Worcester set out to make a splash with POW! WOW! WORCESTER – from cherry pickers all over town the artists did not disappoint.
It was one of those stories that just caught Take‘s attention from go: a group of acclaimed painters, street artists, muralists (pick your favorite term) who periodically assemble from all over the globe and descend on city to paint its walls are coming to the East Coast for the first time. New York? No. Boston? No. They are coming to Worcester.
Yes, Worcester, and they couldn’t have made a better choice.
For a solid week gawkers, the curious as well as devoted followers of the latest in art ambled about the center of the city and watched a community be transformed. Certainly there was the more obvious change – there were now a dozen huge, brightly colored murals dotting the urban landscape – but there was something else that will be felt in the longterm from this whole process. Worcester has always had a thriving art scene, but if you aren’t from there it might not be easy to spot. There are the institutions like the Worcester Art Museum that have an obvious presence, but there are also a huge number of community-based organizations, artist-run collectives and communal work spaces throughout the city that are also part of creative buzz this city has. By all pulling together to make an event like POW! WOW! happen there is no doubt they not only shifted how they work with each other, but also how the rest of the New England creative community has to take notice of what their city is capable of making happen.
Go to Worcester. See the murals and check out the all the great creativity the city has to offer.
– Michael Kusek, publisher
