This week on Open Studio with Jared Bowen, we’re bringing you a special episode with a focus on local color—the artists who not only call Boston their home but have made Boston a more vibrant, expansive and enduring home for the arts.
First up, you’d be hard-pressed to encounter a man with more unflagging spirit or artistic prowess than Napoleon Jones-Henderson. We caught up with him when 50 years of his work was on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Jones-Henderson has created works --tapestries, sculptures and paintings-- that highlight the communities where he has lived. Jones-Henderson is a longstanding founding member of the influential artist collective African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA).
From there, Jared Bowen sits down with the muralist Rob "ProBlak" Gibbs to talk about his latest work, the huge mural at the Rose Kennedy Greenway. ProBlak is committed to creating murals that send a message of uplift to Boston and communities of color.
Then Bowen visits woodworker and sculptor Alison Croney Moses in her workshop. Croney Moses' work was recently on view at the MassArt Museum of Art's exhibition " Designing Motherhood." She tells Bowen about how motherhood has influenced her art and how she came to love making sculptures that literally go against the grain by making them curve.
We wrap the show up with illustrator and collage artist Ekua Holmes. Her work was on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, which featured her illustrations for books, paintings and mixed media art.
