A Community Curator exhibition curated by Martha Friend
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The color blue has existed for millennia, influencing great works of art as well as ordinary, but treasured, household objects. It carries many associations including calm, sadness, royalty, and peace. Even the many different words for the color blue evoke emotions–turquoise, indigo, cerulean, periwinkle, cobalt, aquamarine. It lives in our world all around us in the blue sky and ocean waves.

Martha Friend, local curator and collector of all things blue, fell in love with the color early on in her life. As a result, she’s spent years building “Sapphire City,” an art installation outside her home on Highland Avenue in Somerville, which many in the area would recognize as an unofficial community landmark. Her work has garnered media attention and her vision for this exhibition is translated through artworks by local artists, installations of found objects, music, and creative workshops. Friend invites visitors to explore the many different meanings and uses of blue and leave with a newfound appreciation for the color’s history and influence on art and culture.

Could blue be everyone’s favorite color? What does blue mean to you?

Funded [in part] by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the City of Somerville.

September 21 – December 2

hours: www.somervillemuseum.org

Somerville Museum, One Westwood Road, Somerville, MA 02143.