Special Exhibit

Born in Georgia and brought up in Wisconsin, Larry Terry is an Arlington musician and artist whose work will be on view from June 5 through August 28, 2023 at Roasted Granola in Arlington Heights.

Like many people, Larry began drawing as a child. But it wasn’t until he had young children and began making art with them that he started to draw as an adult. He says the inspiration for his art can be as simple as two lines, or a shape or color, nature or outer space or a vision of a microscopic world; really, “any ideas in my own imagination.”

Terry was drawn to create in oil pastels because of their versatility and the colors and textures they can create. “You can even use oil pastels wet,” Terry explains.

As a musician, Terry’s main instrument is the saxophone but he also plays percussion and sings. He notes that some of the most important events in his career were meeting some of his idols: the R&B and jazz legends Al Jarreau, Phil Collins, Miles Davis, and David Sanborn. Some of the major influences for his music are Prince, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Kenny Garrett, Grover Washington, and Stevie Wonder.

During the pandemic, Terry was no longer able to “play out”—perform live at clubs, functions and gatherings. Missing music, he drew almost every day, wanting a meditative art practice as a way to remain creative and express himself. Now that the world has opened back up, performing keeps him busy. He has enjoyed working collaboratively again and reconnecting with other players—including Dan Fox, founder of the Arlington Jazz Festival.

He played in school bands from the time he was about eight or nine years old, and took private lessons from Curt Hanrahan from the fifth grade through the twelfth grade. He attended the Berkeley School of Music in Boston from 1986 – 1991.

Afterwards, while living in Cambridge, he drove along Massachusetts Avenue and came upon Spy Pond and Menotomy Rocks Park. He realized that Arlington would be the perfect place to bring up his children -— where nature and greenspace are a part of daily life — and moved here.

Terry plays with color, texture, pattern, and rhythm in both his abstract art and his music. For him, art and music making share the same improvisational process -— only one is realized in the visual, the other in the audible. “What I’d play on the saxophone, I draw on paper,” he says.

Arlington resident and photographer Maria Fonseca, was born in Dorchester, MA. Trained as an anthropologist, Fonseca’s curiosity about other cultures inspired her to travel widely in France, Africa, and the Caribbean. She always wanted to go to Cuba, as she’d never been to a communist country and, as an anthropologist, the country and its dance traditions fascinated her.

Fonseca’s adventurous spirit manifested early; in her college years, she was part of a group of undergraduates who worked with their hands helping to build houses and other structures in Ghana. Her undergraduate education was at Barnard College of Columbia University in NYC. She earned her Masters at University of California – Berkeley. As a single parent, her desire to live closer to her family prompted her to move back to the Boston area.

The unofficial photographer for her family, Fonseca wanted to take her skills farther as a professional photographer. To that end, she took classes at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University and the New England School of Photography, which are no longer in operation. In addition, Fonseca connected with photographers online and attended conferences and Meetup groups.

Her appreciation of beauty, whether in human or other forms, is deep. In California on one occasion, she was looking at seals and wildflowers from her window and was moved to tears by the loveliness of the scene. She says, “Beauty in any form can move me to tears.”

Not a dancer herself, she is nonetheless a dance aficionada. She enjoys varied types of dance, including modern, contemporary, and performances by the Boston Ballet. Dance, travel to explore new cultures, and the perspectives of anthropologist and photographer came together during three trips to Cuba. She was enchanted by the architecture and street life of an island that seems frozen in time, a place where decay, poverty and hardship are interwoven with restoration, vitality, and a vibrant arts scene. Although dance is her primary focus, she hopes to return to continue to photograph “the many mysteries and contradictions” she found in Cuban daily life.

She used both a Nikon D610 and a mirrorless Nikon Z6 camera to capture and convey the colors, drama, and flexible grace of the human form in Afro Cuban dancers. As well as the Afro Cuban dancers, on group trips, Fonseca photographed dancers in the modern, ballet, and flamenco traditions.

Fonseca is also a portrait photographer. She is currently working on a photography exhibition of women and their stories, titled “40 over 40.” She works to convey to her modest subjects the beauty that she sees in them.

Fonseca recently discovered the Black Joy Project—an Arlington initiative to build community among Black residents of the town -— during a group field trip to Ekua Holmes’ art studio in Allston for a workshop and conversation. Fonseca was impressed that this celebrated artist was down-to-earth and welcoming; she enjoyed a creative afternoon connecting with other participants and was inspired by Holmes’ prompts to experiment with collage.

You can see examples of Maria Fonseca’s work at www.mariafonseca.me and at www.mariafonsecaphotography.com