Mark Favermann
Bio:
Architecture, design, film and theatre critic/associate editor Mark Favermann, is an urban designer and public artist who over the past two decades has written extensively on art and design. A former Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, he was the first leader of the Boston Visual Artists Union (BVAU), the 1970's Boston activist artists organization, served as the former Director of Visual and Environmental Arts for the City of Boston and has been an adjunct professor at several universities. He was a columnist and/or editor for a large number of prominent publications. His own design work has included creating the award-winning marquee for the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, designing the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, creating the look for the 2000 NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis and the 1999 Ryder Cup as well as the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. For the past eight seasons, he has been a design consultant to the Boston Red Sox. His 2005 public art commission, The Birds of Audubon Circle, was nominated by the Boston Art Commission as one of the best pieces of public art in America. In the Fall of 2007, his Recognition Gateway sculpture was installed in South Brookline.
Recent Articles:
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The Comfortable And Elegant Gropius House Architecture
A 1938 Bauhaus Home in Suburban Boston
By: - Feb 11th, 2008New England contains several architecturally distinctive houses. This is the first in an occasional series of articles and reports in BFA focused upon these special structures. Built in the late 1930's, Bauhaus founder and Harvard architecture professor Walter Gropius' house followed his Modernist's philosophy and principles while sensitively being company-comfortable and family-friendly.
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Viktor Schreckengost, A True Giant of Industrial Design Dies at 101 Design
A 2001 Interview with the Prolific and Long-lived Great American Designer at Age 94
By: - Feb 08th, 2008Part Two of An Homage to Industrial Designer Viktor Schreckengost who died on January 26, 2008. In 2001, Viktor Schreckengost generously spent several hours in a phone interview discussing his life, art and design. The Q and A was published in The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles. It is with their permission that this 2001 contemporary design history piece is being presented in Berkshirefinearts.
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Viktor Schreckengost, An Industrial Design Giant Dies at 101 Design
The Last Surviving Designer of the Golden Age of American Industrial Design
By: - Feb 06th, 2008Viktor Schreckengost may not be a household name, but his design impact on American life was perhaps without parallel.Part One of a two part homage to the last survivor of the Golden Age of American Industrial Design.
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Compelling Must See Copenhagen At the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge Theatre
Playwright Michael Frayn's Wartime Imagined Emotive Meeting Between Atomic Energy Father Figure Niels Bohr and Nazi Atomic Scientist Werner Heisenberg.
By: - Jan 22nd, 2008In 1941, the German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg traveled to Copenhagen to meet with his former mentor Niels Bohr, the Danish father of quantum physics. In reality, not much is known about the short visit. Enticingly, Michael Frayn uses this encounter as the nucleus of a philosophical, intellectual and emotional three-way exchange between Heisenberg, Bohr and Bohr's wife Margrethe. The ART has interpreted Frayn's now classic intellectually and morally explosive drama in a totally compelling way.
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Third, the Final Play by Wendy Wasserstein Theatre
A Theatrical Mirror for Our time and Us at The Huntington Theatre Company
By: - Jan 17th, 2008For Three decades, Pulitzer prize winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, through a series of compassionate comedic dramas, charted the yearnings, disappointments and joys of modern American women in often autobiographical ways. The Huntington Theatre is currently presenting Third. It is the last play that she completed before her death in 2005. It is provocative and a bit unsettling. Perhaps, this is just as it should be.
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WGBH's New Headquarters Building Architecture
An Innovative and Surprisingly Comfortable 21st Century Communications Structure
By: - Dec 31st, 2007Mega-PBS/NPR Flagship Station WGBH had outgrown its facilities. Harvard University wanted the land and buildings back that the station rented or was lent in order to carry out its master planned Allston neighborhood expansion. The resulting 309,000 square foot structure and its 21st Century capabilities are both impressive and elegant.
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Barcelona 1900 at the Van Gogh Museum Fine Arts
Modernisme Art Nouveau in Historical, Cultural and Artistic Context at Amsterdam Museum
By: - Dec 27th, 2007Certainly something to leave home for: This is a spectacular blockbuster exhibit that enriches and teaches about Art Nouveau Barcelona style. What can be bad about an exhibit that shows early rare Picasso paintings and Gaudi furniture?
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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, A French Film Directed by Julian Schnabel Film
New York City Art Bad Boy Morphing into Auteur Or Keeping All the Plates in the Air
By: - Dec 26th, 2007After Julian Schnabel's career faded,the former NYC Art world star changes his calling to international filmmaking by making a French language film about a physically stricken former French Elle editor. Critics loved it. Cannes even gave him a prize. The Golden Globes named him best director and the film as the Best Foreign Film. He was nominated for a Best Director Oscar by the Academy Awards. But is it really great cinema or just simply good? Would you want to see it a second time?
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Shadowlands at London's Wyndham Theatre Theatre
A Reprise of the C.S. Lewis-Joy Gresham Nuanced Love Story
By: - Dec 25th, 2007A worthwhile evening was spent at this emotionally and artistically compelling and nuanced recently reprised play. It is about the true bittersweet love story found late in life by the very Christian scholar and author of The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis with the straight-talking quite American Jewish poet, Joy Davidman-Gresham. Here, intellect versus emotion and pain versus pleasure were set against questions of God, encounters between adults and even lost childhoods.
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Peter DuBois Named Huntington's New Artistic Director Theatre
Young, Versatile Director taking over The Huntington Theatre Company
By: - Dec 12th, 2007After a search for nearly a year, the Huntington Theatre Company taps young, energetic artistic director to lead its theatrical growth. Based upon his past performance,much is expected of Peter DuBois .
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Is Temporary Public Art Fair in Trafalgar Square? Fine Arts
The Fourth Plinth, No Lunch at the National Portrait Gallery, No Show at the London ICA and Other Very Odd Happenings in the London Scene.
By: - Dec 08th, 2007In the last decade, London has become one of the major centers of world art. However, Thanksgiving Week 2007 demonstrated that there was not much to be thankful about. No exhibits at the ICA, the Royal Academy and warmed over shows at the Tate Modern and at various other museums and galleries. Not much was visually going on in Old Londontown. A stiff upper lip or a need to just go to the local pub and drink alone?
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A Thanksgiving Trip (Part 2) Travel
Visiting Daughter and Sharing London and Amsterdam
By: - Dec 01st, 2007Looking at houseboats, visiting Anne Frank's hiding place and even taking a swipe at windmills,the father/daughter odyssey in London and Amsterdam continues.
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A Thanksgiving Trip Travel
Visiting My Daughter and Sharing London And Amsterdam
By: - Dec 01st, 2007Sharing a Holiday abroad with ex-pats and services at St Paul's Cathedral while trying to have fun on a weak dollar. The writer's daughter was studying at University College, University of London.So what better way to get a little European culture over an extended holiday week? Their trip to Amsterdam had a few problems, surprises and treats.Part 1 of 2 Parts.
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Poignant Streamers at Huntington Theatre Company Theatre
Viet Nam Era Tale Resonates Loudly Today
By: - Nov 17th, 2007Four young soldiers struggle with their identity, the stress of the unknown and the possibility of death during this sensitively written and staged drama by David Rabe.
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Veterans Day and the 25th Anniversary of the Viet Nam Memorial Design
Not Just A Black Slash in the Earth: A Veteran's Personal Thoughts
By: - Nov 11th, 2007Veterans Day starts a veteran to thinking about things that he hasn't for decades.The Viet Nam War Memorial is a metaphor for a tumultuous time and generation. What does the metaphor actually mean?
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Design Life Now: The National Design Triennial at ICA Design
A Snapshot of what is the best in current American Design, but sometimes taken with the lens out of focus or the lens cap left on.
By: - Nov 09th, 2007The good news is that the ICA has a major design show. The bad news is that our critic wishes that this exhibition was better on many levels. However, that said, this is still a must see show for anyone working or interested in design.
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MIT Sues Architect Frank Gehry Over Flaws at Stata Center Architecture
Citing Major Building Flaws in $300 Million Complex
By: - Nov 07th, 2007MIT has a billion dollar plus master plan. Individual buildings were to be designed by architectural stars. One of the hottest stars, Frank Gehry, was commissioned to design the Stata Center, a combination of labs, classrooms and offices that had his "look" of jutting angles, Disney colors and unconventional materials. The problem is that the building is falling apart, causing dangerous problems in the winter and does not exactly build a positive interactive academic community on its interior. So, MIT is suing.
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Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture Design
Elegant Exhibit of Industrial Design Icon
By: - Nov 03rd, 2007Industrial design makes every object and tool that we use in our daily lives work and look better. Raymond Loewy was an industrial design giant who set a standard for quality, efficiency and beauty. This elegant not to be missed exhibit showcases his projects, products and consummate style.
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Donnie Darko Boffo at The American Repertory Theatre Theatre
The Pending End of the World with an Edgy Teenager and his even Edgier Rabbit
By: - Nov 01st, 2007Halloween Night will never be the same again for our theatre critic. Instead of meeting and greeting trick or treaters, he spent his evening in Cambridge at ART's spectacular production of cult classic Donnie Darko. He will never forget such a shadowy and mysterious play featuring a sensitive but troubled high school teen, a dark six-foot killer bunny and an ancient Grandma Death.
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Brendan: An Irish-American Personal Expedition Theatre
A new play by Ronan Noone at the Calderwood Pavillion.
By: - Oct 29th, 2007A contemporay immigrant's odessey to American citizenship can be full of bumps and turns, even blow-outs. We go along for the ride trying to understand the driver while enjoying the scenery.
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Creating Public Art: A Personal View Design
An Artist's Perspective
By: - Oct 27th, 2007Public art is a lot about process including politics. The process is in large measure about engineering and civic permissions as well. The aesthetic expression seems to be only a small part of creating and implementing public art, yet that is what is left for years, even decades once the piece is installed. Mark Favermann writes a personal description of his 10 month journey to complete a Recognition Gateway for a new soccer field in Brookline, MA.
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Watch Yourself Word
A Timely Essay
By: - Oct 14th, 2007After reading about the watch woes and triumphs of Charles Giuliano, Mark Favermann was reminded of several of his own watchful incidents. He feels that a little time-sharing will go a long way to putting the world on a timely footing. Clockwork Orange this is not, but to paraphrase John Cameron Swayze, individually we may take a licking, but our clocks keep on ticking.
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Adaptation of Hitchcock's 39 Steps at Huntington Theatre Company Theatre
Broadway Bound Farce Opens Season at Boston University Theatre
By: - Sep 20th, 2007And Now for Something Completely Different or Running Amuck in a 30's Noir English Mystery Landscape featuring Scottish Moors not British Boors Opening the 2007-2008 Season at the Huntington Theatre Company is a tremendously clever, witty, even brilliant schtick Broadway-bound spoof on Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 breakthrough mystery film, 39 Steps. Mark Favermann laughed, chuckled and even guffawed his way through this send-up of the noir spy/mystery genre.
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Huntington Theatre Company Presents the Atheist Theatre
At the Wimberly Theatre in the Boston Center for the Arts
By: - Sep 18th, 2007Going to the theatre can become a personal moral dilemma. This is what happens at The Atheist, a new play starring at the Wimberly Theatre in Boston's South End opening the Huntington Theatre Company's 2007-2009 Season. Mark Favermann finds himself without a moral compass to navigate actor Campbell Scott's quirky one-man journey.
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American Repertory Theatre Launches Fall Season Theatre
Being Seduced by Don Juan Giovanni
By: - Sep 14th, 2007Experiencing the intertwining of music and literature, Moliere and Mozart during the opening production of the season at the American Repertory Theatre, Mark Favermann saw something rather different in the Theatre de la Jeune Lune's avant- garde production about the world's greatest seducer.
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