July 24, 2024 - Michael C. Thorpe, swimming in the Charles, and Mary Grant

Michael C. Thorpe is a storyteller. Using bright colors, textures and geometric shapes, he literally stitches them together to figuratively stitch together scenes from  everyday life. He has the eye and instinct of a painter  who uses the art and tradition of quilt making. Now his quilted masterpieces are on view in his solo exhibition at the Fuller Craft museum, it’s titled  “Michael C. Thorpe. Homeowners Insurance.” He joins us to talk about it.With the Olympics kicking off at the end of the week one of the most talked about topics  is the river Seine. It is notoriously dirty and  microbiologists  are saying it’s not meant for swimming. But given how dirty the Charles River is, who are we to judge?  Well, efforts to clean up the Charles – decades in the making –is paying off. Now people can swim in it, one day each  year. Edgar B. Herwick III, Culture Show co-host and human guinea pig joins us to talk about what it was like to take that plunge.Finally, Mary Grant, president of MassArt, joins The Culture Show to talk about the college’s collaboration with the City of Boston to bring more  public art to the city.