Satisfy your art palette this spring

The new Wellesley College bus schedule makes it easier than ever to visit Boston’s major art institutions, many of which can be visited for free or at a discount with the Wellesley College ID. The litany of arts events taking place in Boston this semester present  an astonishing range of creativity and innovation in radically different mediums.  
Various big-name productions from Broadway and London’s West End have started off this season’s performances with a flourish. “Sister Act,” “Peter Pan” and “Jersey Boys” are only a few of the many productions that made, or are making, a spring appearance on Boston’s Tremont and Washington Streets. Of particular note, “The Book of Mormon” opens in early April at the Boston Opera House.

The winner of nine Tony Awards in 2011, “The Book of Mormon” is the brainchild of the creators of Avenue Q and South Park, who offered their skillfully crafted wit toward producing the play’s musical score. The creators harnessed their lifelong fascination with Mormonism and wrote “The Book of Mormon,” which details the story of two Mormon missionaries sent to a village in Uganda ruled by a vicious warlord. As strange as its particular combination of collaborators and storyline may initially appear, “The Book of Mormon” has earned a nod from Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” and proved to be a successfully innovative jewel.

In mid-May, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company will be making their annual appearance in Boston as part of this spring’s celebrity dance series. From its initial performance at 92nd Y Street in Manhattan, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company has given the world a deeper appreciation of modern American dance and further insight into aspects of the African-American cultural identity. The company’s choreography portrays an impassioned appraisal of the African-American experience that is blatantly raw in its depiction of sorrow, love and strength.

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston’s number one haven for proponents of contemporary art, is often overshadowed by the Museum of Fine Arts’ high profile exhibits and well-known, local benefactors. Nevertheless, the ICA, which sits on Boston’s waterfront, has many unique exhibits throughout the year and continues to think of interesting ways to appeal to art patrons by presenting art in a variety of mediums: film, visual art, music and performing art.

An exhibit titled “This Will Have Been: Art, Love and Politics in the 1980s” is currently on display at the ICA until early March. Exploring the various art movements that took place during the 80s, the exhibit shows, for instance, the advent of a new wave of the Abject Art movement, an artistic movement involving a fascination with bodily fluids, and the transformation of photography as an art medium. While the exhibit aims to examine how a politically tumultuous time period affected the art in its day, it will be interesting to see whether this connection is obvious, or subtle and requiring of a more liberal interpretation.

Throughout the month of February and into early March, the ICA will be screening all the 2012 Oscar-nominated short films—an array of animated as well as live action short films from the United States and abroad. The ICA will also be hosting several lectures this spring including one in early April by Taiwanese-Canadian fashion designer, Jason Wu, who designed both of Michelle Obama’s inauguration dresses.

This spring, there are a variety of performances, art exhibitions and lectures sure to fascinate art majors and non-majors alike.