Clara Raubertas // Freelance Web Design, Web Development, and Web Consulting // Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts clara raubertas design. development. consulting.

Today I went with a handful of friends to the Somerville Open Studios; we went to the Fort Point ones last fall. In both cases, we got to meet and talk to artists while looking at their work and workspace (which is also usually their home), but in Fort Point, most of the studios were subsidized spaces in dedicated artists’ collective buildings, while in Somerville, a lot of the artspaces were run out of people’s apartments or garages, and there seemed to be a lot more side project work from people who aren’t necessarily professionals. This was pretty neat! I felt like in addition to seeing art, we were seeing a lot of the Somerville community (and Somerville geography — I’m still tired from walking all afternoon around parts of the city I didn’t know existed) of ordinary artistic people. Jesse said at one point that he thought the anthropological aspects of going into these people’s homes and workspaces was almost more interesting than the art.

Of course, the art was interesting too. There were a lot of cool things, but a few favorites: a Moomers-esque apartment where we chatted with the guy who makes crazy robot sculptures from repurposed metal, and a couple of guys in a garage, one of whom paints realistic images of suburban scenes, and the other of whom paints surrealistic images of an astronaut moving in a world that’s a cross between the familiar and the futuristic, exploring our relationships to prior generations’ notion of the future (more at his website, astronautdinosaur.com(!!)).

I’d never heard of open studios before last fall, but it seems like a pretty sweet idea. People from the community can see what is going on in the local art scene and learn more about the art process through talking to artists and seeing their workspaces; artists can get exposure, show off their stuff, connect with each other, and sell pieces.

There’s a new blog in town! Aristocratic Rockstar is a collaborative blog by a handful of urban twentysomethings about living the lifestyle of an aristocratic rockstar while still being able to make payments on your student loans. I’m both writing articles and doing web development for this!