Dedicating the Everett Embankment Pollinator Garden to John Powell
Anthony D'Isidoro
John passed away last winter before the garden was planted, but he was instrumental in its creation. He was enthusiastic about the project and helped me develop the concept and connect me with the community members who could make it happen.
John lived and worked in Allston since the early 1990’s when he bought a derelict corner market in Collins Square and turned it into his home and studio. He loved the neighborhood’s gritty character, its diversity and its history. He renovated many of the other buildings in the square and made them into artist’s studios, creating the kernel of the arts neighborhood that currently surrounds Collins Square Park. John took care of the park, watering the plants in it, cleaning it up, and making sure that its users understood that they had to clean up after themselves.
John was well known in his Allston neighborhood, in the Boston arts community, and beyond. He was truly a public artist in the best sense of the term: his art served his community and the public at large. John was also a tireless community activist. He was active in the Allston Civic Association, taught in the afterschool program at the Winship School, knocked on doors to register voters, and made art that beautified bridges over the Charles River, the New Balance headquarters, and many other sites both local and national.
The pollinator garden at Everett Embankment is the first in a network of pollinator gardens in lower Allston that John and I planned as a public
art/environmental improvement project. The gardens are marked by metal "icons" that help map the network for people just as the plants mark the network for the pollinators. The project has grown to include a site at the Herter Community Garden and next year
will include sites at McNamara House, Charlesview residences, and the tree wells along Everett St connecting all these sites, creating a true pollinator network along Everett St.
The project embodies many of John’s qualities: his dedication to the community, to the environment, to bees, and, of course, to art. I hope
you will add your name to this petition to officially dedicate the Everett Embankment pollinator garden in his name.
If so, please respond with your name, email, street address and profession. I will add them to the final petition and copy you and all of the other petitioners. If you know of others who would support this petition, please let me know.
Best Wishes,
Miriam Shenitzer
Miriam Shenitzer (miriams...@hotmail.com)
Pollinator Networks
Lexie Gross
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Eva Webster
"a commission from the New Balance Company to design and fabricate three 24-foot-tall wind-driven zoetropes illustrating the history of the Boston neighborhood Brighton”