Beautifully painted outdoor pianos have been a fixture in Newton since 2016.
Lisa Rucinski, program manager at Newton Cultural Development, said the Artful Pianos program will run until right after Labor Day, when the pianos will be moved into storage for another year.
There are nine in total, and each one is uniquely painted. Artists are selected by a panel.
“It’s pretty competitive,” said Rucinski, adding that the city has received about 40 submissions. “There are artists who really enjoy these public art projects, like the painted utility boxes or cows you see in other towns.”
She’s particularly pleased by this year’s Farlow Park piano, which was painted with a scene of the park.
People in each village already feel especially attached to their piano. On the other hand, some people like to venture to the next village to try a new one.
“People travel around to play them,” she said.
Maintaining the pianos wouldn’t be possible without a team of volunteers the city calls piano pals. “We couldn’t do it without them,” said Rucinski. Their main task? Keeping an eye on the weather forecast so they can go out and cover the piano with a tarp when it rains.
Unfortunately, some people will remove tarps to play the piano and then not put them back.
All the pianos are donated by Newton residents. The one in Newton Centre is a baby grand piano, and the rest are uprights. “There’s more traffic and more people playing it,” said Rucinski about Newton Centre.
The city gets a lot of offers, more than they can take. Very small pianos are harder to maintain, so even ones in good condition will be turned away. After receiving a piano, it’s brought to a studio for the artist to paint, and then moved to its new location. The pianos are painted with specialty outdoor paint and then varnished.
The pianos are tuned once they’re in place.
“We are so lucky to have piano tuner Greg Livingston, who taught at the Bigelow School, tune our pianos. He’s a wonderful guy, and he’s on call all summer,” said Rucinski.
Rucinski is also grateful for the support of Newton Community Pride, a non-profit that helps fund the arts in Newton.
“It’s an expensive project to run,” she said.
They pay each artist, and they also have to pay for several piano movers for each one as it goes from home to studio to site.
The city keeps a piece of each piano, but otherwise, every year starts fresh. Being outdoors for several months is very hard on an instrument, especially when you have abrupt summer rain storms that means there’s no time for someone to go and cover it. Rucinski did note that last year’s Newton Highlands piano is now in the Hyde Community Center, but otherwise, there are no plans to move the pianos indoors, or to expand to additional villages.
People interested in donating to the program, whether in cash or a piano, can learn more on the city website.