The current global health crisis obliged us to re-imagine the engagement between the art in our Gallery and you, the friends and colleagues who enjoy and appreciate it. Our relationships with you and your relationships to the art have been paramount for over 50 years. We appreciate our time with each visitor as you thoroughly imbibe and savor our diverse collections; we are enriched each time we open our doors for events and observe visitors connecting with each other, the art, and our world. Our Gallery has been an oasis of beauty, learning, and community for us.

From our very beginnings we put an emphasis on the importance of education, stating in our 1967 brochure that “The gallery will serve not only as a showcase for art, but also as a center for lectures and programs related to work on display. We shall encourage visits by students and classes. Whenever possible, we shall prepare relevant biographical and interpretive information on the artists as well as arrange meetings with visiting artists.”

Through the gift of technology and the creative efforts of our staff and artists, we have endeavored these past few months to conceive of new forms of engagement which, while they cannot replicate the personal experience of being with the artwork or the wonderful moments of coming-together that happen in the Gallery, have brought unforeseen benefits. Technology allows us to bring nourishing art, conversation, and programming to even more of you around the world, especially those who might otherwise not be able to visit us on Newbury Street. This prospect inspires us to expand our virtual presence, even as our Gallery slowly begins to open back up to the public.

We continue to install each exhibition in the gallery space, and are open to visitors by appointment and drop-in. However, each exhibition will also be documented through a dynamic virtual tour which you can access on our website (past exhibition tours will be archived on the artist’s individual webpage). While we are currently unable to host our Public Opening Receptions or Artists’ Talks and Events, we will accompany each exhibition with at least one “Webinart”—a virtual event that goes beyond the objects to more deeply connect visitors around the globe with the artists. For our current Ken Matsuzaki exhibition, over 100 people Zoomed in to hear us (in Boston) introduce renowned ceramicist Ken Matsuzaki (from Mashiko, Japan) in conversation with scholar Andrew Maske (located in Kentucky), all simultaneously translated by Mugi Hanao. This and all future brought-to-you-by-technology events are then available to view on YouTube, further expanding their reach.

For our forthcoming exhibition, Ongoing Conversation: Birds in the Art of Samuel Bak (on view from 18 July through 30 August 2020), we will host a series of virtual events and programs designed to bring many voices into the conversation. An initial web event An Ongoing Conversation with Samuel Bak, held on Saturday, 25 July at 1PM, will feature the artist, Gallery Owner Bernie Pucker, and Vice President for Special Initiatives at Facing History and Ourselves Marc Skvirsky in discussion about Bak’s recent artwork. Additionally, we invite all physical and virtual visitors to participate in our inaugural essay contest—viewers can read the Ongoing Conversation catalogue essay for inspiration, then select a work from the catalogue and respond with their own interpretive text on their selected piece. In a second live web event, New Voices in the Conversation: An Interpretive Essay Contest, held on Saturday, 8 August at 1PM, the artist, Bernie Pucker, and scholar Gary Phillips will review the standout essays and present the winning author with a signed copy of Samuel Bak’s memoir Painted in Words. The text will also be printed in a future issue of the digital Bak Bulletin.

Within all these virtual enhancements, we encourage anyone who is able to visit our Gallery in person, where all necessary precautions are being taken to ensure the health and safety of employees and visitors. As a thank-you for visiting and enjoying the gift of art, each visitor to the Gallery between now and 31 December 2020 will be entered to win a Zulu beerpot carefully selected from our beautiful collection. We look forward to “seeing” you and continuing to share the art with you!