Arts On The Line
Alewife Station

Station Architect:
Ellenzweig, Moore & Associates, Inc., Cambridge, MA

Commissioned for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
through the Cambridge Arts Council's Arts On The Line program.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Urban Mass
Transportation Administration, and the Massachusetts
Bay Transportation Authority.

Artist: Richard Fleischner
Title: Untitled
Date: 1985
Materials: Granite, pavers, plantings
Dimensions: 3 acres

Fleischner's three-acre environmental sculpture on the south side of the garage includes bold, inventively balanced granite block constructions, trees planted along a tapering walkway, and a man-made pond. The work provides a usable space for MBTA commuters and community residents, while also functioning within the technical parameters for adequate drainage and water retention.

Artist: David Davidson
Title: Untitled
Date: 1984
Materials: Porcelain tiles
Dimensions: 3' to 9' high x 200' long

Interspersed among the brown Welsh Quarry tiles of the station, Davidson's sky-blue paintings are a welcomed reminder of the outdoors to those emerging from the underworld of subway travel. Assembled in various configurations, the mostly abstract paintings run over a 200 foot area along the east wall pedestrian ramp from the Rindge Ave. Extension.

Artist: Joel Janowitz
Title: Alewife Cows
Date: 1985
Materials: Paint on steel panels
Dimensions: 11' 2" x 19' 8"

Located in the bus station waiting area, the illusionistic painting suggests a false exit that reflects the trusses and doorways of the surrounding architecture. The doorway looks out onto a sunny field where cows are grazing peacefully, as they may have done a century ago when the site was an inhabited pasture.

Artist: William Keyser, Jr.
Title: Untitled
Date: 1984
Materials: Maple, stainless steel
Dimensions:
2 sculptural benches:
3' 6" x 7' x 30'
3' 6" x 15' x 19'

The gracefully sculptured benches were designed to provide, in Keyser's words, "a wooden landscape for sitting." Located in the street level atrium of the parking garage, the bold, sweeping benches hold their own in this architectural environment, while humanizing the space and adding a touch of whimsy to the station.

Artists: Alejandro and Moira Sina
Title: The End of the Red Line
Date: 1984
Materials: Neon
Dimensions: 8' x 320' x 10'

The neon sculpture is composed of 1000 tubes that are suspended and staggered at regular intervals directly over the train tracks. The neon pendulum winds for 300 feet along the platform ceiling and when the trains come roaring into the station, the red neon tubes sway gently, adding a kinetic effect to the piece.

Artist: Nancy Webb
Title: Untitled
Date: 1984
Materials: Bronze tiles
Dimensions: 100 tiles, each 6" square

The low-relief tiles, scattered throughout the mezzanine, depict the flora and fauna indigenous to the Alwife Reservation, including alewives (fish), frogs, song sparrows, dandelions, roses, snakes, toads, herons, and grasshoppers. The marshes, meadows, and swamps of the 115 acre Reservation are part of the largest wetland area left in Cambridge.