Talking to artists and community members--listening and learning from them--brings life to all our projects.
February’s Charlestown Town Hall gathered stories and perspectives about the Charlestown Navy Yard, reminding us of the wealth of narratives Boston holds. The pool of virtual attendees exposed many familiar faces, revealing leads for what is possible for collaboration, whether with Lot Lab in Charlestown or other projects in different parts of the city.
For those of you coming across the Lot Lab project for the first time: Lot Lab transforms a vacant lot into an imaginative and experiential space, incorporating physical and programmatic elements that enrich minds and experiences.
During the lively discussion with neighbors and community members about the hidden histories and narratives of the Navy Yard, Artist Susan Thompson of Mentoring Murals made an appearance that doubled as an opportunity to illuminate Allan Rohan Crite, his influence in Boston, and the heritage that continues to inspire new art projects. Susan encouraged us to dig deeper into historical archives and build a more comprehensive record for a location we hope to activate in Summer 2023.
Crite's bird's-eye view of proposed changes to the South Boston Annex of the Boston Naval Shipyard in 1969. National Park Service.
Artist Allan Rohan Crite started work with the Boston Naval Shipyard in 1940, where he was a draftsman for several decades, creating technical drawings of the ships that would launch from Boston to around the world.
Long associated with nationalist wars, the Charlestown Navy Yard served as the point of departure for the USS Jamestown, a ship that carried provisions to Ireland during the potato famine (1845-1852).
Though there is a museum dedicated to the Navy Yard, it says nothing about USS Jamestown nor the humanitarian aid of food, clothing, and other supplies from Bostonians.
Allan Rohan Crite’s engineering illustrations were much different than the colorful, vivid scenes of Black Americans playing, waiting for the bus, walking along a street, or reading on a park bench--the scenes that Mr. Crite (as Johnetta Tinker and Susan Thompson call him) is best known for. The Boston Athenaeum houses the bulk of Mr. Crite's artistic output of this variety, and luckily for all of us, much of it is available for online browsing.
A prolific painter, “artist-reporter” and inspiring mentor, Mr. Crite developed a series of “neighborhood paintings” that capture life in Boston’s Roxbury, helping any viewer and his fellow Black Americans to contemplate life's sorrows and joys.
Using watercolor, black ink, graphite, gouache, and oil, Mr. Crite infused everyday scenes with palpable intensity and vigor.
“School’s out” 1936. Oil on canvas; 30 1⁄4 x 36 1⁄8 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
“My intention in the neighborhood paintings and some drawings was to show aspects of life in the city with special reference to the use of the terminology "black" people and to present them in an ordinary light, persons enjoying the usual pleasures of life with its mixtures of both sorrow and joys . . . I was an artist-reporter, recording what I saw.”
— Allan Crite
Throughout his life and career, Mr. Crite devoted himself to the momentous task of transforming blank canvases into diaries that capture in detail a sense of unity and pride.
One of my favorite moments in 2021 was doing a studio visit with Johnetta Tinker and Susan Thompson ahead of their installation that fall of "Deeply Rooted in the NeighborHOOD: homage to Allan Rohan Crite" for Grove Hall's 345 Blue Hill Ave lot.
That day in the studio with Johnetta and Susan, they pointed me to one such detail, an open book in the hands of a woman seated on a bench in the "Fall" panel. This detail directly references Johnetta and Susan's mentorship with Allan Rohan Crite, who was among the only African American artists hired by the Federal Art Project in the 1930s.
“A course in music appreciation” 1940. Watercolor with black ink and white highlights over graphite ; 38.1 x 28 cm. Boston Athenaeum.
This year of Mending looks at stories of innovation, global connection, individual perseverance, and tenacity, weaving together the impossible and offering opportunities to amplify what is most delicate (collective joy), transient (dreams), or everlasting (love) in our interconnected world.
With my team, we are ever so excited to uplift narratives like these and learn even more about a public space (Charlestown Navy Yard) that marked history at home and abroad from 1800-1974, producing more than two hundred military ships, repairing many more, and playing a vital role in U.S. military strategy, social fabric, and artistic heritage.
Stay tuned here or follow us on social for news and updates this spring. And please, get in touch if you have a Charlestown story!
Sources for this blog include: A People’s Guide to Greater Boston, Allan Rohan Crite: The Artist in the Shipyard, Boston Athenaeum Digital Collections, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Susan Thompson and Johnetta Tinker