Happy Friday! While some of the better-known museums in Boston (MFA, Isabella Stewart Gardner, so forth), are always a joy to visit, if you’re looking for something different to visit over break, here are a few overlooked gems our city and surrounds has to offer:
Museum of Bad Art (MOBA), Somerville Theater: This place is great. Seriously. Say you’re at the Somerville Theater, perhaps waiting around for a hopelessly late friend, or you’ve just finished enjoying a concert or movie and a beer (yes, they sell alcohol at the concession stand!), and don’t quite want to leave yet. Fear not, because just one flight below is the Museum of Bad Art, “the world’s only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms.” It’s small (20-40 pieces), but a lot of fun to just wander around with some friends and giggle at some ridiculous artwork (without being too cruel, of course). Even better, they switch up their exhibit fairly often, because we all know that there is a TON of bad art in this world, so you can always come back for more. Other locations that feature MOBA collected works include the Dedham Community Theater and Brookline Access Television, although they are less convenient to visit.
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park: A really neat 35-acre park of contemporary and mostly local mixed media art in Lincoln, MA (about a 25 minute drive). Originally the private collection of Julian de Cordova, a successful Boston businessman, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park became public in 1948, just a few years after his death. Among many other works, it includes an impressive collection of sculptures in and outdoors, a giant rubber band room and some very interesting cast paper installations. It also provides spectacular view from the museum’s top floor of Flint’s Pond and is only ten minutes away from Walden Pond if you want to make it a full-day excursion. I imagine (icy) picnics to be in order.
Enjoy!
