Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/327657
THE GREAT AMERICAN ARTISTS' COLONY THEFAMED MACDOWELL COLONY HASGROOMEDSOMEOF THISCOUNTRY'SMOSTSEMINALARTISTSWRITERS MUSICIANS PAINTERS PHOTOGRAPHERSANDGIFTEDTHEMTHETIMETO PERFECTTHEIRCRAFT. BOSTON COMMON TAKESYOUINSIDE. NOT EVERYONE HAS HEARD OF THE MACDOWELL COLONY, the artists' enclave nestled in the woods of Peterborough, New Hampshire, but its most famous residents have defined American arts and letters for the last century. Thornton Wilder. Leonard Bernstein. Alice Walker. More than 60 Pulitzer Prize–winning artists, plus thousands of others, have nurtured their craft in one of the colony's secluded cabins, where they are given a private place to work and the most valuable gift for an artist—total freedom from the demands and distractions of everyday life. On August 10, the grounds will be open to celebrate Medal Day—complete with a picnic lunch—when visual artist Betye Saar will receive the 55th Edward MacDowell Medal for her outstanding contribution to the field. Here, Boston Common takes readers inside the secluded haven. First, award-winning author and five-time MacDowell fellow Alex Halberstadt gives a brief history of the colony and how it has grown from a single cabin to a unique institution that gives artists the creative sustenance they can't find anywhere else. Then, the chairman of MacDowell's board of directors—author Michael Chabon, who has snagged a Pulitzer himself—shares his recent experience inside one of those cabins, where art—and oh, so many other things—happen. BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 103