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By Kerri Provost, September 8, 2011 7:51 am

The recent totally-unscientific-but-fun poll told me a few things: nobody buys all groceries from one vendor, Whole Foods is very popular, and people want food to be local and fresh. While digesting this data, I visited four stores in Hartford to see which ones most closely met your criteria of the ideal store; I looked at other aspects, including whether or not I could reasonably shop for basic food and household items. I looked at the two most popular grocery stores in the city, along with two that fewer people shopped at. Continue reading 'A Tale of Four Markets'»

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By Kerri Provost, July 14, 2011 2:00 am

Meklit Hadero — born in Ethiopia, raised in the United States and now living in San Francisco — played in the theater of Real Art Ways on Wednesday evening. She was joined by Darrell Green on drums, Darren Johnston on trumpet, and Evan Flory-Barnes on bass.

Her style does not fit neatly into a single category, though jazz was certainly present. Her voice brings to mind Regina Spektor, Phoebe Snow, Joss Stone, and maybe India Arie.

Clean, versatile vocals with no need for audio airbrushing. Continue reading 'Meklit Hadero: “It’s About Being Tired of Logic”'»

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By Kerri Provost, June 22, 2011 1:48 am

The Guerrilla Girls‘ work might never be done.  The activist group — which is featured in the film !Women Art Revolution — began in the 1980s after observing that an exhibit intended to highlight all of the major contemporary artworks actually excluded women; 13 of the 169 artists in this exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York were women.  In 2007 — two decades after the Guerrilla Girls began their work — they created a poster which counters the commonly held belief that everything is copacetic today. On it are the names of several major museums which, at the time, favored work by male and white artists. The National Gallery of Art was described as displaying work by men 98% of the time, and work by white artists 99.9% of the time!

!Women Art Revolution provides footage of female artists since the 1960s.

The film opens this Friday at Real Art Ways and runs through June 30th.

The trailer includes images that might be NSFW:

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By Kerri Provost, June 21, 2011 2:54 pm

Not fatigued yet by all these development meetings? Here are four more to add to your schedule then:

June 22: Handel Performing Arts Center on the corner of Albany Avenue and Westbourne Parkway will host the discussion pertaining to Asylum Hill, Blue Hills, Parkville, and the West End.

June 23: Metzner Recreation Center at 680 Franklin Avenue. This meeting is for the Barry Square, Behind the Rocks, South End, and Southwest neighborhoods.

June 27: Hartford Public Library will host the meeting for Downtown, Frog Hollow, Sheldon/Charter Oak, and South Green.

June 29: Parker Community Center at 2621 Main Street will host meeting for Clay Arsenal, Northeast, and Upper Albany neighborhoods.

The meetings about Livable & Sustainable Neighborhoods are described as opportunities for the public to learn about how the One City One Plan projects are being implemented. Literature sent from the City of Hartford says this will pertain to “infrastructure, community development, and anti-blight projects” happening “over the next two years.” A press release from the City indicates that this is part of the One City, One Plan. The One City, One Plan — the Plan of Conservation and Development through 2020 — was developed after receiving input from NRZs and the public. The projects vary from neighborhood-to-neighborhood. All of these meetings run from 6-7:30pm.

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By Kerri Provost, April 21, 2011 4:12 pm

The First Night banners — displayed for months after the New Year’s Eve event had passed — around Bushnell Park were exchanged for fresher ones that are not specific to any season.

One banner depicts Tastease donuts, which have gotten a load of press, are located in a visible spot on a main thoroughfare, and are now stocked at The Market at Hartford 21.

Other banners declare that Hartford has “fun” and “style.” Well, duh.

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By Kerri Provost, February 7, 2011 8:12 pm

“I want to throw up because we’re supposed to quietly and politely make house in this killing machine called America and pay taxes to support our own slow murder and I’m amazed that we’re not running amok in the streets, and that we can still be capable of gestures of loving after lifetimes of all this” (Wojnarowicz 108).

Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration will be the subject of a free and informal discussion at Real Art Ways on Wednesday, February 9th from 6-7pm. Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street in Hartford.

Reading this text is an experience like battling a fever, in which one dips in and out of consciousness. It’s at once a dreamworld blur and a perfectly focused picture of an outsider’s life in America.

In late 2010, the Smithsonian removed Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly video from its National Portrait Gallery. Various museums and galleries, including Real Art Ways and the Wadsworth Atheneum, in protest of the censorship, showed this video or displayed other pieces of the artist and author’s work.

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By Kerri Provost, January 12, 2011 7:47 pm

It’s about time. If you’ve been in New England awhile, you might remember that we used to get significant snowfall every year. Maybe we would not get two feet of it within 24 hours, but we’d get enough. Now, it seems that the media exploits every opportunity, which is typically a few inches of snow, at best. It’s easier to digest such hype when a storm manages to produce noteworthy effects.

The photo above is one of the panels from the Lyric Theater windows. It was blasted with snow, despite being in a sheltered area.

Sledding in Pope Park

Snowshoeing alongside the Park River.

Continue reading 'Storm Benedict'»

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By Kerri Provost, December 21, 2010 6:13 am

This might be the first house in Parkville featured in the casa linda series. If you have ever been to Real Art Ways, Barça, Tastease, or Sully’s, then you have been to Parkville.

This house is not on a main thoroughfare nor is it next to any of those aforementioned attractions. It’s among other homes and not necessarily a place you would see unless you had real reason to be in this area, or maybe, if you were driving along I-84.

Tune back in on Friday December 24th for a Christmas Bonus edition of Casa(s) Linda.

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By Kerri Provost, December 8, 2010 9:20 pm

A Noble Tree by Kyle Andrew Phillips (2010)

Humility. That’s the word that came to mind during my first tour of The Admiration Series exhibit in the Hartford Public Library’s ArtWalk gallery.

The Admiration Series features work inspired by various artists’ style, technique, subject matter, etc. Some paintings feature other artists, such as the Portrait of Miguel Carter-Fisher.

As I walked through the gallery I noticed familiar sites within the paintings: Hamilton Street, Billings Forge, and Heublein Tower.

Recently, I met up with Kyle Andrew Phillips at the gallery.  Again, the word “humble” came to mind.

When asked, he refused to play favorites with his art in the Admiration Series, but did point to one of the abstracts from his recent solo exhibit (MLA Format)  at the Charter Oak Cultural Center. The statement from that exhibit is displayed (right) in the library and echoes the theme of humility, of noting what one likes and/or is intrigued with, without copying outright.

Though Phillips would not select a favorite of his from the Admiration Series, Sunset on Hamilton St. is one I kept returning to. This was inspired by a freak snow storm that hit one end of Hamilton Street — located in the Parkville neighborhood –  but did not touch the other side. Add residential buildings and a stunning sunset to that scene. This painting was influenced by Piet Mondrian’s Windmill in Sunlight.

The best way to describe this exhibit is to call it, as Phillips does, “saturated with color.” He says he has no conscious plans to add to this series, but that he will inevitably continue to be influenced and inspired by a number of artists.

One of the artists that he was inspired by is Peter Dreher, whose name Phillips insisted I write down. Dreher painted the same glass every day, resulting in thousands of similar (but not the same) images. Phillips pays tribute to Dreher’s work with a single painting of a glass.

Which local artists does he think people should know about? Well, there’s Skylar Hughes, a graduate of the Hartford Art School (University of Hartford). Mary McCarthy and Matt Morello were also mentioned. He gave props to Miguel Carter-Fisher, who has moved away from the area. And of course, there are the artists who come through Billings Forge.

His next move? Grad school.

The Admiration Series will be on display at the Hartford Public Library through January 7, 2011.

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By Kerri Provost,

Still from David Wojnarowicz, A Fire in My Belly, video, 1987.

Trends from the 1980’s have made a resurgence in the last few years, nearly all of which have been unfortunate: tight jeans, legwarmers, huge sunglasses, neon colors, cocaine, and now, censorship of art.

According to “U.S. Representative John Boehner Is Now a Curator,” the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery needs a backbone replacement, evidenced in its recent removal of A Fire in My Belly, a piece of video art by David Wojnarowicz. In response to this utter nonsense, Real Art Ways is currently showing the work in its gallery.

“The Smithsonian has given in to anti-gay bullies,” says Real Art Ways director Will K. Wilkins. “We are presenting this video to enable people to make up their own minds about the work, and about the incident. David Wojnarowicz can’t be here to speak up for himself, but his work has a power, rage and sorrow that is soulful and unforgettable. We are proud to again present his art.”

Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street in Hartford. The gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 2-10 PM; Friday and Saturday 2 PM-11 PM. They are closed on Mondays. Admission to the gallery is free, but donations are accepted.