BRT Pilot Public Art
Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture enlisted five artists to transform five bus shelters into temporary works of art to bring attention to the importance of the MBTA in Arlington. Each bus shelter was a unique work of art, reflecting the style and interests of each artist. Together, the bus shelters celebrated the Town’s initiative to improve bus service so people can leave their cars at home. Shared themes included protecting the environment, connecting with neighbors, and enlivening the experience of waiting for the bus.
Arlington’s Eileen deRosas, a ceramic artist known for her paintings of animals on plates and pitchers, covered her shelter with portraits of neighborhood wildlife: a coyote, skunk, rabbit, and turtle make their way across the glass, reminding us that taking the bus helps protect the environment. Johnny Lapham, also from Arlington, was invited to expand a project he did to transform the Arlington Service Station with polka dots. Using 80 painted plywood discs, he created an impression that the polka dots had jumped off the gas station canopy, traveled down the sidewalk, and landed on the bus shelter like something in a Dr. Seuss story.
Two artists visiting from neighboring Somerville designed graphics that were printed on transparent film. James Weinberg’s depiction of nature changing through the seasons featured complex layered patterns and colors that glow when the sun comes through. Sneha Shrestha, who goes by Imagine when painting her colorful street art murals, placed the names of local streets inside two intersecting circles; people are invited to mark their destination or the street where they live with a dot. She hoped to prompt conversation between strangers, and envisioned that the dots would add up to create a visual map of activity in Arlington.
Boston artists Claudia Ravaschiere and Mike Moss brought their translucent Plexiglas butterflies to the Minuteman Bikeway last year. Continuing their interest in new materials and translucent effects, they researched dichroic film and selected a version that transforms the light into unexpected and fugitive colors – blue, magenta, orange and purple – that are both transparent and reflective. The colors shifted with your movement; the effect was magical, as if you had stepped into a soap bubble.
The project was curated by Cecily Miller, working in collaboration with Ali Carter, the Town’s Economic Development Coordinator, and funded by a generous grant from the Barr Foundation. Arlington Commission for Art and Culture is grateful to the Town’s Planning and Community Development Department and its Director Jenny Raitt for the opportunity to integrate art into an important initiative in improving transportation infrastructure and service. ACAC’s goal was to support the success of the BRT pilot and enhance the experience of thousands of bus riders!
Serving the morning commute of MBTA buses, the BRT pilot created a dedicated bus lane on Mass. Avenue, eastbound, from Varnum Street to Alewife Brook Parkway, Monday through Friday, 6am to 9am for one month: October 9 – November 9 2018. The BRT pilot art was removed at the end of the project. But the project of having a dedicated bus lane has since became permanent with the revisioning of the MBTA in Arlington, helping our town’s commuters and improving the safety of bikers and pedestrians.
Funded by the Barr Foundation.
