Change is gonna come

After a browse of SoWa’s Vintage Market (held every Sunday in the warehouses’ basement), I stroll through the South End, passing blossom-littered squares and Boston’s famous, red-brick rowhouses. There’s a carefree air to the city this morning: cafe doorbells jingle as locals grab coffee ‘to go’, and runners are out in the quiet streets. But this rather relaxed vibe is a surprise in a city whose reputation speaks more of movers and shakers rather than joggers and latte-drinkers. Founded in 1630, the capital of Massachusetts is one of America’s oldest cities, its citizens having played a pivotal role in the US fight for independence. History is writ large throughout the city, particularly in Downtown, where the much-trodden Freedom Trail testifies to a revolutionary past of battles, speeches and treaties. These days, however, the city’s seeing a revolution of the more artistic kind.

“We like to say: ‘The Revolution Will Be Instagrammed’,” laughs Rachel Charles of The Revolution Hotel. Housed in what was once one of the country’s first YWCAs, it’s been reborn as a hip hotel with a slightly irreverent streak. “Boston has such an incredible, rich history and so we wanted to blend all that heritage with modern art.”

The result is a Banksy-esque homage to Boston: a colourful, wraparound mural with the faces of US revolutionaries brightens up the lobby, while a pillar covered in made-in-Massachusetts exports like Converse shoes and plastic lawn flamingos toasts the state’s innovations. Toilets are decked out like local subway stations, and walls are adorned with Red Sox memorabilia and LPs by Boston-born Donna Summer. Because if there’s one thing Bostonians are more proud of than their nation-shaping history, it’s their baseball team.

But in a city so rooted in the past, what about the present? I head to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), to meet some of the bright young things busy sketching the Boston of today.

“I’d turn the lights on but they’re burnt out,” jokes printmaking student Daisy St Sauveur, as she clears some space on her ink-smeared, paper-strewn desk in her “lair”.

“At the moment, I’m working with the theme of American pop culture and the representation of women in the media,” she explains, as I eye old magazine covers of Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears. Daisy looks like a bright slice of pop culture herself with her vintage sports jacket and banana-patterned T-shirt as she leafs through her portfolio of prints — all Miami Vice blues and pinks. I ask if she plans to move elsewhere after graduation. “Well, my allegiance is here now,” she says, reflecting on the past three years. “The scene here has just changed so much — and for the better. It’s more contemporary, and art here is no longer just the classic old oil paintings. I see Boston as a real collage of a city these days.”

In many ways, MassArt reflects this versatility. The school, which was the first art college in the country to offer degrees in 1873, today caters to disciplines as diverse as stop-motion animation and art history. But despite its age, the college looks ever forwards in its role as Boston’s foremost art school, with a new contemporary gallery set to open in 2020.

Illustration student Biana Bova also spares me five minutes from her manic schedule. “Sorry, it’s a crazy time,” she laughs, leading me to her desk. In the throes of finalising her portfolio for an exhibition, Biana is full of jumpy excitement. “There are opportunities galore in this city,” she enthuses. “It’s not cut-throat at all, which isn’t the case in a city like New York. I know a bunch of us students who’ve got jobs at local galleries, and one guy I know has even started designing the cans for a local brewery.”

Biana flicks through her fun digital illustrations, which pop with bright colours, before telling me about upcoming commissions, her YouTube channel and looming deadlines. If she’s at all stressed, her enthusiasm does a good job of hiding it.