Most street artists don’t think in terms of permanent museum collections. They don’t expect their work to be admired forever. Still, it must be a little sad to see it torn down.
Meghan alerted me, by way of twitter, to the demise of Boston’s only graffiti park, Bartlett Yard, about to be demolished. Dig has the story.
“Rosa Parks, Mr. Miyagi, and the Incredible Hulk gaze down from the wall, their faces nearly big enough to drive a bus through. A giraffe in a space helmet floats carelessly through the light purple cosmos,” writes Dan Schneider at Dig.
“This barely begins to cover the intricate murals found at the Bartlett Yard, an 8.6-acre parcel of land just blocks away from Dudley Square in Roxbury, formerly used as a bus garage by the MBTA. Since the beginning of the year, the property’s owners have allowed an event planning group called Bartlett Events to turn half of the property into a community art space.
“In May, Bartlett Events held Mural Fest, an open call for graffiti muralists, which drew an estimated 1,000 artists and community members together in a frenzy of aerosol, transforming the Yard from a 125-year-old dilapidated bus garage into the massive public art installation.
“If you want to take in the art at Bartlett Yard, however, you’d better do it soon.
“Come this November it’ll all be torn down to begin construction of Bartlett Place, a mixed-use development of housing with—in all likelihood—no graffiti. …
“The Bartlett Bus Yard has been out of commission since the late nineties, following a community-led effort to shut it down due to concerns about bus exhaust contributing to high rates of childhood asthma in the area. Since then the Yard has been abandoned …
“With a few weekends’ worth of hard work, however, several dozen volunteers were able to clean out most of the Yard’s two main buildings and surrounding blacktop prior to opening day.”
Residents express mixed feelings about the redevelopment, which some fear could lead to the dreaded gentrification and push out lower-income people. Others think it will be good to have more variety.
In any case, it sounds like the artists want to stay around even if the art is ephemeral.
For Jason Turgeon, an environmental scientist and one of the founders of Bartlett Events, “the notion of trying to create a permanent graffiti museum would simply miss the point.
“ ‘I come from the Burning Man world, so I know that art doesn’t have to be here forever. Some people say, “You have to save this!” And I say “No, it’s okay. There will be more art after this.” ‘ ”
Read more at Dig.
Photo: DigBoston.com
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
I agree with Jason Turgeon, graffiti art (urban art/street art) is by its nature ephemeral. Like theater–a show runs and closes. Not all art has to be “permanent” (a word we use to mean longer-lasting; nothing is permanent) in order to be valued as art. And as much as we wish some things would never change, change is inevitable.
I hope many people get a chance to see this before it’s demolished.
I once had a friend who picked a pretty flower on a walk but left the flower in the field after our walk in order to remember as it was, not when it would be shriveled up at home. I often think of that. You can’t hold on to everything.
Striking image & metaphor. It sticks in the mind.
I like the attitude expressed at the very end. “No, it’s okay: there will be more art after this.” I really feel both things–the desire to hold on, and the faith that there will be more. I love the image you’ve chosen!
It’s a balance, isn’t it? If we didn’t want to hold on to anything, we wouldn’t build relationships with family and friends or community. But eventually, you have to be satisfied with memories.