We totally get why Che Anderson was named Worcester Mag’s Person of the Year in 2016. A fan of street art as an art form, the young staff assistant to Worcester’s city manager somehow managed to convince POW! WOW!, the world’s biggest mural festival, to hold its first-ever East Coast event in Wormtown. Now in its second year, POW! WOW! Worcester is putting the mid-Massachusetts city on the map as an art destination.

Take: Are you a native or transplant? If native: Who was your rival town growing up? If transplant: When did you know you were a NE’er?
Che Anderson: I am a transplant from New York City, and I knew I was a NE’er when I said ‘wicked’ unironically for the first time.

T: What one word would you use to describe New Englanders?
CA: I would describe New Englanders as prideful: of their sports teams, hometowns, chowdah, beer, and way of life.

T: What’s your favorite bizarre, historical, or quirky piece of New England trivia?
CA: Worcester is the birthplace of the Smiley Face, birth control, modern rocketry, and barbed wire!!! So random, and yet so awesome!

T: What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen while driving in New England?
CA: The bumper stickers…so…many..ridiculous…bumper stickers.

T: What’s pissing you off today?
CA: I still have never used the quadratic equation a day in my life.

The post 5 Questions with … Che Anderson appeared first on Take Magazine.

Get hammered

What is it: Classic cocktail muddler in jatoba. 11.5 × 1.5 in. Price: $48; ice mallet and Lewis bag (in hard maple and jatoba). 10.75 × 3 × 2 in. Price: $82.
Who makes it: Thea Price-Eckles of Masnu in Somerville, Massachusetts. “The more you enjoy using a tool, the more you love your work, the better your cocktails taste! I use these two woods because their density helps them hold up to frequent use.”
Why we love it: The minimal, curvaceous aesthetic lends sex appeal to the hard, hard work of making cocktails . . .

Sip stylishly 

What is it: Lowball and highball glasses. 3.5 × 3.5 in. and 3 × 5 in. Price: $60 and $70 each.
Who makes it: David J. Benyosef of Cambridge, Massachusetts. “I use a traditional Venetian process called cane, where I stretch a color 30 to 40 feet and chop it up into 5-inch sections. Each cane is fused together; then I twist the cane, causing the lines to spiral.”
Why we love it: The op art effect of these swirly glasses will make your guests’ heads spin before they take their first sip.

David J. Benjosef glasses, Diane Hoffman towel, and The Shade Tree tray. Photo by Dominic Perri

Clean up colorfully 

What is it: Chihuahua and Mexican hairless dog kitchen towel. 18 × 28 in. Price: $30.
Who makes it: Diane Hoffman of Providence, Rhode Island. “The Mexican hairless and Chihuahua projects were born in 2017 as areaction to the negative rhetoric of the current administration.”
Why we love it: A retro-mod design featuring psychedelic pups makes mopping up even the stickiest of liqueurs fun.

Hold everything

What is it: Tiger maple tray. 12 × 18 × 2.75 in. Price: $165.
Who makes it: Frank Dobai, owner of The Shade Tree in Moodus, Connecticut. “Tiger maple is a special, highly figured wood that’s durable and beautiful. When dye absorbs into the wood, it accentuates the grain even more.”
Why we love it: It’s not always about what’s on the tray. This bright pop of color will cure the winter blues and make your holiday cocktails even more festive.

Photo by Dominic Perri; Credenza courtesy of Danco Modern, dancomodern.com

The post Take It Home: Raising the Bar appeared first on Take Magazine.

John Bisbee: Maine sculptor, wannabe songwriter. Photo by Izzy Berdan

When not chopping up and pounding nails into beautiful art, Brunswick, Maine, artist John Bisbee loves to make music. “I write music when I have the chance,” Bisbee says. It’s still my favorite thing to do, to touch that guitar. Music and lyrics. It’s not very good—just what pops into my head. Melancholic, lonesome folk. Sadass white dude. I love it; probably few others do. I don’t really share it. But it is my favorite thing to do, when I’m not doing this. I love to discover chord progressions and try to put poetry to it.”

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As described in our January, 2017 post, Brattleboro’s Joshua Farr has taken the Vermont lifestyle of having multiple jobs at once very seriously. In addition to being the director of the Vermont Center for Photography, Farr works for Good Bear Productions as a web designer, is in charge of event photography for the Brattleboro Art Museum, organizes Pop-Up Brattleboro, teaches at In-Sight Photography Project, and is a professional, documentary-style photographer. In his spare time (how on earth does he have any?) he also likes to repurpose old furniture. Despite having several 12-hour workdays in a row (“This is not humane self-treatment,” he admits), Farr took the time to answer some questions for Take.

Take: Are you a native or transplant? If native: Who was your rival town growing up? Transplant: When did you know you were a NE’er?
Joshua Farr: Born in Maine, went to school in New Hampshire, and now living in Vermont. I always say that I’m moving west one state at a time. Considering the fact that my extended family hasn’t lived outside of Maine for many generations, I often feel like a transplant. But then I remember that both states have the same obsession with moose and maple syrup, and I suddenly feel right at home again.

Take: What one word would you use to describe New Englanders?
JF: Salty.

Take: Who are some of your favorite New England-based artists? (could be music, visual, etc.)
JF: This is a loaded question to ask a gallerist/curator! But if I had to rattle off a few, I’d probably mention folks such as my very own college photo professor Doug Prince, furniture-making mad man Johnny Swing, photographer Tanja Hollander, and of course, the uncategorizable Jonathan Gitelson.

Take: What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen while driving in New England?
JF: Brattleboro has its very own resident world-class competitive exercising enthusiast, “Real Bill Kathan,” who can frequently be seen doing speed-jumping-jacks to music on Main Street, or jogging for miles while balancing a baseball bat on his hand. He knows how to capture folks attention—without a doubt.

Take: What’s pissing you off today?
JF: The fact that Brattleboro picks up trash every OTHER week. Over the course of the time between pickups, our local rat/raccoon/feral-cat population manages to lock in coordinates for our trash shed and strew stinky trash all over our yard for me to clean up—only to come back inside for dinner smelling like a dumpster. It just makes my day. Every. Single. Time.

Top image: Joshua Farr. Photo by Bob George

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