Janna Mach/ @jayvisionaryy photo
Come June 7 and 8, the doors will be wide open at Humphreys Street Studios in Uphams Corner for Dorchester Open Studios, a free, two-day event in which community members can visit artists’ workspaces and create artwork of their own.
Established in 2002, Humphreys Street Studios is a collaborative, diverse, affordable, and accessible artist workspace for more than over 40 tenants.
“At Humphrey Street Studios, we only open to the public right now during Open Studios, so it’s a really important chance for us to connect with our neighbors in Uphams Corner and for people to see what we have going on in the building,” said organizer Catherine ‘Cat’ Armistead.
“It’s also really important neighborhood-wide,” she said, “because I think Dorchester can sometimes feel like a forgotten neighborhood when it comes to arts districts in Boston, and we really want to highlight emerging artists” here.
A mixed-media artist, Armistead is one of many creatives who call 11 Humphreys St. home. In addition to organizing community events like the one next month, she creates paintings, sculptures, and jewelry. On Open Studios days, she will showcase a new series of enamel earrings, a large rusted-steel handmade sculpture, and a few paintings.
Fellow Humphreys Street artist West Egmont agrees that the art scene in Dorchester needs some reconsidering.
Westy Egmont at work in his Humphreys Street studio. Photo courtesy Westy Egmont
“I think as you look at Boston’s way of doing art, we have some wonderful galleries and we have some incredible open house events in Fort Point and Jamaica Plain, strong events in Brookline and outside the city in places like Newton and Waltham,” Egmont told the Reporter.
“But,” he said, “our Dorchester community has never really had a full representation of all the varied artists and creatives who live in the community.”
That’s why the Humphreys Street crew is “going big” with Open Studios this year, he said, adding, “We’ve really reached out to every artist we can find. We’re going to close the street and make it a party.
“The fun event has a food truck, live music, opportunities for kids, activities, and a creative tent, all designed to make it a destination event for, hopefully, the best weekend in June.”
Another way the public can get involved in the excitement is by adding to an interactive mural, which will be permanently installed at the front of Humphreys Street.
Girly Pop, the team behind the mural, is made up of Boston-based artists Pheebz Warner and Ananda Toulon. Warner said that she and Toulon will complete the preliminary design of the mural, sketch it out, and then encourage community members to “sort of color it in.”
She noted: “My motivating phrase is ‘cultivate culture.’ Humphreys Street has so many people from different backgrounds and different disciplines. I had this vision of kind of doing a windowsill piece where there are all these plants being propagated, but the plants are actually different tools and different art materials that people use in the building.”
Once it’s completed, Warner hopes the mural, which will feature tape measures and paint brushes, will draw more attention to the building.
“A lot of times, people don’t know that Humphreys Street exists. I think that the mural will help to show that we’re here and we’re staying here,” she said.
After adding to the mural, visitors can observe the different art forms and even watch blacksmith Andrew Good forge some iron.
Nearby, Boston native Jahzara Pierre will be showing, and selling, culturally cultivated clothing and accessories from her brand, Jahzara Fashion House. Born and raised in Boston to Haitian parents, Pierre found a passion for fashion at a young age.
“My mom is the creative one in the house. She was the seamstress and cake decorator. I picked up my skills from her,” said Pierre. “That is what kind of sparked my creative passion for sewing and for fashion.”
Since moving into the Humphreys Street collective last year, Pierre has been able to build up her brand and work with more clients. She is excited to participate in Dorchester Open Studios for the first time and hopes to ignite the same passion and creativity in all those who visit.
She said she will “have some kind of interaction, at workshops here and there” and hopes “to have like a little station set up where people can do a little quick, interactive, creative, sewing, or painting.”
Egmont likewise thinks that introducing the broader neighborhood to the world of art is what the weekend celebration is all about.
“We know Dorchester is a fabulous residential community,” he said, “in its diversity but you may not realize that it’s also home to more than 10 percent of the population that lives in the creative economy.
“One of our tenants was designing sneakers for Converse, another has artwork in the permanent collection of Mass MoCA, and we have four professors of art in local schools. We have this invisible richness, and I think a big part of Open Studios is to make the invisible visible. To make art accessible, and to make the experience of being with artists and looking at art a fun event for all.”
