DeCordova Announces “Living in Art” at Watermark Cambridge

Press invited to opening celebration on October 12, 2006 at 5 pm

Lincoln, MA—DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park is excited to announce “Living in Art,” the first time in the 35-year history of the Museum’s Corporate Loan Program that works of art will be installed in a residential building. DeCordova recently completed installation of more than 30 works of art in Watermark Cambridge, a new 23-story apartment tower located in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA and developed by Twining Properties from New York City. This unique collaboration between Twining Properties and DeCordova will be celebrated on October 12th at Watermark Cambridge, located at 350 Third Street in Cambridge, MA. The event will begin at 5 pm. Please RSVP by contacting Watermark at info@watermarkresidences.com or 617/577-0707.

Twining Properties, an innovative real estate development company led by architects, decided early on that they wanted to provide a building that enriched people’s lives through great art and architecture where they could live in art and be surrounded by art. Twining Properties searched Boston to find just the right partner to curate the Watermark Gallery with a rotating collection of art. DeCordova’s Corporate Program proved to be the ideal partner having both an exceptional collection of art and a long and successful history of providing art in office buildings.

Looking across the Charles River from Boston, Watermark’s 24-story glass curtain wall stands out in the Cambridge skyline. Traveling across the Longfellow Bridge into Kendall Square and up onto Third Street, a dramatic 200 foot blade of glass rises to the sky, where the curtain wall slices through Watermark’s metal and stone tower designed by David Nagahiro of Boston’s CBT Architects. A sheer glass canopy cantilevers over the sidewalk and signals the entrance to the building where the feeling inside is like a small art museum – the Watermark Gallery designed by Patrick Planeta of CBT Interiors. The glass curtain wall cuts through the gallery lobby space and the white terrazzo floor leads to a beautiful blue watery canvas, Wind River #7 by Jeff Carpenter, which forms a backdrop for the concierge welcoming visitors and residents into the building. The Watermark Gallery is a series of rooms, where a dozen or so works of art from DeCordova’s Corporate Program are matched to spaces for gathering, socializing, meeting and greeting and range from two silkscreens on wallpaper by Julia Kidd in the living room to a large brightly colored pair of canvases by Janis Redlich hanging across from the elevator lobby.
Riding the elevator past the 21 apartment floors, the doors open as residents get on and off and you catch a glimpse of Silver Form on the 8th floor by Shirley Nisbet or The Yellow Hill on 12 by Robert Hamilton. Residents can recognize their floor by the artwork on display and the pieces provide an opening for conversations among neighbors. The www.watermarkcambridge.com website provides an online catalog to the 30 artists and their works.

“Watermark Cambridge raises the standards for design, comfort and convenience to create the most exciting place to live in the City. We call it smart design, intelligent living. Watermark provides all of the elements that make city living special, from great art and architecture, river views and recreation to easy subway access and green living,” said Twining Properties President Alex Twining. “To meet Twining Properties’ ambitious goals for the most sophisticated urban lifestyle we have found partners like DeCordova who share our vision. From the start, DeCordova’s Corporate Program understood and shared our aspirations for making fine art a part of people’s every day lives. Working with this exceptional institution and their remarkable professional team has been a rewarding collaboration for everyone. Together we have created a unique opportunity for ‘Living in Art.’”
Unique to its mission as a museum of modern and contemporary art, DeCordova has the particular objective of introducing the work of significant living New England artists to the public. DeCordova Museum's Corporate Program is a Membership initiative fosters that goal by offering Boston-area corporations many rewarding benefits for their employees in exchange for annual financial support of the Museum's educational mission.
“One of the goals of the Corporate Program is to make contemporary art more accessible to the public. Although we have years of experience mounting exhibitions in an office setting, Watermark Cambridge allowed us to introduce many different mediums of art into people’s own home. Who wouldn’t want to live surrounded by great art?” said DeCordova’s Corporate Program Director Jennifer Witham.
Corporate Program staff members are trained museum professionals. Witham fulfills a curatorial capacity at the Museum, as well as an educational role in working members to interpret the works of art on exhibit off site. Both Witham and trained docents are available to give scheduled tours of specific installations to employees and residents of Corporate Members.
Corporate Member staff work closely with Corporate Members to assess needs for artwork, determine appropriate locations, and make curatorial recommendations for exhibition content. Corporate Member dues include the transportation, professional installation, and insurance of all artwork. Corporate Member employee benefits vary by level and may include: free unlimited admission to DeCordova Museum for all employees and immediate family members, invitations to exhibition openings, programs, lectures, and special events, rental privileges for use of Museum galleries and grounds for corporate entertaining, and the Art Loan Option.
The Art Loan Option is one of the most exciting benefits provided to Corporate Members. DeCordova will install an exhibition of Museum-owned and artist-loaned artwork in Corporate Member offices for the duration of the membership. Upon annual renewal of Corporate Member support, exhibitions are rotated to ensure a continuously stimulating and educational environment.
DeCordova’s Corporate Program has made exhibitions of contemporary artworks available to Corporate Members since 1972; currently more than 90 corporations are receiving this benefit. These exhibitions fall into two categories: works drawn from the permanent collection which are not immediately required for exhibition or research purposes at the Museum; and works of art borrowed from artists working in the greater Boston and New England region, who represent a broad range of significant creative activity.
The loan of works of art for a corporate site is intended to present an exhibition format in the workplace, and in this case, in a residential setting, and extend the outreach beyond DeCordova’s Lincoln Campus. By introducing quality works into other environments, the Museum can enhance the general public’s appreciation of, and familiarity with, developments in contemporary art. This is particularly important in reaching audiences that might not be otherwise choose to allocate discretionary leisure time to visiting an art museum.
Visit www.decordova.org for more information about DeCordova’s Corporate Member program.

DeCordova General Information
DeCordova Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm and on selected Monday holidays. General Campus admission during Museum hours is $9 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, students, and youth ages 6–12. Children age 5 and under, Lincoln residents, and Active Duty Military Personnel and their dependents are admitted free. The Sculpture Park is open year round during daylight hours. The Store @ DeCordova and the School Gallery are open Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, Friday through Saturday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, and Sunday 10:30 am to 5:30 pm. The Café @ DeCordova is open Tuesday from noon to 3 pm, and Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. Guided public tours of the Museum's main galleries take place every Thursday at 1 and Sunday at 2 pm; these are free with Campus admission. Guided tours of the Sculpture Park are given on Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm from May to October; these are free with Campus admission. Visit www.decordova.org or call 781/259-8355 for further information.