Category Archives: Art and design

“Lost Prov” and WaterFire

Posted on September 23, 2017 by David Brussat

Today at 4:30, in the brand new WaterFire Arts Center (474 Valley St.), Gene Bunnell, the author of Transforming Providence, and I will each offer a 30-minute presentation on the revitalization of Providence, culminating in Barnaby Evans’s WaterFire Providence. We’ll … Continue reading →

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Staple this to your earlobe!

Posted on September 18, 2017 by David Brussat

I had to buy printer paper so I went to Staples. Four reams of normal printer paper was $21.39, including tax. A $15 “Easy Rebate” was offered to those who would fill out a form online. The form asked for … Continue reading →

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Mom rendered as a building

Posted on August 31, 2017 by David Brussat

I tried in my last blog, “The architecture of the wife,” earlier today, to link to a column I wrote in 2004 to honor my late mother, Mona Brussat, and downloaded from the archive of the Providence Journal. It didn’t … Continue reading →

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‘Live’ blogging the eclipse

Posted on August 21, 2017 by David Brussat

We are not going anywhere for the eclipse. We are going to view it from our backyard, sitting in patio chairs, without special glasses. Are you alarmed? No, we are not going to look directly at the sun passing behind … Continue reading →

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Temple to Music – 1812, too

Posted on August 5, 2017 by David Brussat

We attended a pops concert of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday evening, a free event sponsored by the Rhode Island Foundation and held at the Temple to Music, on the grounds of Roger Williams Park. … Ah! Rhode … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Graffartists are not people

Posted on August 1, 2017 by David Brussat

Okay, if Brutalist architects are people (see previous post), then I must admit graffartists are, too. Yet how sad and appalling to read in today’s Providence Journal that David Macaulay’s delightful mural near the State Offices exit from Route 95 … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and design, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

More Hayes on beauty

Posted on July 27, 2017 by David Brussat

British Transport Minister John Hayes’s remarks about beauty and transit infrastructure were quoted on Tuesday in “Sic transit beautiful? Not!” It is brilliant, but I had intended to post instead the full text of “Hayes’s speech on beauty,” a different … Continue reading →

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Mozart, music, architecture

Posted on June 23, 2017 by David Brussat

I’m reading a biography of Mozart by Marcia Davenport, published in 1932. It is excellently written. Of course, Mozart is famous for writing the most enchanting music without crossing out notation on his manuscripts in the least. That is because … Continue reading →

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WaterFire’s ribbon-de-fe

Posted on June 20, 2017 by David Brussat

At the end of my tour of the WaterFire Arts Center on Sunday (“WaterFire’s crib opens today,”), Waterfire creator Barnaby Evans told me to look out for “a surprise” at the next day’s ribbon-cutting. Well, I have it on video. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and design, Providence | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

As the WaterFire turns

Posted on June 13, 2017 by David Brussat

Another day, another accolade for WaterFire Providence. Yesterday, PBS Channel 36 broadcast a segment on WaterFire for its show “Weekends with Yankee,” a 13-part series showcasing visits by plane, train, boat and foot to various exciting places around New England. … Continue reading →

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