The MBTA recently installed fluorescent lighting at the Courthouse stop on the Silver Line. Took the photos below last evening, to show how much it resembles something out of Disney Tomorrowland.

Not sure if they’re going to eventually cover these lights with posters – the lights on the wall seem way too big for a translucent poster.

I kind of hope they leave them uncovered, add a disco ball, and turn the whole thing into a roller rink. It’d make the commute into work WAY more interesting.

Kelly Sherman (the ICA artist whose work I blogged about) won the Foster Prize at the ICA!

Cambridge artist gets a prize

Kelly Sherman got the call Sunday. That’s when the Cambridge artist learned she had won the Institute of Contemporary Art’s $25,000 James and Audrey Foster Prize, a biennial award for a Boston-area artist. “I jumped up and down and screamed and cried,” Sherman said yesterday. “I had done a pretty good job of convincing myself that I wouldn’t get it.” For her exhibition, Sherman, 28, created “The Family House,” a work of diagrammatic drawings of her childhood home showing shifts in household arrangements caused by divorce; “Wish Lists,” an evocative collection of 40 personal wish lists gathered from the Internet; and “Chairs,” a video featuring a parade of seating items for sale on eBay. The other finalists for the ICA’s prize were Sheila Gallagher, Jane D. Marsching, and Rachel Perry Welty. The work of all four artists will be at the ICA through March 11.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/02/13/message_in_a_ballpark/

Found a new donation booth at the St. Anthony Shrine on Arch Street in Boston.  Click “Make donation,” follow the onscreen instructions, and swipe your credit card – easy as a airplane kiosk or a CharlieCard.

Even church donations are cashless these days!

 

  

I’ve started saying rosaries in my spare time – walking to the T, striding to Trident bookstore, and driving to and from Newburyport.  I find saying the rosaries calms my thoughts and puts me in a meditative mood, rather than letting my brain run away with thoughts about my job, all the stuff I have to do.  I also believe in the power of prayer and it’s nice to “multitask” during my down time.

I have a couple of rosaries, but I prefer to just count on my fingers so I can start or stop at any time.  An “Our Father,” 5 fingers lifted, 5 fingers curled for the decade, and a “Glory Be” to finish.  Repeat 5 times and finish with the Hail Holy Queen.  It’s a nice way to begin the day.

Right now I’ve gotten very good at reciting the rosary; my next step is to memorize the mysteries and meditate on them while saying the prayers.  I’d also like to be able to concentrate on a specific intention while saying the full decade – right now I think of an interntion at the beginning of a decade, but lose it when jostling with other T passengers or cutting off people in traffic.

When I was a kid I used to think the rosary took a long time, but I’ve found that I can say a full rosary (somewhat quickly) in about 12 minutes.  I can usually get two full decades in between my front door and the T, and a full rosary in if I’m driving to Boston.  Overall I’ve gotten better about managing my time and it’s interesting to see how little time it really takes to say.

Next to speak was Jane D. Marsching. Marsching’s work can be seen at http://www.climate-commons.net - the logo on the “Climate Commons” page is actually a top-down view of a table that splits apart (each circle is one of the seats).  Each piece of the table had a computer terminal that displayed information on the melting ice in the Arctic.

 

 In the piece below (one of about four, each one about five feet by six) the background is completely rendered in 3D, and the people are photoshopped in.  The piece was inspired by records of explorers to the arctic landscape, who would perform theater and have concerts on the ice to entertain themselves. I found myself more interested in the methods used to create the pieces than the pieces themselves, but it sounds like part of appreciating contemporary art is understanding the choice of materials and method.

I actually like the “Weight of God” piece on her web site more than her ICA exhibit, but I thought it was cool that she printed business cards for the piece that provided a link to the Climate Commons site.