Rachel Manly, director of the Center on the Common, speaks to the Press. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Rachel Manly is the first director of the nascent Center on the Common, where she brings her own experience as an artist and teacher to the team working to develop a vibrant cultural presence in the center of town. Manly trained as a printmaker at the Maine College of Art. Although she grew up in Ayer and attended Lawrence Academy, her Harvard roots go back nine generations. Manly recently sat down with the Press.
What’s your new job at the Center on the Common?
Beginning March first, I will be the director. I’ve been volunteering since December and it’s been great. Basically, I’m curating gallery shows, and I’m facilitating programs and rentals with Paige O’Brien, and serving as an on-site manager for day-to-day operations.
We label it as a cultural art center. People should feel free to roam and explore. In the gallery space, there are shows every month and smaller bodies of artwork displayed in the smaller rooms. The basement and third floor are for scheduled classes and studios.
I’ve already booked the main gallery rooms for the year. I’ve found New England-based artists who are all excited about the opportunity to exhibit their work in a historic building. I’ve been looking for art for the smaller rooms that complements the larger gallery spaces, so when you roam through the space you truly experience the theme of the show.
For example, Bob Hubert’s upcoming exhibit, Towners Project—black-and-white portraits of people who live or work in Harvard—is being installed this weekend in the main gallery. In the Red Room is a photo series, “Muertes” by Nick Colen. Colen manipulates vintage photographs to create an imagined history of family, mixing the old with the new.
Rachel Manly discusses the work of artist Nick Colon currently on display at the Center on the Common.
Manly’s own artwork, acrylic on plywood, is displayed in the “Fireplace Room” at the Center on the Common.
There is such a contrast of things going on at all times. There is the opportunity for people to give classes, lectures—it’s really a clean slate for any project. One night we had a pop-up pub and the next, yoga classes. This Friday, there’s our first Jazz Dinner, and the next day Jen Sundeen, of Durga Studios, is hosting the Human Be-in.
It’s one of those things where if you’ve got an idea, you can try it out. If high school students wanted to do an open mic, they could host it here. If artists wanted to give a presentation of their work, they could give a lecture. We want to give the community a platform to share their talents.
The Center is already booked a year out. How did you do it?
Artists have approached me, and I’ve sought artists out. Part of the job has been studio visits with artists. It’s been really exciting to pick out artwork that I think fits the Center’s mission. I’ve met with artists with clean and organized studios in Concord, and I’ve been in basements going through stacks and stacks of artwork in Boston. It’s exciting being able to show them in the same space.
I’m attracted to all forms of art. For example, we have a quilt show in September. We’re trying to embrace both traditional arts and crafts and also have a contemporary layer to the space. The nature of the space—it’s a community center—means we have people who aren’t coming in only to look at the art work on the walls. We want to show appreciation for traditional art as well as hit Harvard with some things it hasn’t seen before.
You’re an artist. How is it being on the other side of exhibiting?
Just realizing that I don’t have to be the one who is exhibiting was a huge draw for me in this position. I did a residency in Portland and about six shows last year, so I’m kind of taking some time off to regroup. It’s weird to say that I’m not working on a body of work right now, but it’s nice because last year was so intense.
After talking with artists, I always want to go and make something. It definitely inspires me and excites me at some level; right now I have a bit of a disconnect. I think all artists take time to just absorb what’s around them until something inspires them to get back in the studio.
What surprised you about the year of intense exhibiting?
I realized that I didn’t care if people liked my artwork or not. I had one experience where I made a lot of money, there were hugs, and it was like a love fest. I had another show where people would walk in and walk right out. I found I felt the same way about each of them. I got this kind of clarity. I liked the show that people didn’t like just as much as I liked the one where it was a love fest. I’m still selling art work online, but I so don’t need my ego stroked. I create artwork because it feeds something inside of me. I’m not sure that it has to be public.
For me as an artist, I have a vision of where I want to be visually, and everything leading up to it is just kind of an exercise. By the time something is on a wall, I am over it and on to the next thing.
With your Art and Cloth program, you’re also teaching?
Working with the kids is fun and I’ve learned about my style of teaching. What I’ve found with these kids is that they’re always asking permission to do things. The kids were making self-portraits and one asked, “Can I have a mustache?” Who am I to tell you don’t have a mustache? We figured out a way to tastefully incorporate one.
I’ve lightened up on being a technical teacher and talking too much. I’m really just encouraging them to do what they like doing. I go into a class thinking a project is going to go one way and it’s exciting to let the kids direct the way they’re doing it. I get told that it is their favorite day of the week. I’m not here to preach to them. I like giving them a place to do art, introduce new projects, mediums, and techniques, and have fun. I have been lucky with the kids that I have.
Bob [Hubert, Center on the Common president] and I envision helping kids who plan to apply to art school develop portfolios. It’s a resource to have someone who’s been through art school demystify the whole art school thing. In my own experience, art school was this shocking place. From living in Groton at Lawrence Academy to living in Portland, Maine, where it’s like 1992, and you’ve got a lot of artists. After being so heavily academic-based, it took some adjusting to understand how cutting out 100 circles the size of a quarter was considered homework and why I was being questioned for using clear tacks versus white tacks. It’s just a different world.
I want to prepare them while still encouraging them. The main thing is that kids going to art school know the types of classes they need to take so they are marketable when they graduate. A lot of times you go into art because you like to paint and that’s great, but it’s so much more. You think about the artists who make it—sometimes it’s not even about the art. College is a weird bubble of optimism. Reality doesn’t really set in until you’re out of college.
What else gives you satisfaction in the job?
Other people. I’m a people person. I like talking to people, seeing what people do, and finding out, figuring out what’s the best way to give them an opportunity. I didn’t grow up with a burning desire to be an artist. My other skills and talents are just now kicking in. I’m kind of a therapist—basically people coming to me with a crazy idea and me helping figure out how we can actually make it happen in a smaller, more manageable way.
What will success at the Center look like for you?
It’s going to take a full year to get to everything that we envision. We want to create open studio space where artists have lockers and can keep their things. There will be giant work tables and you can come here, work on your projects, and then go home. To have that fully running will be a huge success. To have established artists want to come here and give talks or exhibit work, to have people in the building throughout the day, that would be a huge success.
