Town Report

Arlington's Artistic and Cultural Heritage

Arlington’s first public mural, designed and painted in Fall 2008 by a group of students from Dearborn Academy.

Art and heritage walk hand-in-hand in Arlington. The artwork of Cyrus Dallin is the most prominent; while Dallin was born in the West, he lived in Arlington for most of his adult life, and here produced many of his fine works. Dallin’s Western upbringing massively influenced his work – his most famous, Appeal to the Great Spirit, stands in front of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston – but Arlington has a hidden treasure: Menotomy Indian Hunter. This work, which portrays one of the community’s first inhabitants, stands in a beautiful wooded setting in the garden between Town Hall and the Robbins Library. Dallin is also known for the heroically-sized bronze of Paul Revere near the Old North Church. Artist Dallin struggled long and hard to get this memorial to our national heritage installed.

Speaking of Paul Revere, did you know he rode through Arlington on his famous ride? (Why does Lexington and Concord get all the fame?) A prominent piece of colorful public art commemorates his historic ride. The beautiful Arlington Heights Bus Depot mural was funded in part by the Arlington Cultural Council and received a Gold Star Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The Arlington Cultural Council supports public programs in our community that promote access, education, diversity, and excellence in the arts, humanities and the interpretive sciences. Their website  (www.arlingtonculturalcouncil.wordpress.com) provides an impressive list of over 70 amazing Arlington artists, and Arlington arts and culture links. Menotomy Indian Hunter isn’t Arlington’s only significant public sculpture.

 

Tucked away on a small green at the intersection of Pleasant Street and Massachusetts Avenue is a statue commemorating “Uncle Sam,” whom Arlington claims as one of our own. Sam Wilson was born in Arlington, but made his money in Troy, NY, packing meat for the Army during the war of 1812; he marked the meat-bearing barrels “US.”
 
The soldiers of that time equated their government-supplied rations with “Uncle Sam Wilson.” The story grew to mythological proportions, resulting in a largely fictional image of Sam Wilson emerging as the white-bearded, red, white and blue clad symbol of America, an image formalized during World War II. Arlington’s statue was erected in 1976. The plaque on the statue reads: IN HONOR OF SAMUEL WILSON / A NATIVE SON / BORN NEAR THIS SITE / ON SEPTEMBER 13, 1766 / HE BECAME / OUR NATIONAL SYMBOL / UNCLE SAM.

If you harbor dreams of being the next famous Arlington artist, excellent art opportunities abound. Arlington Center for the Arts (www.acarts.org) offers a summer arts camp for children and courses for adults and children alike. Arlington Children’s Theatre (act.arlington.ma.us), established in 1991, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating positive theatrical experiences for children aged 4 –18. Adults may look into Arlington Friends of the Drama, now known as AFD Theatre (www.afdtheatre.org), founded in 1923 and one of the ten oldest continually-operating community theatre groups in the United States.

Get into hands-on art at ArtBeat (www.artbeatonline.com); their “Summer Studio Pass” makes it easy to do a huge range of artistic projects. Open Studio daily as well. Clay Dreams (www.claydreams.com) offers instruction on ceramic techniques; the studio offers drop-in classes each Thursday night at 6:30pm. A new Heights studio, Mosaic Oasis (www.mosaicoasis.com) is a fully-equipped, artist-owned mosaic studio and workshop, retail mosaic supply store, and art gallery. Private art lessons for aspiring artists 3–adult are taught by local Arlington artist Tonya Ratz (www.tonyaratz.com). Martha Ware teaches acrylic painting for adults at Arlington Community Education (www.arlingtoncommunityed.org); Liz DiNolfo is teaching eco-art for kids” at SummerFun, also at Arlington Community Education.


If simply admiring art is more your style, Arlington’s own 13FOREST Gallery for Contemporary Art + Crafts (http://13forest.com) offers the best from New England area artists, including some of Arlington’s finest. Get out there this summer and make some of your own art history!