I am going to age myself a little bit here. Around 15 years ago, a friend and I visited the MFA. I…read morevividly remember these creative chairs with placards stating "please be seated." We'd look at each other, laughing, saying "I am sitting on art!" Though a newly minted teenager, I had the wherewithal to know not to touch anything (unless expressly permitted). This is one of the things about the Pucker Gallery that I wish were more clear. Some of the art pieces were designed to be interacted with, like a unique working elevator-type piece. Paintings? haha yes - I know to keep a respectful distance here. Some other pieces, while I cannot remember the specifics, felt they could have been either. Further, on the same note, there were a couple sliding walls with art slightly tucked away; are we welcome to pull these out, or a no-touching zone? Despite the two paragraphs I just spent exposing my past and putting the gallery on blast, I thought this Gallery was awesome! For what seems like a smaller gallery, they had more works seemingly than several contemporary art museums I'd been to. There were a handful of exhibitions and numerous works within each one. The best part: entrance to the gallery is free! Especially where tickets to the, [in my opinion small and underwhelming] ICA and Mass MoCA are $20 and $25, respectively, this is beyond amazing! Thus, Pucker Gallery is in a league of its own. It is like a free mini-museum that I would happily visit again, either alone, with a friend, family, or even a date!

I visited Pucker Gallery for a private event on a Monday evening. I've definitely passed it by…read moredozens of times, but never actually noticed it. When you enter the building, you'll have to take the elevator upstairs to reach the actual gallery. I was impressed by the size of the place, especially given it's on Newbury Street. I'm honestly not a huge art person, but I really enjoyed walking around the gallery. There was a wide variety of art, so there's something for everyone. I especially appreciated how there was a lot of signage with information on the art, as well as some tv screens with educational videos. I'm not sure if this is the type of place you can often rent out for events, but if so, it's really a cool spot for that purpose. I hope to come back and visit Pucker Gallery again!

This is a wonderful little art gallery on Newbury Street which is starting to take the lead in…read moreBoston's underdeveloped public art scene. I've never purposely gone in with the intention of seeing the particular artist's work, but I've always been impressed and delighted by what I've seen. Currently there are two Boston artists showing here, one of whom uses solar panels on the backs of his sculptures to produce a false sense of movement. The gallery seems to show new, interesting work, which both challenges current artistic boundaries and continues to be beautiful and enjoyable to look at. And in the end, that's what always gets me.

Harvard Art Museums is where it's at. My daughter and I spent a couple of hours here and still…read moredidn't see everything. There are so many different exhibits, from ancient pieces to modern art, plus a lot of interactive exhibits to keep things that much more interesting. We caught the Celtic Art Across the Ages exhibit and a Critical Thinking exhibit that had hands-on activities and films. It wasn't just looking at art- we actually got to interact with it which made it way more fun. What I also loved about this museum is that cost is $0 to enjoy all this. Definitely worth checking out if you're in Cambridge, Mass.

Excellently curated art museum which also happens to be free to the public! They have a wide…read morecollection of art spanning from ancient Asia and the Middle East to contemporary work. There's also a nice gift store and a little cafe with a seating area on the first floor. You will find the usual collection of European masters (there's a couple of beautiful Picasso paintings from his blue period) but they also have a wide collection of religious iconography from the middle ages as well as ancient Buddhist and Islamic art. I highly recommend allowing yourself a couple hours to leisurely browse the collection. There are also lockers to secure your valuables.

An exciting event that's coming up in early 2007:…read more"Brickbottom Celebrates MacDowell" January 11-February 10 Brickbottom Gallery is honoring the MacDowell Colony's centennial year by featuring visual art created by the following local MacDowell Fellows: Karen Aqua, Toby Atlas, Michael Beatty, Erica Daborn, Liza Folman, Jane Goldman, Brian Healy, Catherine Kernan, Nona Hershey, Colleen Kiely, Suzanne Menon, Debra Olin, Amy Ragus, Lorna Ritz, Paul Santoleri, Jonathan Santos, Sandra Stark, Naoe Suzuki, Debra Weisberg, and Chantal Zakari. Schedule of special events: Opening Reception, Sunday, Jan. 21: 4-6 pm, music by "Blues Cabaret" jazz quartet; 6-7 pm music improv with Ken Field and David Sholl; 7pm animation by Karen Aqua. Writers Evening, Sunday, January 28: 7pm with Herbert Krohn, Marsha Pomerantz, Monica Raymond and Joyce Van Dyke.

Great non-profit community gallery between Lechmere and Union Square. There is almost always…read moresomething interesting on view, ranging from open-themed member shows (Brickbottom Artists' Association, which is actually open to artists beyond those living/working at Brickbottom) to small group shows organized by area artists/curators. Brickbottom Gallery is also a venue for the Somerville Toy Camera Festival. How cool is that?

Stumbled across this lovely art and meeting space when I went to pay for parking at the Atlantic…read moreWharf Garage (the payment kiosk is located right outside the elevator in The Gallery). The Gallery at Atlantic Wharf features an array of art from local artists and is programmed by the Four Point Arts Community. 300 By Design, the latest exhibit at The Gallery at Atlantic Wharf explores movement, abstraction, and design. This collection of artwork is from five artists who live and work in the Artist Building and will be on display through October 5, 2024. There's an open meeting/working space just around the corner, which features a vast amount of comfortable seating and tables. The space was wonderful, calm, and clean. There are also public restrooms that were open during particular hours and a water bottle refill station back in the gallery area. This space was a great gem of a find in the downtown Boston area.

Great staff and there so much to see. Being able to see some of these innovations in real life,…read morethat I had only previous seen in history books or documentaries was pretty neat. My favorite part was to see some of the belt driven machinery actually work. We had visited the day after a person had come and replaced some of the belts. We were able to see a belt driven (automated) saw cut through a chunk of metal. It was an impromptu demo as we were walking around the the staff member saw us examining this particular piece of equipment (with our eyes of course). And he started it up for us. Again...staff is really enthusiastic and engaging. We also got to see where they do hands on workshops, where kids can design and print things in 3D, which is pretty cool. They had a nice even space as well for smaller weddings/events. Easy parking (pay) in a nearby garage and a easy walk across the bridge/walkway to get to the museum. If this type of history interests you, I would definitely recommend you stopping by. We were there for a couple of hours and throughly enjoyed the staff showing us around. Cute gift shop as well.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've worked over a decade in this area of Waltham and have never…read morerealized this hidden gem of a historical museum existed. The guys working the front desk are super knowledgeable, funny, helpful and nice. One of them was kind enough to give us a brief intro when we first arrived. They can totally geek out on all sorts of interesting facts, which I live to absorb. Still, I wish I had planned it in advance so we could have a formal tour because there's so much to see. Before coming here I had no idea that Massachusetts held such a rich industrial heritage. We spent two hours exploring the two story museum. There were plenty of interactive exhibits (great for the kiddos and adults) and each time we looped around the museum we found something else we missed the first time going through. This place is a haven especially for those who are interested in history and engineering. They had antique bikes, wooden cars, steam fire engines, watchmaking tools, belt driven machines, typography machines, horse drawn fire truck, and even a phone booth! They also do a great job of mixing in some modern and new exhibits (e.g., we saw whimsical puppetry paintings by Tanya Harsch). The second floor also has a beautiful and grand ballroom space (perfect for corporate events or weddings). I can't wait to come back here. Whether you are local or from out of town I'd highly recommend a visit.

Driving to The LAP Gallery I caught myself wondering "what is a gallery in Waltham going to be…read morelike?" I mean, Waltham isn't exactly known for its art scene (at least not to my knowledge). I was even less optimistic about attending a show titled "Fuck Yeah America". I figured it would be a show comprised of pretentious, white, male art students bitching about how bad their lives are. I wasn't exactly interested but I was going with a group of people so I figured I'd grin and bear it. As I said above, we did drive and I thought about how inconvenient that must be for a gallery so far outside of the city...then we reached it...the LAP, Downtown Waltham. The gallery itself was attractive. A decent size space with nice hardwood floors. Surprisingly...clean. The show itself was well curated. The work reflected individuals inspired by America but not the preachy, extreme work I had anticipated. The preparatory work was clean and well done. I was very impressed. I was greeted by Pat Falco, 1/2 of the LAP team and found him very interesting and engaging. We discussed the show and the LAP Gallery before I met his partner, Elliot. I can't say how much I appreciate meeting the people who put on the show. Once it was time to leave, I realized there were a lot of other things to do in the area. There's a cool book store next door and plenty of restaurants. It was nice to know that for my future visits I wasn't limited to one space for a trip outside of the city. Go to the gallery, grab some food, walk along the Charles, and hop on the commuter rail back to Boston (if you don't have a car, it's right there!). All in all, good time, good people.

I've been to most of the shows that the Cooper has mounted in the past few years. Their range and…read morepresentation of exhibits have been immersive, thought-provoking, intriguing, and inspiring. I look forward to every new exhibit...

There are few museums that make you feel real emotion. This gallery does that by pushing our…read moreperceptions of race and challenging our comfort zones. They dabble in all areas of art from music and dance, the photography and digital art. These different forms of art play to a wide variety of tastes and expectations. The Cooper Gallery is a refreshing look at what a museum can and should be. Worth going back to check out the newest exhibits.