Ahts! 2009 Boston Arts Festival to Kick Off the Autumn Arts Season

BOSTON/North End - This month, the city of Boston invites art lovers to spend a long weekend in the North End experiencing the best of the Boston Arts Scene. Starting Friday, Sept. 11, the annual Boston Arts Festival will return to historic Christopher Columbus Park for a three-day celebration of local arts and entertainment. The event will feature work from over 60 visual artists and a number of scheduled musical and dance performances. The outdoor festivities will run each day from noon until 6 p.m.

The festival originated in the autumn of 2003, when Mayor Manino orchestrated a one-day arts event in the same location. Over the past six years, Boston’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events has worked hard to help the festival evolve into the three-day affair it is today.

Julie Burns, the director of the Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events, explains, “The festival started out as an effort to highlight the visual artists that either worked and/or lived here in Boston. It’s grown exponentially - at first there were at most 40 artists and now we have well over 60. The artists seek to be in the show, and we always have over 100 applications. The work is juried so that we make sure we have great quality artists participating.” The venue also provides two stages to host some of Boston’s finest performance artists, such as the Boston Ballet and Opera Boston, as well as up-and-coming musical artists.

Jen Matson is a photographer from the South End who has been showing at the festival since its inception. She works strictly with film and her 35 mm SLR camera, capturing hauntingly beautiful cityscapes in ambient light. Matson also runs a store in her neighborhood called Artists Crossing, which offers the work of fellow artists as well as her own. Additionally, she sits on the board of directors for the United South End Artists, the organization behind the South End Open Studios event happening later this month.

The Boston Arts Festival marks the beginning of the arts season, which is generally defined by the Open Studios events that occur throughout the Boston area. Matson explains, “The Open Studios events are walking tours through the studios of local artists. You get to see everyone’s spaces, and there are also group spaces for people who don’t have their own studios. The arts festival is the kick off for these events, and they go on throughout the fall.” Thirteen neighborhoods participate in these Open Studios events, which are scheduled until early December.

Bren Bataclan is another Boston Arts Festival veteran set to exhibit his work this month. The Cambridge resident is the artist behind the “Smile Boston Project,” a unique street art installation. Since 2003, Bataclan has been scattering his cartoon-inspired acrylic paintings around Boston. Attached to each painting is a note encouraging passerby to take the painting free of charge, and more importantly, to smile. “My goal is to create my own type of street art,” Bataclan says. “But I also want to expose folks who don’t typically go to museums and galleries to art. I also want to give my pieces to those who may not be able to afford original artwork.”

Over the past six years, Bataclan has received a great deal of positive feedback from the finders of his paintings. He says, “When I first started I just wanted to see more smiles here in Boston; I didn’t plan for it to be an extensive project. I thought it would only last for a couple weeks, but it’s now my fulltime job. I absolutely love it.” Bataclan has since brought his “Smile” paintings to cities all over the country and the world. When not focusing on his street art installations, he also takes commissions for portraits and murals around the state.

Each year, the festival draws in new applicants like Rachel Mello, an arts educator, printmaker, and painter from Somerville. She focuses on her relief-printing project, which plays with the effects of silhouette and shadow. For each piece, Mello completes a complicated process, which includes cutting a hardboard silhouette of a city street, using that plate to create a woodblock print, and then painting the plate itself with a landscape scene. Once this is finished, she pairs each painted silhouette with the print it has made.

Mello describes her creations: “My work tries to reflect this realization that it’s rare for me, and I think other people, to just be in one place at one time. You’re walking down the street and you’re looking at a house, but you’re also thinking about where you’re going tomorrow or what you did last week. It’s the pulling together of the images of two different physical places in the same way that I think we do in our heads a lot.”

Apparently the current economic climate has not dampened local artists’ enthusiasm for the upcoming festival. In fact, many seem to possess an air of optimism and confidence for their businesses despite a general downward trend in spending. According to Matson, Bataclan, and Mello, patrons are continuing to buy artwork at galleries, shows, and festivals, and they expect the same level of success at the Boston Arts Festival.

Mello speculates, “I think there will be a lot of great energy at this event. I thought that nobody would be buying any work, but I think it’s the other way around. People are really being careful about what they buy and they’re only looking for handmade and individual pieces now… I think a lot of people will come out to something like this because it’s a big, free event with real people making real stuff of their own.”

While consistent patronage certainly plays a large role in sustaining the city’s arts scene, festival artists also greatly appreciate the support they receive from the city of Boston. For example, the city provides tents for the artists at the festival, eliminating a personal expense that might discourage artists from partaking in the event. The fee to participate is also relatively low, ensuring access to artists regardless of their financial means. The organizers even assist the artists with unloading their work, setting up their booths, and packing up at the end of the day.

Says Bataclan, “The Mayor is just great. He has been such a supporter of my work since day one… Each time he passes by at the Arts Festival, he says ‘hi,’ and we shake hands. It seems like he really takes time to get to know the artists. During the economic downturn, that support is really important to us.”

Above all, what seems to matter most to local artists is to feel that their work and creativity are valued, and many feel that the Boston Arts Festival makes a great effort to send that message.

The performance schedule and lists of artists are available at the Boston Art's Festival website.