MFA honors Dr. King with open house

Residents stood in long lines in the snow throughout the day on Monday, January 15 to take part in the Museum of Fine Art's Open House in commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which was free and open to the public.

The MFA's celebration offered a day filled with interactive artistic activities, exhibits and performances by local artists and performers, and the chance to explore the museum's world-class collection.

In the Shapiro Courtyard, dozens of colorful T shirts with messages of peace, freedom, and racial harmony decorated in youth programs across Boston including United South End Settlements, the Chinatown Neighborhood Center and the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester and Charlestown hung on a wall, and nearby, Artists for Humanity, represented by co-founder Jason Talbot, offered a participatory, multi-panel mural markers so that community members could color it in.

Youth string ensembles from Project STEP (String Training Education Program), which brings classical music education to children and youth of color in the public schools of Boston and other communities, entertained an audience of well over 100 as well as visitors enjoying the T shirt exhibit and mural.

At 3:00 PM, vocalist and Berklee College of Music professor Lawrence "Larry" Watson performed a dynamic, inspirational and highly personal show infused with R & B, jazz, soul, African rhythms and American spiritual music, accompanied by a six-piece band and three backing singers, enthralling a full house in the Remis Auditorium.

Visitors also filled the permanent collection galleries, discovering historical and aesthetic treasures spanning thousands of years and every corner of the world,