As the Artist in Residence at Faneuil Hall, Randi Jane Davis has been painting as long as she can remember. Throughout various professional endeavors, her commitment to painting has remained a constant. As a plein air painter, Davis examines objects and their surrounding, transferring her impressions to the canvas in fluid, gestural strokes.

To compliment Davis's exhibition at Faneuil Hall will be a book of her paintings, with accompanying essays, enhancing not only the painting, but the readers experience as they visit this historical landmark. Priscilla Whitley will author.

Some excerpts follow.....

www.randijanedavis.com

HAYMARKET II AT FANEUIL HALL

Less than a block away from Quincy Market, on the north side of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, is Haymarket Square, a constant presence since the early 1830s, almost a hundred years after the opening of Faneuil Hall. Here an open-air fruit and vegetable market is held each Friday and Saturday, rain or shine, all year long. This produce market is a compliment to the more upscale offerings of the various food shops, restaurants and boutiques adjoining the marketplace. For visitors it offers rich photo opportunities.

Located on the short, narrow Blackstone Street most of the costermongers, or vendors, are the old timers from Boston’s North End Italian community. Many have worked the market for decades, while some of the families have done it for generations. The culture of the merchants, with their bantering street talk, adds to the appeal of this robust market making it not only authentic but vibrantly colorful.

Haggling over price is possible, though buying from the market is still less expensive than most places. Dropping by late in the date, prices fall as the costermongers would rather sell than pack up and cart home. Haymarket is a place linked to the past but now also infused with relative newcomers from Asia, North Africa and the Caribbean expanding the rich variety of produce. Here one can find peppers, mangoes, citrus fruits, an assortment of berries. tomatoes and squash, plus foods and exotic spices, all within one marketplace.

Haymarket is an institution for the foodies of Boston, where quality and price are mixed in with the history and culture of Faneuil Hall.


“Friends, Brethren, Countrymen! That worst of plagues, the detested TEA, has arrived in this harbour. The hour of destruction... stares you in the face.”
George R.T. Hewes, A Survivor of the LIttle Band of Patriots Who Drowned the Tea in Boston Harbor in 1773...

Magical Balloons at Faneuil Hall, Boston

It’s the special ones who find the joy in giving to others. It’s not about adulation or fame, that’s left for the ambitious. The smile is the reward. The laugh. The first look of astonishment turning into glee. And in the case of Rami Salami, it’s all accomplished by the twisting and turning of a balloon which, as if by magic, he transforms into a gift for a delighted child.

Rami Salami’s been entertaining in Boston, particularly at Faneuil Hall since 1993. After serving as a volunteer in the Israeli army in 1988, he began performing in hospitals there, as well as army bases, before returning to his home ground of Boston to undergo an experimental heart procedure. Along with it’s success came his desire to make the world a happier place.
Rami Salami, who calls himself, the “real deal” has entertained children all over the world, stretching from the Nagasaki Holland Village in Japan, the Carnival in Caiz in Spain and to Israel where he hosted a children’s party held by then President Ezer Weizman at his residence in Jerusalem. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem became the home of SalamiLand during the Purim Holiday.

In the tradition of great entertainers his mission is to delight the youngest visitors in the most simple way. He needs nothing more than a a balloon and a rhyme to coax a giggle. Rami’s joy is his love of giving. And his specialty is the smile he puts on each little face.

"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny." ~Carl Schurz, address, Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1859