The Somerville News Blog

Artist at home in Somerville

By Pam Rosenblatt

Artist Riki Moss wasn’t planning on calling Somerville home for too long, but more than a decade has gone by, and Moss is enjoying being a member of the local arts community. It was 1995 when she first came to Somerville.

“I thought I’d just be here for a little while when I left Vermont,” said Moss. “But it right away made me feel like (I was in) Brooklyn.  And I didn’t realize that I was nostalgic for Brooklyn.”

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and prior to Somerville living in Vermont, artwork and lifestyle have a bit of two places close to her heart. Living in Somerville reminds her of her Brooklyn days. And her art shows signs of Vermont, where she still has a cabin in the woods, even though she resides with her husband, Robert, in Somerville’s Brickbottom Artists Building.

Somerville Cartoonist Raul Gonzalez & the Miracle Five

By Pam Rosenblatt

Somerville cartoonist Raul Gonzalez, at the request of the Somerville Arts Council, designed the posters, banners and T-shirts for ArtBeat 2007. The annual event took place last weekend, July 20 to 21, in Davis Square. 

Elaine Bay, Gonzalez’s wife, chose the color schemes of the designs made for the ArtBeat 2007 theme, “ArtBeast,” said Gonzalez. 

Gonzalez has worked a lot for the Somerville Arts Council. He and Bay designed the set for UnionTube - a new Somerville Arts Council television production, promoting Union Square events and businesses. The grant-funded program will air on SCAT, Channel 3, over six months, said Wendy Blom, SCAT’s executive director.

“Immersed in the culture of the day”

By Pam Rosenblatt

At the May 24th contributors meeting, the regular attendees were all abuzz, anxiously  awaiting the entrance of a man whose career and presence promised to fascinate them.  They weren’t disappointed.

In walked a clean cut, slightly salted, black haired man wearing dungarees, a two toned blue and white small-checkered shirt and a spring navy blue vest through the doorway of The Somerville News office.  He carried a white cardboard envelope, contents unknown.  Who was this man and what did he hold under his arm?

The torqued artist effect

By Pam Rosenblatt

His “Stretching Torso” sculpture can be found outside The Rose Institute of Yoga on Elm Street, and a metal tree of his design stands in Union Square. While his work spans throughout the city and beyond, production is done close to home. So close, this artist doesn’t even need to drive to work, he just has to open his back door and walk across the courtyard to his workspace.

“To me, it’s incredible,” said David Tonnesen, a metal sculptor who has been a member of the residential community at the Brickbottom artists’ building since its inception 20 years ago.

“I mean I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now if I was not involved in Brickbottom. Actually, I was one of the developing members of about 80 artists originally from the Fort Point district down there in South Boston. We were looking for buildings, and we were joining forces with another group, and they found this building.  In a couple of years, three years, we developed it into artists’ housing, live and workspace. It was a commercially zoned area. We got a variance to make it residential as well.”

Known as a designer and fabricator, Tonnesen said he has created custom-made metal sculptures for the past 15 years. His works are always based on the organic, he said. 

In addition to Tonnesen’s two pieces in the city, his works include a six foot tall hanging chandelier, an eight foot tall stainless steel menorah, the 20 foot tall “Fountain of Life” for Legal Seafoods, and the 45 foot long cod-fish wind sculpture located on the waterfront.