'Anniversary gift to the city': ArtsWorcester presents Tom Grady's '100 Views of Worcester' arrives in time for Tercentennial
WORCESTER — Artist Tom Grady had a lingering thought while working on his "100 Views of Worcester" project.
He had proposed the idea of a series of 100 small oil paintings depicting Worcester’s everyday vistas, buildings and streetscapes to ArtsWorcester, which enthusiastically embraced the concept.
"I wanted to try to get 100," Grady said. "I had in mind if I fell short, I could say '93 Views of Worcester.' But they (ArtsWorcester) had already printed the materials."
The 100th painting was completed in April, so all is well with the title.
"100 Views of Worcester" is currently on display at four venues across downtown Worcester: The Hanover Theatre Franklin Square Salon, 2 Southbridge St.; The PopUp at the JMAC, 20 Franklin St.; YWCA Central Massachusetts, 1 Salem St.; and ArtsWorcester, 44 Portland St.
The exhibition can also be viewed online at artsworcester.org.
A public reception and self-guided walking tour event held 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 28 will explore each venue's installation.
The event begins at The Hanover Theatre's Franklin Square Salon with a reception at 11 a.m. and an artist talk by Grady at 11:30 a.m.
The tour will make stops at the JMAC at noon and the YWCA at 1 p.m., ending at ArtsWorcester at 2 p.m. But participants are welcome to begin and end their explorations however they like. The event is free and open to the public.
Familiar places
"100 Views of Worcester" includes portraits of well-known buildings and sites as well as lesser known places. The artist's perspective, always fascinating, can also be unpredictable.
The painting titled "Union Station" looks like a snapshot of a busy city scene in the daytime, but "Dusk Over Union Station" makes the location seem more vulnerable as the shadows have fallen.
"Tuckerman Hall" is like a picture postcard, but the nearby "WAM" (Worcester Art Museum) is a more impressionistic piece with the sky above dominating much of the picture. "Mechanics Hall" and "Hotel Vernon" are seen from differing and interesting angles and approaches.
"Sledding at QCC" is dotted with people going down the slopes in front of Quinsigamond Community College, while "Empty Lot on Mill Street" has a sort of forlorn urban beauty.
Surprises abound in the exhibition, whether it's "Ode to Higgins Armory" with two swordsmen in armor, or "Pool Table at Ralph's," which is exactly what it says it is.
"Porsche on Pleasant" is a drive down Pleasant Street to Main Street with a Porsche car in front of what is presumably the artist's car. A view of Franklin Street to Main Street has a yellow subject: "Hydrant on Franklin."
The "100 Views of Worcester" paintings are oil on 12"x12" wood panels.
Tercentennial a coincidence
Grady said he had "35 done already, and then I wrote a proposal for the show."
Allie Heimos, assistant director of marketing and communications for ArstWorcester, said the city's upcoming Tercentennial came to mind when looking at Grady's works.
"These two things kind of came together nicely," she said "We thought that this would be a nice anniversary gift to the city. There are so many great little glimpses of the city here."
In addition, the walking tour event May 28 shows the "walkability of downtown Worcester," she said.
Grady hadn't really been thinking of the Tercentennial when he started putting together "100 Views of Worcester," he acknowledged.
"I had no idea. That was a coincidence," he said. "When I heard back from ArtsWorcester they were excited because it was in line with the 300th anniversary of the city, so it was just good luck."
Actually, the origins of "100 Views of Worcester" date back about 12 years when Grady had painted "a couple of other views of the city that were pretty successful. Not with this project in mind, but it was sort of catalyst," Grady said.
Some of those paintings (which are also on display) have different dimensions than "100 Views of Worcester." They include "The Shell on Grove Street" from 2010, depicting the gas station, and streetscapes "Salisbury Street," "Shrewsbury Street from Atop Via," and "View Up Belmont," also from 2010. A little later date is "Night Out at Nick's," 2014, showing a musical performance taking place on a small stage in the intimate former bar and restaurant.
Grady specializes in oil painting, drawing, portraits and sculptural artworks. He has a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Visual Arts from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University.
Grady's award-winning pieces have been exhibited throughout New England, and he has completed large-scale outdoor murals in Worcester and Providence. He teaches studio art classes at Worcester State University, Assumption University and the Worcester Art Museum. He has been a member of ArtsWorcester since 2000.
He lives in Holden and said he grew up in Auburn and lived in Worcester for about 10 years but also has a day-to-day familiarity with the city through working there.
'A celebration of the city'
"100 Views of Worcester" is "a celebration of the city that I have become incredibly attached to over the years," Grady said. "This series communicates a sense of place in time. I am here now, and this is the beauty I see and want to share with you.”
The exhibition already shows how time marches on, with paintings of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church ("I knew it was gonna get torn down") and Notre Dame Church, both victims of the wrecking ball.
Grady said he worked from photographs he took of his subjects. "I'd take several photographs and come back at different times of day and get the light right," he said.
He couldn't resist Coney Island Hot Dogs, and takes in Polar Park by viewing some people watching a game. "Night Skate" shows ice skaters on the Worcester Common Oval. Close to home, so to speak, is "Gallery at ArtsWorcester."
The exhibit has views of places Grady has seen often, but he would also explore "places I was unfamiliar with" for the project.
"Sometimes I would drive around the city, park and walk," he said.
One such discovery is a painting of Vincent's bar on Suffolk Street, which he said he had heard about but hadn't really been to. Similarly, he has a painting of some houses and a church on Providence Street.
At the Worcester Market Building, his artist's eye noticed the bull gargoyle. Just off West Boylston Street, he captured the Greendale Eagle.
"It made me more aware of my surroundings," Grady said of the project.
Grady was being interviewed at ArtsWorcester, where about 30 of the paintings of "100 Views of Worcester" are on display at present as the works are divided up at the four venues. When the PopUp exhibition closes May 29 more of "100 Views of Worcester" will come to 44 Portland St.
Heimos said that the works had already been getting quite a reaction.
"There are a lot of really emotional connections to the work," she said.
"What makes these paintings so special is that they represent people's everyday experience, what you see as you're going to work or school," said Juliet Feibel, executive director of ArtsWorcester.
"They're not glamour shots of the city — I'm thinking of Tom's painting of the empty supermarket lot on Mill Street — but they all get care and affection. This exhibition is really a portrait of Worcester, which is why it became a Tercentennial present. Putting them across downtown invites people to experience the city in yet another way," Feibel said. "My favorites are the places or scenes that don't make it onto anybody's 'best of Worcester list,' but that really represent the soul of the city, like the Greendale Eagle memorial and people sledding at QCC."
Grady has heard people "put down the city … But I think the city is an interesting place. There's a lot of interesting things here and I enjoy that," he said.
Those who view "100 Views of Worcester" shouldn't be in any doubt about that.
"That's the takeaway," Grady said.
Schedule
The remaining public gallery hours for "100 Views of Worcester" are as follows. All are free and open to the public.
• The Hanover Theatre Franklin Square Salon: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 28; June 4, 18, and 25; July 2 and 23; Aug. 6 and 13.
• The PopUp at the JMAC: noon to 6 p.m. May 26 and 27; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 28 and 29.
• YWCA: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through June 19.
• ArtsWorcester: Noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays to Sundays, through June 19.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: A stellar birthday gift: Tom Grady's '100 Views of Worcester' at ArtsWorcester
