Nathaniel Lewis: Big News Public Art

So this is a big week. It’s been one year since I said that I would try to put out a blog post every Tuesday. With 40+ posts since, I’d say I’ve done alright. But the real big news is the public artwork I am working on with Christina Lopez for Bartlett Events in Roxbury. For those of you who don’t know Bartlett yard is an abandoned bus depot in Roxbury that is under new ownership. There, several artists have been selected to paint murals and install artwork. The space is intended to help revitalize a community plagued by crime and neglect. Ultimately, the whole bus depot will be torn down to make way for affordable living spaces for people in the community and artists. The opening event is this Saturday and should be a pretty great time with artists painting as well as food trucks and other activities.

Christina and I are privileged to be given the only interior space on site for our work. To Draw attention to the intrinsic beauty of the urban decay Christina decided to paint all of the fixtures exuberant colors. Together we went over every doo-dad and fixture. This week I will be white washing the walls and installing a fiberglass sculpture in the center of the space. I know what you’re thinking, “You’re going to make a six foot resin sculpture in under a week?” and I say unto you, “yes.” Madness.

This sculpture will eventually be white with gray tones. This is the 1/10th scale model I'm working from

Sexy, no?

So i drove to Egypt to buy styrofoam in a very large block. Turned out it was such a large block that it didn't fit in the rental SUV so they had to cut it... 4 times!