Joe Raposo portrait kicks off art series celebrating Fall River history, icons
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
FALL RIVER — “You can write songs too.”
That’s the message that artist Sheila Oliveira and Jim Lopes, Visitor Services supervisor at Fall River Heritage State Park, are hoping that every visitor will take home with them when they visit “Sing! The Sesame Street World of Composer Joe Raposo,” a collaboration between Heritage State Park, the Creative Arts Network and the Greater Fall River Art Association.
Featuring a portrait of the acclaimed composer with his friends from Sesame Street, painted by Oliveira, as well as items donated for the exhibit by the Raposo family, it will be on display daily, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., until Sept. 10.
Raposo was born in Fall River in 1937; his family had been Portuguese immigrants who came to the city. He wrote the theme song for Jim Henson’s "Sesame Street" and was the show’s musical director. He composed (and sometimes sang) songs, including “C is for Cookie,” “Sing,” “Little Things” and “Bein’ Green.”
The city held an official Joe Raposo Day on Aug. 3, celebrating his legacy.
Joe Raposo Day included a screening of the 1990 documentary “Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music.” His son Nick Raposo helped Heritage State Park get the rights for the screening, and donated 47 items to use for the exhibit, including Raposo’s lyrics for “Sing,” where guests can see the notes he made while composing the words, and a birthday card to Raposo from "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz, featuring Lucy informing Schroeder that, practice as he might, he’ll never be a Joe Raposo.
Nick Raposo and other family members were there for Joe Raposo Day.
Oliveira’s portrait of Raposo features the beloved composer with some of his friends from Sesame Street, including Big Bird, Elmo, Bert and Ernie and the Count.
Oliveira’s hope for the portrait, and for locals learning more about Raposa and his work, “is that others will learn a little bit of truth about Fall River and the people that were raised here,” she said. “He became a world-class singer/songwriter and musician. The legacy that he left was worldwide. And I thought, well, he needed his friends The Muppets, so I put him in there with his Muppet friends.”
Ready for the next step: 25 Fall River area football players primed for a breakout season
Lopes has seen firsthand the impact that the portrait has been having on visitors to Heritage State Park.
“People come through and they tell their kids, ‘See, you can write songs too. He was from Fall River. He was from Fall River and he wrote for ‘Sesame Street.’ You can write something too,’” Lopes said. “And they start singing with their kids in the front. Fall River people when they first find out get really excited …. They’re using him as a role model. I think it’s fantastic.”
Lopes also hopes that Raposo’s legacy will someday be honored by the city in another way: he’d like to see “Sing” become the official song of Fall River.
“The Raposo family loves the idea,” he said. “It’s such an uplifting, positive song, and it’s Fall River. When you hear that song, you should think of Fall River.”
Once the exhibit is over, Oliveira’s portrait will likely have a new home where it will continue to inspire local children: the Fall River Public Library. Children’s Services Supervisor David Mello has told Oliveira and Lopes that he has the perfect wall to showcase the portrait, and that it would be great to share Oliveira’s art with even more of the community.
Oliveira said she and Lopes have collaborated to share even more Fall River icons with the community, in a new exhibit that will feature historical portraits painted by Oliveira.
Oliveira, who lives in Westport, has been something of a Fall River icon herself for some time.
She received an MFA in design and photography from UMass Dartmouth, where she was adjunct faculty for more than 20 years. She has curated exhibits at the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Gallery, Westport Library Gallery, the Greater Fall River Art Association, Fall River Maritime Museum, and the Narrows Center for the Arts, among others. She was president, secretary, curator, and a resident artist at GFRAA from 2010-20.
A decade of the CPA: Fall River OK'd the Community Preservation Act 10 years ago. Has it been worth the money?
And now, “We’re going to celebrate the art of Sheila Oliveira, finally,” Lopes said.
Her Raposo portrait is part of a series that will be featured at Heritage State Park: “Famed and Framed Fall River Icons.”
Oliveira said she wanted to shine a spotlight on Fall Riverites who don’t always get their moment in the sun, in addition to a few who have.
In addition to Raposo, her new series of portraits includes:
Thomas Hudner, who received the Medal of Honor for courageously trying to save his wingman, Jesse Brown, during the Korean War (the visitors center at Heritage State Park is named for Hudner)
Weetamoo, sachem of the Pocasset tribe, who supported her brother-in-law Metacomet in King Philip’s War
Metacomet, Wampanoag sachem, called King Philip by colonists
Elizabeth Buffum Chace, abolitionist and supporter of women’s rights
Sarah Anna Lewis, the first Black person to graduate from Bridgewater State Normal School (now Bridgewater State University)
Emeril Lagasse, celebrity chef
Marquis de Lafayette, one of the heroes of the American Revolution
Henry Martyn Robert, whose Robert’s Rules of Order is still used today to structure meetings
Oliveira said Lopes gave her ideas for subjects, and that her own research led to revelations about the history that Fall River residents are a part of every day.
“Being a Fall River resident, growing up here, I walked down Weetamoe Street, Anawan Street, Pocasset Street, but never put it together that I was walking in areas that really were settled by Indigenous peoples,” Oliveira said.
She was similarly struck by Lewis’ story: Lewis had to give up her teaching career when she got married, because married women could not teach at that time.
The Robert portrait, Oliveira said, she did for herself, having been an executive secretary and following Robert’s rules for meetings herself.
On Sept. 18, from 2 to 3 p.m., Oliveira will be in the visitors center lobby at Heritage State Park for a meet the artist event.
She’ll be answering questions about "Famed and Framed Fall River Icons," and her work in general.
“I’m hoping to bring a little bit of history and discussion, to talk about my process, how I made my decisions,” she said, for anyone curious about how and why she chose her subjects for these portraits.
"Famed and Framed Fall River Icons" will be on display at Fall River Heritage State Park for four weeks.
For more information, call 508-675-5759, Ext. 0, or send an email to Fall.River.Heritage@mass.gov.
– With reporting from Herald News Digital Producer Dan Medeiros
Herald News/Taunton Daily Gazette copy editor and digital producer Kristina Fontes can be reached at kfontes@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News and Taunton Daily Gazette today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Sheila Oliveira shines light on Fall River icons with portrait series
