65 William Street and More

Tough guys on the gritty streets of New Bedford

The Amazing Bob and I drove down to New Bedford, Massachusetts today (and no, we did NOT get across the river to Fall River and the Lizzie Borden B&B and Museum. Clearly an oversight to be corrected on next visit?). It's The Green Miles’ new home. He and his fab girlfriend Bethanie live a couple of blocks from an arty area, right downtown. Who knew? New Bedford has tremendous artists AND  some awesome galleries.

The joint that grabbed me most, that made me want to move in and have a nice hot cuppa Lapsong Souchong while interviewing every last one of their artists was Gallery 65 on William.

Just a few of their amazing artists:

Kim Barry of Clay Trout Pottery
Her tiles would make a stunning border pattern in a kitchen, a bath or dining room. Hell, they'd make any room transcendent!

Lori Bradley, Ceramics, Prints and more -- her Floating Forest Prints and Animal Vases put the magical stories of Neil Gaiman in mind.

Pat Warwick’s tiles were a lot of fun too.

Glass artist Paula Williams Kochanek’s pieces emit some kind of a serious tractor beam. I really wanted to touch, hold and discuss weighty issues (like what was Lewis Carroll. REALLY talking about with his Jabberwocky writing...hmmmmm?) with every last one of the beads, bowls, plates and panels. (Hey, Art can SO be all deep on the conversational front and they’re ace listeners too. Except possibly The Execution of Maxmillion but you can understand that...right? Right?!)

The small treasure boxes made by Carol Way Wood of Lucky Bunny Graphics really slayed me. The web image really doesn’t do them justice. Check out her illustrations  to get a better sense of how wondrous these boxes are. Just imagine giving a gift to a loved one -- wrapped up in deep burgundy gloss paper with a gold raw silk ribbon. He/she rips open the package to find the treasure box. After exploring it's surfaces, oohing and ahing over the embedded print the container is opened to reveal the gift within a gift. Beauty within beauty. She also has a line of greeting cards.

We had lunch at Freestones City Grill -- great food (I had the grilled salmon salad and it was def fab!), calming dark wood, high ceilings and real, honest to god art on every wall. For that matter, even the lamps were works of art. GOT to go back!