Humphreys' Street Studio was founded in 2002 in an old dry cleaning space. It houses a diverse community of up to 40 tenants including fine artist painters, illustrators, sculptors, designers, furniture makers, photographers, carpenters, metal workers, fabricators, and more.

In Spring, 2021, the artists came together for the Our HeArt: Group Show  while simultaneously fighting to keep the building from being sold to a developer. They would like to keep the building an artist space instead of the space instead of being razed and turned into more luxury condos (as of this blog writing, the fight continues). In June, 2021, the show moved to our South Bay, Dorchester store as a four month installation. There are over 20 artists in the show and we are thrilled that they are now available to be seen by every customer who comes into the store. (As with all of our artist exhibits, you are welcome to come in and see the art, even if you do not order ice cream!) There are photographers, painters, some scultpture, and even clothing hanging from the walls until October.

How did this partnership happen? How did we connect with this particular group of artists?

One of our employees works with a scenic designer who has a space in the building. This scenic designer, Cristina Todesco, is one of the organizers behind Our HeArt:Group Show, along with Franklin Marval, and Catherine Armistead. They also lead the fight against the loss of the building. This collaboration began as so many great collaborations do - over a cup of ice cream during the course of a long and winding chat. After learning the nature of the show and the size of the walls in our South Bay, Dorchester store, a plan began to form and now, here we are, with Our HeArt: Group Show at J.P. Licks.

Please join Humprheys' Street Studio in their fight to keep their home and to keep Boston diverse.

March has brought us another really fun partnership with one of our neighbors. We've partnering with LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston in Assembly Row to feature "Hibiscus" the mural created entirely of LEGOS by LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston's Master Model Builder, Megan Amaral.

Megan won the Brick Factor competition to become the Master Model Builderat the Assembly Row LEGOLAND iin 20165. She played with LEGOs as a kid and her love of building structures led her mother to suggest studying architecture in college. Megan designs and build both 3D structures and art pieces like this mural which is 2.5'x2.5'. But if you look around Assembly Row, you'll find a mural over 10 feet long that translates the buildings of the shopping center into a world of LEGOS. Megan also built us a little mini ice cream shop window, complete with baked goods, coffee cups, and ice cream (it just tickles us to no end!). Her mural will stay up for 3 months and we hope to continue featuring her work throughout 2020.

Megan is the only female Master Model Builder in all of North America and one of only four in the world. Read more about her work here. We'd love to see what you create with LEGOS - send us a photo and share your love of LEGOs and ICE CREAM!