If you’re in the area of Worcester City Hall, be sure to stop in the basement gallery. There are a wealth of fascinating exhibits on display there as part of the “Spring into the New Year” exhibit for Dec 20 2018 through Jan 11 2019. One, you can even play to make music with!
Here’s a gallery of images that I took. It’s well worth seeing in person! I provide details of the hanging system, which many local artists have been interested in. It appears to be a standard STAS system, which has a base right nearby in Millbury. With STAS, you simply hang the wire of your artwork on the hook and that’s it.
The balofon is a playable instrument. Its label reads:
Crocodile River Music
African Arts Education
Worcester MA
The Balafon is a kind of wooden xylophone or percussion idiophone which plays melodic tunes. A balafon can be either fixed-key or free-key. The Balafon usually has 17 to 21 keys, tuned to a tetratonic, pentatonic or heptatonic scale, depending on the culture of the musician. The instrument has been played in Africa since the 14th century. It originated in Mali, according ot the manding history narrated by the Griots.
Here’s a full video slideshow of the images:
Here is the press release for this show. Note that the press release says the show only runs through January 11, 2019, but I visited the show on January 22, 2019 and it was still live.
Worcester, MA- The City of Worcester in partnership with the Worcester Cultural Coalition are pleased to announce the new Worcester Windows exhibit “Spring into Winter” on display during City Hall hours through January 11th . The exhibit is located both at the Community Gallery in the basement level of City Hall, 455 Main St, Worcester, MA.
Work selected for this show feature a vibrant and colorful exhibition of eight talented local artists. In addition to 2 D artwork Crocodile River Music and African Community Education (ACE) have provided cultural items, including an interactive balafon instrument, for display. This exhibit was curated by Hank Von Hellion, Managing Director of the Worcester PopUp Gallery.
Artists’ whose works are on display are:
Anika Nyman: Transformation of the Sarr, IIIabor, Fire and Wick, Tempest of Daydreams, Hoard of Shardas
John Powers and Matt Sousens: To Nina, With Love, Hello Future, Skyward, Lashes
John Vo: Son of Wifi, Growth in Go Vap
Katherine Grady: Honey, Mon Petit Chou, Felicitations
Laura Marotta: Bubbling, Blooming
Nidhi Joshi: I Am My Sun, Be You!, My Proud Tribe
Theresa Bourassa: At the Wolf’s Door, Enlightenment, Bona Dea
Crocodile River Music & African Arts in Education: Balafon
Meghan Boilard: Talking Drum Necklace
All Worcester Windows artwork is for sale and any artwork sold helps to contribute to Worcester’s thriving artistic community.
Worcester Windows is supported by: The City of Worcester, the Worcester Cultural Coalition, and the Greater Worcester Community Foundation.
Here’s a link to the Worcester Cultural Coalition site:
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