Nave exhibit celebrates Somerville and its Villen's

By Walter Smelt

“You need to feel good, to do good things.” These words, along with many others, were inscribed on an unorthodox art-object: a skateboard deck that had been painted gold and suspended from a ceiling. The transmogrified skateboard is part of “Be a Villen,” an exhibit of work by young Somerville artists that opened Friday night at the Nave Gallery in the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church.

Despite the suspicious-sounding nickname “villen” (an acknowledgement of their Somerville roots), the artists were certainly doing “good things” -- a portion of the proceeds from the show will go to a scholarship fund for Somerville High School students.

But while spirits were high at the opening, “feeling good” was tempered by the recent loss of the young man who gave the advice now written on the skateboard, the man for whom the scholarship has been named as a memorial. Brian Liberatore died in an accident last October at 24. In the Nave Gallery, Liberatore's friends and his brother Scott finally have the opportunity to express not only their pain, but also their hope.

“A lot of good things come out of Somerville, and a lot of bad things,” said Mike Curtis, a 25-year-old artist and former roommate of Brian Liberatore's. Curtis said he had been hearing about the untimely deaths of young Somerville residents due to accidents, drugs or suicide “since we were little. We thought it was just normal.” One reason for the high number of deaths, he believes, is that “a lot of kids got nothing to do.” He feels Somerville needs more space where young people can come together and express themselves -- as they had for “Be a Villen.”

Curtis gave an example of one communal space that had disappeared. “Somerville High School was one of the best places in the country to skate,” he said. But its perfectly placed steps and rails had been ripped out to discourage skateboarding. The vacant lot behind the school, he added, could have been turned into a safe place for kids to congregate. Instead it has become a dog park.

Still, Curtis expressed hope that the situation was improving. “All my friends are getting heard now,” he said.

He cited not only the current exhibit, which is co-sponsored by the organizations ARTSomerville and Teen Empowerment, but also a new group called Save Our Somerville, devoted to strengthening community ties in the city. (Save Our Somerville is led by Matthew, Mark and Dan McLaughlin; Mark and Dan are also featured in the exhibit.)

Curtis's belief that Somerville's problems are surmountable is evident in a pair of his graffiti-style paintings hanging in the Nave. Both show a spray paint-wielding character who faces up to an ominous black cloud; the first bears the legend THE VILLE, and the second NEVER RAN, NEVER WILL.

The same attitude (with a little more of an edge) shows up in one of the photos by Scott Liberatore, a 21-year-old artist and the surviving brother of Brian Liberatore. In the photo, called “Molotov Condo,” an anonymous figure in a hoodie and a gas-mask stands next to a new cookie-cutter condominium, holding a bottle with a flaming rag stuck in the top. When asked if he was making a suggestion with the photo, Liberatore laughed. “I don't do that stuff. Just taking a stab at gentrification, kind of showing how kids feel about it.” Growing up, he said, everyone knew and talked to their neighbors, but that's no longer the case. Still, he is encouraged by the efforts of Save Our Somerville, which he says “is really trying to do the right thing.”

While some of Liberatore's art expresses frustration with the way things are in Somerville today, an ambitious photo collage he created with Steve Morris celebrates the city with dozens of shots taken through a fish-eye lens: a junior football league, a Brazilian restaurant, graffiti, a police car, a cat sniffing the camera, a kid posing with his skateboard, a playground.

The pictures unite different facets of Somerville in a way that would have pleased Brian Liberatore, described by friends as “a unifier who tried to bring people together.” The fierce love these young artists feel for their community, for each other, and for the ones they have lost comes across in all the art, which will be on display through February 9.

Comments

[Hope Springs Eternal]

This art show is amazing, as are the artists and young entrepeneurs who helped put it together. It highlights a grouop of young people who are pulling themselves out of despair, hopelessness, and sorrow, and looking toward the future and making a better community for everyone. We are fortunate in Somerville to have such a group. Thanks and praise go especially to the Liberatores and the McLaughlins for all of their work. These young people are seeing to it that good will come from the sadness they've endured, and that young lives have not been lost in vain.

[it *is* funny]

I know you guys dont like links, but this Youtube video of Mark McLaughlin (co-founder of Save Our Somerville) is well worth making an exception for. He speaks of what Somerville Youth need right now. I feel very proud of these boys for trying to make a difference. As adults in this community I hope we can meet their expectations instead of disappointing them again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c6VN2pOLWU

[Imux]

It looks like crap to me. Not art. If I have diarrea and I shit in my art studio, does that make it a piece of art? No, it's still a piece of shit. Same thing. All this BS about giving advantages to artists in Somerville pisses me off. If it were good stuff, at least. I could call myself an artist too.

[easy chief]

i bet a thousands bucks this asshole didnt see the gallery....and whats this have to do with artist housing? these kids are from somerville boss.

[Tricky]

Chief, I think you've exposed Imux's Achilles Heel: he's an equal opportunity offender. To him, who cares whether art serves a social purpose or can rehabilitate people's souls or bring people together?

[Imux]

It looks like crap to me. Not art. If I have diarrea and I shit in my art studio, does that make it a piece of art? No, it's still a piece of shit. Same thing. All this BS about giving advantages to artists in Somerville pisses me off. If it were good stuff, at least. I could call myself an artist too.

Posted by: Imux | January 29, 2008 at 10:55 AM

Not by me (the real Imux), but sort of agree with most of it. Thanks for saving me from carpal tunnel syndrome, dude!

[Somer_Salted]

Imux, these kids are native Somervillians--not "Moonbats"--who have endured the horrific loss of many of their friends. This exhibit is their vehicle to address the despair and grief felt by those losses. For you to crassly dismiss this exhibit in the vile words you chose makes you beneath contempt.

As the other writer said, you probably haven't even seen the exhibit. I have.

You really are an empty, pathetic wanker, aren't you?

[A Villen]

What people need to understand is that what is on the web site is but a small sampling of what is in the gallery. I agree with you about 'Artist Housing', but these kids will not be in the lines to receive Artist Housing (in fact, they have been working with the city in opposition to it). These aren't professional artists, they are KIDS (OK, many are now young adults). They have used art to grieve. It has been a long and painful process for them. If you don't like their art (please see it before you judge, much of it is extraordinary), then don't go to see it. However, understand that noone is funding them or their exhibit. In fact, the gallery is donating their commission to a scholarship fund set up in honor of one of the artists, now deceased.

[Tricky]

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Why are the exhibitors "working with the city in opposing "artist housing"?

I am totally in support of this exhibit, and totally in support of using art to help with the grieving process. So why all this hate towards "professional artists"?

[Danny]

I don't know guys, I think I want some of that artist housing now. I'm called an artist in the news papers, that counts right? See I'm only making 25G's as a youth worker, can we start making housing for youth workers too.There are a lot less youth workers in Somerville then artist. Let's give something to those working to make our kids lives better, not just making their lives better.

[Tricky]

I'm all for setting aside enough housing in new development (Union Square) for people choosing to work in the community service area (as well as artists) - you and anyone else in that field takes enough of an income hit as it is.

More artists, less yuppies. I could live with that.

[Imux]

None of the comments attributed to me in this thread were done by me. Some asshat continues to use my name. I support the Somerville kids.... the Davis/Union square professional "arteeeeests" - that want subsidized housing & studios - can all go take a flying you-know-what at the moon.

This is really Imux.

[Tricky]

Imux, do you support the Somerville "kids" who might want to look at being "arteeeeests" as something more seriously than a hobby?

And how is trying to develop more lower-income housing for long-time Somerville residents anymore different than "subsidized housing" for artists?

[Somer_Salted]

I'd support housing for local youth workers before housing for artists, let's say.

Youth workers tackle a more critical problem in this city--kids at risk.

The boomerang that will swing back and punch us out.

Do the math.

[Tricky]

Instead of pitting the two groups against each other, why not try to strike some common ground here? It's obvious kids at risk in Somerville are using art as way to work through grief, anger and other issues.

Albert Ayler had a record album called "Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe". I subscribe wholeheartedly to his idea; making is a right powerful force, and there are a lot of Villens discovering this as well.

It's also obvious from some of the work in the show, that there are (gasp) talented artists in our presence, as much as they may want to deny or suppress this fact.

Most artists are not wildly wealthy or upper class by any stretch of the imagination: many wind up working as temp office workers, waitstaff, whatever pays the bills. I'm trying to find out how that's so different from what this group might be getting at.

[One of those artists]

IMUX, you are a pathetic turd. You are also a drunk and a liar. You keep posting mean messages left and right, probably when drunk, and then you think we are so stupid to believe it wasn't you. You've always posted this garbage. You posted all this crap, just take the responsibility. Loser. I will laugh the day you get cancer, lose your job and beg on the street. Then, I will spit on your face.

[Kate]

A pancake breakfast will be held Saturday, Feb. 2, from 10 a.m. to 12:00 Noon, in the Nave Gallery, Clarendon Hill Presbyyterian Church, 155 Powerderhouse Boulevard. The cost is $6.00 per person, for pancakes coffee and juice. Proceeds benefit the Nave curatorial program. Guest chefs are Marie Kirchberger and Kelvy Bird.
Come on down!!

[Hmmmm....]

This exhibit, and the artists involved have NOTHING to do with benefits, such as housing and retail space, being proposed for artists in Union Square. The connectin was begun by this comment: "All this BS about giving advantages to artists in Somerville pisses me off" which was posted above. This exhibit is simply about a group of kids working through their grief and hard times through artistic expression. See it for yourself before you judge, and look at it through the eyes of a teenager who has suffered multiple losses in their young life. Perhaps it will change your point of view toward life. I hope so.

[ez]

I think that posters on here have misunderstood the concept of artist housing... The point isn't to give artists some sort of special treatment because the city thinks artists are awesome. It's an urban planning strategy. First you lure the artsy types in, and the gays follow, and the students, and the neighborhood starts looking attractive to young professionals and then to families. Income levels go up, putting more money into the public coffers, which results in more social programs, which makes the neighborhood safer and improves the schools, which raises property taxes, which continues the cycle. See also: the South End and Jamaica Plain. Of course, from the general hatred and fear demonstrated by posters on this site towards anyone who earns more than minimum wage, the actual reasons behind planned artist housing are probably even more alarming than if it was a situation of the city giving hand-outs. Fear the dual-income family!

[exactly]

EZ,
Somerville has made it pretty far economically without artist housing. We claim to have the most artists in Somerville than anywhere else in the country, although I don't know how they can prove that. Just as I don't know how you can prove that you are an artist. With that in mind, why don't we just give the housing to people who need it, rather than someone who wants to claim a hobby for a job?
And we do realize why the city wants to do this, which is why we don't want it. We don't want Davis Sq. to become Union Square.

[Artists]

I don't think anyone has 'misunderstood' the concept of artist housing. How patronizing. The city wants to subsidize artists, and therefore attract more. And that will benefit the city how? First of all, the trickle down benefits you mentioned are humorous, because subsidizing artists is one of the steps which will lead to driving even more families from Somerville. You won't need to improve the schools, you'll probably need to close some. Also, have you seen the Brickbottom Building? A huge building made up of residences and studio space for, you guessed it, artists! I think that what makes an area vibrant is the mix....the funky boutique beside the dollar store beside Dunkin Donuts beside a bar beside a breakfast joint. Because they are proposing not only set-aside artist housing in Union Square, but also artist retail would be a requirement in buildings, you will not have a mix. You will drive out most anyone else, and you won't attract as many people as you would with a variety of uses in the buildings (gee, sort of like what we have now!).
Now can we get back on topic.....the exhibit at the Nave Gallery. I encourage all to see it before it ends next week. 'The wall' is a testament to the fear, grief, hope, and dreams of a better future of an entire generation of Somervillians!

[ez]

I don't know why you wouldn't want Union Sq to look like Davis -- Davis is much nicer.