Davis Square, Somerville.
MARCH | APRIL 2017 ::: VOLUME 44 ::: SCOUTSOMERVILLE.COM
contents 6 // EDITOR’S NOTE 8 // WINNERS & LOSERS New England’s Super Bowl win was especially sweet for Lyndell’s Bakery.
THE ARTS ISSUE
24
18 // ART FOR ALL If you’re not up for a trip to the museum, you can find eye-catching works in shared city spaces. 22 // “ART MOMENTS” IN DAVIS SQUARE
Rather than stocking sponsored seasonal beauty products or promoting sales, the windows of the CVS in Davis Square host a rotating exhibit curated by the Somerville Arts Council.
24 // ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE Robots and dinosaurs and space ships—oh my! Meet local makers who live surrounded by their work all year round.
10 // WHAT’S NEW? Lots of big changes are coming soon to Assembly Row. 14 // LOCAL ACTIVISM IN AN ERA OF NATIONAL UNCERTAINTY The current political climate has lots of people asking, “What can I do to help?” We posed that very question to Somerville activists and officials. 42 // SCOUT OUT: FIVE FUN FLUFF FACTS You probably know about the What the Fluff? festival, but did you know the marshmallow condiment’s famous inventor, Archibald Query, narrowly escaped the Great Molasses Flood? 44 // CALENDAR 45 // MARKETPLACE 46 // SCOUT YOU
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30 // ACTUALLY, YOU CAN JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER Let’s be honest: We all do it. A Somerville publisher tell us how he designs book jackets that catch your eye.
34 // THE CONTEXT IS CRITICAL “Don’t bother showing up to the revolution if you’re not going to do it with a sense of humor,” Julie Ann Otis says of her politically minded pieces. 38 // THE TRA-’VILLE-ING CHEF
ArtEpicure’s Mark DesLauriers brings a world of experience to the kitchen of the Brickbottom Artists Association.
40 // USING TECHNOLOGY TO INSPIRE CREATIVITY
Somerville High School’s Fabville isn’t just a collection of 3D printers and laser cutters—it’s a space that encourages originality and experimentation.
Photo, top: In Hilary Scott’s home, you’ll find penguins on the ceiling and dinosaurs in the backyard. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photo, bottom: A pint-sized participant shows off his sign at February’s “We Are One Somerville” sanctuary city rally. Photo by Jess Benjamin. On the cover: Illustration by Monique Aimee.
EDITOR’S NOTE
O
ne morning this January, I found myself sipping coffee in a house off of Central Street, surrounded by mounted dinosaur heads, robots and cats wearing battle armor. MIT student DJs were playing a Mozes and the Firstborn song on WMBR, and the fuzzy guitars drifted out from a set of giant mouths, while, in an adjacent room, a massive bronze bird sat perched on the sofa, watching TV. It sounds like a fever dream—I know—but it really happened! That house belongs to artist Hilary Scott, who lives in this fantastical setting, surrounded by his assorted creations. Look ma, I’m art. I left Hilary’s sculpture-filled home with a Illustration by Daniel Ontaneda. feeling I had nearly the whole time we were putting together this arts-themed issue: I need to make something. It was energy I channeled into this very magazine, and enthusiasm that made me more productive and consequently made this issue way more fun. You may have noticed that these first months of 2017 have been more, shall we say, turbulent than many in recent memory. From federal threats to cut funding to sanctuary cities like ours to an immigration ban that left locals stranded at Logan Airport, it’s been a tough time for plenty of people in Somerville. A lot of folks are channeling that frustration and uncertainty into municipal activism—and if you’re looking for a guide on getting involved, we’ve got one on page 14. But I’ve found that in addition to volunteering and taking to the streets, it’s been helpful to set aside time for creative pursuits. Sitting down to write, cross stitch or sketch (albeit poorly) has become a crucial component in staying grounded as this world spins madly on. An amazing part of the annual Somerville Open Studios celebration (this year that’s on May 6 and 7—mark those calendars) is that artists across the city open the doors to their homes. Hilary is one of them, so after you read about his house on page 25, you’ll actually be able visit it and see if any of that artistic inspiration rubs off on you. And an equally incredible thing about this city is how much art there is everywhere, every day. You can’t go for a walk without passing public paintings on switchboxes and signs; you’ll see installations in shop windows and cafes. We have stories about works in shared spaces, too, on pages 18 and 22. As you read about the activists, artists—and even activist artists (page 34)—in this issue, I hope you feel… well, a little bit of hope. Art can be an important tool in trying times, and this certainly is one. Maybe you’ll even be moved to create something yourself—whether that means making magazines, painting portraits or paper mâchéing triceratops heads.
Emily Cassel, Editor in Chief ecassel@scoutmagazines.com
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March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
PUBLISHER Holli Banks Allien | hbanks@scoutmagazines.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Emily Cassel | ecassel@scoutmagazines.com emilycassel.me DEPUTY EDITOR Katherine Rugg | krugg@scoutmagazines.com ART DIRECTOR Nicolle Renick | design@scoutmagazines.com renickdesign.com PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Jess Benjamin | jbenjamin@scoutmagazines.com jsbenjamin.com BRAND AMBASSADOR Kate Douglas | kdouglas@scoutmagazines.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jerry Allien | jallien@scoutmagazines.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Stephanie Garfunkel, Mimi Graney, Emily Hopkins, Eliza Rosenberry, Amanda Lucidi CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Adrianne Mathiowetz | adriannemathiowetz.com CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR Monique Aimee | moniqueaimee.com COPY EDITOR Amanda Kersey WEB HOST Truly Good Design | trulygooddesign.com TECH SUPPORT Nate Tia | nate@simplynate.com BANKS PUBLICATIONS c/o Scout Somerville 191 Highland Ave., Ste. 1A, Somerville, MA 02143 FIND US ONLINE scoutsomerville.com somervillescout
scoutsomerville scoutmags
Office Phone: 617-996-2283 Advertising inquiries? Please contact hbanks@scoutmagazines.com. CIRCULATION 30,000 copies of Scout Somerville are printed bimonthly and are available for free at more than 220 drop spots throughout the city (and just beyond its borders). Additional copies are direct-mailed to different Somerville neighborhoods on a rotating basis. You can find a map of our pickup locations at scoutsomerville.com/pick-up-spots or sign up for home delivery by visiting scoutsomerville.com/shop.
ABOUT SCOUT
Photo by Emily Cassel.
We Can’t Spell Scout Without “U” I
mmigration bans. Threats to sanctuary cities. “Fake news.” This is a challenging, divisive time for America—one in which access to accurate information is crucial. We need newspapers and magazines telling stories that matter on a local level; we need reliable, trustworthy journalists at town halls and public forums in an era when municipal engagement is arguably more important than it’s ever been. That’s where Scout comes in. Since 2009, we’ve been providing community-driven coverage of people, places and politics in Somerville. And as this city continues developing and changing, we’ll be there, holding institutions and organizations accountable, introducing you to the people doing important work here. We need community media organizations that can do meaningful work here, too—and you can help ensure Somerville has an outlet doing just that. If you’re enjoying this issue of Scout, please consider supporting our work. Whether you donate a few bucks a month at patreon.com/scoutmagazines or volunteer your time at one of our events, there are tons of ways to get involved. You can help sustain our magazines so that we continue growing and covering the stories that matter to you. Learn more about who we are and what we do at scoutsomerville.com/support.
Crêperie & Café Get a taste of European lifestyle in the heart of Davis Square. Thank you for being part of this 10 years. Monday-Friday | 7:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Saturday | 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Sunday | 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Davis Square, Somerville scoutsomerville.com March | April 2017
7
W&L WINNERS
LOSERS
COMICAZI SHOPPERS Local comic book fans got quite a surprise when actor Chris Evans made a recent appearance in Davis Square. With the help of some trusty sidekicks, Captain America transformed Comicazi into a makeshift escape room, then hid out of sight. “This may look like a standard comic book store, but it’s actually a secret Hydra base,” Evans said through a walkie-talkie, voicing a Cap action figure to lead astonished shoppers through a series of challenges. You can watch the adorable, hilarious hijinks in a January 19 YouTube video from Omaze.
PIECE OF CAKE BAKERY Before the Patriots took on the Falcons in Super Bowl 51, Lyndell’s Bakery made a wager with Atlanta’s Piece of Cake Bakery—the losing team’s pastry purveyor would have to bake, decorate and display a cake honoring the winner. You know how this one plays out, as the Pats came from behind in a nail-biter to best Atlanta in the game’s final seconds. Lyndell’s may have tasted sweet victory, but both bakeries were good sports about it. “A bet is a bet, and unfortunately we’re on the losing end,” the Piece of Cake staffers wrote in a note attached to their concession confection. “We still love our Atlanta Falcons.”
LOUIS C.K. FANS Evans isn’t the only celeb who’s rolled through Davis of late. In February, before headlining a series of shows at the Wang Theatre in Boston, Louis C.K. made an unannounced appearance at the Burren for the weekly Burren Backroom Late Night Comedy show, where he ran some new material by a room of just about 60 people, according to Vanyaland.
SUMMER VACATION The concept of year-round school might horrify your kids (and your inner child), but Somerville’s Sprout & Co. is into the idea. At the education startup’s forthcoming alternative school Powderhouse Studios, students will attend class from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. on weekdays all year. Sprout founders say this will help students complete projects that interest them on a timeline that’s tailored to their needs, and the Boston Globe agrees; the paper honored Sprout’s year-round concept as one of “21 intriguing new ideas and trailblazing people” in its latest “Best of the New” edition.
ELIZABETH BARNO Congrats to Greentown Labs’ Elizabeth Barno, who has been named a 2017 “Forbes 30 Under 30: Energy” honoree! “This is a well-deserved honor for an impressive, passionate and dedicated professional who has made a true impact at Greentown Labs,” Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs, told us. “Elizabeth has played an instrumental role in ensuring that Greentown Labs’ community culture remained strong and consistent over the past four years, and she will continue to do so as we open another 50,000-square-foot facility in late 2017.
EXCLUSIONARY GREEK LIFE Nine members of Chi Omega’s Chi Alpha chapter at Tufts University left the sorority during the fall 2016 semester and later called for Greek life to be banned from campus entirely. “What we are calling for is not the elimination of the type of community you hold near and dear, but a redefinition of what social life on campus looks like,” they wrote in a December statement. “Yes, strong female friendships are important and empowering, but not when they are only available to white, cis, and/or straight women and not when they depend upon financial ability as a condition for entry.”
Someone rustle your jimmies or tickle your fancy? Let us know at scoutsomerville.com/contact-us, and we just might crown them a winner or loser. 8
March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
SCOUT TO THE SOUTH Here’s just some of what you’ll find in the March/April edition of our sibling publication, Scout Cambridge.
START ME UP Ten tech innovators talk selfdriving cars, streaming video and more—and share their advice for making your idea a reality.
OFFICE SPACE We go behind the scenes at Facebook, Hubspot and Hopper to learn how the right workspace helps employees get the job done.
DRAWING, DANCING, DRAMA— DREAM JOURNALING? This Harvard Square hub can teach you to do just about anything. Scout Cambridge is available at Brass Union, Aeronaut and hundreds of other places throughout Somerville and Cambridge. Head to scoutcambridge.com/pick-up-spots for a full list of locations!
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I was born and raised in West Somerville—the grandson of Irish immigrants who settled in Prospect Hill. I was a student of our public schools, where, decades later, my three daughters were educated. My grandfather, a laborer, helped build the MBTA. As a Ward 6 Alderman since the eighties and your Alderman at Large since 2007, my deep ties to this city have been invaluable. I’ve worked with concerned citizens and activists to reshape Davis, Ball, and Powderhouse Squares, providing a range of constituent services while supporting local job growth. Along the way, I’ve held the administration accountable with a sharp business trained eye on city finances. These roots—and my decades of experience— will be crucial while our beautiful city grows over the next several years, as we build a new high school and welcome the Green Line Extension. I love Somerville, and I want to live and work here forever. It’s my job to make sure that everyone who wants to live and work here has the opportunities I did. And as your Alderman at Large, I’ll continue fighting for families, for immigrants, for laborers. I look forward to working with you and hearing your concerns as we continue making our city one of the greatest—if not the greatest—in America.
I’M JACK CONNOLLY AND
@AldJackConnolly @AldermanConnolly
I’M LISTENING... Paid for by the Committee to Elect Jack Connolly
www.aldermanjackconnolly.com
scoutsomerville.com March | April 2017
9
WHAT’S NEW?
ON THE MENU UNION SQUARE
RELIABLE MARKET
R
eliable Market has long been... well, a reliable place to go for Japanese and Korean groceries, an array of globe-spanning snacks and a wide selection of beer. Now, you can also make the market your go-to for made-to-order hot entrees. Meals like bimbimbap, ramen and a few types of stir-fry are all available to eat in or take out, along with pad thai and the bulgogi pictured here.
BOUNDING INTO BROOKLINE
As of January, a pair of Somerville staples have set up shop in Brookline. The Painted Burro’s little sibling, Burro Bar, hoofed it to 1665 Beacon St., where it’s serving a smaller menu stacked with PB faves and bitesized “bocaditos” in a space full of art by Raul Gonzalez III (who you might know as the designer behind Aeronaut Brewing’s colorful cans). If you’re craving sweets instead, head to 409 Harvard St., where Union Square Donuts is serving sugary snacks at its second brick-and-mortar outpost.
10
March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
DAVIS SQUARE
DELI-ICIOUS
Say goodbye to DeliIcious (20 College Ave.). The eatery, which served subs, sandwiches and so much more, quietly closed shop in February. RIP, El Tiante Panini—you will be missed. EAST SOMERVILLE
RINCÓN MEXICANO EXPANDS
Rincón Mexicano celebrated the grand opening of its newly expanded and renovatedCOMING space SOON (99 Broadway) on February 24. Rincón opened in 2014 and recently took over the adjacent storefront to add more seating and tables, but if you’re someone who only orders delivery from this East Somerville favorite, you may
not have even noticed a change. Owner Lorenzo Reyes explains that since the restaurant is always closed on Mondays, they were able to update the space one day each week, with no long closures or disruptions in service. DAVIS SQUARE
OAT SHOP
After two false-start openings in early 2017—one halted by a frozen pipe, another held up by a permitting issue— Oat Shop (22 College Ave.) officially, permanently opened its doors on January 13, with sweet and savory oatmeal bowls, baked goods, coffee, tea and more.
Why not! In January, there was word that the former home of iYo Bistro (234 Elm St.) could house a Taco Bell Cantina, a slightly upscale concept from the chalupa chain with locations in cities including Austin, Las Vegas and Chicago. However, a February 27 neighborhood meeting to talk tacos in Davis Square was canceled, and Ward 6 Alderman Lance Davis tells us that the plans have been put off for now—and possibly for good.
DAVIS SQUARE
TACO BELL CANTINA
A Taco Bell that serves booze? COMING SOON
Photo, top left, courtesy of Reliable Market. Photo, top right, by Emily Cassel.
COME TOGETHER
THE SOMERVILLE PET FOOD BANK
“Every day, people are literally choosing whether to feed themselves or their pets,” says Somerville Foundation for Animals co-founder Marjie Alonso. Her foundation is working with the Somerville Homeless Coalition and other local nonprofits to open the Somerville Pet Food Bank, which would help ensure that low-income families, elderly pet owners and other at-risk groups don’t have to make that choice. “There’s a very real chain of events,” Alonso adds. “If you help people’s pets, you help people.” The food bank should be open within the next few months. UNION SQUARE
NONPROFITS MOVE IN
The Somerville Community Corporation is working to purchase part of the building it’s rented since 2006 at 337 Somerville Ave. SCC will soon own the entire second floor of the space, which also houses Sally O’Brien’s. In addition, the organization is getting two new nonprofit roommates— Groundwork Somerville and Community Cooks—both of which moved into their offices in February. “All of us work together so much, and this was a really appealing idea,” says Groundwork Somerville’s Chris Mancini.
SCC CEO Danny LeBlanc agrees that working in such close proximity will allow the nonprofits to share resources and brainpower. But perhaps most importantly, he says, owning the space will give the organizations a greater sense of stability and control, which will in turn help them focus on doing good work. “In this market that we’re in, you’re always vulnerable to getting a major rent increase or getting pushed out altogether,” he says.
learn
SCATV BECOMES THE SOMERVILLE MEDIA CENTER
At the “ASCATdemy Awards” ceremony in January, Somerville Community Access Television made a big announcement: SCATV will now be known as the Somerville Media Center, a name that reflects how much more comes out of the Union Square-based station than just TV shows.
www.somervillemedia.org
EAST SOMERVILLE
MYSTIC ARTS COLLECTIVE
Mystic Arts Collective has plans to open an all-ages, inclusive, ADA-compliant DIY space later this year. Organizers Ronnica and Jess Schmid say the three-story space will house everything from live music to art workshops to cooking classes, with studio spaces, a kitchen, a rehearsal room and more. “We’ve been looking for more inclusive, all-ages space in Boston,” Ronnica says. “There’s literally, virtually none.” This would be the first venue in Greater Boston built with inclusiveness, accessibility and positivity at the forefront. The collective is seeking donations that will go toward a deposit on the space, and if all goes well, they hope to be open by June.
create
share
scoutsomerville.com March | April 2017
11
What’s New?
SO FRESH AND SO GREEN
TELLUSLABS
A
ccording to the Boston Business Journal, a “crop surveillance” startup is making moves to Somerville. TellusLabs has a product called Kernel, which uses NASA satellite data to look at soy and corn crop yields. This year, the company is expanding to new geographic regions and different crops and plans to address global sustainability challenges like food security and water scarcity.
DAVIS SQUARE
BFRESH
Grab those tote bags and get your grocery list ready—bfresh celebrated its grand opening at 244 Elm St. on February 24. You can get bulk grains and freshly ground nuts at the newest bfresh location; Cambridge Day reports that there’s an olive bar plus graband-go smoothies, sandwiches and more. The building had been vacant since 2010, but it now houses bfresh and a brandnew Dunkin’ Donuts. COMING “We really want to be yourSOON neighborhood’s grocery store,” Saskia de Jongh, is in charge of marketing, told Cambridge Day. “We want to be affordable. We know there are some very expensive stores here that might be costing you a lot, and affordability is very, very key to what we’re going to do.”
COMPLETE STREETS
Somerville was one of 15 Massachusetts communities to receive funding from the state this January in the second round of the Complete Streets Program. According to Somerville Patch, the $347,765 in funding will go toward bike and pedestrian safety improvements 12
March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
throughout the city, including fresh pavement and new lane markings. In addition, the money will help reconstruct the intersection at Tufts/Knowlton Street and Washington Street, with treatments that will make the intersection friendlier for those traveling by foot or bike. DAVIS SQUARE
DUAL DISPENSARIES
Dunkin and bfresh could get a new neighbor in Sage Cannabis, the medical marijuana dispensary that wants to set up shop in the basement of their building at 244 Elm St. Both Sage and Garden Remedies, a dispensary that hopes to open across the street in the former Family Dollar building (245 Elm St.), have submitted proposals to the Zoning Board of
Appeals, and the board heard public comments on the potential dispensaries at its February 1 and February 15 meetings. Ward 6 Alderman Lance Davis says that the community has raised several concerns and questions about the proposals, including whether these medical dispensaries would be able to transition to selling marijuana for recreational use. “It’s a legitimate question to ask,” Davis says. “We have to make sure that we’re clear on what might or might not happen.” SPRING HILL
RAZOR RIGHT
In need of a line-up? How about a hot towel shave? Head to Razor Right (82 Central St.), which opened just before the new year. “At Razor Right, we specialize in the art of men’s grooming,” owner Odair Barbosa tells us. “I was born and raised in
Somerville, so it feels good to open up a shop here in my neighborhood.”
SOMERVILLE RETIREMENT BOARD DIVESTS FROM FOSSIL FUELS
In January, the Somerville Retirement Board took steps to divest from fossil fuels with a new Statement of Investment Objectives that specifically considers investment funds that don’t include fossil-fuel securities. According to a release from the SRB, this unanimously adopted policy is the first in Massachusetts that addresses fossil-fuel investment at the municipal level. “Cities, towns and universities are increasingly aware that our reliance on fossil fuels can’t continue,” said Colby Cunningham of Fossil Free Somerville in a statement. “The planet is warming at a dangerous rate, and we must act now to limit the damage ahead.”
COMING SOON
Photo, top left, courtesy of Telluslabs. Alloy rendering, top right, courtesy of Federal Realty.
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Beer, bowling, burritos and more are headed for Assembly Row as the neighborhood enters phase two of development, with more than 20 shops and restaurants slated to open by the end of 2017.
H
ope you’re hungry—and thirsty. Waxy O’Connor’s, an Irish pub chain with locations from Connecticut to Texas (and one in Brookline) is adding a Somerville restaurant to its roster, according to the pub’s website. The Greek gyro shop Zo will get a third location to complement outposts in Faneuil Hall and Government Center, food truck Sabroso Taqueria is bringing burritos and bowls to a brick and mortar and Slumbrew’s American Fresh Brewhouse will transform from a patio hotspot to a fully fledged restaurant and brewpub. (Oh, and Trader Joe’s is on its way, too.) On the coffee and cannoli side of things, Caffe Nero will add an Assembly sibling to its locations throughout Greater Boston, while Mike’s Pastry plans to make a sweet Somerville debut this spring with a shop in the Partners HealthCare building. Feeling lucky? Boston Magazine reports that the “hipster bowling alley” Lucky Strike Social will make its way to the area. Wanna get fit? FitRow is bringing you five boutique gyms—including Orangetheory Fitness and TITLE Boxing Club of Boston—plus a juice bar and a garden operated by Green City Growers. There’s also Assembly Line Park, an outdoor green space slated to open near the Assembly Square Orange Line stop. Perhaps you feel like hitting the shops? Columbia Outlet, Ann Taylor Outlet, The Fragrance Outlet and Yankee Candle are all getting ready to make a summer debut. And it’s not all fun and games; a 50,000-square-foot office building is in the works at 100 Foley St. As for housing, the 447-unit Montaje Apartment Complex and 122unit condominium building Alloy are under construction, and Assembly will also soon get its first hotel—The Autograph Collection by Marriott—a luxury chain with locations around the world.
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COMMUNITY
LOCAL ACTIVISM IN AN ERA OF NATIONAL UNCERTAINTY In the face of immigration bans and threats to sanctuary cities, what can people in our “liberal bubble” do to help? BY STEPHANIE GARRY GARFUNKEL | PHOTOS BY EMILY CASSEL
O
n a February night at PA’s Lounge in Union Square, the Local 7 news was on mute. The lead story: President Donald Trump had threatened to cut federal funding from sanctuary cities like Somerville, and Mayor Joe Curtatone was firing back. “We’re not going to run away from our fellow man for a bucket of money,” Curtatone told the press. Near the U-shaped bar, a man took one look at my nine-month bump and offered me a seat. On stage, Stephanie Hirsch was making her pitch for alderman at large. Our country may be divided, she said, but Somerville has a real chance to make our community work. “I was so worried before the election, and now I’m twice as worried,” Hirsch told me after her speech. She’s thought hard about the role she can play here in Somerville, and for her, that means running 14
March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
for the Board of Aldermen. “I had so much more sense of calm after I resolved to do this,” she added. That question—“What role can I play?”—is what led me to this bar on a Wednesday night. Like a lot of Somervillians, I was wringing my hands over what to do about Trump besides march. I moved here four years ago from Florida, and by now I should know a lot more about the political scene. But I’ve also felt stymied in our liberal bubble, where we have a mayor who hung a “Black Lives Matter” sign on City Hall and a newly elected state representative who was allin for Bernie Sanders. In one of the most progressive places in America, I wondered—what are the social justice issues facing our community? What can we do right now in our diverse, rapidly gentrifying city? On the night of the inauguration, I emailed Scout Somerville
to pitch this story. In three weeks, I was due to have my first baby. I wanted to answer this question—and quickly, before having a newborn dampened my urgency to act.
P
eople who devote their efforts to local activism often give two reasons for doing so: Citizens can have more influence on the local level because government is smaller and more responsive, and policies passed by cities and states sometimes become models that are later replicated nationwide. There’s a third reason, too: Just because we’ve elected progressive officials doesn’t mean we’ve solved all our problems. Take immigration. Sure, Somerville is a sanctuary city, where refugees and undocumented immigrants are welcomed. And the mayor has pledged it will stay that way, even if Trump cuts federal funding. But as Hirsch says, there are area families in which parents work multiple jobs and pay $1,600 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. Families that have to sell 30 aluminum cans to pay the bus fare. “If we can offer their kids an after-school program, that helps,” Hirsch says, “That helps a lot.” After all, what good does it do for Somerville to be a sanctuary city if immigrants can’t afford to live here? “Immigrant issues are not just about immigration,” says Ben Echevarria, executive director of the Somerville nonprofit the Welcome Project. “Immigrant issues are housing issues, job issues, education issues, so it’s not just limited to their documentation status.” Echevarria suggests several things people can do to help Somerville’s immigrants, who he says are “very worried.” They can advocate for the Safe Communities Act, which would make the entire state a sanctuary, or donate to advocacy groups like the Welcome Project, which would take a hit from the loss of federal funding. “Yes, be angry, be mad,” Echevarria says. “But mobilize, and keep mobilizing. It’s about the long, sustained resistance.” For more on sustained resistance, I call State Rep. Mike Connolly—a longtime progressive activist, Bernie Sanders supporter and first-time elected official. He defeated Democratic incumbent Tim Toomey in the 26th Middlesex District last year. “It’s been kind of surreal for me to enter public service at the same time that Donald Trump won the White House,” Connolly says. Now that he’s had time to process it, he’s landed on something he’s heard a lot of Democrats saying: “We have to simultaneously play defense and play offense.” There’s greater urgency than ever to fight regressive policies, he said. But at the same time, the country wasn’t necessarily fair or just even before Donald Trump was elected. Connolly is still pushing a progressive agenda on the state level: passing the Safe Communities Act; raising the minimum wage to $15; instituting paid family medical leave and universal childhood education; raising taxes on millionaires through the Fair Share Amendment; and investing in public transportation, including the Green Line Extension and the Community Path Extension. As Connolly ticks off his list of priorities, I realize his agenda was a lot like what I voted for in the Democratic primary for president. I was feeling optimistic. We could make a difference in Massachussetts. Then, two hours after our interview, Trump banned immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
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wo days later, protesters were back on the streets, this time about the immigration ban. On the T, I pulled the pregnancy card and sat down in the crowded train. A toddler struggled into the seat next to me, and I hoisted him up by his coat. He was holding a sign mounted on a paper towel roll. It said, “No!” with blue scribbles. Had it been only a week since the Women’s March? Like a lot of people, I was thrilled to join the historic protest in Boston Common the week before—to have something constructive to do with
amortondesign.com 617.894.0285 info@aMortonDesign.com scoutsomerville.com March | April 2017
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Community
my fear and anger. I wore a maternity shirt reading “Keep abortion legal” and listened to Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey and Marty Walsh tell me what I wanted to hear. But I also left wondering what civic levers I could pull myself when my elected officials were already leading the resistance. “Sometimes we do buy into a story that’s not true in terms of what’s playing out in our city,” says Elizabeth Nguyen, a Unitarian Universalist minister involved in racial justice work in Boston. “We really are fighting local struggles,” she says, defending the public school budget, which has been cut repeatedly, “while our quote-unquote progressive officials have also given huge tax cuts to corporations like GE.” So what can the marchers do to channel their energy into results?
“Immigrant issues are not just about immigration. Immigrant issues are housing issues, job issues, education issues.” Ben Echevarria, The Welcome Project The first step, she says, is to transform it into a long-term commitment to activism by incorporating it into our daily and weekly habits and supporting the people who have been doing this work for a long time. She also hopes that newcomers to the movement, especially white, cisgender people who are learning to work alongside people of 16
March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
color, transgender people and immigrants, will listen to the voices of those who are most marginalized. “To me, it’s about faith,” Nguyen says. “We have to have faith that we don’t need to do the perfect thing … all we have to do is try and try again, and be open to what we learn from those experiences.”
T
he next night, I went to the Somerville High School for the first time. The auditorium was packed like a Saturday morning at Market Basket, though the crowd was noticeably older and whiter. I had come to this citywide meeting of the Somerville Democratic Party to see one of our conflicts up close. A panel of Democratic officials and intellectuals were discussing who would be next chair of the Democratic National Committee. One of the speakers was— no kidding—the grandson of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This was The Establishment. “I don’t need to tell you that I think we’re in the political fight of our lifetimes,” said Russ Muirhead, a professor of political science at Dartmouth College. “The only institution capable of winning this fight is the Democratic Party.” He made his case for partisanship: Obama was a charismatic individual, but his legacy is in danger because he didn’t invest in the team—the Democratic Party. The party stacks the bench with Democratic candidates, gets out the vote and connects the progressive cause across generations, from the New Deal to the Affordable Care Act. Then, it was the audience’s turn to speak. A lanky young activist named Ben Bradlow took the microphone.
WHAT TO DO
n Advocate for the Massachusetts Safe Communities Act,
which was introduced in January
n Call your local officials to promote affordable housing and
sustainable development in Somerville
n Tell Governor Charlie Baker to advocate for the
Affordable Care Act to Republican governors and to stand with Massachusetts n Participate in local party meetings n Serve on one of the city’s boards and commissions or run for office n Donate to organizations that are impacted by regressive policies and that are leading the resistance
HOW TO DO IT
n Stay informed and speak out—connect with elected
officials online via email updates and social media, and program your representatives’ numbers into your phone n Make a long-term plan with friends and hold yourselves accountable n Don’t let conflict among progressives deter you n Take actions as an individual and also support organizations n Follow the lead of the people who are most affected
“If the Democratic Party is not able to catch up to the energy in the streets, there is going to be a major reckoning,” said Bradlow, who said he backed Bernie Sanders in the primary but canvassed for Hillary Clinton in the general election. “I fear there will be a major split and turning away from the party.” Before this meeting, I had no idea that the party infrastructure reached into my neighborhood. Here was an opportunity to shape this team into the one we want and help win back power in the midterms and the next presidential election. Maryann Heuston, Ward 2 alderman and the chair of the Ward 2 Democratic committee, said a silver lining of Trump’s election is unprecedented interest in the local Democratic Party. “We know what’s happening out of Washington is outrageous and unacceptable, but my fear is that the outrage and the unacceptable becomes the status quo,” she said. “The only way you fight back is to push a progressive Democratic agenda, and you have to push it on so many levels.”
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didn’t make it to the sanctuary city rally at the high school in early February. I was scrubbing floors, doing a final Target run and finishing this story—trying to get those last few things in order before the baby came. I was sorry to miss it, but I also knew that there would be other chances—many other chances—to join the cause. To believe I could figure this all out and somehow make my contribution by the time the baby arrived was the kind of thinking that leads people to give up in times like these. I had to prepare for the long haul, not just on this one weekend, not just the next four years and not just my lifetime. A few nights before, my husband and I watched a recording of Cornel West, a longtime leftist activist, giving a talk at Harvard called “The Trump Era: Hope in a Time of Escalating Despair.” As he took the podium, wizened, powerful and smiling, he said, “I stand here, I am who I am, because somebody loved me, somebody cared for me, somebody attended to me.” Maybe it was the hormones, or maybe it was Donald Trump in the White House, but his words brought me to tears. Parenting is part of the work, too.
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THE ARTS ISSUE
Art
FOR ALL 18
March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
“The Water Project/Rising Tide 3” by Resa Blatman hangs in the Cambridge Health Alliance Somerville Hospital. Photo by Jess Benjamin.
IF YOU’RE NOT UP FOR A TRIP TO THE MUSEUM, YOU CAN FIND EYE-CATCHING WORKS IN SHARED CITY SPACES. BY ELIZA ROSENBERRY
S
uspended in a bright, open corner of Somerville Hospital is a 25foot, wavelike structure. It wraps just slightly around the corner of the stairwell wall, with strains of blue and gold running through it, gently pushing outward from the wall and then sinking back. Somerville artist Resa Blatman created “The Water Project/ Rising Tide 3” by painting clear strips of Mylar plastic and pinning the pieces individually to the hospital wall. Surrounded by windows and set against a soft white backdrop, the installation serves an audience beyond the doctors and patients who pass beneath it every day. It’s visible even outside, 100 feet away, from the bustling street and sidewalks of Highland Avenue. Somerville prides itself on its thriving artistic community, one that’s most visible when artists open their doors each year during Somerville Open Studios. But many artists collaborate with the Somerville Arts Council or with private organizations to create and display art in communal spaces, on sidewalks or in building lobbies, that’s accessible to anyone who might want to stop and enjoy it, 365 days a year.
“It was really fun to see it transform,” Andrew says. “It’s a very industrial location.” From her studio in Brooklyn, Alyssa sketched designs and sent them to Andrew, who secured panels of plexiglass and laser-cut the patterns into larger-than-life, weather-durable strawberries, carrots and ears of corn. The plexi-produce was then attached to the fence with plastic ties, with more than 120 individual pieces total, according to Andrew’s estimate. “It was exciting to have multiple processes attached to one drawing I made,” Alyssa says. “How far one drawing of a piece of bok choy can go!” The fence project installation was especially memorable. Volunteers were responsible for hanging the pieces without explicit direction, so Alyssa and Andrew were surprised by the final, communitysourced product.
“S
omerville, and the artist population here, I think we kind of have a reputation for being scrappy and finding opportunities to showcase art,” says Rachel Strutt, cultural director of the Somerville Arts Council. Strutt and her colleagues serve as middlemen and matchmakers for artists in the city and help make encountering art an everyday occurrence. The Arts Council awards a number of grants each year, through which Strutt says a lot of public art has been created. The council publicizes calls for art from private organizations to an email list of local artists, arranges for painters to decorate the city’s switchboxes with their designs and organizes large-scale festivals and installations. Strutt says one project under consideration is a mural that would speak to Somerville’s identity as a sanctuary for immigrants: “Something that really can convey a powerful message about the political and social beliefs of our city.” “I think some people are intimidated by museums and galleries, and they don’t know how they’re supposed to respond to art,” Strutt muses. “[But] when you see an installation in an old phone booth … It’s just you and the art one-on-one.” The SAC also values community participation and engagement as keys to creating meaningful public art. “Inviting and encouraging the public to see themselves as art producers and curators is really important,” Strutt says. A once-vacant, industrial Brickbottom lot has served up exactly that kind of opportunity for the Arts Council over the last year. Known as ArtFarm, the property has already hosted some community events while SAC staffers work in the background to create a long-term vision for the site—a community space where arts and urban agriculture meet—and a strategy to make it a reality. In the meantime, they wanted a way to liven up the site and signal to passersby that something big was coming. Siblings Andrew and Alyssa Ringler responded to the SAC’s call for art with a playful, on-theme vision: fruits and vegetables dotted along the chain-link fence surrounding ArtFarm. They liked the idea of using a human-made material, and settled on plexiglass as the medium for their representations of natural local produce. The SAC liked the idea, too, and selected their proposal.
Resa Blatman stands in her workspace at Vernon Street Studios.
As ArtFarm is developed over the next few years, the fence will eventually come down, something Andrew and Alyssa knew when they proposed their piece. They’re not sure what will happen to the fruits and veggies after that, but for now, they’re satisfied. “People are stopped at that intersection all the time,” Alyssa says. “To look over and see a brightly colored strawberry, maybe that made them smile for half a second. I love being a part of that.”
W
hile the Arts Council seeks out and supports public art in many forms, there are fewer and fewer vacant lots and available spaces for artists—both surfaces to paint on and buildings to work in—as the city’s development boom continues. “I think art is more important than ever,” says Rachel Strutt of the SAC. “I think art brings flavor and soul to Somerville, so we don’t want to lose that. Most important is that we don’t literally lose artists.” The biggest threat to Somerville’s art scene is widely considered to be its lack of affordable artist spaces. So last year, for the first time in the city’s history, a new apartment building set aside some of its citymandated affordable units specifically for local artists. At Millbrook scoutsomerville.com March | April 2017
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The Arts Issue
Art For All
“Somerville, and the artist population here, I think we kind of have a reputation for being scrappy and finding opportunities to showcase art.” — Rachel Strutt, Somerville Arts Council.
Lofts, a 100-unit development, there are five such live-work spaces tucked behind the main lobby and elevator bank, the walls of which are adorned with pieces by area artists. Mixed-media artist Stina Simmarano knows how rare the opportunity is, given Somerville’s competitive real estate market. “It’s forcing all kinds of artists to seek space elsewhere, which is really a bummer for the city,” Simmarano says. “I feel very fortunate to be living at Millbrook, because otherwise I would likely be on my way out of town, too.” On a recent rainy night, a group of arts-minded citizens gathered at Artisan’s Asylum for a conversation on public art. A panel of six artists discussed process, temporality, safety and community engagement, speaking candidly about what inspires and limits their work. “We need to clear some of the constraints around artists—like where to do it and how to fund it—if we want to keep having vital art in Somerville,” said sculptor Michael Dewberry. Freedom Baird, a Cambridge-based multimedia artist, told how one of her public installations—a punching bag wrapped around a tree in Worcester—had been vandalized and torn apart. “It’s a risk when you make work for outdoors, for a public setting,” Baird noted. But she went on talk about how artists can embrace uncertainty, citing the artist William Kentridge. “I love the idea of being open to that provisionality,” said Baird, “and being able to see the punching bag ripped open as a new kind of piece.” 20 March | April 2017
scoutsomerville.com
Somerville sculptor Ann Hirsch discussed her recent installation “SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers),” which engaged complex political and moral questions around the refugee crisis, and panelists spoke about the importance of climate change and environmentalism in their work. “What is art’s role in provoking discussions that might happen in the political sphere?” Hirsch asked her peers. Seeking exactly those kinds of provocative discussions, Somerville artist Liz LaManche recently dedicated herself to creating large-scale public art projects after a career in computer programming. “I wanted to put things out where they’ll influence our culture and start a debate,” she says. LaManche has stained tattoo-inspired designs into a Boston Harbor pier, tracing the story of Boston’s nautical history and maritime connections with other cultures. She painted a wraparound mural of faces and animals at Dorchester’s Bartlett Yard, the former bus depotturned-street art haven, before the site was torn down to make room for new development. She’s eager to focus on inclusive, multicultural projects and to forge connections with other artists in the Boston area, which she says can be difficult. Here in Somerville, LaManche’s work can be seen on a building near the Winter Hill Brewery, where her mural “The Goddess of Winter Hill” lives, and along the steps on Pearl Street, where she painted whimsical cars in a memorial to her beloved auto mechanic Al Riskalla. She calls that project, supported by the SAC as part of a fellowship grant she was receiving, “The Soul’s Journey as a Series of Weird Old Cars.” “The Soul’s Journey” is painted on the front side of a series of steps, so observers can see the full piece from the lower level but only rainbow tire tracks from above. To make sure she got it right, LaManche and a friend snuck out to the Pearl Street site at night, using a projector to display a sketch of the mural onto the steps for tracing. She even brought a portable generator to power the projector. “Hopefully, it gives people a little bit of lift, a little bit of zen,” she says, smiling. “Or if they just think it’s funny, that’s good, too.”
P
ublic art serves many functions: provoking discussion, providing opportunities for community engagement and bringing moments of levity into people’s lives. And in some cases, it’s an opportunity for meditation or reflection, like Blatman’s water-inspired installation Photo, left by Alyssa Ringler. Photo, right: Liz LaManche with her work “The Soul’s Journey as a Series of Weird Old Cars.” Photo by Jess Benjamin.
CITYWIDE
MAY 6+7 2017
at the Cambridge Health Alliance Somerville Hospital. Doctor Brian Green was on the committee charged with selecting a piece of art for the space. It’s crucial to have art in medical facilities, he says, to help patients feel connected and grounded. “When people come to see the doctor, they are often scared,” Green says. “So having art to help them gain perspective, get repose, is very important.” Blatman, a CHA patient herself, first responded to the hospital’s call for submissions with a different concept—a large vinyl print of one of her paintings—but committee members were instead drawn to another project in Blatman’s portfolio: the serene, water-inspired Mylar piece. “We wanted something that would be visible to the public as you were approaching the Somerville Hospital from all angles,” says Mary Cassesso, the CHA’s chief community officer. “We were almost unanimously drawn to the boldness and the brightness and the excitement of this piece … It just seemed like it was meant to be.” Blatman creates these works in her Vernon Street studio space by swirling paint around on large pieces of clear Mylar on the floor, letting them dry, cutting the pieces by hand and pinning them individually on her studio wall—a process which she returns to over and over, layering and tucking and then observing from a distance to see the effect. “You can’t take risks if you’re worried about the floors and the walls,” Blatman says, a nod to the importance of accessible artist spaces. Now, Blatman is at work on large-scale paintings inspired by the work of Martin Johnson Heade—stormy ocean scenes with rich dramatic waves—which occupy the largest wall in her studio. The Mylar pieces are more difficult to sell than the paintings, Blatman admits, and more complicated to display. So she’s been proud to see the positive response to her Somerville Hospital installation, which suits the space perfectly in tone and in shape. Originally, the plan was to display Blatman’s piece for one year. But Cassesso and Green say the hospital has experienced such an overwhelming response to “The Water Project/Rising Tide 3” that they’re fundraising to purchase the piece. “A lot of people in this building can’t imagine it ever being removed,” Cassesso says.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 12-6PM
SOS SNEAK PREVIEW NIGHT FRIDAY MAY 5 6-9PM
BEYOND THE PATTERN FASHION SHOW ARTS AT THE ARMORY 191 HIGHLAND AVE MAY 4
SOS FIRST LOOK SHOW SOMERVILLE MUSEUM 1 WESTWOOD ROAD APRIL 23 - MAY 20
INSIDE-OUT GALLERY SHOW ONE DAVIS SQUARE EARLY APRIL - SOS WEEKEND
VOLUNTEER SHOW DIESEL CAFE 257 ELM STREET APRIL 10 - MAY 20
THE DONUT SHOW UNION SQUARE DONUTS 20 BOW STREET EARLY APRIL - SOS WEEKEND OVER 350 VISUAL ARTISTS IN ALL MEDIA FREE TROLLEYS LOOP CITYWIDE EVENT WWW.SOMERVILLEOPENSTUDIOS.ORG scoutsomerville.com March | April 2017
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THE ARTS ISSUE
” s t n e m o M “Art IN DAVIS SQUARE
BY ELIZA ROSENBERRY | PHOTO BY JESS BENJAMIN
Y
ou might not even notice it as you hustle through the doors of the CVS in Davis Square to pick up toothpaste or toilet paper, but the building is home to a beloved, hidden-in-plain-sight art exhibition space known as the Inside Out Gallery. Introduced more than eight years ago as an arrangement between the building owner and the city, the gallery is actually just two large window displays outside the CVS. Rather than stocking sponsored seasonal beauty products or highlighting sales, these windows host a rotating exhibit curated by the Somerville Arts Council, offering visitors and shoppers something local artist Diane Novetsky calls an “art moment.” “Unlike a retail gallery space that is dedicated to showcasing art within a perfect ‘white cube,’ this space insinuates itself on an unsuspecting viewer, not intending to look at art at all,” says Novetsky, who’s showing her paintings there throughout March. 22
March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
Heather Balchunas of the SAC is responsible for programming the windows, which often display paintings or drawings but can be adapted to host all sorts of creative works. “I love different kinds of art,” Balchunas explains. “I have a very broad view of what art can be and how it relates to the public.” Balchunas says she loves the role because it allows her to work closely with a network of local artists and give them a platform for experimentation. “I try to encourage artists to use this as an opportunity to think outside the box and to let your imagination go wild,” Balchunas says. “You can do a lot with it. You can really kind of create something very unique, and artists have done that.” With a new exhibit every month or so, Balchunas has overseen many dozens of displays since she took over in 2009. The windows can be guest curated and are regularly dedicated to events like ArtBeat Photo: Artist Debra Olin poses with her prints.
or HONK! Festival, tying into citywide arts efforts. From ripped charcoal drawings and largescale prints to video installations and group exhibitions, the Inside Out Gallery can house just about anything—including exhibits with a social mission, like one installation that featured moving portraits of homeless people in Somerville. Somerville Homeless Coalition Executive Director Mark Alston-Follansbee has an office in the same building as the gallery, and he says art can play a key role in promoting understanding. “We always hope that if people understand the story, then they’ll have more empathy and be more supportive,” AlstonFollansbee says.
“This space insinuates itself on an unsuspecting viewer.” Diane Novetsky Chris Iwerks is a member of the Davis Action Group, a collection of community members working to ensure that Davis Square maintains its unique character as it develops. He observes that the Inside Out Gallery overlooks a particularly busy area of the square, a “crossroads with a lively dance of activity,” where it’s especially important to showcase public art. “I don’t think people imagine how much worse it would be if this wall was instead comprised of large windows emitting a garish wash of bare-bulbed fluorescent light out over the square every night,” Iwerks says. A self-described “case study in the gallery’s ability to make connections,” Iwerks says he contacted a local artist after seeing her exhibition in the Inside Out Gallery a few years ago and later went on to purchase that artist’s work. Upcoming Inside Out Gallery exhibits will include abstract paintings by Novetsky and first-time artists in concert with Somerville Open Studios— all opportunities for more “art moments” in busy Davis Square.
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THE ARTS ISSUE
ART IST S IN RESIDENCE BY EMILY CASSEL PHOTOS BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
I
n addition to incredible exhibits at museums, galleries and studios throughout the city, one of the coolest things about each year’s Somerville Open Studios celebration is that hundreds of artists actually open up their homes, inviting people to engage with them on an individual basis and giving curious art lovers a unique opportunity to meet the creative community. Before SOS returns for its 19th year on May 6 and 7, we sat down with a few of these artists to learn what inspires them and to give you a sneak peek at what’s in store.
Want an even closer look inside these homes? You don’t have to wait until SOS (though we definitely do recommend checking them out in person). This is the latest installment of SCOUTV, a multimedia collaboration between Scout Somerville and SCATV that brings the stories in each issue of Scout to life online with video and audio. Head to scoutsomerville.com/scoutv for behind-the-scenes footage and in-depth interviews with some of Somerville’s coolest creators.
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March | April 2017 scoutsomerville.com
HILARY SCOT T 9 BROWNING RD.
I
“T HE MORE I BEGIN T O EXT ERNALIZE MY IMAGINAT ION, T HE MORE COMFORTABLE I BECOME IN MY SURROUNDINGS."
t’s a normal January afternoon at Hilary Scott’s home. A tyrannosaurus rex prowls through the backyard; inside, mounted dinosaur heads adorn the dining room walls. An octopus is stretching its way across the foyer ceiling while shimmering bronze birds watch TV nearby, and upstairs, cats in armor ready for battle in a space they share with a towering, 10-foot robot. Every room of this house, where hands sprout from the floor and music plays from speakers shaped like faces, feels like a fantasy made real—which is all the more impressive when you learn that Scott never went to art school. Instead, the former professor started making these sculptures after he had kids, hoping to inspire and connect with them. “I decided, well, let’s try to interact in a way that is dynamic,” Scott says. “Let’s start making things for them.” It led him to a simple realization—if he was doing this for his kids, why couldn’t he do it for himself? “The more I begin to externalize my imagination, the more comfortable I become in my surroundings,” he says. He started making more and more, building bigger projects and experimenting with new mediums. “I think of myself as a problem solver,” he says. “I find a material and think, ‘Well, what can I do with this?’” Scott’s art-making methods are nontraditional, but then, so are his clients—they’re people who want penguins on their ceiling or massive robots for their yard. When people come to him with an idea and ask if he’s ever done something like it before, his answer is often, “No, but I don’t see why not.” It leads him to create work that’s imaginative, playful, bright and completely one of a kind. Still, to this day, many of his biggest fans are kids, which makes a lot of sense given that his own children first encouraged him to create. “I came at sculpture by wanting to amuse and engage little people,” Scott says. It was only later that he realized adults want to be amused, engaged—and inspired—in the same way. scoutsomerville.com March | April 2017
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The Arts Issue
Artists in Residence
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60 PARK ST. PECANGEOGRAPHY.COM
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here’s a pretty good chance you’re already familiar with Pecan’s Somerville home. The painter’s Park Street porch is the one that’s always decorated with funky, futuristic installations—everything from giant mouths to toothy robots to aliens to squids. But the art doesn’t stop at the front door. “It’s like a normal house,” Pecan says. “But on the walls there’s LED art and lots of paintings and photographs… pretty much everywhere.” Pecan primarily works in oils, and she also builds props and paints scenic art for films and plays. (She made the proton pack and gatling gun for the latest Ghostbusters movie.) Her home is packed not only with her paintings, but also with work by her mom, her grandmother and her husband. Sci-fi plays prominently into the theme—at the top of the stairs, you’ll see a UFO kidnapping a stegosaurus— and the rooms are full of tiny toys, stuffed animals and all kinds of whimsical creations. “I think it has a lot to do with my sense of humor and growing up in the ‘80s,” Pecan says of her work and of her home. “Also, working in theater and film, you’re working in scenes, you’re creating a scenario for actors to develop their characters.” Pecan says she’s also inspired by the Burning Man community, which is known for its interactive art installations, and SCUL, the Somerville-based, sciencefiction-loving bicycle gang she warmly calls “nerds in space.” But living in this colorful, wonderful setting could, at least partly, be genetic. “Aesthetically, my house looks a lot like my mom’s. And my grandmother’s. We had a house full of lights and objects,” she laughs. “We treat surface areas like still lifes.” Photos by Jaclyn Tyler, Dakota Lenox Photography
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“WE T REAT SURFACE AREAS LIKE ST ILL LIF ES."
SARAH MORRISON 13 KNOWLT ON ST. TASHARI.ORG
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“IT’S A LOT EASIER T O STAY FOCUSED AND STAY WORKING WHEN IT’S A LOT OF US WORKING T OGET HER RAT HER T HAN WORKING ALONE."
n a corner of Sarah Morrison’s apartment, nestled among things you’d expect to find in any Somerville kitchen—a recycling bin, a case of Mountain Dew—there’s a shimmering emerald gown. “Oh!” Morrison exclaims, “I should turn it on!” Sure enough, with the click of a remote, the dress starts glowing with an otherworldly green light. “I have too many hobbies, and one of them is making ball gowns,” laughs Morrison, who’s been drawing and creating since she was a kid. Morrison has always been interested in fantasy. She sees it as a way to unwind after a tough day at work, to manage the drudgery and uncertainty of dayto-day life. “There’s so much stuff going on [in the world] that’s really stressful, and fantasy has always been a form of escapism for me,” she explains. “I think it’s really important because of that.” Morrison’s apartment is on the smaller side, which means that Open Studios is your one chance each year to check out that light-up ball gown and a lot of the other work she usually keeps stashed in closets. But the smaller space is still a hub for her creative community. She welcomes artists of all skill levels into her kitchen for figure drawing sessions on the first Wednesday evening of each month, where models hold one-minute, twominute and five-minute poses, and sometimes hold a pose for the full three-hour session. Other times, she takes a day to use her home as a shared coworking space. She says that working around others helps inspire and encourage artists who might feel stuck or need a reason to make something. The collection of creators that drops in on these workdays includes painters and illustrators, but also programmers who show up with their laptops. “We’ll get together starting at 10 or 11 in the morning and we’ll go until 10 or 11 at night,” Morrison says. “It’s a lot easier to stay focused and stay working when it’s a lot of us working together rather than working alone.”
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The Arts Issue
Artists in Residence
MART HA F RIEND 135 HIGHLAND AVE. MART HAF RIEND.COM
“I
come from a family that loves yard sales and old dumps in the woods,” chuckles Martha Friend. She’s been on the hunt for treasure since she was a high-school student in rural New Hampshire, and many of these items still surround her today at her home and studio at the corner of Highland Avenue and Sycamore Street. Friend, a sculpture and found-object assemblage artist, is constantly collecting everything from old photographs to costume jewelry to dolls (and doll heads), objects that often find their way into her dioramas. This kind of assemblage art is a timeconsuming process, and each project tells a story. That’s also the case in the rooms of Friend’s gorgeous terracotta-colored Victorian, which have themes like “The Obama Room” or “The Midwest Room.” Her bedroom is modeled after a Victorian brothel, though “it could look a little more brothel-y,” she jokes. “I do the best I can.” You’ll find lots of turtles, babies, shells and rusted metal, some organized by color, others, by area of origin. Friend’s collection includes art she found all over the world, from her travels in Central America to the Goodwill in Davis Square. And it’s constantly evolving. “People are so reluctant to have a lot of stuff around,” Friend says, recalling all the times she’s heard people say that if they bring something into the house, something else has to go. That’s not a belief she holds; she loves her objects and has no shame in that. They make her think of her husband, of her children, of times and places and experiences that have been meaningful to her. “Collecting is joyous, really,” she says. “It’s so fun to go out and find things.” She does, however, caution against getting too attached to items, saying simply (and somewhat profoundly): “When things break, things break. Sometimes you can fix them, sometimes you cannot.” 28
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F RIEND’S COLLECT ION INCLUDES ART SHE FOUND ALL OVER T HE WORLD, F ROM HER T RAVELS IN CENT RAL AMERICA T O T HE GOODWILL IN DAVIS SQUARE.
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THE ARTS ISSUE BY EMILY CASSEL
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s the publisher, editor and designer at the helm of Black Ocean, Janaka Stucky isn’t only in charge of what goes in every book his independent press puts out, but also what goes on each cover. And he’s pretty adept at pairing poetry with visuals; more than one superfan has gotten art from a Black Ocean title tattooed on their body since the publishing house was founded in 2004. How does Stucky go about translating the written word into a visual aesthetic? Are there things that sully an otherwise great cover? And what’s the secret to creating designs that feel fresh after doing this for years? We asked the poet, performer and self-described “book fetishist,” who recently set up shop at Vernon Street Studios, to tell us how he makes books you’ll want to share your home with.
Actually, You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover In Fact, Black Ocean Publisher Janaka Stucky Wants You To.
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Scout Somerville: Okay, first things first—people say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but you must know they’re going to, right? Janaka Stucky: Oh, definitely. In fact, I encourage people to judge books by their covers! While a poorly designed book isn’t necessarily a poorly written book, it’s not a promising first impression. If a book is ugly, it doesn’t speak well of a publisher’s judgement, skill or vision. SS: How does the process start for you when it comes to designing a cover—I assume you read each and every title? And how long is that process from start to finish? JS: I do read each title because I’m not just the book designer, but also one of the editors, and the publisher. I know some great designers out there that don’t always read the books—and that blows my mind. So for me, first step is to read the book. Then, once the book is under contract, I ask the author if they have any images they want to use as inspiration, or any aesthetic gestures. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz.
But Black Ocean also has a very specific, minimal visual aesthetic, so once the author throws out some ideas—whether I’m doing the cover entirely myself or with one of the handful of extraordinarily talented designers and illustrators I collaborate with—those have to be translated through our lens. Every once in a while an author tells me to just do whatever I want because they trust us, and those covers can either be the most fun or the most challenging to create. SS: You’ve mentioned influences “from early silent films to early punk rock.” Can you expand on what inspires the publishing house’s style? JS: If we’re talking how those influences impact strictly our visual aesthetic, I suppose you could say it’s informed by stark contrasts, bold gestures and minimal designs—but also colorful ones. I recently joked to one of our authors, for whom we did a pink cover with metallic blue foil, that “we boldly go on the Pantone spectrum where no press has gone before.” But those influences aren’t just visual; you could also interpret “from early silent films to early punk rock” to mean innovative and rebellious, which I think would be accurate as well. SS: Here’s something from your website that caught my eye: “We manifest our aesthetic in celebrations around the country.” I am so curious what that means, exactly, and I have a feeling you might have interesting things to say about the intersection of literature, the visual arts and in-person gatherings and artistic demonstrations. JS: Well, before we started Black Ocean I was producing events around Boston—film screenings, rock shows, burlesque shows, interactive art installations, zine fairs, etc. So when Black Ocean began I wanted it to be more than just a publishing company; I wanted it to be a foundation for this kind of cross-pollination of media. I wanted to popularize poetry without dumbing it down, by helping our books find their audience. But beyond that, these in-person gatherings are critical to our social wellbeing. I’ve written and spoken publicly about the bookstore’s value as a “third space” that exists between the workplace and the home, and— especially in the current political climate—there is growing appreciation for the social value of gathering as an almost inherently revolutionary act—not against any particular administration or political affiliation, but against the tyranny of dehumanization. Furthermore, when you inject any kind of ecstatic creative energy or aesthetic experience into the mix, you generate an environment in which we suddenly experience the possibility of being both immediately ourselves and eternally free. This is the magic I think we’ve all experienced at some point during a party, concert, performance or festival. That magic, to me, goes hand in hand with the similar but infinitely more quiet experience of reading.
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We boldly go on the Pantone spectrum where no press has gone before.”
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SS: I read in the Globe recently that you’re something of a “book fetishist,” which is so relatable! These are things you interact with physically for hours upon hours. Would you say that’s part of why you emphasize publishing such beautiful collections? JS: Absolutely! For me, reading is a sensual experience, not just a mental exercise, and so I want to engage with the book on a somatic level: its texture, weight, smell, trim size … how the spine is constructed, and the tone of the paper in various kinds of light … that all factors into the reading experience for me, and so I’m mindful of those elements when I publish books as well.
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The Arts Issue
Actually, You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover
SS: Can you talk about current trends in cover art? I’m also wondering how much you play into versus don’t want your books to play into trends.
You can check out a few of Black Ocean’s carefully crafted covers here, and stop by the space (6 Vernon St., Studio 33) during Somerville Open Studios to see them in person.
JS: Oh, I’d say I’m a pretty terrible person to answer this question because honestly I don’t pay conscious attention to current trends. I dislike most contemporary book design. I’m influenced simply by what I’m drawn to, which are more commonly works of visual art, theatrical posters or album covers. I don’t think a lot of publishers treat book covers like visual art, but rather what has market appeal. A lot of research and money goes into that kind of data, but I operate more intuitively; if I see a design that moves me on a visceral level, I want to pay homage to that on a book cover. SS: Following up on that—I mean, there are billions of books, right? How do you go about doing something that feels fresh and new in 2017? JS: [Laughs] Probably by not paying attention to what’s already being done? I think it’s harder to fight influence than to embrace it, so I focus on exposing myself to what I love rather than worrying about what others are doing. I think being voracious helps too; the more I immerse myself, the more I evolve.
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1. P rivacy Policy: The Anthology of Surveillance Poetics edited by Andrew Ridker 2. Justice by Tomaž Šalamun 3. Popular Music by Kelly Schirmann 4. With Deer by Aase Berg 5. Room Where I Get What I Want by S. Whitney Holmes 6. Though We Bled Meticulously by Josh Fomon 7. Static & Snow by Brian Henry 8. L’Heure Bleue or The Judy Poems by Elisa Gabbert, Cover design by Abby Haddican
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SS: Are there certain things that make any cover great? And are there certain things you avoid doing at all costs? JS: I think a lot of designs often make the mistake of too much text: catalog copy, gushing reviews, blurbs from other famous authors, accolades and awards— the book cover starts to look like the poster for a blockbuster movie and not something you want to share your home with. I mean, I get it: publishing is like swimming upstream, and we’re doing everything in our power to attract an audience, so if you have a work of serious merit you want to trumpet that any way you can. But you can create too much noise in the process, and lose someone’s attention before they even pick up the book. A book’s cover needs to seduce me—to provoke me to pick it up, maybe turn it over, and then—eventually—open it.
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The more I immerse myself, the more I evolve.”
SS: I’m sure it’s tough to play favorites, but what are some of the Black Ocean covers you’ve loved most? JS: One of my favorites has to be the cover I did for With Deer, which is just a black silhouette of antlers set upon a “hunter orange” background. The book itself is utterly wild—a maelstrom of surreal, nightmarish imagery that would be impossible to adequately represent with any sort of literal illustration—so I stepped back from it, and chose both image and color that more subtly suggested something ominous, the danger of a threat inside. On our very first date, my now-wife saw that book sitting on the coffee table in my apartment and has told me that when she found out I designed the cover it immediately amplified her attraction to me. I’m not sure what that says about her! But, how could that not become one of my favorite covers?
The
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We talk a lot about the Somerville success story in recent decades, but what got it all rolling was our arts community. Fine arts, pop art, jewelry makers, industrial sculptors, theater troupes, poets, musicians, dancers you name it, we’ve got it. The arts are the beating heart of our city!”
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THE ARTS ISSUE
THE CONTEXT IS CRITICAL JULIE ANN OTIS ON REFRAMING AS OPPORTUNITY BY EMILY HOPKINS | @_THETEXTFILES
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here was a time when Julie Ann Otis would deny that her art is political. But when a colleague put the question to her several years ago, she had to face the truth. “Every single piece that I went back and read ... I was like, ‘Oh, that is so political,” the Somervillebased artist and coaching consultant recalls. She looked through pieces she’d written about personal autonomy, consumerism, organized religion and more. “It’s all political and obviously political, but I had never considered it that way before.” These small opportunities to shift the context are at the foundation of Otis’s work as an artist and as an “active receptivity” coach, a practice that uses meditation and writing, among other things, to help people find their more mindful and compassionate selves. She started writing poetry around 2011, when her life was falling apart. She was getting out of a long-term relationship—moving out of the house that she co-owned with this man, leaving behind the car they shared. It was like “falling into the hot magma of the earth to be born again,” she says. She spent some time traveling as far as Bali, Indonesia, practicing meditation and bodybased work, and would later go on to a few writing residencies. The culmination of these experiences shines through her exhibit “Miraculous Invisible,” which is on display at Bloc 11 Cafe until April 1. Otis 34 March | April 2017
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created the work at a recent artist residency at The Art Farm in Marquette, Nebraska, a rural town with a population of less than 250. Each morning, she’d climb to the top of a large barn to watch the sunrise, then sit down at an Olympia typewriter her father bought in a yard sale days before she arrived at the farm and prepare for a flood of poetry. “It comes through me, and it’s done. There’s no tinkering, there’s no wordsmithing, there’s no thinking about it,” she says. “I feel like the words have nothing to do with me. I just sit down, I open the space and it comes through.” When the poems were done, she’d nail them somewhere, on a fence or wall, and photograph them. The prints—which are large and small and predominantly one-of-a-kind—are what make up the exhibit. They tackle subjects of all kinds. Some are humorous, like a piece that reads like a housing ad looking for a live-in ghost. A few are referential to the great city of Somerville, 617 area code and all. Others are personal or political or both. “Hail Mary,” a black and white print of a page nailed to a dried up wall with flaking paint, reads: “might’n’t she murder the / myth of meekness / stand up and proclaim revolution / that would be a most / useful woman for me.” Otis remembers grieving the day after President Trump was
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AFTER YOU’VE C H EC K ED O UT J UL IE A N N OTI S ’S “M I RACULOUS INV ISIB L E,” H ERE’ S A N OTH E R PAI R OF PR O D UC T IO NS TO K EEP TH O S E POLITICAL J UIC ES F L OW IN G. REBECCA KOPYCINSKI // REAGAN ESTHER MYER
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he performances of Rebecca Kopycinski (a.k.a. Nuda Veritas) are a bit like her art career. The classically trained vocalist first used audio looping on stage to build a fuller sound into her sets. When she grew bored with that, she started searching for a more robust style of storytelling. That came about in the form of Connie, a five-act, multimedia performance art piece combining acting, video and music. Two years after Connie’s debut, she’s working on another, similar—and more political—project. “I started thinking about technology and surveillance, and then the primaries started last year, and I really started to think, like, what would happen if Donald Trump actually became our president? Like,
how would the world get f*cked up? What would be threatened?” she recalls. “What if I blasted that out to the nth degree, and then throw in a catastrophic environmental event that throws the world into utter chaos?” Those questions, with a “Black Mirror-ish” brain implant thrown in for good measure, make up the backdrop for Reagan Esther Myer, a feature-length performance piece the Somerville-based artist plans to present in the fall. She’s in the process of applying for funding, but plans on finding a way to put it on, rain or shine, grant-supported or crowdfunded. “Sure, this is a sci-fi kind of dystopian piece of fiction, but damn— it’s not that far from what could actually happen,” Kopycinski says.
NAVE GALLERY // #RESIST
“I
’ve never had a call before that was basically just one sentence,” confesses Somerville artist and executive director of the Nave Gallery Susan Berstler. She’s referring to Nave’s upcoming exhibit #RESIST, which is calling for pieces on subjects from national security to gerrymandering. Curated with Greg Cook, #RESIST was inspired by the frustrated, fearful and often furious conversations Berstler has noticed in her Facebook feed of late. “Everybody I know is just really angry and really upset, and trying to figure out what, if anything, they can do about it,” she says. After the election, many people Bertler knew—a crowd that consists primarily of artists and creative types— were either panicking or defeated, unsure of what, if anything, they could do to make a difference. “It became clearer and clearer to me that the first show [since Nave took a break this winter] was going to have some sort of commentary about the current social and political situation,” she says. While the subjects and title of the exhibit highlight voices that have felt threatened and silenced since Trump was elected, Berstler says this is by no means an exclusive event. She invokes 36 March | April 2017
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Picasso’s Guernica as a metaphor—no matter what you feel about art, the painter or the Spanish Civil War, the piece makes you feel something. “We do live in Somerville, we are in our little bubble, we are a sanctuary city, but … it’s never as black and white as what anybody wants to talk about,” she says. “I would think and hope that the work we pick … would be done in a thoughtful and creative enough manner. That even if you don’t agree with it, it speaks to you in some manner.” “We do live in Somerville, we are in our little bubble,” Otis says, reflecting on this sanctuary city in a blue state. “But,” she says, thinking of our Republican governor and the Trump signs that dot lawns even here, “it’s never as black and white as what anybody wants to talk about.” “I would think and hope that the work we pick … would be done in a thoughtful and creative enough manner. That even if you don’t agree with it, it speaks to you,” she says. Submissions for the exhibit will be accepted through April 1, and in an effort to it as inclusive as possible, the entry fee has been waived. #RESIST’s opening reception will take place on April 27, and the exhibit will be on display through May 27. For more information, visit navegallery.org.
elected. But on election day itself, as millions of people were earning their “I voted!” stickers, she was on the Boston Common, talking to people for a performance art piece. In her “Election Therapy Booth,” she listened and she wrote, typewriter poised on a small folding table between her and her “clients.” She heard heartache and a profound sadness from people on both sides of the political divide, as well as what she calls a reclamation of citizenship, of “being an active voice and an active body in the political process.” Most of all, she found something very tender. “Almost everyone voiced huge sadness about the chasm that they are experiencing between themselves and other family members or themselves and all these people that they don’t understand who are voting another way,” she says. “Everybody who sat down said, ‘This is what I want more of. I want to be heard; I want to be able to hear other people,’ and I think that latter desire is even stronger.” It’s a hopeful takeaway from a day that plunged many American voters into a state of fear and despair, feelings that were quickly replaced by outrage and defiance as President Donald Trump’s pen ran over order after executive order. But in spite—or perhaps because—of the distress some have felt in the wake of the election, there are those, including Otis, who see the outline of an opportunity. They wonder, if Hillary Clinton had won, whether we’d see the kind of political engagement that seems to have emerged since November. In any case, Otis feels ready for whatever may come. “This is what we’ve been preparing for. Like, this is it. This is the call. I could not have picked a more perfect villain. I could not have architected a more perfect opportunity for a creative, peace-mongering revolution,” she says, recalling a recent conversation with a colleague. “I’m not saying if I could time travel I wouldn’t change a few things, you know. Because we don’t have to go through a giant upheaval in order to have peace. It’s just, you know, after really talking to my colleague, it was like, right, this is the opportunity. This is what we’ve been training for.” When Otis spoke to us in early February, she was just about to embark on a month of coordinated phone calls related to her coaching work. They would focus on “claiming a meaningful context within which to do this work that leads to greater joy and ease instead of burnout and despair,” what she calls “radical sufficiency.” Asked what others who are searching for meaning in these divisive times can do, she says she couldn’t prescribe the same thing to everyone. Some people might want to try meditation, others a social media fast— she says it’s hard to say unless she’s met you. But she does have a couple of rules for the revolution. “Don’t bother showing up to the revolution if you’re not going to do it with a sense of humor, and if you’re not going to do it with a multigenerational perspective. Cause you’re going to need to draw on the strength of many, many generations that came before you, and you’re going to need to do this work for the benefit of generations long after you’re gone,” she says. “If you’re expecting results today, tomorrow, next week or in this 8-hour news cycle, you are going to be very disappointed. But if you can connect yourself with the possible implications of how this work will affect people 100 or 200 years from now, it’s going to be an incredibly rewarding and peaceful action.”
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THE ARTS ISSUE
THE TRA’VILLEING CHEF BY AMANDA LUCIDI PHOTOS BY JESS BENJAMIN
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AFTER COOKING HIS WAY ACROSS THE GLOBE, MARK DESLAURIERS TEACHES HIS TRADE IN THE KITCHEN OF THE BRICKBOTTOM ARTISTS ASSOCIATION. 38 March | April 2017
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ark DesLauriers’s road to Somerville was a winding one. After high school, the Townsend, MA native hit the road, traveling around the country chasing seasonal kitchen jobs. It was the summer of 1977, when he was working on a dude ranch outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that DesLauriers thought, “I’ll go to Florida for the winter.” He told a coworker, Wayne, that he’d drop him at his home in Indiana on the way, and the pair packed their bags and set off. Alas, the trip was stalled when the car broke down—three times. By the time he said farewell to Wayne, DesLauriers was penniless and stranded. He instead found himself working in a kitchen in Indiana, at a Red Lobster-type restaurant that was “really awful,” he says today. But while he was there, he learned that a coworker had landed a job at a posh restaurant in town, where a classically French trained chef was looking for another cook. “He offered me a four-year apprenticeship,” DesLauriers recalls. “I would get my regular pay for 50 hours a week and would work an extra 20 hours off the clock. I didn’t care, because he said he would make me a chef.” DesLauriers isn’t flying around steaming pans 70 hours a week anymore. Today, at the helm of ArtEpicure Cooking School, he walks calmly—checking in on his amateur chefs, ensuring they’ve stirred the sauce enough. Books and works of art stretch across the walls of the ArtEpicure
kitchen, which is located in the Brickbottom Artists Association, a live-work space for artists of all kinds. You’ll pass barbed-wire fences and boxy former industrial buildings as you walk to the Brickbottom building on Fitchburg Street, but the space has the warmth of grandma’s kitchen. There are quirks like a taxidermied ocelot, and a few things you’d be far less likely to find at grandma’s—like a container of caviar worth just shy of $6,000. A loft peeks out from curtains above the kitchen; this is where DesLauriers used to sleep. He now commutes to the kitchen from his fourthfloor apartment. DesLauriers has been cycling through kitchens since he was just 8 years old. “My dad used reverse psychology. I’d say, ‘Dad, can I peel potatoes?’” DesLauriers remembers. “And he’d say, ‘I don’t think you’re big enough.’” His father owned a restaurant called The Corner House, where he cooked traditional New England Yankee dishes: pot roast, boiled lobster and clam chowder. This was where DesLauriers first decided he wanted to be a chef. “I imagined I was a chef at the White House, working for Lyndon B. Johnson,” DesLauriers says, “and thought, ‘He’s going to have the best burger ever.’” He hasn’t quite made it to the White House, but he has managed to cook his way through 12 states and six countries, from the Virgin Islands to Germany to Tunisia. “Now it’s so much easier to plan, because of the internet,” DesLauriers says. “When I moved to Belize, I just printed some resumes and bought a one-way ticket.” Even his loose plans would deviate. DesLauriers was on a boat to Belize’s tourist area that stopped along the coast so passengers could grab a drink, and the bartender told him their chef had just given his notice. When the boat returned to the seas, DesLauriers wasn’t on board. DesLauriers is practiced and patient in his actions and words. He answers questions as if he already knew you would ask them. Looking on like an observer throughout ArtEpicure classes, he waits for the right lull in conversation before sending you off the tenderize meat or roll gnocchi. He doesn’t blend into the background, but hangs back far enough to give the impression you’re doing this by yourself. Now, DesLauriers mostly cooks French, Italian and Greek food with his classes. But the dishes he made weren’t always so… traditional. During his time working at a country club in Kentucky, for example, he had wild game night. “I remember making a consommé out of bear paw,” he says. “You got the forearms from bears with the claws on it. You would roast that, and then simmer it, and then clarify the stock. I’d make little dumplings out of the bear meat. I don’t even think about doing stuff like that anymore.” “My wife jokes my food was more creative when she met me,” he chuckles. His erratic history spent running around the world cooking outsidethe-box food may seem to contrast with his calm and calculated nature, but perhaps that’s exactly how he was able to navigate the globe, coming to rest at Brickbottom. He’s been at ArtEpicure 10 years now, and he still travels when he can. “You don’t find many head chefs’ jobs where you aren’t working 70hour weeks,” he says. “I look back and wonder how I did it.”
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THE ARTS ISSUE
USING TECHNOLOGY TO INSPIRE CREATIVITY SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL’S FABVILLE ISN’T JUST A COLLECTION OF 3D PRINTERS AND LASER CUTTERS—IT’S A SPACE THAT ENCOURAGES ORIGINALITY AND EXPERIMENTATION. BY EMILY CASSEL | PHOTOS BY JESS BENJAMIN
W
hen Somerville High School students returned to class this fall, they were greeted by some pretty high-tech new classmates, including a laser engraver, a vinyl cutter and a host of 3D printers. A downstairs studio—formerly a vacant auto body shop—has been outfitted with some of the most cutting-edge fabrication technology there is. This is Fabville, a “fab lab” that’s meant to support artistic exploration and experimentation as much as it is to teach tech skills. Over the last few months, students have printed and etched everything from keychains to chessboard pieces, designing vinyl stickers that read “Original Villen” or feature Bart Simpson’s face. One student is even building a guitar from scratch. And with each project that comes out of the lab, interest in it grows. “Kids will see things that other freshmen have been making and be like, ‘Whoa, I want to make that, too!’” says Fabville Director and Advanced Manufacturing instructor Jeremy Shaw. While the room is often populated by students in arts and engineering classes, Shaw says kids from all backgrounds put the space to use. The new lab gives them the opportunity to make school projects that are a bit more advanced than the puffy-painted posters and shoebox dioramas you likely turned in as a kid. “It’s different than doing a lab in a class, following step-by-step instructions,” Shaw explains. “Here, it’s more of a design engineering thing. It’s artistic, you’ve got that creativity, and kids—and people overall—engage with that so much more.” By the time the academic year ends, close to 300 freshmen will have experienced the lab, and Shaw plans to eventually offer expanded open hours so even more students can check out the space. Ben Sommer, an economic development specialist for the city of Somerville, says that the idea for Fabville had been bouncing around City Hall for about five years before becoming a reality. With a 2016 Urban Agenda grant from the state and some help from MIT’s Fab Foundation, a nonprofit that helps communities and institutions build labs of their own, the city was able to make it a reality. You don’t have to be a student to take advantage of the makerspace. When the school day is done, Fabville Design Lab Experience Curator Joe Wight takes the helm. On weeknights, he oversees the shop as it 40 March | April 2017
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opens up to the community at large—free of charge. People bring in their own projects and often take what Wight calls a “super introductory” class to learn the basics of taking a design from a computer to a 3D printer or laser cutter. The projects vary greatly; some people have laser-etched their own leather, while others have stenciled designs on picture frames. One dungeon master—science teacher Mike Maloney— has been making models for D&D campaigns in addition to teaching tools. “A thing that’s nice about being at ground zero here, and building ourselves up, is being able to develop how we want to utilize these machines in a teaching environment,” Wight says. In February, he kicked off a series of events with the local nonprofit makerspace Parts and Crafts. He says the goal is to keep courses as “close to free” as possible. Most two-hour classes have cost $15 to $30, and Wight doesn’t want to see any that cost more than $50. “Accessibility is really important to us,” he adds, “making sure there isn’t any barrier to entry that’s financial.” Eliminating barriers to entry is a core tenant of the Fabville mission, in fact. The lab is meant to be less intimidating and more manageable than other makerspaces, letting beginners learn the technology and scale up from there. Sommer explains that the lab will be an important component of economic growth in the city—he sees it as a way for people to learn important skills they’ll need for the tech and startup jobs that are coming to the area thanks to companies like Formlabs and iRobot. And Shaw hopes that in the future, people will learn to use the machines in order to start their own businesses, making 3D-printed jewelry they sell on Etsy, for example. More machines will go online in the coming months, and Fabville’s curators are ramping up the after-hours offerings as well. Eventually, they’d like to have at least one evening class each week—but at the end of the day, it’s really about helping people make whatever they’re inspired to make. “A lot of what we do is, someone shows up, and we just try to facilitate their needs,” Wight says. “Somerville makes it easy to do something like this,” Sommer adds. “People are very engaged and willing to come out and support new initiatives that are a little outside the box.”
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SCOUT OUT
FUN FACTS WITH FLUFF AUTHOR MIMI GRANEY
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o Mimi Graney, Marshmallow Fluff isn’t just a whimsical condiment. As the founder of the annual What the Fluff? festival in Union Square, where the pillowy product was invented in 1917, she says the story of Fluff is a uniquely American one—as much a tale of innovation and modernization as it is food and a desire to slather candy between two slices of bread and call it lunch. That’s why she’s literally written the book on the sugary stuff—Fluff: The Sticky Sweet Story of an American Icon (Union
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Marshmallow Fluff was invented in Somerville 100 years ago by Archibald Query. As a boy, Query emigrated from Canada and initially lived in Franklin, Massachusetts. He moved to Somerville in 1900, when he was in his mid-twenties. He shared a house with his younger brother Henry (who also worked in confections), along with his other younger brother Armand and their father, James (both photographers). Query’s two teenaged sisters, mother and grandmother remained in Franklin.
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Park Press, 2017)—which hits shelves March 9. In Fluff, Graney thinks outside the lunchbox to tell a story about about Fluff’s role in New England’s oft-forgotten candy-making history. You’ll learn about the time its manufacturer stood up to national brands and the sandwich stuffing’s part in changing roles for women, all of which helps explain the unlikely endurance of this historic Somerville sweet. Before the book debuts, we asked Graney to share a few bite-sized morsels of info here.
BY MIMI GRANEY
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Fluff’s famous inventor narrowly escaped one of the wildest industrial accidents ever. Query was a foreman at the Walter M. Lowney Company, one of the country’s biggest candy manufacturers. He was in Lowney’s factory in Boston’s North End the day of the Great Molasses Flood. On January 15, 1919, a giant tank of molasses four stories high gave way, unleashing a massive, devastating tidal wave. The two million gallons of heavy, sticky sugar destroyed all the buildings nearby, coming to rest at the edge of the Lowney factory. The force was so strong that the girders of the train line Archibald would have used to get to work buckled. It sounds bizarre bordering on laughable now, but the consequences were very serious, with 21 people killed and 150 injured. It took months to clean up the mess.
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The iconic Fluffernutter sandwich is older than you think. Durkee-Mower, the company that brought Query’s Fluff to the masses, popularized the classic pairing of peanut butter and marshmallow cream between slices of bread in the 1950s—but it didn’t come up with the idea. In the 1910s in Melrose, Emma Curtis and her brother Amory were producing Snowflake Marshmallow Crème and other confections. In 1918, a tiny book of recipes distributed along with the company’s tins of marshmallow cream included directions for a “Liberty Sandwich,” comprised of marshmallow cream and peanut butter between slices of oat bread. The name might have come from the need for meat substitutes during World War I food shortages, or it could have been a nod to the family’s pedigree; the siblings were the greatgreat-great grandchildren of Paul Revere.
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Marshmallow cream was just part of the region’s sugar craze; Boston was once the candy capital of America. The city got a head start in American candy making thanks to chocolate. Early colonists roasted cacao beans at home to make chocolate drinks, and the first American chocolate company, the Walter Baker Company, opened here. At the turn of the 20th century, game-changing local inventions, the region’s robust transportation network and readily available immigrant labor helped expand the candy-making industry. As a result, some of the world’s largest candy companies—Schraffts, Lowney’s, Baker’s and NECCO—were all booming here. Specific neighborhoods earned evocative nicknames, like Confectioner’s Row just outside Central Square in Cambridge and Chocolate Village in Dorchester’s Lower Mills.
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Marshmallow Fluff is actually older than sliced bread. The very first documentation of marshmallow cream was in 1896, in a cookbook by famed Boston author Fannie Farmer. A number of commercially made marshmallow creams followed in the early 1900s, with our beloved Marshmallow Fluff born in 1917. It wasn’t until 1921 that Wonder Bread, the nation’s first commercially produced pre-sliced bread, was sold.
Bonus Fact! Marshmallow Fluff is a New England favorite.
While other companies also produce their own versions of marshmallow cream, Marshmallow Fluff dominates the world market. It’s sold all over the world, from Japan to Australia, Africa to Europe. Still, it’s New Englanders who love Fluff best of all. Each year, DurkeeMower makes close to 7 million pounds of the iconic sweet spread, 50 percent of which is sold in the Northeast.
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You can find Graney’s sugary story at local shops including Davis Squared, Magpie, Spindler Confections and Porter Square Books. Can’t get enough Fluff? Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 23, when the What the Fluff? festival will celebrate the condiment’s 100th anniversary.
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329 Somerville Ave, Somerville (617) 666-5410 scoutsomerville.com March | April 2017
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CALENDAR FITNESS | March 12
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FUNDRAISING | March 31
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THEATER | Through March 18
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SCIENCE | April 14-23
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FOOD | March 21
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MUSIC | April 15
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NATURE | April 23
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ARTS | April 27-30
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CRAICFEST 5K 9:30 A.M., $42.50 CAMBRIDGESIDE GALLERIA, 100 CAMBRIDGESIDE PL., CAMBRIDGE Winter is so close to being over—what better time to get outside and go for a run? Pound pavement and pregame for Saint Patrick’s Day with the annual Irish-themed “Craicfest” from Cambridge 5K. Your ticket gets you a tee and all the post-race food and booze your heart desires from Notch, Slumbrew and Bantam Cider. THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA SHOWTIMES VARY, TICKETS FROM $25 LOEB DRAMA CENTER, 64 BRATTLE ST., CAMBRIDGE James Earl Jones—yes, Darth Vader himself—stars in this adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play The Night of the Iguana. Set in the Mexican jungle, the play follows a ragtag group of travelers that includes a portrait artist, a troubled preacher and a party of vacationers as they seek shelter from a storm. FEEL THE FUNK! AN EXPLORATION OF STINKY CHEESE 6:30-8:30 P.M., $55 FORMAGGIO KITCHEN CLASSROOM ANNEX, 67 SMITH PL. UNIT 13, CAMBRIDGE “Do you yearn to have your house filled with the aroma of barnyard animals and sweaty feet?” So begins the Eventbrite listing for this funky class, which takes you on an eight-course tasting of all degrees of smelly cheese. Formaggio’s staff will perfectly pair each cheese with wine and condiments, and they say you’ll leave understanding why the smelliest cheeses are often their cheesemongers’ favorites. Hopefully, they’re right.
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FILM | March 23-25
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LITERATURE | March 29
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IRISH FILM FESTIVAL: BOSTON SHOWTIMES VARY, $10-$85 THE SOMERVILLE THEATRE, 55 DAVIS SQ., SOMERVILLE Don’t be sheepish—grab tickets to the 2017 Irish Film Festival! Now in its 17th year, the festival celebrates the best of Irish cinema, with screenings, receptions and discussions of everything from documentaries to animated shorts. Find the full schedule at irishfilmfestival.com. GROWN-UP STORYTIME: HIBERNATION HIJINKS 7 P.M., FREE (BUT A $5 DONATION IS APPRECIATED!) AERONAUT BREWING CO, 14 TYLER ST., SOMERVILLE You’ll hear funny, quirky, heartwarming and wonderful stories at Grown-Up StoryTime when it returns to Aeronaut in March. Grab a beer and lend your ear as readers tell true personal stories, spin wild yarns—or do a bit of both—throughout the evening.
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BARN DANCE TO BENEFIT DANA FARBER 7:30 P.M., $30 MINIMUM DONATION ARTS AT THE ARMORY, 191 HIGHLAND AVE. Somerville’s Michele Kaufman is running the 2017 Boston Marathon to support the DanaFarber Cancer Institute, and before she hits the streets, she’s inviting you to hit the dance floor. The aptly named local bluegrass band Mile Twelve is soundtracking this familyfriendly evening, and there will be food, drinks, games and plenty of raffle baskets. CAMBRIDGE SCIENCE FESTIVAL CITYWIDE This 10-day extravaganza of mathematics, engineering, technology—and the arts!—is back, and it’s more relevant than ever in a “fake news” era where scientists have to schedule a march to defend, you know… science. Whether you want to check out the “robot zoo” or explore the question of whether or not we’re alone in the galaxy, there’s something here that will inspire your inner researcher (or your inner Fox Mulder). YOON-JI LEE 8 P.M., $10 NEW SCHOOL OF MUSIC, 25 LOWELL ST., CAMBRIDGE The Equilibrium Concert Series Commissioning Project Presents Yoon-Ji Lee, who will debut a new piece in which “the lines between fiction and nonfiction will continuously interact in sonic space.” Here, traditional musical elements like timbre, pitch and harmony are the fictional sounds; on the nonfiction side, you’ll hear field recordings made in the Boston area. These sounds will be juxtaposed against each other, asking questions about “what is meaningful and what is meaningless.” THE TINY GREAT OUTDOORS FEST FREE QUINCY STREET OPEN SPACE BETWEEN SOMERVILLE AVENUE AND SUMMER STREET Celebrate Earth Day, Arbor Day and the urban wild with walking tours and more in Somerville’s tiniest park! Speakers haven’t been confirmed yet, but festival organizer Greg Cook says the plan is to have scientists, poets, comedians and artists on hand to discuss everything from insects to coyotes to global warming. THE 25TH ANNUAL ARTS FIRST FESTIVAL HARVARD UNIVERSITY Harvard’s longest-running arts festival celebrates a quarter-century this year, with more than 100 discipline-spanning performances in music, dance, theatre, public art and more. Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor John Lithgow will be in town to receive the 2017 Harvard Arts Medal (thanks to the timeless classic Harry and the Hendersons, we can only assume). Nearly everything is free and open to the public.
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ou can’t ask for much worse than a roach from an uninvited house guest: Not only do they come right on in, eat your food, and leave a mess – they also stink, can get you sick, and are sure to bring along even more guests. In Somerville, the most common forms of roaches are the American cockroach, the Oriental cockroach and the German cockroach. These roaches will eat about any form of organic material, be it human food, pet food, or even dried glue on a cardboard box. For that reason, once they’re in your home, they can be difficult to defend against. And, once they’re in, you don’t want them to stay long. Aside from the foul odor they’re known to leave behind, their feces can cause allergic reactions. The allergens they produce have been linked to an increased risk of asthma. Beyond that, a few roaches in your home today may mean a few hundred down the road. Each egg capsule can carry up to 40 eggs. Should you find a roach or roach fecal matter, which would look like fine coffee grounds splattered about, encroaching on your home, it’s best to act fast due to the health risks and rapid reproduction rates. If you think you have a problem – or just want the peace of mind that comes with knowing you don’t – make a quick call to Best Pest Control Services. Unlike other companies, Best Pest will treat your home only if it’s necessary. We are a locally owned and familyoperated business. We’ve been serving Somerville and greater Boston since 1984 – and not just for roaches. Ants, bedbugs, mice, rats – you name it, we’ll get rid of it. Our rates are reasonable and customer service is our top priority.
63 ELM ST, SOMERVILLE 617-625-4850 • bestpest.com
SCOUT YOU
Photos by Adrianne Mathiowetz
Students wet their brushes during Two Three Zero’s live model Paint Nite event.
Jonah holds it down behind the Paint Nite bar.
Soprano Laura Ethington performs at Opera On Tap’s Winter Warmer in The Burren Backroom.
Teaching assistant Bruna shoots video as she helps lead a Brazilian forró dance class in Tufts University’s Sophia Gordon Hall. 46 March | April 2017
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An evening snowball fight breaks out in the Target parking lot on Somerville Avenue.
Wanderson Terterelho teaches students the steps at Sophia Gordon Hall.
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1. Variable Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is subject to change. The APR will be based on The Wall Street Journal Prime Rate (Prime) published on the first Bank business day following the 24th of each month. As of 2/3/17, the Prime Rate was 3.75%. Minimum 3.24% APR; maximum 18% APR. If the monthly payment is automatically deducted from an East Cambridge Savings Bank (ECSB) checking/savings account, APR will equal Prime - .51%, currently 3.24% APR. If the monthly payment is not automatically deducted from an ECSB checking/savings account, APR will equal Prime + 1%, currently 4.75% APR. Minimum line $25,000; maximum line $250,000. Maximum combined loan-to-value based on satisfactory value of the property as determined by East Cambridge Savings Bank equaling 75%. Introductory rate subject for new HELOC with ECSB only. Early termination fee equal to ECSB closing costs (approximately $0 to $900) applies if the line is closed within the first 24 months. All lines will be assessed a $50 annual fee. Available for 1-4 family owneroccupied in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties only. Property insurance required, including flood insurance if applicable. Maximum term is 240 months. Minimum payment of interest-only during the 120 months of line access (draw period). Principal and interest payments during the 120 months of no line access (repayment period). Other restrictions may apply. Offer subject to change without notice. Subject to credit approval. Bank’s NMLS ID #441396.
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Happy Birthday! THANK YOU SOMERVILLE!
Odds & Ends just had its first anniversary, and we want to give YOU all the gifts...
BIRTHDAY BLOWOUT SALE! Saturday & Sunday 3/25-3/26, 4/1-4/2 Bring in this ad and receive $25 store credit. No hooks, no games, just free stuff! Now seeking vendors! Odds & Ends is looking for great local merchants. Call or email for details.
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Classes designed to introduce the amateur chef to the world of specialty cooking. Students prepare recipes in a hands-on environment with assistance from our professionally trained chef instructors. Impress your friends and family with a gourmet meal, perfect pie crust, or well-seasoned sauce. Many classes to choose from or create your own!
PROFESSIONAL CHEF and PASTRY PROGRAMS
From basic techniques, principles, and theories to concentration on regional cuisine, these programs are great for both the experienced chef looking to fine tune their craft to the novice ready for a career change.
JOIN US AT OUR OPEN HOUSE! Sunday, March 19 11:00am-2:00pm
2020 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PORTER SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE 617.354.2020 www.cambridgeculinary.com