But this weekend, I think I saw a glimmer of hope.
On Saturday, I ventured out to the Footlight Club for a reception for JP to ME, an art exhibit featuring the work of local artists and their quest to capture the essence of Jamaica Plain.
Capturing the essence of JP is no easy task. As Rob Festa, the coordinator for the event, confirmed. He said nailing down the theme for the exhibit and organizing the call for art took over a year.
"How was it?" he said. "Not easy."
But as with anything - good things take time.
It all started when Kristin Mallery, a local artist and photographer, showed Rob a picture she'd taken of the JP skyline. It got them thinking - what about a show completely dedicated to JP?
Then the ideas started flowing. Maybe a show focusing around the Monument. Maybe Centre Street. Or maybe... a show letting the artists interpret what JP means. That was it.
With the Footlight Club open to hosting the event, in the words of Artie Leger, President of the Footlight Club Board of Directors, "the rest was history."
Acrylics of flowers in the Arboretum hang next to photographs of Centre Street blanketed in snow. Collages of the JP Gazette interrupted with the numbers "02130" hang in the corner of the room. While many of the pieces there featured items I see everyday, as Artie put it, the art made us both see those "everyday JP things" in a different way.
The exhibit really did make me think about what JP means to ME - to stop and look at those "everyday things" that make my life in JP enjoyable.
But moreover, what I realized is that these artists didn't just interpret the essence of JP. They help create it. That in spite of a recession, people are still willing to come out, enjoy art, and share their love of Boston.
If you missed the exhibit this weekend, be sure to check it out this coming Friday or Saturday at the Footlight Club, 7 Eliot Street, JP, from 6p to 8p.
