For the past 30 years, the Beacon Hill Art Walk has been a much-anticipated, highly attended free event on the first Sunday in June throughout Beacon Hill’s North Slope.
Artists usually display and sell their artwork to Beacon Hill residents and visitors against the backdrop of musicians playing in various gardens throughout the day. This year, due to the pandemic, the date was postponed to October in hopes that it would return as a live event, according to Jen Matson, the event organizer. When that wasn’t possible, the Beacon Hill Art Walk switched to an online art sale taking place this weekend, launching at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday.
“Floral” by Winston Breedy. PHOTO: courtesy of The Beacon Hill Art Walk
Matson wrote in an email, “We felt it was important to have the event online rather than just cancel it, because it is crucial to support our local artists right now. There have been no art shows or festivals or exhibitions in 2020 and artists and musicians are truly struggling. The neighborhood, residents and our fans really enjoy seeing the new art from our regulars and being introduced to brand new artists.”
Each of the artists selected to participate in this year’s event will submit 20 pieces of work to the sale, and the event will feature one-of-a-kind works from painters, sculptors, photographers, jewelry makers, illustrators and more.
Jada Gardner, an emerging artist who was featured in 2018 and in 2019, will be showing her work again this year. The artist began painting and drawing in preschool, which eventually led her to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Using watercolor and pencil as her medium of choice, Gardner creates images that reflect her passion and interest in African American history and culture, Korean Pop and anime.
Self-taught Barbadian artist Winston Breedy, who has shown for several years in the Beacon Hill Art Walk, will participate this weekend as well. Known for his colorful and vivid landscapes, seascapes and floral paintings, Breedy describes his artistic viewpoint as “seeing the world through Caribbean eyes.”
Matson says that although the Beacon Hill Art Walk will not include strolling through the private gardens, alleyways and courtyards of Beacon Hill, going virtual this year gave the organizers the opportunity to include more artists then they would have had physical space to accommodate.
The Beacon Hill Art Walk takes place Saturday, Oct. 3 and Sunday, Oct.4 at beaconhillartwalk.com. The website will go live Saturday, Oct. 3 at 9 a.m.
