Arsenal Center for the Arts / Open Studios

This weekend we’re having an Open Studios in Watertown/Belmont, MA for the first time. Watertown and Belmont are a stone’s throw from Cambridge and just 10 minutes from Boston, which may be why we who live in these towns have never bothered to do an art event of our own.  We’re small towns and very, very close to the city. Most of us arty people are involved in events in other places and it just hasn’t happened that we have our own—until now. The Arsenal Center for the Arts took the lead. It was almost a year ago when the decision was made to do our own Open Studio event. I’m a lucky beneficiary as I have my studio there. We will have 20 artists showing with the 5 studio artists and it should be a very exciting event.

I’d like to thank Bev Snow, the Program Director, for her amazing hard work and experienced judgment.  Bev is a fantastically accomplished artist herself and a veteran in the Boston arts scene. She knows how it’s done and she knows how to do it right. I’m totally in awe of her organizational skill at pulling things together and doing it just right!  Dawn Scaltreto, my wonderful studio neighbor and signature member of the New England Watercolor Society of which John Singer Sargent himself was a member, has worked tirelessly to make the event a real success. It’s very humbling to be in the presence of such selfless service and I really want to thank them both.  And I’d also like to thank Matt Jattkola whose brilliant poster designs draw so much positive attention to our events and Martin Holbrook who keeps everything humming on the website and keeps our large building in great shape too.  It’s really great to work alongside such great people every day, have to say.

If you’re in the area this weekend, please stop by to say hi! As nice as it is to have an opportunity to share art, it’s equally nice to say hi to friends and to meet new people. Art has many great things to offer and one of the best, to my mind, is that it brings us together in good spirits.

Look forward to seeing everybody this weekend!