Arts

Opetubo’s ‘Wallpaper’ Exhibit Now on Display at Jamaica Plain Branch Library

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A new exhibit featuring the work of Boston-based artist Bosede A. Opetubo is now on display at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library. Opetubo is a self-taught artist who works with photography, installation, collage, and digital media. Her work explores the lives of women and what she sees as “the small choices that come to define us.”
The exhibit is displaying her recent digital collage series titled “Wallpaper,” inspired by her own experiences with pregnancy and motherhood, as well as themes of domesticity and identity. The project began as a paper sculpture installation in the artist’s home, and expanded into drawings and digital illustrations, with imagery that veers into abstraction merging human silhouettes with expanses of crumbled-up multicolored papers, at times resembling mountain ranges and at others, fallen leaves, according to a press release. Opetubo invites viewers of the exhibit to “join me on this overwhelming, necessary, and maddening journey that, as a parent, I try to find beauty and purpose in.”
Bosede A. Opetubo: Wallpaper is on view through November 1, 2023. The library is open Monday-Wednesday 10-6, Thursday 12-8, and Friday 9-5, and Saturday 9-2 (closed Sundays).

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Arts

Brown’s ‘Motherhood is Perennial’ Quilt Exhibit at Jamaica Plain Branch Library

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Quilter Christine Brown's "Motherhood is Perennial" show is now on exhibit at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library. The show opened May 4 and will be on display through June 28, and features textile works of Brown's. A multidisciplinary artist and educator, Brown credits her sewing skills to the local 4H club, an experience which led to her commitment to teaching sewing to the next generation of artists through lessons and workshops, according to a press release. Her exhibit explores the quilt as an object that provides warmth and comfort, similar to the ways a mother does. Saved and mended through generations, quilts transform as they age, and gain personality through their owners.

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Arts

Nosenko ‘I’m Glad You’ve Left’ Exhibit Opens at Jamaica Plain Library March 2

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Photographer Yana Nosenko's solo exhibition I’m Glad You’ve Left opens at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library on March 2. Nosenko's exhibit explores immigration, displacement, nomadism, and familial separation, reflecting on her own experiences growing up within a Kazakh family living in Russia, and now living in the U.S. for the past few years with limited ability to travel outside the country, according to a press release. “I’ve been told that no one leaves home from an excess of happiness and comfort. One leaves, because it’s not possible to remain," said Nosenko. Her color photography reveals quiet interiors with unexpected details, nostalgic portraits, and a wistful atmosphere.

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Arts

Portman’s ‘A City in 7 Years’ Exhibit at Jamaica Plain Branch Library

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Boston artist Eli Portman's exhibit 'A City in 7 Years' is now on display at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library. Portman describes his work as “the dissonance between perceived unique individual solitude in a crowded environment, and the commonness and sameness of such feelings,” according to a press release. He specializes in detailed, studied renderings of city- and landscapes in ink and watercolor. Portman's solo exhibit is the newest exhibit as part of the rotating art program supported by The Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library in partnership with Uforge. Portman often draws based on his own photography including Boston landmarks like the Boston Public Library and the Gardner Museum, which allow him to tap into shared experiences of those who live in or visit the city.

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Arts

Local Photographer’s Jamaica Plain Library Exhibit is ‘Preserving Nature in the City’

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Local photographer Dawn Colsia's new exhibit at the Jamaica Plain Library captures the diversity of Jamaica Pond. “Every morning I walk around Jamaica Pond with my camera in one hand and my dog in the other. What started as a daily walk has become my morning meditation and reflection on the role nature has played in my life," said Colsia. The show, Preserving Nature in the City: A Daily Walk Around Jamaica Pond, runs through August 31, with a public reception on July 28 from 5:30-7:30 pm. Prior to becoming a full-time artist, Colsia practiced law, was a mediator, and worked to improve policy for people with disabilities, according to a press release.

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Arts

Donley’s ‘Reading and Riding’ Art Exhibit at Jamaica Plain Library

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The latest art exhibit at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library is Jan Donley's Reading and Riding, which opened May 6.  

"Though she studied traditional techniques, Donley has unexpectedly found the iPad to be her main canvas, believing that digital art is an important disruption to the art world. Her works on view display a distinctive collage style, combining digitally painted figures with text from various literary sources, including Lorraine Hansberry, Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, and James Baldwin," said a press release from UForge, which is presenting the show in partnership with the Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library. Donley is also a teacher. “My students come from all over the world, and they remind me that home is fragile and varied and elusive.

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Neighborhood Life

Jamaica Plain Branch Library Book Sale is May 5-7

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The Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library Spring Book Sale is May 5 through May 7. Hardcovers are $2 and paperbacks are $1. You may not use scanners or save books. The book sale is occurring at the following times:

May 5: 5-8 pm
May 6: 9:30 am - 5 pm
May 7: 9:30 am - noon

The library is located at 30 South St.

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Arts

‘Imagination: The Beauty of Light’ New Art Exhibit at JP Library; Artist Virtual Meet-and-Greet Jan. 20

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The rotating art program at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library is back with Garrow Throop's Imagination: The Beauty of Light, which is now on display. Throop's exhibit will be on display through March 2, 2022 on the lower level of the library during regular hours. There will be a virtual artist meet-and-greet on Thursday, Jan. 20 from 5:30 to 7:30 using this link. The rotating art program is supported by the Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library in partnership with Uforge.

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Arts

JP Artist Hinçman Discussing His New Public Art Installed Outside Library on Jan. 13

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Do you want to know more about the new public art installation outside of Curtis Hall and the JP Branch Library? Jamaica Plain artist Matthew Hinçman will discuss his latest work commissioned for the city in a virtual January 13 presentation. Hinçman's newest public art installation is Wythe & Web, and has stirred up discussion in online groups. If you haven't seen it, or walked up to it yet, it appears like there are several beach chairs sitting in front of brick-based benches. But get closer, and those "beach chairs" or solid and permanently stuck in the ground.

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