Our Time Is Now
Waltham Beautiful – “Watch City”
Public art nourishes the soul of a city.
Beautiful things are heralded the world over. Paris, Venice, Rome, New York, even our neighbors in Boston: people travel to these destinations in order to see what there is to see. Tourism to these locales provides an economic engine to the residents. As a bonus, the residents of those cities get to enjoy their surroundings on a daily basis. Their lives are enhanced by beautiful surroundings.
To date, Waltham features no public art. Many do not consider statues to honor the fallen as “public art”.
Our city of Waltham is lavishly rich in history and should be honored as such with beautiful installations of various kinds of renovations and in various places especially Downtown, the Bridge, the Common, and Moody Street.
The Waltham Watch Factory is a site that should feature a Waltham souvenir of some kind. A watch, or art involving a watch.
History
Once people start viewing and loving public art, they want to know more about the place on which they stand. Waltham can offer that manifestly. Ours is the city where the Industrial Revolution began – at the Mill Building on the River at the Bridge. The next factory to use steam automation was in Lowell. Why should they get all of the credit?
We are fortunate that Massachusetts is rife with American history. But we are also in competition with other cities and towns who have more preservation and presentation than we do. How do we stand out? Easy. Public art combined with our own city’s history. The new with the old.
One Such Vision
Taking the commuter rail from Boston’s North Station, visitors could experience a new way to view Waltham, with the Moody Street Bridge plastered with glass and mirror mosaics. We envision this to be stunning, breath-taking, even.
Currently the depot platforms are in need of serious repair and serious re-imagining.
That’s where you come in.
We want to set up a committee to organize the thoughts and desires of you, who live and work in Waltham. We need to organize and formalize plans for public art spaces in Waltham to the likes of :
- Waltham Historical Commission
- Waltham Tourism Council
- Waltham Arts Council
- Waltham Chamber of Commerce
- Downtown Waltham Partnership
- (Community Preservation Act ?)
- Historic Waltham
- Waltham Riverfest (always held on the bridge)
- Waltham Day (birthday)
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Wonder Twin Visions … activate!
