BOSTON HARBOR SHIPYARD GALLERY LAUNCH - Harborarts.net

[GMACK24]

Sorry I didn't post this event up here. But it was yesterday and it was pretty cool. . . .

Art installations are in progress for the Outdoor Sculpture Gallery in the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina opening June 12. HarborArts employs the arts to raise awareness for issues affecting our water resources.This Gallery is dedicated to Massachusetts Ocean Coalition.

A few of the cooler sculptures.

and their website is : http://harborarts.net/index.html





you can view all of my pics from this event here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmack24/

[Lurker]

"to raise awareness for issues affecting xxx"

This seems to be the new trite statement for spending money (usually on some fluff event) to discuss and infer empathy about particular subject without actually doing anything effectual to remedy the subject of discussion. Dialog without action is worthless, but that seems lost on the generation of cocktail party assholes which seem to be running the world these days.

[Ron Newman]

I don't understand your objection. Anything that brings artists and art fans into an otherwise desolate section of East Boston should be welcomed. Perhaps it can follow the same path as Somerville, Lowell, and Pawtucket.

[kennedy]

You know, I agree with you, Lurker. And I usually don't. It seems to be the culmination of the "ladies who lunch" causes.

[Beton Brut]

The energy (and evolution) of East Boston's harborfront is by turns, exciting and frustrating. As many of you know, I live in the neighborhood. I get where Lurker's coming from, because I see it all too often -- the great idea that rots on the vine due to idle hands or poor planning. And no matter how cool any of this is, does it make East Boston more livable for those who have been here for generations? Does it make the community more attractive to young families? Does it remove the stigma of ineffectual political representation, unchecked criminal enterprise, civic neglect, and malignant land-use?

I frequent the shipyard, mainly to visit one of my favorite brunch spots. When friends visit from out of town, Sunday often begins here, and with a walk to Pier's Park. There's a lot of good across the harbor. Knowing the neighborhood as I do, I have a hard time deciding if I'm more annoyed by reading police blotter or yelp.

[czsz]

Maybe we can agree that the pretense is rather ridiculous, but that it is good to draw people to E Boston? To answer Breton's point, if it has the effect of bringing people to East Boston (or allowing them to see it on media in which this is publicized) and showing them that it's as livable as it is, it just might have some of the effects you wonder about (with down the road impacts on some of the larger neighborhood issues as well).

That's not to say I favor Richard Florida (creativity first) over Joel Kotkin (services and economic basis first), but I do think these kinds of events have potential beneficial effects beyond looking cool.