“Sun Block” by Gabriel Cira and Matthew Okazaki is public art that cools in Jill Brown-Rhone Park in Cambridge’s Central Square. (Photo: Cambridge Arts via social media)
Two wildly different exhibits in Cambridge are uplifting the creative value in the everyday. In one, people gather under a shade to keep cool; the other is of blankets and clothing they wear to stay warm.
At one end of Central Square, Gabriel Cira and Matthew Okazaki have teamed up on a functional piece of public art called “Sun Block,” supported by Cambridge Arts’ Shade is Social Justice program.
“Sun Block” repurposes industrial materials toward creative ends: sets of precast concrete stairs and agricultural mesh fabric fastened loosely to metal poles. The red and gray fabric acts as shade, while the stoops point in different directions, creating playful, makeshift seating. It’s versatile, able to be transformed on the fly. As soon as you step under the tent, the light changes, and there’s something magical about it all. The piece serves a purpose – but more than that, sets a vibe.
The mesh of “Sun Block” protects people under it from harsh summer sun. (Photo: Claire Ogden)
An art exhibition up through Saturday called “Interwoven” provides another playful way to beat the heat – you visit it by stepping by the air-conditioned Cambridge Main Library – and support the arts. The show is organized by Aparna Paul, a chemical engineer, poet and organizer at Boston Poetry Slam.
This is the first exhibition she’s curated, but it certainly shouldn’t be the last. The show uplifts the fiber artistry of Paul’s mother, Zahira Paul, and grandmother, Zebun Rangwala – blankets and clothing are hung on the wall, elevating their domestic craftsmanship to the status of fine art. Craft has increasingly been getting the attention it deserves over the past few years; the show is also implicitly about immigration, a narrative that comes through in the trajectory of Paul’s family: Her grandmother worked as a seamstress in India; a generation later, her daughter took up a career as an occupational therapist; as a chemical engineer who dedicates much of her time to performing poetry, Paul has been able to embrace her artistic talents more openly than the women who came before her.
Blankets by Zahira Paul and Zebun Rangwala at the July 13 opening of the “ Interwoven” show at the Cambridge Main Library. (Photo: Claire Ogden)
Paul’s exhibitions was introduced July 13 in the library’s lecture hall, when she performed a poem called “on the night the snakes came into the bed,” or what she calls “a poem that feels like an anxiety attack.” At its end, Paul celebrates the craftsmanship of her family: “& the snakes were in my hands & / i know if my mother were there she would knit them into a sweater & my nani would weave them / into lace but all i can do is spin a damn good yarn.”
Paul’s family blankets family blankets were shuffled around into a new iteration, moved up from the lecture hall after the July 13 event; the pieces of Cira and Okazaki’s creation move around like puzzle pieces, adapting to whatever the space’s inhabitants need.
Wearables at the “Interwoven” show opening July 13. (Photo: Claire Ogden)
There’s something exciting about art adapting to the needs of its surroundings. It’s not to say there’s no place for “art for art’s sake;” nor does it negate the value of long-term exhibitions and permanent collections. But this impulse toward spontaneous, functional art experiences feels like a move toward integrating creativity into everyday life.
“Interwoven: A Multigenerational Showcase of Textile and Fiber Arts” is up through Saturday at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. “Sun Block” is at Jill Brown-Rhone Park, in Lafayette Square near Central Square, Cambridge.
Share your own 150-word appreciation for a piece of visual art or art happening with photo to [email protected] with the subject line “Behold.”
